Red Dead Redemption 2 Review — Once Upon a Time in the West

From the trailer, we know that guy John Marston, the protagonist from _ Red Dead Redemption _ , will be back in action in some capacity, alongside some other familiar faces from the original game. The trailer shows incredibly detailed and polished graphics, while hinting at an action-packed, gut-punching narrative that is sure to set _ Red Dead _ fans’ hearts – and wallets – ablaze, as pre-orders for the highly-anticipated title are also now available. Only standard, bare-boned editions of the game are available for pre-order at this time, but the current hype surrounding the new trailer will certainly lead to plenty of pre-order sa

Early on John meets Nigel West Dickens, a slimy, snake oil peddling charlatan that asks for John’s help selling some of his wares. Realizing that John is naturally talented with a pistol, he asks John to put on a demonstration of marksmanship and attribute it to his cure-all remedy, promising him a few bucks in ret

The year is 1911. John Marshton was once a dangerous outlaw but has left that life behind to pursue the simple pleasures of being a family man. John is enjoying his new life until the Bureau of Investigation visits him to work out a deal with him and take his wife and kid into custody for leverage. As a former outlaw, John is facing some serious penalties for his past but the FBI is willing to cut him a break if he brings his former gang members to justice. John agrees to these terms, not like he has much choice, and travels to Fort Mercer to confront his former rappy, Bill Williamson. Things go horribly wrong and instead of bringing anyone to justice, John is shot and left for dead, only to end up in the care of Bonnie MacFarlane.

Gunslingers in the wild west have been the subject of many memorable video games such as Gun, Custer’s Revenge, Lethal Enforcers II and probably another one or two are in there somewhere. What is generally considered the most celebrated is 2010’s Red Dead Redemption, or Grand Theft Equine as it’s commonly referred. Like one or two other Rockstar titles, Red Dead Redemption was met with near universal acclaim and is still fondly remembered almost a decade later. The upcoming sequel is one of the most anticipated titles of 2018, and with that release just around the corner it seems like a good time to look back on the tale of John Marshton.

While the PS4, Xbox One, and PC versions of GTA V prepped Rockstar for working on new hardware, they still weren’t creating an entirely new game. Even the first-person mode was just a new perspective. The game itself didn’t change drastically when it jumped consoles. With Red Dead 2 , the development team over at Rockstar is making their very first next generation game from the ground up. While the new hardware has been praised by developers, Rockstar is known for pushing hardware to its limits, and creating graphically stunning games, this new challenge could be proving more difficult than they anticipated, drastically hampering the game’s developm

Calling Red Dead Redemption Grand Theft Equine is a dumb joke, even by my standards, but the GTA influence is as visible as the scars on John’s face. The game is played in a large open world map that spans part of Mexico and part of the western American frontier, divided into three regions that are unlocked as the story progresses. John’s actions can influence his fame and honor which have an impact on how townspeople react to him. Helping innocent people fight off bandits may improve his reputation but gunning down those same innocent townsfolk will have the opposite effect. Like GTA titles there is a wanted system, where if John decides to commit crimes he can attract the attention of the law and depending on how far he wants to take it this may escalate into military involvement. John can surrender to the law men, kill them all or simply high tail it out of there until the heat dies down. The problem with the last two options is the law might give up on John but that just means they’ve decided to send a bounty hunter after him so they don’t have to deal with him themselves.

With so many different facets to the gameplay and interacting with the environment, the number of systems and mechanics at play in Red Dead Redemption 2 is staggering, and in some instances can even sound a little overwhelming. However, after having hands-on time with the game and first-hand experience with these mechanics, these touches truly feel like meaningful ways to make Red Dead Redemption 2 feel alive and dynamic, for the players that really want to go deeper into it. As Rockstar emphasized to us during the demo, these more survival-driven mechanics aren’t meant to feel like “chores” that the player has to do — they’re optional — but instead to develop that idea that Arthur is truly a part of this world and more than just a vehicle for players to explore what it has to offer.

Awesome? Yes. Revolting? Absolutely. Undead Nightmare is an expansion for Red Dead Redemption that is essentially its own game, and what a game it is. Better than practically every other zombie game available, especially Resident Evil , it pits John Marston into a zombie-infested version of the West. While not revolting, at first sight, the zombie apocalypse in the Red Dead Redemption universe is revolting for a number of reas