Game info

• Title Red Dead Redemption II
• Developer Rockstar Games
• Publisher Rockstar Games
• Year 2018
• Platform Playstation 5
• Genre Action

America, 1899. The end of the Wild West era has begun. After a robbery goes badly wrong in the western town of Blackwater, Arthur Morgan and the Van der Linde gang are forced to flee. With federal agents and the best bounty hunters in the nation massing on their heels, the gang must rob, steal and fight their way across the rugged heartland of America in order to survive. As deepening internal divisions threaten to tear the gang apart, Arthur must make a choice between his own ideals and loyalty to the gang who raised him.

Player Select

I have only heard good things about this game, and a friend reported that they played for hours and hours so got great value for money out of it. I love a third person exploration style game so it seemed like this was right up my street. Even though it’s a few years old now, it was still on my list to investigate, and it popped up in a festive Playstation sale which meant it was a must buy.

It’s in the Game

Oh man, the world you’re thrust into here is great. Early wild west, the visuals are amazing, snow and mountains and whistling wind and wooden huts and lots to explore. There are a few characters to get to know and quite a complicated gameplay system to get your head round (it’s not just run and jump, you also have to manage your energy and your horse’s, find and consume food and keep on top of your health throughout).

I got a bit stuck trying to shoot the wolves, as discussed many times, I’m not great at aiming. And I was getting really frustrated, until the point eventually the game gave me the option to skip to the next checkpoint and move on. What a GREAT idea. Have a go, have many attempts if you like, but if you’re really not getting anywhere, don’t give up, we’ll just move on. Loved that.

But that’s probably the only bit of it I did love. It looks good but it was pretty dull, just riding around on a horse through snow for hours and hours, I just couldn’t be bothered with it after a while. I suspect there’s more story to get invested in once you start getting deeper into the game, and I can totally see the appeal, but I’m just not sure I want to give it my time.

Thoughts

A huge game with plenty going for it, and some very forgiving gameplay options for useless players like me that only have so much patience for failure. But in the end not my cup of tea and not one I will revisit.

Rating: 2 / 5