kontextmaschine:

Finished the main arc of Red Dead Redemption 2.

It’s the best-written story I’ve played as a game, the epic tragedy of America and masculinity that Rockstar was trying for with GTA 4 and V

So much so that when you step back you realize the story missions aren’t much from a gameplay perspective - you repeatedly ride horses while having a conversation, watch a cutscene or do a one-off button press mechanic to do something, then an unchallenging fight where you either fire at a wave of attackers from cover or ride away firing at the ones chasing you

There’s enough novelty in the stranger missions and hunting and challenges to keep you entertained though

In plotting it keeps up the GTA V mechanism of being oriented around a few major heists, but there are parts where it seems to be aping RDR1’s beats in an almost Star Wars sequel fashion. This far into the last one we had an escapade with Mexican rebels? So this time we’ll have an escapade with Cuban rebels! Last one ended with John Marston doing odd ranching jobs? Well

Wrote this and hopped in the shower I was like “wait, are you saying RDR2 is a walking simulator?”

And like… lots of walking and talking, strong character-driven story, beautifully detailed environments, thin quicktime event-heavy gameplay as a frame on which to hang dialogue? Maybe not wrong?

Like, thinking of comparables, MGSV:Phantom Pain was all in service of Kojima’s narrative and themes, but the gameplay mechanics were a lot more central to advancing through it. And there is the Rockstar precedent of L.A. Noire, where they took their GTA engine and built this polished model of late-40s Los Angeles and its pathologies and then had to be pressed to add driving and shooting mechanics