Game Over: Red Dead Redemption 2

I started playing Red Dead Redemption 2 in 2018 when it first came out, and got maybe two chapters in before I stopped — I wasn’t long off the mountain if that hints at how far I was. I stopped playing because it was a large game and I needed the space on my PlayStation 4, then I never got back around to it because I lent my disc to someone and never got it back. Fast forward to earlier this year when I figured it had been long enough, I decided that I was going to muscle through the mountain section again thanks to the game being in the PlayStation Plus catalogue.

Spoiler warning, I’ve finished the game and want to talk about the story and endgame content.

Well, much to my surprise even though my save wasn’t on PS+, it was on the Rockstar Games Social Club, and allowed me to pick up where I’d left off, heading for a night out on the town of Valentine. 20 hours later, I was still having a good time, and trying to remember how the first game started, so that I could work out how things got from this to that. Sure, things kept going wrong, and we were definitely not getting to Tahiti, but there was probably a happy ending of some sort between the two games.

The main gist of the game is you play as Arthur Morgan, a member of the Van Der Lind gang. After being chased out of the town of Blackwater and having to leave their money behind, it’s up to Dutch Van Der Lind, Arthur and the others to get things back on track and create a happy and prosperous life for their found family. By robbing, cheating, lying, and killing.

When I hit 40 hours, I was absolutely astounded that the game was still going. Not only going, but we had left America and landed on the island of Guarma? It had its own map and landmarks! But then we returned to America, and the game clearly had no intention of ending any time soon. There had been at least two “penultimate missions”, or at least that’s how they felt going into them — I’m so used to games warning that you’re at the point of no return, but even right to the end of the game I don’t recall seeing one.

In fact, I finished the main game at around 69 hours, but get this… it kept going. Red Dead Redemption 2 doesn’t end just because the main character is dead, it just gives you a new point of view and shoves you out the door! Epilogue I sees you returning to Valentine years later and building a life for a family man. Get a job, do the job — I mean you, you do the painstakingly long tasks that make up your job with multiple button presses per step. Then his wife leaves him, and Epilogue II begins! But the work doesn’t end.

One of the worst things about Epilogue II is how it relocates you literally miles from the areas you’ve grown to know and love. Did Arthur never get around to killing that legendary moose? Well, your new guy can do it, but it’s going to take him even longer to get there. I don’t know if there are any optional side quests to do, because I went and did them all as Arthur — maybe leaving some stuff to do would have been beneficial? But I didn’t know that Arthur’s death would result in nine more hours of game.

That’s right, Red Dead Redemption 2 took me 78 hours to complete, and the end credits take literally more than 30 minutes. I honestly was just so happy to hit the end credits, the game more than outstayed its welcome with me, and when I began playing another long game, I finally realised why. It’s just so repetitive. I spent nine hours wishing it would finally end (after having wished for 20 hours before that), and yet I spent nine hours in part of a different game enjoying myself because I had lots of variety available. Those nine hours weren’t even in the main game, but a monumental, optional side quest!

Every single story mission in Red Dead Redemption 2 is a variation on; travel via horseback to a place either solo or with someone, shoot people, escape while shooting people. The people you’re with/fighting and reasons change, but the long journey times don’t, nor does the solution: some kind of rifle. Sure, you’ll often be given no other choice than to use your trusty sidearm, but the game may also decide which weapons you’re going to be equipped with. I lost count of the number of times I went in with a rifle and a shotgun, only to find myself holding a sniper rifle and a different rifle.

The side quests have a lot more variety, such as tracking down circus animals or “convincing” someone to change their mind on a report. Unfortunately, you have to be in the general area for them to even appear on your map so that you can try and find them. I explored most of the map, but you have to be in the right chapter and not currently on a mission for them to appear, and then you’ve got random snake bites and train robberies that you can help out. Maybe you want to break someone free from law enforcement or untie a kidnapping victim — just make sure to put away your weapon before trying to talk to them, otherwise they leg it and you get no reward!

I know that I’ve complained a lot, and I didn’t even mention how the graphics just don’t appear as good as I remember thinking in 2018. But, I did enjoy my time with Red Dead Redemption 2. It goes on too long and is repetitive, and the story is draining on your morale — which may very well be why I wanted it to end. Not only do you know that things are going to go wrong, but the characters know it and even state it outright! But at least there’s Gavin’s Friend to shine through the bleakness… At least play until you hit Saint Denis, if you fancy it.