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Here's everything we learned from playing Red Dead Redemption 2
We spent about two hours playing Red Dead Redemption 2 on the Playstation 4 so what did we learn about 2018's most anticipated game?
Red Dead Redemption 2 comes out on Playstation 4 and Xbox One on October 26, but Rockstar Games gave us a two-hour look at the game at their headquarters in New York two weeks before its release.
Set in America in 1899, Red Dead Redemption 2 is the first Rockstar game built from the ground up for the current console generation. You play as Arthur Morgan, a loyal muscle for the outlaw Van der Linde Gang.
Arthur is a newly introduced character; in the first Red Dead Redemption, you played as John Marston, a former Van der Linde Gang member hunting his surviving friends. Red Dead Redemption 2 is a prequel, set 12 years prior to that, and you can interact with John, his future wife Abigail, and his son Jack at the gang's camp, along with other characters from the first game.
Our session with Red Dead Redemption 2 included a train robbery (which one Rockstar representative played, while another Rockstar representative narrated), and a second sequence near the Grizzly Mountains, where we took over the controls. Here's everything we learned, based on our play session.
Amblin' into town
© Rockstar Games
01
You're encouraged to walk, not run
Most open world sandbox games are so sprawling and expansive that running and speeding about becomes second nature. Expediency is paramount. In the Grand Theft Auto franchise, you're regularly pushing 144kph on the freeways, while the default foot speed is a low-intensity jog.
Red Dead Redemption 2 takes place in 1899, though. There's no mounted equivalent to a supercar. When you and your gang travel, you move at a steady lope rather than a full gallop. And you're encouraged, particularly when entering a new environment, to walk rather than run – to fall back and assess your surroundings rather than charge forward and cause undue alarm.
After playing Grand Theft Auto V, this languid pacing will feel odd, but embrace that quality instead of resisting it. Westerns are impactful because they're meditative. Take the time to meander, observe, and appreciate the tiniest details.
A bandana can make it harder for the law to catch you
© Rockstar Games
02
Your 'eyes' adjust from indoors to outdoors
The game's visuals work in two ways. The first is granular: you appreciate how mud and blood realistically dry on the back of Arthur's jacket. The second is sweeping. You'll be overwhelmed by the developers' use of cinematic language.
This specific detail belongs to the latter camp: if you spend time indoors and then go outside, everything outdoors will look unnaturally bright for a few seconds, until your 'eyes' adjust. This is frequently used for dramatic effect during the game to emphasise the scale and scope of the world, particularly at the beginning of the train robbery sequence.
Keep your friends close
© Rockstar Games
03
The musical cues are chilling
Speaking of the train robbery sequence, there's an incredible musical sequence that plays when the Van der Linde gang rides through the snow to get to the train, filled with dramatic guitar chords and whistles. It sounds like a lost Ennio Morricone track, full of guilt and angst, evoking doomed sinners walking a crooked path.
The composer of Red Dead Redemption 2's score is Woody Jackson, who also composed the first game's score with Bill Elm.
Your 'family' is right by your side
© Rockstar Games
04
Fellow gang members are your in-game prompts
In Red Dead Redemption 2, there's a distinct lack of on-screen mission prompts. Prior games had glowing 'mission' areas that you walked over to trigger cutscenes, and the game marked key goals as glowing dots on a map so even if you ignored the in-game dialogue, the game held your hand so you were never lost. Occasionally, Grand Theft Auto V's single player missions suffered for this. The narrative beats felt preordained, because there was so little room for true improvisation.
The missions in Red Dead Redemption 2 are more contextual. The characters might give you directions, and you'll have to follow them, or a character might instruct you to guard a nearby ridge, without laying out the exact path for you to get there and without putting a yellow, glowing spot on the ground where you need to stand. Narratively, it makes the supporting characters more important, because you must listen to them for your mission objectives rather than listening to the game.
How quick are you on the draw?
© Rockstar Games
05
The game celebrates its cinematic inspirations
In regards to its overall tone, the Red Dead Redemption franchise's biggest inspiration is Sergio Leone's Dollar trilogy: A Fistful Of Dollars, For A Few Dollars More, and The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly. In our short time with the game, there were also two direct allusions to two other classic Western films: Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, and Unforgiven. If you're a film buff, you'll definitely find a lot to dig into.
Shave and a haircut?
© Rockstar Games
06
Your haircuts are subtractive
You can get a shave and a haircut at the local saloon in Red Dead Redemption 2, and even with a mundane mechanic like this one, Rockstar added an extra level of realism.
In Grand Theft Auto V, you went to the barber shop to pick out a haircut, and you could change your hair and beard in reality-defying ways. Trevor, for example, is originally clean shaven with male pattern baldness, but if you wanted Trevor to have long hair and a shaggy beard, he would magically sprout it.
In Red Dead Redemption 2, hair is subtractive. You can style or shave what you have, but you can't 'grow' it – it needs to first grow out by itself.
Arthur Morgan riding atop his noble steed
© Rockstar Games
07
Your horse can perform dressage
The horses in Red Dead Redemption 2 are personalised, with several different interactive options to bond with them. You can brush a horse, feed it or give its neck a rub, and these actions will increase the horse's attachment to you. It won't spook during a gunfight, and it'll learn tricks, like rearing up on its hind legs. It'll even be able to perform dressage.
And if the horse dies? It's gone for good. The old days of the original Red Dead Redemption, when a horse deed could provide you with a never ending stream of American Standardbreds, are no more.
There's beauty in the oddest of places
© Rockstar Games
08
Your gear weathers over time
Your gear is endlessly customisable, from the design and handles on your guns to the make and decoration of your horse's saddle. The implication, though, is that your gear must be looked after and taken care of. If it gets wet, in the river or during a storm, it'll start to weather and rust. You have to oil everything and keep everything clean. These maintenance supplies are available at a number of general stores.
Also of note is that the general stores have shopping catalogues that are frighteningly detailed. Inside are advertisements for fictional companies, and there are comparative product descriptions thematically tied to each page. Developers spent hundreds of hours developing aspects of this game that most people will never see, but they're there for the most obsessive players to find.
Is that trouble on the horizon?
© Rockstar Games
09
Non-automatic weapons need to be cocked
This is small, but significant: your non-automatic weapons, like your cattleman's revolver, need two actions to use. Press the controller button once to cock the gun, and then press it again to fire it.
This is awkward at first, but so were revolvers at the turn of the century. The additional action also establishes a clear distinction between the older guns of the Wild West, and the semi-automatic guns you can buy later in the game.
Is that trouble on the horizon?
© Rockstar Games
10
You can escalate or calm down every chance encounter
You can interact with every person you come across, and you can choose the tone and purpose of that interaction. You can rob someone or you can greet them politely. You can instigate an argument or you can levy a threat. You can anger people, and then talk them down after doing so.
These encounters are unpredictable and people will react differently to the same treatment. Try to steal a man's horse, and he might dismount reluctantly, ride off at a frenzied gallop or start shooting. Rob a local store and the proprietor might beg for mercy, and then try to shoot you when your back's turned. Protect yourself at all times, and try to talk your way out of trouble whenever possible.
