Cognition Dissemination: Red Dead Redemption 2 Looks Ridiculously Polished

When I posted about the first Red Dead Redemption 2 gameplay video in mid-August, I mentioned how long a time in coming it was. This game was first announced in late 2016, though it received a delay from fall 2017 to this fall, and was subsequently dated for October 26th. But prior to that, it took them so long to show it in motion that I wondered if it would make that date, since games this big tend to have longer marketing campaigns.

I understood what Rockstar Games was going for, though. The first game sold so well that this game essentially advertised itself, and its massive target audience knew what to expect despite that installment releasing over eight years ago. The gameplay video showed how massive its open world will be, and more importantly highlighted the bevy of activities players can spend their time with. There’s more to Rockstar games than shooting and travelling, after all, though both those features are given the most focus.

The newest gameplay video shows more of its polish, and highlights how decisions made by the player in the boots of Arthur Morgan and his posse can affect the actions of other characters in its world. But I can’t emphasize its polish enough. There are plenty of open world games around these days, a trend that took off at the beginning of this console generation nearly half a decade ago, when several developers realized they had the power to realize their living and breathing worlds on modern technology nearly simultaneously. Developers often have to divide their time between developing their large worlds and making the game fun to play, meaning sometimes those games can ship with gameplay issues.

The development team for RDR2, on the other hand, could afford to provide a world dripping with detail and, yes, a high level of polish, thanks to how much Rockstar’s games sell. Red Dead Redemption sold over 13 million copies after all, notably without a PC version, while Grand Theft Auto V remains in the top 10 in North American and United Kingdom sales charts despite releasing over five years ago. Those sales aren’t entirely attributed to Grand Theft Auto Online either, and they’re still making quite a bit of money thanks to their games rarely receiving price drops. It’s why Rockstar can afford to show how they’re still a cut above the rest when it comes to making open world games, as the video highlights the mind-boggling level of attention to detail.

There’s also a good chance this is coming thanks to employees working way too many hours. There are stories about overworked employees in the gaming industry too often, the most recent being Telltale Games’ employees, who were tossed out unceremoniously after working their asses off for years. I get the feeling there was a lot of “crunch” at Rockstar, too.

The new video details how the gang can approach carrying out heists and robbing people and coaches that happen to pass by, which can affect people’s attitudes towards Arthur and other characters. Wearing a mask can hide Arthur’s identity, but people will be more hesitant to approach and talk to him in other quests if they know he’s a robber. I’m betting this won’t affect story missions too much, which would get annoying. It also shows returning features from the previous game, including hunting outlaws, fighting rival gangs, duels, and the “Dead Eye” slow motion system. It also details how changing weather can affect the environment and exploration, and shows how much detail the character models put into basic expressions. It’s a lot for a video that’s close to four-and-a-half minutes.

The game is also entirely playable in first-person mode, which can be switched at any time. Balancing the game for both viewpoints had to take hours upon hours of time, given how it looks as polished as the default third-person view.

These are on top of features described in previews written by the gaming press, who took a trip to Rockstar to play the game’s first two hours. The player can make minor or major adjustments to Arthur’s clothes, and each character will have different clothing depending on the weather conditions. In another important feature, Arthur can pet dogs, which won’t bark at him if he passes them again later. I’m not being sarcastic about this being “important,” and I’m sure you agree unless you don’t have a soul.

As great as those sound, too many features can have the unintended effect of providing too much busywork for the player. Arthur’s beard will grow over time, and the player can choose to cut or leave it, similar to some GTA games. Similar features apply to taking care of the horse. You’ll have to clean the horses periodically, and not overwork them. It’s also important to tell the horse to flee when there’s trouble, since they can die permanently. How fun or annoying these features will be will depend on the implementation.

Though I feel like I’m gushing a little too much here (and in previous posts about the game), I’m not saying there isn’t a chance for the game to arrive with several glitches. Some features are similar to Bethesda’s RPGs, like how the player’s actions can affect attitudes in its world, and these games take as long to develop as Bethesda’s titles. But hopefully RDR2 won’t mimic them by arriving in a glitchy and untested state — though Fallout 4 was slightly better in this regard. If it does arrive like that, hopefully they patch it quickly, but it would be best if that’s not necessary.

On the other hand, there are ridiculous concerns from people who don’t know history worried about the game giving a spotlight to black cowboys, who did exist at the time. Sadly, they were mostly erased from history, and most Americans’ knowledge of cowboys comes from old western TV shows and movies, which mostly excluded them. (Note that I’m not classifying something like Silverado as “old” here.) Fortunately, Rockstar isn’t making the same mistake.

With the level of polish RDR2 will have in its features, ranging from major to extremely minor ones, it’s easy to see why it takes Rockstar seemingly forever to make these games. This title will arrive more than five years after GTAV, for instance. Considering games will take an even longer time to develop with more technological advancements, this will be the norm for Rockstar titles going forward. But they’ll make sure to keep the game around with Red Dead Online, whose beta will launch shortly after its release. They’re in this for the long haul, and plenty of fans will be willing to join them.