Buck up for the Bronco: Red Dead Redemption 2

With the rising storm of hype brewing around Red Dead Redemption 2, we thought we’d shed a light on some of the features being added and what you can expect from the game. The majority of the information we’ve got here is straight from the horse’s mouth, in particular the developers themselves, with news of the game having over 300,000 animations, 500,000 lines of dialogue and 1000 voice actors for NPCs, suggesting that RDR2 has a good chance of being Game of the Year by sheer amount of effort put in.

However, no matter how much effort was put in, there are growing concerns over how much storage space this will take up on the PS4 or Xbox One, with rumours/ leakers stating that the game takes up over 100GB of hard drive space; so you may have to say goodbye to 1/10 or 1/5 of your console’s storage.

But for such a blockbuster of a game it seems like there’s not going to be many big name voice actors, with Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser stating “We don’t bring in named actors anymore because of their egos and, most important of all, because we believe we get a better sense of immersion using talented actors whose voices you don’t recognize.” .

Story

With already so much being mentioned it’s time to take a look at what the single player has to offer, with Dan Houser also stating that the final script for RDR2 spans 2000 pages and if the dialogue for additional content was included and stacked, the paper stack would reach eight feet high (15cm taller than basketballer Yao Ming). But even better than this, Rockstar recently released a description of the plot:

“America, 1899. The end of the wild west era has begun as lawmen hunt down the last remaining outlaw gangs. Those who will not surrender or succumb are killed. 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.”

Featuring a young John Marston in the gang, the story does seem like it’s going to be quite the rodeo. I’ll see myself out.

Gameplay

RDR2 brings back all the gameplay elements you loved from RDR and puts you into a much grander expansive world to explore. We can only tease some of the new additions, but these reveals will keep you waiting in anticipation.

Be prepared to dive fully into this world as you can play the game literally through the eyes of Alex Morgan with the first-person option. With this feature you can appreciate the 200 species which will populate the world as you try to hunt for food or avoid getting bitten by a poisonous snake.

Merchandising

Set to release for October 26th, RDR2 will be released on PS4 and Xbox One. Unfortunately the game will not be on PC, so say goodbye to your fantasy of using a texture pack of Thomas the Tank Engine on trains, with the Biggie Smalls remix of its corresponding theme. Teetering away from such a depressing topic, the game will be priced at £50 upon release, with the special edition/collectors edition being priced at £75 which also includes a special edition printed map and various other content. There is also an ultimate edition which is priced at £90 and contains a plethora of story mode and online content, along with a printed version of the world map and a steelbox version of the game. But the pièce de résistance is the Red Dead Redemption 2: Collectors Box which includes the game and is priced at £179.99 , which includes a metal lockbox with a lock and key, collectable challenge coin, double-sized puzzle, six shooter bandana, treasure map, pin set, catalogue from ingame and collectable cards.

Controversy

For the fantastic content that seems to be coming, there are indeed some rising scares about the presence of microtransactions in RDR2 . Given their overabundance in Rockstar’s previous game GTA V, which has made $6 billion off of its original $265 million budget since its release in 2013. Fingers crossed that the game isn’t a complete cash grab, however, considering recent news of how much effort is being put into the story it’s a possibility that the single player at the very least is likely to be spared from microtransactions.

Moving on from one problem that is plaguing the gaming industry to another; Telltale as many know, recently went bankrupt which resulted in the mass layoff of employees many of which without severance and no payment for their overtime! A similar fright was given when Dan Houser tweeted a statement that included “We were working 100-hour weeks”, resulting in a massive backlash as people speculated that employees were being forced to do overtime in order to finish the games before its release, similar to that of Telltale. Dan Houser promptly responded with a tweet, a section of the tweet reads “After working on the game for seven years, the senior writing team, which consists of four people, Mike Unsworth, Rupert Humphries, Lazlow and myself, had, as we always do, three weeks of intense work when we wrapped everything up. Three weeks, not years.”, the rest of the tweet then goes on to discuss how that the 100 hour work weeks were a decision made purely out of affection for the series and by their own volition.