How open world is this?

[The Magic Wombat]

I understand it has a story, but I prefer games like the Batman Arkham series/Fallout/Elder Scrolls where I can go off on my own and explore and find missions as I see fit. Then, I will come back to the main story line as I see fit.

So, how "open" or "linear" is it?

[Kristoffers0n]

Its very open, as you travel the map on your horse you can find tons of side missions/ little tasks to do, they're pretty easy but still very fun, the story itself is so good too. people to this day are still finding secrets for a 5-6 year old game. Very open world

[every1hasnames]

open. truly open.

you can do main missions whenver you want. this is how it works. main missions will be indicated by a yellow circle with the initials of the character giving it to you in the middle.



until you do them. they will always be there. You can do them at your leisure.



side missions/side quest/side content what have you. can be the same or they can have a time limit.


some side missions are available the whole game.some are only available for a period of time. and even still some side missions will go away if you run into them but dont interact with them.

ill give you a vage example of this. your free roaming on your hourse. you pass by a person yelling for help. if you choose to just keep going. you will miss the chance to do that side content. it will go away.



while other side quest/side content or more permanent. vague example. side content giver is in a specific bar. and will be there whenever you enter the bar. whether that be in the beginning of the game or in the middle of the game or near the end of the game.

jjust keep in mind again there are time limits. side content can go away if you dont do them.



its certainly on par of games like elder scrolls and fallout etc that you listed.

[Jimmy Rustler]

its not very open till you get to chapter 2, and then you still need to do a few story missions to open up more of your side activities and shops. But its the most open world game other than Skyrim I have ever played.

[Taz]

After the slow 4 hour opening, it's very open until you're in a mission and then it's extremely limited in what you can do and very linear. If you don't do the mission exactly like Rockstar wants you to, it's mission failed. Outside of the missions the game is very open and there are no loading screens even when going into buildings.

[The Magic Wombat]

Interesting. I sort of like the idea of some missions going away if you don't get to them. But, are they forever gone, or are side missions generated by the game.

For example: I decide I don't like the sound of someone's voice, so I don't respond to their call for help. Is the total number of missions I have left to complete reduced by 1, or will the game always generate side missions?

[RageMojo]

There are several things in that vein. The yellow missions are required and advance the story. White missions are optional and some can be missed or you can ignore them if you want.

Then there are many interactions that are not missions at all. This is the most alive world i have ever played. NPCs in games like GTA or Saints Row start repeating lines and are obvious bot like. RDR2 breaks that mold with a variety of NPC interactions that were scripted out and voice acted and you may never even find them all.

Also Chapter 1 serves as the tutorial and it doesnt become true open world until Chapter 2. But i spend most of my time in Chapter 2. I literally do everything in the game i can before i do the Micha mission in Strawberry.

[Logan_Dubya]

the prologue is the only part you might find contrived

[Friendly Ghostface]

Originally posted by The Magic Wombat:

I understand it has a story, but I prefer games like the Batman Arkham series/Fallout/Elder Scrolls where I can go off on my own and explore and find missions as I see fit. Then, I will come back to the main story line as I see fit.

So, how "open" or "linear" is it?

It's not an open world game.

[EazyLee]

Originally posted by The Magic Wombat:

I understand it has a story, but I prefer games like the Batman Arkham series/Fallout/Elder Scrolls where I can go off on my own and explore and find missions as I see fit. Then, I will come back to the main story line as I see fit.

So, how "open" or "linear" is it?

Look at it as more of a "western life simulator"

The world is extremely open, not in the sense of lots of quests to do etc, but literally life itself.

There is so much to do and it all comes together so fluid, you probably wont realise you spent the last hour doing a task until its done.

For example, I've spent several hours simply hunting or fishing, then sitting in a bar afterwards getting drunk from my profits and maybe buying myself some nice new clothes.
Feel like bounty hunting? Sure, there are plenty of criminals at large to apprehend...
Maybe you want to try the criminal lifestyle instead? Hold a train up and rob everyone on it, or tie someone up and take them somewhere remote, empty their pockets then throw them off a cliff or leave them tied up on some train tracks.

Need a new horse? sure, go buy one or even better, go lasso one and then try to tame it then bond with it. Don't like the horse you have bonded with? go sell it at the stables and get yourself another...

The meat from hunting? set a campfire up and cook it for yourself or you can head to a butcher and sell him all of the skins you collected and meat. (You actually skin the animals btw, its not just a loot menu)

Or maybe you want to help one of the many npc's in whichever way theyll need help.

Honestly its one of the most open world games available to date aside from the linear story missions.

Almost 150 hours now on pc and i haven't even finished the first half of the story for reasons I wont disclose here as they contain spoilers hehehe that's not even including the time spent on console when it first came out.

I literally just travel around having fun with different features the world offers.

TL:DR The game is extremely open world. The people saying otherwise are referring to the main story which many people just rush through. The best of the game isn't even in the main story, it's in the living in the world.

[The Magic Wombat]

Based upon these comments--and the fact it is under $20, I think I'd be an idiot to not get it :)

TYVM Everyone who commented!

[CATegoryC]

Just enjoy the game, it's really hard not to. If you don't know the story it's by far the best way. Don't YT or Reddit just play. I never had a clue as to what was gonna happen just expect blood sweat and tears

[DargonBlak]

Originally posted by The Magic Wombat:

I understand it has a story, but I prefer games like the Batman Arkham series/Fallout/Elder Scrolls where I can go off on my own and explore and find missions as I see fit. Then, I will come back to the main story line as I see fit.

So, how "open" or "linear" is it?

i have played many similar games as you.

after 3+ years, and well over 1500 hours of RDR2 game time, i still play the Story Mode.
(i cannot recommend that anyone play RDR2 On-Line mode)

The Main Mission Quests are technically Scripted - you cannot exit them once you have started them, and the outcome is practically guaranteed. But there are some choices.

The choices during the scripted Main Missions are more related to how many people you kill, which weapon to use, how large of a bounty you get, and how much money you end up with - there is some variation, but these quests are so scripted that you can actually replay them.

Side Missions is where we can find the true beauty of the RDR2 Open World - travel around hunting, fishing, trading, crafting, horse wrangling, and occasionally get eaten by the fauna.

The RDR2 Open World is impressive, imo

p.s. for a scripted game, the main story is pretty good - just watch out for spoilers

[Man o' War]

Originally posted by The Magic Wombat:

How open world is this?

I spent over a thousand hours alone in chapter two exploring the world and discovering new people, places of interest, strange finds and just being in awe on occasion with the world created by the team that created it, it's a tour de force of discovery.

The only thing I'm not keen on being the explorer I am was having a camp member come looking for me when I've been gone a few days.

But in role playing terms and as part of a group I can understand it.

The player can always ignore the camp member and carry on regardless, that will depend upon how you want to play.

I've got around 2500 hours in the game and I can still run across new things and know there are still lots of things I haven't discovered.

It's an open world alright, none like it.

[Clancy]

Originally posted by Man o' War:

I've got around 2500 hours in the game and I can still run across new things and know there are still lots of things I haven't discovered.

It's an open world alright, none like it.

Same here, thousands of hours and multiple playthroughs and still finding new stuff.

I dropped off a wagon at the emerald ranch fence the other day and got tired of him whining about the condition so I finally shot him, and he drops dead and I fled the area. Never killed a fence in all my playthroughs, and didn't know if it would disable that fence shop from now on, so I went back a while later and found this . . .

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3032735755

A bit more humble after that, he was. This game never gets boring for me . . .

[Man o' War]

Brilliant Clancy, right down to the black eyes.

The attention to detail in this game is second to none.

Unfortunately I no longer have the screenshot but even the nails in Arthurs boots were visible when this incident happened as I was crafting over the fire.

The dog got chased by an alligator it was tormenting and in its fright it ran onto my fire and barbecued himself.

Didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2858591408