Red Dead Redemption 2 has been out for four days now and I'm unexplainably overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the game. I have been pulling 4 AM sessions almost every night since it was released. And even then I had to force myself off so that I could eat real-life beans and care for my real-life animal, not my virtual horse. Talking of horses, our fully interactive and detailed Horse Database has just gone live, check it out!
I have been so lost but it feels great. Stumbling across an old tomb with secret weapons and armour to find, uncovering mysteries and unearthing treasures. They are just but a tiny fraction of what makes the game so incredible. I have been in awe from the minute I started playing and I want to share a handful of things that I love about the game.
Also a massive congrats to all at Rockstar Games for their great achievements with Red Dead Redemption 2 already!
The world and its happenings
I have never felt so small and overwhelmed by a game world as I have when playing Red Dead Redemption 2. I constantly keep meaning to start a mission and I almost always end up running off into the woods to study an animal that I have not yet seen or wander around a set of burnt out huts in hope of finding a new collectable. Though the story is so compelling and exciting that it is a constant back and forth motion between missions and exploration.
Once I had ventured through the game story intro and was able to find my own two feet it was me against the world. I set off to, well, I don't even know, i just set off to see what I could find and ended up deep in some forest where I found an old ritualistic tomb site, scattered with skeletons -- and it was here that I found something really cool. Oh! And this.
Killshot cams
There is nothing more rewarding after hitting a good shot than to see it played out in slo-mo dubbed in a vintage western film filter. Hitting these kill cam shots help to create that cinematic vibe to the game, which is already felt strongly, it just completes it. As you're ducking and diving through mud, horse shit and dead bodies, you fling your revolver up from your side, line up a shot and unload lead into your opponents and then get to see the final bullets journey in a cool kill-cam action shot. Wham, bam, thank you, ma'am.
Collectables and mysteries
One of my all-time most favourite parts of an open-world Rockstar game is the collectables. Back in the day, they were a lot simpler with typically 100 "Hidden Packages" to find that were scattered around the map and you were given items after finding set amounts and an even bigger gift for finding all. You've always been rewarded for exploration but this time around collectables are next level. And there is a very good amount of them. Every kind of treasure and collectable hunter is catered for in Red Dead Redemption 2.
From Cigarette Cards (there are 12 Cigarette Card Sets each with 12 Cigarette Cards that make up each set) and Dinosaur Bones to Rock Carvings and murder mysteries (see here for something creepy). You are never without a quest to find or solve something in RDR2 and I have not even scratched the surface.
Soundtrack
No one quite does video game scores as Rockstar do. This is known and Red Dead Redemption 2 is no exception. The soundtrack to the original Red Dead Redemption was deep, dark, and beautiful. Woody Jackson, one of the original composers for Red Dead Redemption returns and has delivered another remarkable soundtrack. Escaping from bullets with edgy guitar strumming patterns and militant drums and percussion shaking in and out. Or just riding your horse through deep woodlands to the sound of harmonicas and more subtle percussion playing out. Each sound -- and pattern -- helps to bring the world and atmosphere alive.
