The scope for Red Dead Redemption 2 isn’t necessarily tied to the “size” of the world, but instead its depth. From the short amount that we played of the game, relatively-speaking, I have no doubts that the Western world that Red Dead Redemption 2 is bringing to life will probably be massive. As recent trailers and screenshots for the game have highlighted several environments that players will explore throughout the game , such as the swamplands of St. Denis and the snow-capped mountains of Mount Hagen, there already seem to be a larger variety of different topographies, climates, and locations compared to Red Dead Redemption .
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It was the moments of quiet that were most enjoyable, just wandering the prairie through Redemption was enough to satisfy western fantasies. Both games also took place in the classic dusty west audiences have come to imagine from spaghetti westerns, now veering toward more recent films such as The Revenant, which seems to be the direction Red Dead Redemption 2 is going. Not a bad thing.
One of the biggest ways that Rockstar accomplishes this in Red Dead Redemption 2 is by integrating a new “Focus” ability for Arthur to interact with virtually any object, person, or animal that he comes across. By holding the L2 button (as we played the game on PS4 Pro) without a weapon holstered, Arthur can choose from a variety of ways to engage with oncoming travelers, shopkeepers, and other NPCs in the environment, whether that’s to greet them, antagonize them (likely resulting in a violent conflict), rob them, and more.
For such a stoic man, John Marston, the protagonist of Red Dead Redemption , was a bit for a clutz. Despite being a frontiersman that should’ve been adapted to the rough terrain of the West, players found their character stumbling around like a drunken fool at the slightest notion of uneven land. It didn’t seem like John Marston had much ability to explore anything other than flat firm ground. Getting a player character that can climb up can ledges and swim across rivers would make for a much more realistic Western character, ready to take on whatever the terrain throws at them. He doesn’t need to have Assassin’s Creed style free running, jumping from tree to tree like a flying squirrel, but a bit more natural movement and flexibility over what terrain the player can traverse would make for a better character and experie
From the beginning of the game when you enter the bustling Western town of Valentine, to the city streets and electric glow of Saint Denis, every detail, environment, and setting is meticulously crafted and offers a ton for the player to explore and interact with. By holding the L2 button (as we played on PS4) to focus on a specific person, object, or animal, Arthur has a range of options to interact with them, whether it’s to greet a traveler on the road, robbing a store clerk, picking up an object to observe it in greater detail, and yes, even down to petting a dog or brushing your horse’s coat. These types of interactions aren’t just limited to characters that are integral to the story; you can engage with pretty much any other person or animal that you find out in the world, and having that possibility to engage with NPCs in such a way adds so much to how far Rockstar has gone to make Red Dead Redemption 2 ‘s world feel deep and tangible.
Even having only played the game for a brief amount of time, seeing the level of interaction with the NPCs in Red Dead Redemption 2 already showed what I think will be one of its most fascinating elements. With so many options now opened up to engage with the characters throughout the world, it gave me a thrill that, by and large, any NPC in Red Dead Redemption 2 could potentially give players something new to draw from the world. As Rockstar noted, characters in the game have their own set schedules and paths, which could lead to players finding some NPCs at specific locations at certain times of the day. When the Van der Linde gang sets up camp, some of Arthur’s gang members can even appear randomly at nearby towns or locations, such as when we heard Arthur got into a fist fight with some locals at the saloon, only for Bill and Javier to show up and lend a hand.
These moments, as small and inconsequential as they may seem compared to the larger story being told, were really what made Red Dead Redemption 2 ‘s world and setting feel unlike anything that I’ve played before. As a game that’s been worked on by Rockstar for nearly 7-8 years — basically since the release of Red Dead Redemption in 2010 — the time and attention to detail put into its world and setting by the studio are on an unprecedented level. With the force of all of Rockstar’s teams behind it from around the Open World games vehicles, the studio has called it their most “ambitious” project leading up to its release, and that might just be underselling it. Based on what I’ve played from the game so far, the level of interactivity, mechanics, and systems available to players make Red Dead Redemption 2 as close as we can get to the living, breathing Western world that Rockstar is aiming to deliver, and I can’t wait to explore more of it.
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