Anna Shears

North West of El Matadero, John will come across a man who is essentially a slave. He longs to return to his love, and his owner agrees to let the man go if John brings him a stallion. Break a wild stallion in and deliver it to the owner and the man is freed. He thanks John, vowing that he is returning to his love and starting his life a

Both Red Harlow/John Marston fit the narrative perfectly; both were men born of the west and knew only a certain way of life. This solidified their stories even more. While Red Harlow sought to seek out the killers of his parents, John sought out closure for a life he had perpetuated on to himself. These stories have western tale written all over them and succeed by showcasing these separate tales in realistic ways, while still playing in to the western tropes people know and love. While there were some bigger set pieces show casing these tropes, i.e. certain shoot outs, they kept the west relatively tame. Especially Red Dead Redemption.

GTA V in its original state hit shelves in September of 2013. The next generation version came roughly a year later, with the PC version hitting in early 2015. Rockstar has been gradually updating GTA V online since then and working on Red Dead Redemption 2 . Rockstar is known for taking a long to release games, but five years between projects is long, even for them. When GTA IV released in 2008, Red Dead hit only 2 years later in 2010, which was followed by GTA V three years after that. The company must have known what their next game would be for some time. Maybe this prolonged development cycle is another sign that the game is in a very rough state and the delay is for more than just pol

The hardcore mode in Red Dead Redemption left a lot to be desired. Instead of shifting the gameplay focus to survivalist activities, (hunting, finding shelter) it mostly just made it harder to kill enemies . A mode that would force a player to stock up his saddle with food or be prepared to hunt or steal for a long journey across the map would make for the ultimate Western experience. Simply trying to stay alive for a couple of days should be a challenge as plays fend themselves off from bandits, starvation, bobcats, and the weather. It would also make beating the game in Hardcore mode that much more rewarding. While it may come off a bit too "simulator" to some, it would offer versatile game play and better replay va

While the map has yet to be released for Red Dead Redemption 2 , one can assume that there will be many bodies of water featured, much like in the previous game. Unfortunately, the bodies of water that were featured, mainly the San Luis River, were pretty static and mostly just served as barriers to parts of the map yet to be unlocked. The truth is, during the time of Frontier’s men, boats were an essential mode of transportation. Getting to paddle down river in a canoe as a giant casino ferry boat passes by would make for a much more fun and immersive experience. Getting to then hijack and send that giant casino ferry boat over a waterfall would just be the violent cherry up

The zombies are grotesque, bloated caricatures of the former residents and wildlife, John can ride rotting mounts, and the surviving residents are eaten and dismembered amongst their last gasping screams. The whole ordeal is disturbing to the senses; watching your favourite characters get killed or turned undead is bru

Bringing it full circle, I do not want to see Red Dead Redemption 2 pull a Magnificent Seven, even if this means making a bad guy version of the Seven. Which right now it’s looking that way. Seven cowboys riding off into the distance? The Magnificent Seven (I’m talking the 1960 version) is a great standalone tale on its own, while also having borrowed from a tale not its own. If you haven’t heard of Seven Samurai go watch it immediately, stop reading this article. While video open world games reviews are drawing more and more from film, Rockstar has proved they can develop games that draw from certain pools while keeping it fresh and original.

Grand Theft Auto V Online has been a constant source of income for Rockstar since its release, with people even joining the chaos on multiple consoles. The anticipation of Red Dead Redemption may cause many to lose interest in GTA V Online , opting instead to wait for something that will likely be bigger and better. While Rockstar presumably has a nearly inexhaustible amount of funds, they still need to keep their community interested in what they are still producing. Sadly, that seems to be mostly GTA V Online content. Hopefully, fans of GTA continue to support Rockstar and let them know what does and doesn’t work as the release date for Red Dead 2 creeps nea

Shigeru Miyamoto famously said, "A delayed game is eventually good, a bad game is bad forever." There are examples both for and against this in the games industry, but with the recent delay of Red Dead Redemption 2 , many have wondered what this might mean for the title. While most turn to this quote and hope for the best, there is still a chance that things aren’t as good as they seem over at Rockstar. The company is famously tight-lipped. Even if there was trouble, we would never hear about it. With so many secrets still up in the air, we set about taking a different angle on the game’s de