With Red Dead Redemption 2 – without hyperbole – Rockstar Games has created an astonishingly immersive and believable world. From its wildlife and its 200-something nonplayer characters to its towns, mountains and sprawling vistas, it’s a world alive with movement and life.
Dutch Van der Linde is a manipulative gang boss, selling his henchmen the dream of an unspoiled paradise while squeezing every penny out of them. His hypocrisy is a powerful undercurrent throughout the story.
Story
The story in Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of the most compelling and emotional in gaming history. It follows the gang of outlaws led by Arthur Morgan as they flee across a vast fictionalized version of America.
It’s a familiar experience for anyone who’s played a Rockstar game before. But what sets this particular game apart from its predecessor is the sheer number of new, intricate systems that govern how the world, your weapons, and even Arthur can interact.
When traveling to a mission, the player can trigger a cinematic mode that frames the journey with a montage of shots and character dialogue. This is a nice touch and helps to keep the game’s lengthy ride from becoming dull. It’s a welcome addition to the genre.
Characters
The game has a vast and diverse cast of characters, all with their own backstory and personality. The cast is made up of some of the best actors and models in media, with many being known for their work on other games or TV shows.
Benjamin Byron Davis is the voice of Dutch, one of the most important members of the Van der Linde gang in the first Red Dead Redemption. He reprises this role in RDR2, and he is nothing short of excellent.
Abigail Roberts is the wife of Arthur Morgan and a member of the Van der Linde gang in this prequel. She was played by actress Cali Moore, who has a strong acting resume that includes work on the hit CBS series Bull and the Netflix show House of Cards.
Graphics
Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of the best-looking games on PC. Its old west setting is rendered in stunning detail, with improved draw distances making the vistas look photographic. Long shadows transform walks or rides between locations into lovely nature tours, while higher resolution textures make blemishes on clothes tell stories about animal attacks and gunfights.
The game’s graphics settings are extensive, and some of them, like MSAA and volumetric raymarch resolution, affect performance by 5 to 25 percent. But a few of them, like texture quality, tessellation quality, and parallax occlusion mapping, can make a big difference in visuals.
Red Dead Redemption 2 isn’t the most responsive game in terms of framerate, and it often feels slow to react to movement. But it’s still a spectacular-looking game, even on low settings.
Soundtrack
The music of Red Dead Redemption 2 is among the most powerful orchestral compositions in modern video games. Composer Woody Jackson has worked on the original Red Dead and other Rockstar games, including GTA 5 and L.A. Noire. He also composed the soundtracks for those games, and this new one is no exception.
The soundtrack features vocal tracks from artists like Willie Nelson and D’Angelo. Grammy winner Daniel Lanois, who has collaborated with musicians like Bob Dylan and Neil Young, produced the album.
The soundtrack captures the feeling of the beleaguered outlaw Arthur Morgan, who knows he’s going to hell. It also evokes the desolation of the world in which he lives. According to a piece by OnlySP, Jackson even went so far as listening to the soundtrack while firing guns at a range.
Gameplay
Red Dead Redemption 2 is a massive game, and one that will be talked about for years to come. But at the same time, it’s a bit disappointing in some ways because it fails to push the boundaries like its predecessor did.
The new systems in this sequel are fascinating and engrossing, though at times they can also feel frustratingly inaccessible. The world is gorgeous, and it’s a wonder to explore. But sludgy kinesthetics, a muddled interface and a tendency to throw cinematic distractions at you aplenty can pull you back from this magical place.
Those new systems include a deeper Dead Eye targeting system, the ability to upgrade your weapons and see their performance degrade over time and use, and the option to track Arthur’s progress through his journal.
