RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2
Lock, stock, and barrelled
Arthur Morgan is a man conflicted. He knows the difference between right and wrong. Riding with the Dutch Gang, he’s one of their leader’s most trusted men – practically raised by him from a young age. They have a code: to take from those who deserve taking from, and to help those they can. But when you’re as good at killing as he is, it seems there’s often no choice but to reach for a gun, and line up headshot after headshot.
Thankfully it’s a lot of fun to do. The secret to the gunplay in Red Dead Redemption 2 is simple in much the same way it was in the first game. Hit an enemy in a vital spot – principally in their meaty, fleshy faces – and the bullet tears through them, killing them instantly. There’s none of this nonsense of enemies wearing helmets or getting progressively more armoured as you go on. If Morgan gets a clean shot at an enemy (and he will have the opportunity for many) – they’re going to die. Major characters and all. No health bars, no glory, only death. While the same premise existed in the first game, here enemies react to those bullets much more realistically, and if they’re not taken out in one hit, will recoil just as you’d expect.
TRIGGER HAPPY
Not all missions involve firefights, but many of them inevitably will. After all, it’s a parade of violence that Morgan couldn’t escape from even if he wanted. Not while he continues to ride with the Dutch Gang. It’s a good thing, then, that the
“HIT AN ENEMY IN A VITAL SPOT AND THE BULLET WILL TEAR THROUGH THEM, KILLING THEM INSTANTLY.”
shooting feels so right. Whether you’re ducking behind cover as you take shots at enemies holed up in a homestead, taking out pursuers as you ride into the sunset on your horse, or pushing forward through a moving train, tearing through enemies feels fantastic.
Each weapon has its own quirks to learn and master – ultimately, its own unique way of handling. You may end up having a favourite among your bevy of bullet-birthing barrels, not just the one which simply does the most damage, but the one you feel most comfortable handling. And you need to make decisions, as you can’t simply switch between Morgan’s entire armoury as and when you please. Your big guns are stored on your horse, so you need to decide which ones you’ll take (though for certain missions the game tweaks your loadout to be optimal – you rarely feel unprepared). That said, with two pistol holsters, room to strap larger weapons to both your shoulder and back, and space for both close combat weapons and small throwing weapons, you’re spoilt for choice even when you’re off your horse.
Just like in the movies, every gun can be fired from the hip, revolvers fanned. Dead Eye makes a return, of course, enabling you to temporarily slow down time and mark where you’ll quickly let off the remaining shots in your chamber in one quick burst of incredible gunplay. There’s no better feeling than ending a fight before it even begins by tagging a row of heads in front of you, and dropping them as they barely have time to unholster their own guns. Getting into fights up close makes closing the distance more enjoyable than ever. There’s nothing like tackling that last guy to the ground and executing him with a gun to the head. Simple pleasures. Using cover is anything but stiff, and you’re able to move fluidly between barriers to outflank enemies. And yes, your hat can get blown off by enemy bullets (which you can pick back up in the middle of a firefight because of course – no o hat left behind).
SYSTEM SHOCK
What you’re able to do is loosely governed by the Core system – a series of different meters that subtly ubtly pop up above the minimap as and when you need to see them. Across the board the HUD is minimal (you can toggle this to be more or less present depending on what you want), only getting in the way when it thinks you need to see something. Your three main stats (health, stamina, and Dead Eye) and your horse all have a two-part meter: ter: a circular Core meter, plus another wrapped around d the Core. The more you use e them, the more they level up to give you
“THERE’S A TREMENDOUS SENSE OF PHYSICALITY TO THE WORLD.”
higher caps. The meter around the Core regenerates with time, but when the Cores deplete from overuse, they’re a little harder to top up.
Usually you need to eat provisions or down tonics to get your Core levels back up – and sleeping restores everything. It’s not too much hassle, but adds just a little extra layer of thought if you really want the edge. Watching Morgan chug beans out of a can, chase it with whiskey, and then quickly smoke a cigar – all in the middle of combat – is pretty amazing. He even throws his empty cans to the side. Whenever you do something like this, there’s never the sense that they’re just going to disappear from his hand instantly, because that wouldn’t make sense in this detailed world Rockstar has created.
MATERIAL WORLD
There’s a tremendous physicality to Red Dead Redemption 2’s world, and a true sense of realism. It’s in the way you handle your guns, pulling them off the horse and putting a rifle back on your shoulder after a gunfight; in picking up bodies as you loot them for small items like pocket watches or tasty tonics; it’s even in the way you run, tapping the button in rhythm as you sprint to gain a fraction of an edge.
This physicality ties into the many little systems that add savour to the way the world is put together like salt seasoning a delicious bit of beef jerky. In New Hanover and its surrounding areas, how you interact with the world always makes sense. Your ability to harness Arthur Morgan’s quick fingers through Dead Eye is about as fantastical as the world gets. You’re never hurling yourself around the world like you might in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey – but you’re certainly living in it.
Sure, you can blaze a trail of mayhem, shooting up a town, but that will have serious consequences. You’ll have to deal with having a bounty on your head in the area, services will shut down, and people will confront you. Paying it off isn’t too much of a hassle (though money isn’t always easy to come by), but it adds to the sense of simply existing. Walk around town with your guns out, and people get upset; approach campfires with a bandana hiding your face, and those taking a rest are likely to draw their own guns on you.
All the tiny systems in the game, while adding to the believability of the world, are rarely so heavy they get in the way of enjoying the action. Sure, running from one end of the world to another is never going to be completely easy. You’ve got to work for it. You’ve got to raise that bond with your horse so it can have the best stamina possible and keep it happy if you want an easy ride. But if you don’t engage too deeply with building up your horses, the baseline performance isn’t going to change much. Your guns can fall into disrepair, slightly diminishing your stats, but the game’s not going to be awful to play if you don’t clean them constantly – and looking after them only requires a quick lick of manual cleaning with gun oil in your hands, or paying a small fee to the gun shop to do it. Similarly, if you’re wearing inappropriate clothing for cold or hot weather it’ll deplete your Cores a bit, but not too harshly – and your horse can carry up to five outfits anyway for quick changes, which by default include outfits for either side of the climate extremes.
Kill and skin an animal, and you can get your horse to carry it so you can sell it at a town before it rots. You may as well sell the meat if you think you’ll go into town while it’s still good, but if you don’t engage with those systems it never seems hugely detrimental. You needn’t upgrade your gang’s camp if you don’t want to, nor do you have to let Morgan cut his hair (though other characters will comment on it). Everything does add extra detail, but you never feel like you’re being forced into engaging with every system or that you’re missing out if you leave any of them alone for a bit. Crucially, it’s also all hassle-free enough that if you do want to hop back into them
after a spell of not worrying about them, they’re easy to get to grips with.
TALK THE WALK
You can interact with every character in the game by targeting them with p without having your gun drawn. Unholstering your gun is a distinct action, and not the de facto way you get Morgan to look at things. Most people you chat with won’t have tons to say, but they’ll have something, and sometimes that can lead to tip-offs about secrets in the world or just tiny hints, especially if you interact with them as part of a Chance Encounter, small quick missions that can occur anywhere and everywhere. While not huge things, we didn’t encounter duplicates as we explored the world, and came across many (though, admittedly, we were busy being on the run, and didn’t always stop to help every single person – sorry to the man being savaged by wolves in the woods, we just weren’t feeling it).
There’s a huge amount of side content to discover, whether that’s more structured heists that your gang members ask you to help out with, or being tipped off about an easy mark yourself from other people wandering the world.
There’s also a lot of variation in stranger missions. Rarely does it seem like you’re doing the same thing over and over again. Looking for collectibles such as dinosaur bones feels challenging; a sequence of treasure maps really pushes your exploration skills; and every mission in the series where you hit up debtors to make them pay what they owe feels distinct.
Outside of the main story missions, you always find something when you saddle up your horse and go on a journey. There are famous gunslingers, legendary animals to track, and so much more to run into. What’s special is it always seems meaningful. You might not be grabbing experience or special items for everything you do, but it still feels important – and it makes those times you do uncover a particularly good weapon all the more significant.
FLEE BARGAIN
As you progress through the story, the gang’s camp moves along the map, as they’re pursued doggedly by Pinkerton agents. The gang’s a rag-tag bunch, and each of the 20 or so main characters you interact with as part of it is unique, and you do form a bond with some of them. Back at camp they comment on little things here and there, but not in a crazy amount of detail. But those little things add up.
Early on, the structure of the main missions is your standard Rockstar fare – you spend a lot of time riding your horse to missions as characters talk, and for the most part they end in a big gunfight of some sort. There are some more varied missions, and the game really shines in those moments (one
“MORGAN’S FELLOW GANG MEMBERS ADD WELCOME DIVERSITY TO THE CAST.”
mission is simply a drunk night out and is very fun, and cleverly presented), but they’re few and far between. Early on, you definitely feel like an errand boy, forced to help out every gang member with everything. It does get looser later on, but for the most part it is quite a linear story.
The narrative touches on historical subject matter – women’s suffrage, racism, workers’ rights – but never says much about any of them. Morgan does engage with the Native American plight in a way that has more meaning. His relationships with gang members who have to engage with these things directly, like the Native American Charles Smith, or the no-nonsense Sadie Adler, add welcome diversity to the cast and the story – and is absolutely a step above the likes of, er, “Irish”, and many of the one-note characters from the first game (as much as we still love it).
You sometimes have choices as to whether to do a mission at all or not, or small choices within missions (such as opting for a stealth approach, though more often or not this just slightly delays the gunfight). And, knowing from the first game how things probably shake up, you can sometimes feel trapped on a bad path. But, that’s how Morgan, as a person, does actually feel. Ultimately, Red Dead Redemption 2 is Morgan’s story, and the game’s at it’s best when it’s delving into that. He’s an interesting, three-dimensional character, and exploring his layers as the tale progresses is a delight.
VERDICT
No open world game makes you feel as physically present as Red Dead Redemption 2. It’s a treat to inhabit. The story might feel a bit linear, but you’ll want to see it through, and your own journey awaits besides, over the open plains. Oscar Taylor-Kent