Rockstar Games’ critically acclaimed video game is considered one of the greats, but it’s the game’s emotional core that makes it so phenomenal
By NATALIE SALTER—arts@theaggie.org
In an industry so diverse in its offerings, it can be hard to properly define what qualifies as a video game masterpiece. No two games are fully alike, and there are a thousand different factors to consider: the gameplay itself, the story, the quality and performance of graphics, the characters and their motion-capture performances, to name a few. This sheer volume of variables means that a game can seldom satisfy every single qualification and hit every single mark without sacrificing something else in the process.
The most detailed and expansive of open-world games are often weaker in their stories; those games which are motivated by storytelling first and foremost often limit themselves to that narrative and offer the player little freedom beyond it. Thus, it is no small accomplishment for a game to not only balance but succeed in each and every one of these categories — and if there is one game that has done this exceedingly well, it is the 2018 action-adventure title “Red Dead Redemption II.”
Remaining to this day one of the most critically acclaimed games of the last decade, Rockstar Games’ “Red Dead Redemption II” is a genuine triumph of the modern video game. Players are thrust into a captivating fictionalized picture of 1899 America as Arthur Morgan, an esteemed member of an infamous gang of outlaws fighting to retain their lawless ways as the age of the gunslinger comes to a close. Once the expository passage of the game is completed and all of the features of its world and gameplay become available, what ensues for any new player is an unforgettable experience which is nearly impossible not to fall in love with.
Filled with lush scenery and incredible detail captured with the game’s hyper-realistic graphics, it’s hard not to fall in love with the immersive world “Red Dead Redemption II” creates. The landscapes are expansive and full of thousands of unique quests, conversable side characters, skill-based activities such as fishing or bounty hunting, secrets and even treasure maps leading to piles of gold. The game’s attention to detail and commitment to immersion is genuinely commendable. The world of “Red Dead” feels alive in every sense: characters interact with each other around your camp and beyond regardless of player intervention; wolves play with each other in the snow; and construction workers hammer individually animated nails into boards. With thousands of possible conversations and discoveries, the entire world reacts to and interacts with the player as vividly as the player interacts with it.
The game’s story is likewise anything but forgettable, following the inner workings and disputes of the central Van Der Linde gang as they are hunted by government agents and embroiled in the sociopolitical conflicts of the regions they pass through. It is a feat of video game storytelling that is relentless to the end, leaving you hardly able to turn the game off for a second.
Moreover, the characters are brilliantly crafted and brought to life by the voice and motion-capture acting. Protagonist Arthur — the subject of no small amount of critical praise for his deeply emotional journey and striking internal and external struggles — exhibits a complexity of nature and growth which is near unparalleled in the video game industry. His interpersonal relationships are just as captivating, interacting and connecting with the gang’s members as they all struggle to find a way out of a world that is closing in on them from all sides. None of the emotions, relationships or decisions integral to Arthur’s story are middling in impactfulness. The result of this is one of the most human characters created in the industry who, if you choose to play “Red Dead,” will prove to be unforgettable long after you’ve moved on to other games.
Among the many components of this game to note, one of its most daring implementations is an honor system wherein the player receives positive or negative “honor” points according to the morality of their choices throughout the narrative and beyond. This honor level affects the course of the story and even the ending of the game, pushing players to interrogate their own decisions and what they believe to be right. From being given the choice to give money to a beggar or help a lost man find his way home to making incredibly weighted choices near the game’s end, players are, just like in real life, continually given the opportunity to do what is right for themselves or, though it may be inconvenient or hard, the kind choice. The combination of the branching honor system and the sheer variety of ways in which players can confront situations they find themselves in ensures that no matter how many times you play the game, you’ll have a new experience every time.
It is an achievement on its own to create a game as detailed and enjoyable to play as “Red Dead Redemption II”; it is another to intertwine this experience with a deeply moving story which may bring even the most stoic of players to tears. “Red Dead” boldly ventures to ask us what we consider “good.” Can a person be entirely good or evil by nature? Are we defined by our mistakes, or by our acts of good? Is it only the largest and most sweeping acts of righteousness that change the world for the better, or are the little kindnesses we can carry out each and every day just as important? These questions, left largely to the players themselves to answer, lay the foundation of the game’s story. Although players can choose to live as reckless and bloody a criminal life as they wish, it is the “high honor” arc of the game that is perhaps the most impactful.
The world is complicated; it’s often filled with pain and fear, and doing the right thing is seldom easy. And yet, you can choose to be kind, to help the people and places around you even if it is in the littlest of ways. That, “Red Dead” seems to insist, is the true meaning of courage. And if there’s one thing to take away once you put down the controller and wander back into the uncertainty and fear of real life, it’s that you are brave and capable enough to change the world, one loving act at a time.
Written by: Natalie Salter—arts@theaggie.org