Review – Red Dead Redemption 2

My Arthur Morgan never fired first.

He sits on a dark beach edge, surrounded by a thick gray fog just hit by a campfire next door. He prepares coffee, grills a little deer. Immediately behind the simple tent is a dead man. It was his fire, his camp, and in reality he did not have to stop like that. When Arthur saw the glow of hope in the distance, he just wanted to take a quick look, but the man quickly became aggressive and took out his weapon. You do not shoot weapons against my Arthur Morgan and survive. This is a rule that I set myself.

"I do not usually live in games that way"

I will outline more approaches. Like never returning to the comrades of the Dutch band van der Linde without a little change. A coat, a gold watch whose owner is gone or a pack of dollar bills. I think that's my way of dealing with the huge cross section of the late 19th century that is Red Dead Redemption 2. Without limits, I would go to the forest and spend a week looking for the perfect squirrel skin.

I do not usually live in games that way. Not even when they offer me to polish every little detail. But at every hour of Morgans' life, I'm sinking into his well-dressed boots. Shoes that I carefully selected in the catalog of the store, and a dark blue soldier's shirt, yellow suspenders and gobkeps that would have matched both Way out West and here in the grass square. Not to mention my beard: so far from the trailer, the smooth-cut ankle of Arthur, you can come. It takes effort to become so shabby. The normal razor is only enough for a certain length, then the growth has to be massaged with a particular hair tone that you buy from the nearest shopkeeper. At least ten minutes go by.

My Morgan seems to be a man of the forest. He belongs to the desert, looking for the next change, without really enjoying the task. Sometimes something has to be done to provide companions with meat. The skins that I give to give an extra note to the ordinary cashier or to improve the bag in order to be able to contain everything from vinegar herbs to tobacco, through the ligaments and of course some bottles of liquorice. And the favorite: pick peaches that I slaughtered in me directly in the box, like a marl. To eat, you have to die faster. Arthur's metabolism must be maintained so that he does not recover from his recovery, but if he eats too much, he becomes fat, which negatively affects stamina. But even when I discovered that my body was described as "underweight", the impact of malnutrition was marginal.

I do not bathe until Mrs. Grimshaw's wife pushed me into the rain next to her sleeping place. I enter the camp covered with mud, she gets there with certain steps and looks as serious as her hairstyle is bulky. And, of course, I feel a little good after, with a pomada in the hair, but the lawyer's life does not allow a more sophisticated washing than wading in a stream. Nevertheless, Arthur and I can not imagine any other supply. Too bad there is no room for straw workers in the broad vision of "civilization". These opposites become the red thread of the game.

while Red Dead Redemption wrote his account of the internal conflict of John Marston, who wanted nothing more than to perform his duties and settle for peace with his wife and son, follows the follow-up of the dysfunctional family that is a robbery of about 20 people. And the collision with an increasingly modern society during the last year of the 19th century. Although Arthur Morgan is more well written than many other protagonists, he likes to take a step back to let other characters advance the story. It's hard work to make sure that the group is doing well, whether it's defending against rival gangs, stealing a train, or satisfying small desires.

And everything happens at an almost meditative pace. All the people you follow will come out and go, silencing after a natural conversation. Both have exhausted the current subject and only the social attractions remain. The tone is also twisted in the serious direction, more desolate than in the last game where characters such as Seth Briar's were sometimes called pure caricatures.

By focusing on people and their distinctly different personalities, the camp becomes a natural and central part of the game. This is where, among the horse-drawn cars, campfires and used pots, you can refuel Slokmustaschprydda Pearson's food stores, which boasts of his stay in the fleet, although his rider bears witness to this. Or choose a tonic that gives you the supplement you need when enemies count by tens. Plus, do not forget the social side, whether you choose to be the big guy every time you greet someone or, like me, the nice guy. Or you just stay a little bit and listen to other people's father and disgust of love.

You can improve different parts of the camp using the money you give to provide a wider range of medications, canned goods, ammo and more. Other elements, such as better campsites for everyone, help to create a more pleasant atmosphere. But if you want Arthur to be a jerk, you do not care about him and leave a snake trophy on your own sleeping place.

"The game makes me the effect of a park in the middle of the field"

The remarkable thing is what the living camp feels. I rarely encounter fluid dialogues or characters doing the same job over and over again, but something new is always happening. Not even the pastor, who tries to calm his anxiety for Morgan whenever they meet, does not repeat himself. We talk so much about the world of bizarre details in the world, and that is reflected in everything from small steps of mud to great moments when the game makes me vibrate like a midfielder. I laughed at colleague Jocke who would not rather walk slowly in the snowdrifts and wrap the world. And so I sit and do just that.

Even though I spent more than a week in Red Dead Redemption 2 When this text is published, I sometimes have to stop and marvel at the beauty of the game. And this happens in both unexplored areas, which showcases a whole new environment, like in the stairs that I have climbed countless times. Perhaps it is the rays of the morning sun that replace the darkness of the night with meadows of color or a thick fog that surrounds everything except the dimmed light sources. When did I get the guy running slowly through the woods just because the light is so pissed off beautifully? Who feels that a simple push of a button will activate kinematic mode and lean back while the horse himself finds the reference on the map? But be careful when you reach the destination.

Chronicles will be rewritten Red Dead Redemption 2 & # 39; s horse animations. The ruthless flexion of the muscles, the transition smoothly from one movement to the other. How does the poor animal stretch against the biting wind with an icy moose or hanging with the head after the last encounter with the price hunter? Pay your children fines, otherwise they can deceive into the next valley and they are not afraid to kill your horse to stop your escape. If you do not take medicine for horses, your faithful lover may die. Having lived for hours, having a serious relationship with a saddle and ladders, that is a real loss.

The pursuit of a good horse looks like a game in itself. Of course, you can stick to a booth and buy one – but how's the cowboy doing? No, with lassot, try to catch a nervous stallion among the wild horses rushing on the fields. With the stable rope around your neck, you must try to calm it down before you can jump and with ragged trim patches on the back of the wild animal, you have soon tampered with a new battery. The slider you put on your saddle is your main object and you watch it with "Good boy!". Sugar chunks and apples will soon give you a beautiful relationship that makes it stronger when you whistle it even further. . Then you hope not to have a partner like Jocke able to beat the horse in a temporary camp. Then you get a nice home or pick up someone else (the lasso also works on people), the totally free quick trip was not invented in the 19th century.

In the same way that you can reduce dozens of hours of capture, jewelery and horse breeding, the world is full of charms, in addition to the story of the Van der Linde gang's fate. You can hunt by tracing the animal, posing the bait and killing them as the best way to not hurt the coat. There is everything from simple rodents to legendary animals to fall in and they provide both income and food.

Or, you can help sheriffs in small towns capture other wanted bandits, and while it was rather monotonous in the previous game, the variation is much greater now. A proof of all Rockstar development times is east on this game, with all you need, from special mechanics to voice actors who all hold a higher class than any other class. If you meet a criminal who has not put his nun on a piece of paper, you can drag him to the nearest fink. The guardian of the team is grateful to all the criminals you meet and rewards you in dollars and morale. Except when they were shelling one day, they were in an uncomfortable prison. Despite delays and years of development, sometimes the code gets obscured, places things in the wrong place or does not render them at all. However, it is a minimal problem, the opportunities counted between the fingers of one hand and my countless hours of play that did not fit me and did not tear. Multiplied by two.

"A proof of all the Rockstar development time has is on this game"

What I really appreciate is that Rockstar, despite the incredible level of all bisexuals, does not push them against you. The map is not fluffy with various icons and everything you can do. Instead, it is explained repeatedly through the story and then it's up to you to cry if you wish. Not to mention all the random meetings of your trip. Some are simpler, catch a striped suit and pray for the shot of the ball with which they are angry, while others may be a gentleman sitting and counting on a rock. Even if these have degenerated into a kind of witness jungle, if people see a crime, you can give them a thousand times that they have fled and report it to the nearest authority. Unless you run after it and threaten the person to silence, which sometimes works, but sometimes it is answered with a hissing sound against your face. Then you simply have to solve it in another way.

Even the story, the backbone of the game, is treated with the same care and efficiency. There are never more than two, three indicators indicating where to find the next item in history. And the second game splits in clear and the page assignments are in Red Dead Redemption 2 intertwined in a unified and long story against the ultimate goal. It is to earn so much money that the gang can disappear into the desert and continue to live the free life that they have always experienced. That's why Rockstar has a lot to do for the story to be so long. But that never seems to me heavy, even though I have experimented it in such an unconventional and condensed way.

Things like this, as well as the constant movement of wildlife in the periphery, make the world so alive and vast. Even if the theory can travel the landscape in half an hour, it seems that anything can happen behind the next turn. The illusion is not broken because you can switch from one environment to another in a few minutes. It is rare that you take the most straight road, there are always small sticks that attract. And you will ride a lot, so enjoy life on horseback and try to see it as a transport distance. Spitting a little rabbit shooter with a galloping bow is more rewarding than it should.

Sometimes I just have to keep up the speed, screaming slowly forward and marvel at how much Rockstar has managed to raise the level, again. The fascinating knowledge of the next meeting, whether it's a new Dutch tirade about how their way of life goes beyond the stupid civilization, or a dumb man on a dark, hazy beach, makes Red Dead Redemption 2 at this game, you will think when to sleep. Long after, the bonds of life separate you from your Arthur Morgan. But he's waiting for you at the campfire, ready to stay in the wild west, if only for a short time.

note: Played on PS4 Pro. Red Dead Redemption 2 and Xbox One are available on October 26th.