I’m sure you’ve heard this many times in reviews or any other video about the game. And yes, this is a stupid hyperbole, yes, it is used every time there is a discussion of games from Rockstar (and sometimes not only) and yes, every time it sounds equally stupid. But there is a certain amount of truth in all this. In Red Dead Redemption 2, the developers slightly pumped up the usual open world formula, and especially the part about immersion. This Not a revolution, but quite a noticeable step forward. And today I will try to answer the question: How, while remaining within the framework of the usual and even hackneyed sandbox, Rockstar managed to take immersion to a new level?
1. Submitting assignments
Red Dead Redemption 2 is very pleasing with its non-standard presentation of seemingly familiar things. Structurally, the open world is quite ordinary. Here’s the plot, here’s the sides, and here’s a masturbation game in the style of “collect 20 wolf tails to get a bag”. There is only one BUT: if you don’t know in advance what is what, it’s very difficult to say for sure.
For example, if you have 2 cutscenes in front of you, one from the story and the other from a side quest, and if you don’t know anything about the characters in the story, you’ll hardly be able to tell which is which.
In other open-world games, even with well-written side-quests, you can always clearly tell which is which based on the overall level of production, but not in Red Dead Redemption 2. Because most of the side missions are even built on the same principle and are just as well developed as the main plot. But the structure of missions in Rockstar games is a separate big topic that we may raise some other time.
And yes, I’m very pleased that there are no downloads. That is, you just come up and the dialogue begins. Looks as natural as possible, and the line between all t.n. “typical openworld” activities are greatly eroded.
2. Player participation
Another question is that there are a LOT of types of activities even within the framework of usual missions. Red Dead 2 constantly requires your participation in everything. “Yours” is like a player. Yes, this happened before (and even in other games, not just Rockstar ones), but here it is elevated almost to the absolute level.
Simple example: Train robbery mission. Arthur Morgan doesn’t just watch his gang go about their business, we as players are forced to participate. Walk around the carriages, rob someone, threaten someone, and subdue someone. Moreover, these are different actions, and you will choose what to do personally. It also depends on you how much loot you take with you. And at the end, when the lawmen arrive and a shootout with a chase begins, it is YOU who chooses where to run away from them. And the final cutscene takes into account the location where you end up.
But what’s most pleasing is that the game doesn’t stop during the process to ask you, “do you press X to win, or F to give respect”, everything goes on as usual and is tied to the same mechanics that we use throughout the game or to some basic actions.
And so all the time. You https://richyreelscasino.uk/login/ are required to separately poke buttons to pick the lock, to pour out the moonshine, to respond in dialogue, to take a bath, to CHAT while you are taking a bath, to get some grub for yourself, to eat or throw away this crap, to pick up your hat, in the end, otherwise it constantly flies off. Moreover, many of these “activities” exist only for one mission and are often extremely flexible in themselves. That is, they do not mean the usual “on/off” by pressing, but use the gamepad completely, so to speak, with all its smooth movements of the sticks and pressing the triggers.
And it doesn’t feel like a chore. Not at all! The more actions the player performs for his character, the more control he feels over him, and as a result, due to interactivity, there is such an involuntary increased identification of himself with the main character. Here it works as it should and without kinks (well, except maybe for the hat).
3. Actions and consequences
By the way! Another good thing that greatly immerses you in the world is not only the opportunity to perform a bunch of actions, but also to observe the consequences of them!
I already gave an example with missions; you are often given the opportunity to influence the progress of a mission. I would give more examples, but the game was released recently and it’s better not to spoil it, but just know that even the amount of money taken from the mission, the presence of a reward for your head and its size, and much more depends on you even in the smallest missions.
Also t.n. "random events" now make a lot more sense, because some rescued gentleman might meet you in the next town and thank you. And what’s good is that such “consequences” practically never happen again, so you never know what to expect, or whether to expect it at all. And there are many, many different details that work for this. For example, conversations in the camp depend on our adventures.
It is precisely for such details that many people love the RPG genre. When a player feels that their actions are important and their choices are meaningful.
4. Ecosystem
But conversations in the camp are partly a generated process, and when you look at the ecosystem of Red Dead Redemption 2, how wonderful it works, how smoothly it is, and how much it generates, it immediately becomes clear that 7 years and 100 hours of work per week were not killed in vain.
To begin with, our gang’s camp. Here constantly life is in full swing. People go about their business, communicate with each other, they can come up to talk to you, you can intervene in any conversation or just walk up to anyone and exchange a few words. Take part in a drinking session, sing a song, be rude, and then listen to the reaction of others to it.
And with cities it’s no worse. They’ve been upgraded since GTA V, and now the villagers remember almost what you did. And if you make a mess, for example, they won’t pretend that nothing happened. And even if you pay off or serve time, they will still remind you of your deeds.
And also a system with witnesses. As soon as someone notices you near the corpse, no one will even understand. And after that you also need to catch up and intimidate them, but not everyone can be intimidated. And a new murder most likely means new witnesses. There is also an animal ecosystem, about which you can make separate videos.
In general, to summarize the last two points, Red Dead Redemption 2 very competently combines a scripting system and the usual “Rockstar” simulations. This combination skillfully creates the illusion of a lively world. It seems to the player that the world not only lives, but also does not revolve around him alone (although in reality this is not the case). And it’s much easier to believe in such a world. And it’s easier to dive in as a result.
5. Decorative details
But that’s not all. The last thing that finishes off the player in this regard is a whole ton of decorative details. An incredible amount of detail has been worked into this game, both in the environment and in the gameplay.
I’m talking about things like, for example, the weather. Volumetric light in the fog, almost a living sky, missing only the fattest cumulus clouds. Rainbow after the rain, I can’t remember offhand where else there was a rainbow after the rain. And I haven’t yet said this about snow, for example, on which all members have been drawing since the day of release.
And there is also the opportunity to put the pistol in the holster in different ways, and you can also fire warning shots, and there are just a ton of different animations for all occasions, and the beard grows in real time. There’s also a feature from the last Spider-Man with two lines written differently depending on the circumstances. And I’m sure there’s a whole ton more different things. Kamon, if they make videos about this for 10+ minutes, but still can’t say even half of it, such elaboration is definitely worth something.
Such decorative details remove many gaming conventions, even those to which everyone is accustomed. And the fewer conventions, the greater, in fact, immersion.
To sum it up.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is a great game, but beyond that it raises the bar for open worlds considerably. This not a revolution, but a very noticeable step forward. Some Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, for example, against its background already looks… worthless at best. Moreover, in every aspect.