Red Dead Redemption 2
Open-world
epic lays down the outlaw
If
Rockstar’s Wild West sandbox
isn’t
the best title of 2018, we’ll eat a
deep-fried
set of spurs. All right, we
clearly
won’t… but there’s no
denying
this lushly detailed frontier
epic
already looks like being the
game
for all the others to beat.
It’s
been six years since we jumped in the sombre
saddle
with John Marston, and clearly the technology
Rockstar
San Diego can drawn on is a colossal leap
ahead
of what was available back in 2010 – and the
dev’s
made full use of it. This sequel’s landscape looks
nothing
short of astounding. Sun-baked prairies
bristling
with dry-looking grasses, valleys dotted with
intricately
rendered ferns, humid plantations, rough
and ready,
Deadwood-esque towns; they all combine
to
create a drool-worthy depiction of America’s
heartland,
circa 1890.
Well,
we say that date, but Rockstar hasn’t actually
confirmed
the precise year Red Dead Redemption II is
set.
Still, judging by some noticeably younger
returning
characters – like a fresh-faced Dutch van der
Linde
– it looks all but certain this game is a prequel.
Seeing
as the original primarily took place in 1911, it
seems
reasonable to suggest Redemption II is set
some
time between 1890 and 1905.
While
we’ve been given a brief a peek at new, not
especially
pleasant, lead character Arthur Morgan, it’s
unclear
what sort of missions the old-timey bounty
hunter
will take part in. But if Rockstar gives us train
robberies
on a par with GTA V’s heists, RDR II is going
to be bloody
hard to beat.
