I wholeheartedly recommend Red Dead Redemption 2, and here's why.

It is a mature, story driven, open world game. And it touches on some profound subjects like loyalty, sacrifice, loss and redemption. And as such, you have to respect the pacing and the time necessary for character and story development. Things take time, and good things take even longer. But in the end it will all be worth it.

If you expect this game to behave like a battle royale, guns blazing, non-stop action clownfiesta - you'll be sorely disappointed. This game is the complete opposite of that. It's about character growth, meaningful choices and living with the consequences. Not gonna lie, a combination of all the things I'm about to mention, mixed with personal feelings made me tear up at a certain point in the game. And that's the magic that inspired me to write this review.

Visuals and Innovation

The prologue serves as a short introductory tutorial, which in turn also shows off some of the game's innovative technology. Gorgeous graphics, volumetric lighting, polished animations, incredible weather effects and biomes, all of that wrapped nicely in a very well crafted soundtrack suite.

I was lucky enough to be able to run the game on a combination of Ultra and High settings. And it is ridiculously beautiful. And I'm not talking only about the textures and shadows. But also how the world itself looks and works. All the big things like three dimensional looking clouds, vast gaping canyons, perilous mountains and treacherous swamps. And all the small details like different tracks and imprints in the snow, a million different animations for skinning animals, collecting plants or interacting with your horse. Clothes getting dirty, dusty, snowy, muddy or bloody depending on where you are and what you're doing.

I've never seen a game have this many animations for literally everything in the game. Every little action has it's own animation, mesh and sound. Even after 1500 hours played I am still amazed by how detailed everything is.

Story and Gameplay

The game's story immediately gripped me and also gave me a lot to think about. It's not every day that you play as an experienced outlaw cowboy, that's also a part of a very homely gang of criminals. The writing is on point, the characters are all interesting and have a role to play. And you will find yourself inevitably caring for these crooks and felons. All the cutscenes are masterfully executed with a touch of Hollywood type of production. Lots of beautiful symbolism and metaphors.

I also found myself comparing Red Dead to The Sopranos a little bit. As in there's some similarities when it comes to personality clashes, dialogues, escalations, conflicts and that shocking realization that no one is safe. And even major characters can be killed off at any moment, especially when you least expect it. I really liked that, and I enjoyed that feeling of unpredictability.

My favorite feature by far is the ability to make choices. And choices always have repercussions. Some sooner, and some later, but they always do. And I love that. I love that I can choose what kind of man my protagonist is gonna turn into. Most missions will offer you a choice one way or the other. And these choices will define your character's personality and alignment, mission outcome, and even the game's very ending.

Music and Sound design

I honestly didn't expect the game's music to be this pleasant and memorable. Rockstar games always end up having a good, solid score. But I never actually wanted to listen to it outside of the game. Until Red Dead. Because this game not only has this very charming fusion of western and ambient music. But also a unique soundtrack that has been specifically written and composed for different moments in the game. Very impressive and I admit that I must have listened to this one on repeat at least 50 times.

The world feels alive and lush with sounds. This game makes watching your character light up and smoke a cigarette look entertaining. And it's in no small part due to the amazing audio design. Animals and forests, cities and towns, high octane firefights and relaxing nights in your camp. They're all so immersive and well put together. The little comfy parties that sometimes occur, have in-game characters actually sing and perform all kinds of folk songs. That's lip sync, face and body motion, as well as actually singing and jesting. That detail alone had me in awe of the game's excellent cast. Some characters sing well, some sing poorly, but when put together it all sounds so real, so lifelike. You could swear that the developers just put all the voice actors in one room and told them to improvise and interact with each other.

So many lines of dialogue, so much variation, so much talent. Even the characters that you despise, you kind almost like because of how real they seem.

Online

I played a good 400 hours of Red Dead Online and I have to say I love it. You have a decent character creator, tons of customization options later on and a morality system. The interactions you have with the world and other players are extremely fun all around. Hell just beating your friends to a pulp and running away from wild wolves together is an experience I recommend to everyone. Oh and the Online's even got it's own brand new story mode. A bunch of really fun and varied missions, which can be all be fully played in co-op! But that's not even close to all there is to do.

As you progress through Online, you'll gain the ability to unlock new roles. Such as Trader, Bounty Hunter, Collector or (new) Moonshiner. These roles not only grant access to new missions and ways of making money. But also unlock exclusive rewards, perks and items that can only be gained from advancing these roles.

There are also many different NPCs scattered around the game world. You can talk to them and accept all manner of missions. Some of them are good, law abiding people. And some are outcasts and outlaws looking for accomplices.

In addition to all of that, there are also different PvP game modes such as: racing, team battles, deathmatches and many others. You can also hunt and fish together, or murder and rob everyone. There's really no boring activity in this game. And unlike GTA5O it has no stupid flying rocket bikes who spawn camp you the moment you leave a shop.

My favorite thing about RDO is how there's so much new content that's not available in single-player. New animations, models, activities and items. All the cool cutscenes where you can see yourself and your friends. There's even choices to be made at the end of some story quests. I was very pleasantly surprised by just how fun it is to play it.

Problems and Controversy

A lot of people seem to have technical difficulties, crashes, and low fps. And while I agree that the game isn't 100% optimized on PC, there's also human stupidity too. There are people out there try to run the game on a crappy 2005 laptop with Windows XP, and then complain when it's not working. That's not how PC gaming works, and unfortunately people rush to blame the game. When it's obviously running and playing smoothly for so many of us who actually take care of our PCs.

Red Dead Online also features a Battle Pass now. Which I initially utterly rejected and condemned. Until I realized that you can get it without spending a single dime. I got the Battle Pass by just playing the game and saving up my gold, and so can you. You got several months to farm up the gold, which shouldn't prove difficult at all. Seeing as how I sometimes manage to get 5 gold bars in one day. Just by completing missions and challenges, using maps and hunting for treasure, leveling up and advancing my roles, completing daily quests and more. You kinda just get rich without even trying. So definitely DON'T spend real money to buy the pass.