Red Dead Redemption 2

First, let's put the context back: We are in 1899 and American outlaws are an endangered species. On the run after a failed heist in the booming town of Blackwater, Dutch van der Linde and his clique are forced to retreat to the mountains where a thick blizzard covers their tracks. We slip into the spurs of Arthur Morgan, an extremely friendly and competent bandit that Dutch took under his wing when he was still a child, and we embark on a breathtaking adventure of around sixty hours.

This concise and interventionist introduction is none the less intelligently brought. From the first seconds, its fluid cinematics impress, integrating you into the band and bringing you closer to the characters who do their best to be heard while the storm is raging. This approach also allowed me to familiarize myself with the controls and mechanics of Red Dead Redemption 2, and reinforced my feeling of amazement when the card was revealed in its entirety a few hours later. The conditions prevailing on the mountain are almost inhuman, with almost zero visibility and thick snow hampering Arthur's movements, and having access to the real open world after having started the adventure in this environment voluntarily oppressive gives you an intense feeling of freedom.

The great outdoors

And what a world! Much larger, beautiful and varied than the one we explored in Red Dead Redemption in 2010 (some parts of the map are included in this new section). You will find snow-capped peaks, swamps infested with alligators, thick forests and large plains stretching as far as the eye can see. Beautiful farms and large plantations, narrow streams and large lakes, dusty ravines and dark caves. There is also the muddy town of Valentine, with its decrepit wooden buildings and its rustic charm, and that of Saint Denis, which is akin to a polluted and booming metropolis, filled with modern extravagances like electric trams, paved roads and Chinese restaurants. The vast array of ecosystems and environments that coexist harmoniously in this world is simply remarkable.

Red Dead Redemption 2 also does a great job of providing you with good reasons to visit every corner of its vast world. It happened to me to discover places which I did not know until then the existence during the last hours of play of the main intrigue (which loops in about sixty hours). The environments offered are so rich that you feel a constant feeling of discovery during the entire adventure.

The title's ability to renew itself after so many hours of play is extraordinary, and this is not only due to the variety of its environments and the size of its card. It is above all the credibility of the latter that makes them particularly alive. Although the largely rural world of Red Dead Redemption 2 turns out to be much less dense than that of Grand Theft Auto V, it is teeming with wild animals to discover, people to interact with (and whom you can potentially help) and places to visit. The best open worlds are those that seem to live and evolve regardless of your presence, and this is precisely the case here. I saw woodcutters cutting down trees in a forest camp, and followed a fairly disturbed Englishman who wandered through town in search of a man called "Gav". None of this is obviously essential to the progress of Arthur's story, but contributes to reinforcing the feeling that you are here only a visitor and not the center of the universe. Red Dead Redemption 2 brilliantly notes this daring bet, that very few games (see none) can boast of having even touched on it.

A Valley of Violence

The slower pace of Red Dead Redemption 2, compared to that of the dynamic GTA V, also pushes you to take advantage of the many opportunities that its open world has to offer you. The bodies must be looted manually, and Arthur must physically move them to get there. Single action pistols must be armed before firing, weapons that Arthur does not carry are attached to his horse's saddle, and coffee must be brewed before it can be consumed.

I imagine that some people will consider this approach as a chore, but I really appreciated this bias. The orderly execution of these tasks greatly contributes to "anchoring" Arthur in this world. For example, I loved having to manually engage the cartridge of a lever rifle by pressing the fire button a second time - by the way, you can also pause in the middle of this action for an even more more spectacular. The designers of Rockstar were not obliged to take it into account, but I imagine they understood very well that minute details like this, almost trivial, would greatly contribute to strengthen the immersion of the player by giving him the feeling to be truly in Arthur's shoes.

Taking the time to search your enemies' corpses for rewards is an interesting philosophy, but to be completely honest, I have a soft spot for the risk / reward loot loop. Do I have to meticulously pocket these dozen corpses or is it better to leave camp fissa? These are the choices you will face, either because your presence will be required elsewhere, or because staying at the crime scene will naturally increase your chances of being discovered. Knowing that the premiums on your head can reach considerable amounts. Did this guy hide a gold nugget in his pants pockets? You may never know.

In terms of inventory management, the only criticism I could make of the title concerns weapons, which are regularly exchanged for others. Often, this is linked to the progress of the missions and ensures that you perform the tasks incumbent on you with a very specific type of weapon, such as a sniper rifle or a bow, which proves to be wise. But it can get pretty annoying when you end up with two different pistols that don't lend themselves to double handling and you have to retrace your steps to remedy them.

Whatever the case, adopting the particular rhythm that Rockstar strives to set is essential to fully enjoy this world full of things to see and hear. You will hear unique and punctual conversations in the camp after certain missions, as well as other snippets of dialogue referring to recent events. While walking around the camp, I learned that things had heated up between John Marston and his partner Abigail, and I could see the affable Hosea Matthews treat young Jack Marston to crisp anecdotes about his last game of peach. Camp life runs its course regardless of Arthur's actions, and you are free to stop and take a look. It gives you the feeling of evolving in a concentrated version of the world around you, a place where people go about their business and interact without worrying about your presence. And this approach helps make your overall experience even more lively and immersive.

This open world is also full of things to do and see that will appeal to the most contemplative players. The newspapers sold on the street corners teach you more about the consequences of Arthur's exploits and talk about other major events. And like GTA V, you can go to the theater and watch various shows from yesteryear, and dogs can also be petted. Outside of the missions, I took great pleasure in wandering around this world as if it were a virtual museum. There are just too many things to see and do for me to be able to list them all.

The conquest of the West

Missions advancing the main web are like a cocktail of high-risk thefts, deadly shootings, desperate rescues and exciting pursuits, to which is added a long list of other occupations whose main purpose is to make you discover in a way organic secondary activities that can be undertaken in the world of Red Dead Redemption 2, which include the sale of stolen horses, poker or fishing.

Close in many respects to those offered by its predecessor, the sensations provided by this second component are excellent and also benefit from the arrival of new activities and increased interactivity at all levels. The game uses all the keys on your controller, which can be intimidating at first, but when you have fully understood which commands require a short or prolonged press, everything becomes simpler. The shootings offer a quasi-cinematographic rendering, with curls of smoke escaping from the pistols and bodies falling unpredictably thanks to the powerful physics engine used by Rockstar. You can even pull and pick up the NPC hats.

I often hear that Red Dead Redemption is nothing more than a GTA with a horse, but I find it quite simplistic. Certainly, the DNA of the studio's flagship series is there, but with much more primitive firearms available, the shootings turn out to be more intimate and anarchic. I love close-quarters clashes, which force you to find cover in order to stuff lead into enemies a few meters away, or see you face them with your bare hands. It's both exciting and fun. The fight on horseback is also a success, and it is always appallingly enjoyable to see your victims fall from their mount in an apparently infinite number of ways. Arthur is a little heavier to handle than the trio of GTA V, but that is not penalizing. I really loved the way it seems connected to the world around it. I'm not particularly a fan of third-person games that make you feel like your character is sliding - as if the character has no inertia - and that's definitely not the case here.

An iconic mechanism in the series since Red Dead Revolver, the Dead Eye is making a comeback here. It benefits from various improvements, one of which allows you to highlight the critical areas of your target (which will prove very useful during your hunting parties). This one always turns you into an implacable killer capable of shooting down multiple targets in a fraction of a second, and admiring this macabre ballet in slow motion remains disturbing satisfaction.

I was not much interested in the improvements available in the camp - at least not the cosmetic ones. There are quite a few practical improvements that have different advantages in terms of gameplay, such as a boat to go fishing or a map available in Arthur's districts unlocking the rapid travel function. I didn’t feel like I was missing much by ignoring the animal skulls or carpet trade, and it seems to me that these activities will be of more interest in Red Dead Online, the multiplayer component of the title which will arrive later.

I also chose not to do a lot of crafts, and it never really penalized me. You can make remedies and saddlebags, and recipes can be discovered throughout the adventure. To get out of it, I had to buy items, restock myself in the camp and methodically search the many corpses I sowed in order to obtain alcohol, remedies and cigarettes.

Two of the new mechanics that I have taken very seriously are the relationship you develop with your horse and the honor system. The first invites you to treat your mount with respect and prevents you from engaging in strange experiences, pushing it from the top of a cliff or leaving it in the middle of a railroad track. All horses are unique, and only those who trust Arthur can control themselves and not send our hero flying when he finds himself caught in a shootout or faces a predator (this relationship of trust is built by riding him regularly , brushing and feeding it). I appreciated the fact that I had to press the stick to reassure my horse when he was afraid - it makes it almost real by establishing a physical link between you. Also be aware that the latter can die and that it will then be impossible to bring him back to life. I kept the same steed from the beginning to the end of the adventure, and I really got attached to him. Some of the other testers that I know were much less fortunate than me and had to euthanize their companion, and I can only advise you to plan the appropriate remedies to avoid this.

Arthur's honor system is constantly evolving based on the actions he performs. Simply put, if you refrain from killing in cold blood and come to the aid of people you meet, you will get discounts in stores and will not need to constantly watch your back. By becoming a bloodthirsty monster, you will have the bounty hunters and the lawyers on your back, but in my experience, this second approach does not really fit with Arthur's personal story. Anyway, choosing to play a big-hearted outlaw during my game fulfilled all my expectations.

Once upon a Time in the West

Red Dead Redemption 2 is undeniably a visually impressive game in every way. The rendering of the lighting is fantastic, especially in dark and foggy situations, where the light of the Moon seems to pierce through the trees, and I appreciated the fact that Arthur is temporarily dazzled when he leaves an interior dimly lit and found in the blinding clarity of the midday sun. The sunsets also impress and seem to evolve according to the climatic and meteorological conditions: some are cold and radiant while others appear warm and soft. The facial animations are in clear progress compared to GTA V, while the level of detail from which the characters and environments benefit reaches an almost absurd level. Whether it's the blood flowing over Arthur's shoulder, the way the shaggy hairs of his favorites rustle in the wind, the wheels of a wagon bogged down in the mud or that whose rust accumulates on a poorly maintained firearm, all of these elements show great attention to detail.

Wherever you look, everything looks meticulously thought out and placed. Each consumable is clearly identified and can be seized and inspected. The catalogs available in the shops are filled with texts, illustrations indicating the products available for sale and old advertisements. The corridors of the various buildings are decorated with framed illustrations that I have never seen repeated during my sixty hours of play. Remember: this is the game where the testicles of horses shrink when it is cold . It happened to me more than once to be hypnotized by the musculature and the skin folds of the rear end of my horse. This sentence may seem strange, but being that you will spend a lot of time on your steed, as long as the rendering of its behind is impressive.

Johnny Guitar

The audio is just as impressive, from sound effects to dubbing, to the impressive music library available. Whether it's the metallic click of a reloading weapon, the iconic sound of a bullet that ricochets so dear to Hollywood westerns or the subtle creaking of the floor of a hotel, it's all there. The bullets fired from the top of the mountains produce a characteristic echo which turns out to be very different from their sound rendering in closed places. A large part of the recorded sounds only appear once or twice during the adventure (like the squeaking of the wire of a detonator which takes place or the rattling of the bottles at the back of a filled wagon of gnôle), and testify to the obvious meticulousness of Rockstar.

I also appreciate how the world around you seems to be prepared for any eventuality. Go back to a store you just left and the shopkeeper will likely comment on this new early visit. Leave the screening room before the end of a film and the ticket seller will tell you: "It looks like this film was not your taste". Finally, politely greet two people standing nearby, and Arthur will use a plural term rather than a singular pronoun. All this testifies to an attention to detail and an extremely rare meticulousness in a game of this scale.

The sound score is also worth seeing. Woody Jackson's work is of exceptional quality - an evocative blend of morriconesque guitars and more melancholy pieces, better suited to your many contemplative escapades in this world mixing beauty and ugliness. On some occasions, non-instrumental pieces are also used to create a particular effect (towards the end of the adventure, the hard-hitting interpretation of a certain artist intervening during a key moment of the plot elsewhere particularly surprised).

The Wild Horde

Formidably well written, the plot that supports the wide range of mechanics and gameplay opportunities in Red Dead Redemption 2 undoubtedly represents the most serious and successful scenario ever proposed by Rockstar. It is not essential to have played Red Dead Redemption to appreciate and understand the events taking place here, since it is a prequel taking place 12 years before the events of the first installment (although 'It is gratifying to know the whole plot to better understand the evolution and the destiny of Dutch van der Linde). As a fan of the series, the astutely brought relationship between Arthur and John Marston, main protagonist of the first opus released in 2010, particularly fascinated me. Although the latter occupies a crucial place in the plot, Rockstar made sure that he did not steal the show from Arthur.

It is also exciting to see Dutch gradually move from charismatic and brilliant leader status of a bunch of dangerous outlaws to that of icy and winnowing man that Marston will relentlessly chase 12 years later. We are witnessing an incredibly nuanced performance as confidence in Dutch weakens and restraint wanes. Arthur, main protagonist of this adventure, is not to be outdone. Not only for his contagious authenticity or his deep and soft voice, which go perfectly with his hair pulled back and his sideburns that I let grow by shaving only his chin, but above all because the performance of this man exhausted during the outcome is incredibly powerful.

Taken as a whole, the gallery of characters turns out to be brilliant. Antagonists like the Pinkerton, launched on the gang track, are quite caricatured, and something in the voice of the young Jack Marston disturbed me, but Arthur's partners are all cleverly put forward during the adventure , and are like convincing characters, in three dimensions, with which Arthur establishes a real relationship. While the latter represent a wide range of different cultures - from Irish thug Sean Macguire to Native American brawler Charles Smith - they turn out to be surprisingly believable and never resemble caricatures.

Add to that a strong writing and staging, and you get a game more sincere than satirical, capable of making you live emotionally strong moments, especially during the ramp-up occurring at the end of the game and the epilogue, simply excellent.

And even after I finish the epilogue, split into two parts and longer than many of the games I've played in recent years, I still have a bunch of strangers to help, gangs to put out harm and fish to catch (there are 30 different types in the game and I've only caught four so far).

And once upon a time there was the video game. Which at first may not have seemed, but slowly he wanted to tell stories. He tried it in a thousand different ways, often with good results, but more often leaving the feeling that it was not his art. Not yet, at least. Because even the video game once upon a time and still exists today. And in recent years it seems that exciting games can be told even with video games. My favorites? They are those in which all the elements of the game participate in the narration. Those where the story takes place not only in the interlude scenes, but permeates the whole experience. And, conversely, those where all experience is conditioned by the story being told. Rockstar's first Red Dead Redemption, for example. The Last of Us by Naughty Dog. Respectively, one of my favorite western tales and one of my favorite post-apocalyptic stories. Not just in video games, but right across all the media.

What I understand these days is that the video game will become an ever better way to tell stories. Red Dead Redemption 2, in fact, is a fairly clear step forward on this road. And the thing is fantastic, because to take this step is a game that, at the same time, tries to say something very big also in other areas. Like that of the open world, for example. Ah, and by the way he also succeeds, yes. That is, I mean ... A memorable story because it is very well written, masterfully rhythmic and capable of involving as it rarely happens in video games, well, you expect it more from a linear game. Because, trivially, it is easier to build it like this. You know that the player will have to follow a specific path and that basically he will not have great distractions. Also because your game doesn't allow it, it doesn't aim for that. The aforementioned The Last of Us, for example. A cool space, one of the highest points ever reached by video game fiction. In a totally linear adventure, but that's okay. It always went well for us. We always knew it. On the one hand there is the linear game done very well, with a spatial graphics and a story told very well. On the other there is the open world which, yes, maybe it also has good graphics, maybe it also has a good story, but it cannot compete on these aspects with linear games, because in the end it offers you more, and it is right so. You cannot have a convincing open world, with a spectacular setting, an amazing freedom and, at the same time, a hallucinating graphic design and a story told in a wonderful way. Quite right?

No, wrong. On October 26, 2018, with Red Dead Redemption 2, Rockstar proves that you can have both. At the same time. Not only. We are not even talking about any open world and any history. We are talking about one of the best and most convincing open world that acts as a backdrop, attention, to what I think is the best story told in a video game. Of all times. And the two things help each other, of course. The story told by Red Dead Redemption 2 is extraordinarily engaging also because it takes place in a credible and fascinating world, vast and stimulating, wonderful and surprising. And the world, in turn, is spectacular also because it is what happens to you that makes it so. It is the stories that unfold within it that make it fascinating. The horses that line its streets, the characters that populate its villages and cities.

Do you know a Küfner personally? A wheelwright? A reed racket? Probably not, because these professions have long been extinct. You just didn't need it anymore, the world kept turning. Arthur Morgan is similar. In 1899, he made his way through the wild west as an outlaw. At a time when this "job" is becoming increasingly difficult because the law enforcement officers and these damned Pinkerton detectives are becoming more and more of a nuisance.

Arthur's "boss", gang leader Dutch van der Linde , does not want to admit this turn of the times and tries desperately to keep his team together. A last coup should bring the gang so much money that all members - from the grumpy Micah to the young Tilly Jackson to the Mexican Javier Escuella - can retire. But not all bandits agree with Dutch's ambitious plans. When the gang also takes on the powerful industrialist Leviticus Cornwall, the tensions threaten to finally tear the gang apart.

So big, so beautiful!

What applies to the horses is even more true for the characters : hair, stubble and blemishes give people in the game a dirty, real look - no comparison to the plastic faces in many other games.

Even the last silent extras cowboy in the prairie cafe's saloon is designed with great attention to detail and often even has its own dubbing voice - even if he only says "Howdy" for a short time. So the presentation is bombastic, but it was the same on the console. The improvements, as is so often the case with PC implementations, are in the details.

Four pages of settings

Red Dead Benchmark

This creates comparability and could (as Rockstar also hopes for a bit) establish itself as an easy-to-use standard benchmark. A built-in performance measuring device is always a good idea. It almost seems as if the developers want to apologize for the long waiting time with the many setting options to the PC players or justify them. But gray is not only the font color in the menus, but also all theory. What do the graphic improvements look like in everyday outlaw work?

Horses in the fog

Maybe we best start with what is not new about the presentation of the PC version of Red Dead Redemption 2: 3D models, animations, voice recordings - all of this is identical to the console version .

In contrast, the textures now tessellated have been revised, especially those for trees, animals and the environment in general. You have to go very close to see a difference on the bark or the skin of a hunted deer, but the overall impression is actually "more detailed" than the original versions for PS4 and Xbox One. A small drop of bitterness: the chic textures eat up a lot of storage space, Red Dead Redemption 2 has a massive 112 GB.

The improved lighting effects are similarly subtle. In the saloon, sun rays are playing through the window, in the forest they are fingering through the leaves. The transition of the times of day is now also a bit smoother, shadows are now also calculated at a greater distance.

The increased visibility is really impressive, for example when Arthur stands on a cliff above an imposing canyon and lets his gaze wander into the distance. Then you feel the vastness of the west in front of your home computer and want to ride to the horizon - at such moments, Red Dead Redemption 2 is best.

We particularly liked a mission in which Dutch van der Linde's gang rides at dawn. The morning light gently falls into the forest and illuminates the volumetric ground mist, while crossing a river the water splashes spectacularly under the hooves. In short: everything is a little fluffier, finer, more fluid. Visible differences to the console versions are only noticeable in a direct comparison. Even the occasional clipping mistakes are already known, for example when the hero rummages through a house with a bulky shotgun and the barrel disappears into the door frame.

Stop, there is a big difference: If possible, you should play Red Dead Redemption 2 with at least 60 frames per second , on the console it is a maximum of 30 fps. Not only does it look better, it also makes everyday cowboy life easier - because it also consists of shootings.

Mr. Morgan with mouse

Especially in shootings, control via mouse and keyboard is a real advantage. The console version does offer a “snap on” target system, but of course that is far from being so precise. In a mission with multiple waves of opponents, we take out one enemy after another without being seriously damaged. In such moments, the game seems almost too easy for us.

However, using the keyboard in the (luckily rare) hand-to-hand combat is a little awkward. If you can, hang a gamepad in parallel on the PC and switch back and forth depending on the situation. In general, the controls: The somewhat cumbersome operation with a large number of context-dependent commands was already a point of criticism for the console version.

Sure, a game with many possibilities also needs a lot of keys to trigger these activities. But especially at the beginning you won't be able to avoid a cheat sheet next to the keyboard. However, all keys can also be freely assigned in the menu (Attention: only in the current game, not in the main menu!) , Which at least slightly alleviates the basic problem of overloaded controls.

If you don't like to look over the shoulder of your hero all the time, switch to the first person perspective. Especially in shootings, the game looks almost like a classic shooter , but at the latest when riding, it is recommended to switch to the outside camera again - the hopping is otherwise very annoying for susceptible players.

Speaking of the camera: If you stay on the »V« key for a long time, the game changes to the so-called Cinematic Camera , ie the cinema mode with particularly dramatic settings. If you follow the road to a waypoint, the horse will gallop to the destination. There is, however, no fast travel function apart from the rather rare stagecoach stations, which can be annoying especially towards the end of the game if you have uncovered a lot of the map and the way to the next mission is long. Well, the one who has then fully expanded his camp and can still travel quickly from his own tent.

Say "Texas"!

One key is reserved for the PC version of Red Dead Redemption 2, the default (currently) exclusive photo mode is on »F6«. Whether in the game or in a cutscene, we can pause and take a picture at any time. As you would expect from such a mode, the camera is freely movable and there are lots of settings for exposure time, depth of field, etc.

In addition, the photos can be provided with around 40 filters, from "colored red" to "drunk". The game also uses this filter when Arthur Morgan tilts behind the blindfold in the saloon . Photo mode is a nice gimmick, we would not be surprised if it would land on the consoles with one of the next updates.

Time for stories

It starts with Arthur's leisurely walk, felt by many players to be too slow, and continues at the equally slow narrative pace. This makes the character development of Arthur and his gang colleagues more understandable, but if you are mainly looking for action, you may get bored.

Old fashioned Arthur

Different solutions or even decisions? Only very, very rarely. A call system (kill civilians = bad cowboy!) Ensures that the fellow human beings greet you friendly or threaten you with a drawn weapon, and honor changes some cutscenes (such as Arthur's dreams) or diary entries. However, the reputation only really has an impact on history at the very end.
The possibilities of the open game world are similarly without influence. There are a lot of sideline activities (fishing, playing cards, hunting, etc.), but at best they provide money and trophies, but they do not contribute to character development, for example through experience points.

This makes Red Dead Redemption 2 in comparison to current open world titles like Assassin's Creed: Odyssey playfully pretty old-fashioned in places. On the other hand, these restrictions allow Rockstar Games to stage an extremely dense story with precisely defined highlights and twists.

It would be a shame if the cult developer Rockstar Games would eventually go the same way as Küfner, Stellmacher and Reepschläger.

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