Red Dead Redemption revisited

So completing this game took much less time than I thought it would. I was basing my sense of how long it would take based on how many hidden story trophies were left, and assumed that they'd all take the same amount of time as it did to get from the beginning of the game to Mexico. However, in short order I started finding these trophies dropping after just one mission, which I have to say was a little disappointing but oh well.

Since I already covered most of the core of the game previously, there's only one thing I want to focus on for this follow-up: the story. I won't be posting any spoilers here on the off chance that you might accidentally read them. If you haven't played this game yet, go and get it right now and play through it all. If you don't think you'll ever play it so spoilers don't matter, I will come over to your house and make you play it. It's that important.

Red Dead Redemption has not only crafted one of the best games ever made in terms of story, but one of the best endings to a game ever made as well. And not just the very end, but the entire experience from when it feels like the main story would've normally ended in any other game to the final actual end. It's a finely tuned masterpiece that pulls all the right strings and makes the entire journey you've been on really hit home. I can't say any more than that, but it was an experience I won't soon forget. It's a long road there, but well worth the ride.

Oh, and to all the boars, cougars and bears of the world: FUCK YOU. In RDR they have a tendency to sneak up on you and knock you over, leaving you a mere second or two after you get up to pull out your gun, go into dead eye, and take them down. If they don't attack you twice in the same charge and kill you. I swear to god there was one point where even when checking my back I went through the same sequence with three or four boars in a row. Damn them.

In any case, while the somewhat slower pace of the game (especially when taking time for side quests or completing challenges) can take some getting used to, you realize by the end that it couldn't, or shouldn't, have been any other way. Red Dead Redemption has provided one of the best gaming experiences ever created in its expansive and compelling story, its finely tuned combat and weapons, its distinctive and beautiful environments, its quirky and fascinating characters, and its sheer volume of both interesting and challenging tasks for wanderers and completionists like myself. And I haven't even played multiplayer yet. Or the just released Undead Nightmare expansion which looks quite fun despite completely breaking the setting. You fight zombies, what else matters? On top of that, Rockstar has created a Social Club which posts challenges I believe every week or so that unlock special things in game if you complete them, providing yet another reason to keep coming back to New Austin. Basically, despite having finished the story it looks as though I'll be playing RDR for a good long time.

Red Dead Redemption gets a 10/10.