Thoughts on Chapter 5 - Guarma?

[J4MESOX4D]

I remember disliking this part when I played it back in 2018 on the PS4, and just finished it again on PC. It seemed to go quicker than I remember back then but I still think it's a poor and rushed inclusion which feels tacked-on and a wasted opportunity.

There's only a few missions and each one is fairly linear. I do enjoy the focus on combat but it all feels a bit over the top. One minute you are on the run after a botched bank job and then stowaways in another country taking on armies and ships in a dispute you've suddenly been inserted into. It's over far too soon (thankfully) but then you are back to where you started like nothing ever happened. If it was so easy to get a boat then why did the locals stick around all this time!?

The chapter kind of damaged the pace overall and whilst the gang had to lay low for a while, I would've rather just done some solo stuff in the mainland under a heightened threat of bounty hunters and law enforcement. I do think the Guarma map looks great despite its small scale but it feels too much for too little and I'd take a guess that it was scaled back and things were removed or didn't come to fruition that were planned.

What does everyone else think about it?

[AC Denton]

It's not the first time. Rockstar has had missions before where you go off the map to deal with stuff elsewhere. The pacing and time period of RDR2 just required it to be a chapter rather than a mission - so actually it fits the pacing well.

The main purpose is to give Arthur some alone time and narrative with Dutch, Micah, Bill and Javier. The characters that would be central to the next chapter and RDR1. It was essential and likely the best way to implement it.

[PaleoGhost]

I hate how it locks you into an hour and a half of gameplay without being able to do a manual save, all because the majority of the missions start at different parts of the island and the devs didn't want you to be able to explore Guarma properly.