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Red Dead Redemption 2 - Everything you need to know
We're more than a handful of trailers into Red Dead Redemption 2, and we've actually had a chance to play it! So here's everything you need need to know about the year's biggest release...
Rockstar has lifted the lid on a numerous details surrounding Red Dead Redemption 2 with the release of a number of different trailers, specifically in two in-depth gameplay videos. Some of it is blatant information, and some of it is a bit hidden. And while we’re not entirely in the business of assumption or speculation, we’re pretty confident on what we’re listing below, especially because we've now had a chance to play it. And what we’ve learnt pretty specifically after all of the above is that this very much sets up the events that transpired in the original game, which might seem a bit odd, but as the US was moving forward and into the Industrial Revolution, it makes sense to reverse the timeline, from a sequels sense. You get that, right?
At any rate, watch the five released trailers so far embedded below in order, then scroll down further for our complete understanding of the game -- as we know it -- now.
- It’s set in 1899, roughly 12 years before the first game.
- The main protagonist is Arthur Morgan who is part of the Van der Linde gang, who John Marston was also a part of.
- John Marston is in the game, and will be a pivotal character throughout, his original voice actor, Rob Wiethoff, has also returned to the role.
- The leader of the Van der Linde gang, Dutch Van der Linde, will survive the events of the game given he appeared in the original.
- It takes place in the fictional town of Blackwater, which also featured in the first game.
- However, Blackwater will only be the game’s starting point because, as stated by Rockstar: “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”.
- The period in which it’s set had the Pinkerton National Detective Agency as the leading ‘enforcement’ agency in the land, however, it was also when the Federal Government began investing in local and federal bureaus, which leads into the original game’s story with the Bureau of Investigation’s Edgar Ross and Archer Fordham forcing Marston to hunt down his former gang members.
- Once again the game-world will feature a rich and dynamic ecology with myriad beasts all tied to natural food-chains, as discovered in the very first trailer.
- The first gameplay trailer highlights numerous biomes that feature the likes of alligator-filled swamps, dense deer-filled forests as well as bears, wolves and much more.
- Brawling and hand-to-hand combat will once again feature, as it did in the first game, only now it has been updated with more moves and with contextual, dynamic opportunities scenario-to-scenario.
- “We’ve got lawmen from three different states after us,” proclaims Morgan in the second trailer. The game takes place across multiple locations, and you'll need to move your entire camp each time you're forced to go off the grid and avoid the law.
- Horse-wrangling, will be a gameplay feature as it was in the first game. However, your horse is now an integral character that needs grooming, training and more to become even more reliable in sticky situations, as we've highlighted from our hands-on.
- The game will feature dynamic weather and seasons, or at least seasonally-rich locations, such as snowy mountain peaks, marshland, desert and forests.
- Water appears to be a friendly part of the game-world now and we’ve seen a much greener setting throughout the trailers. Even someone in a canoe. If players can swim, it will be a major change from the first game’s watery death-traps.
- To keep your campsite and its denizens happy, hunting will play a major part in the game. From fishing to quietly stalking prey with a bow, Arthur will be able to provide for his people, however, you can also sell your wares in towns for your own profit.
- Weapons are customisable and you can also pull them apart and clean them. Speaking of, you'll also need to clean yourself as the dirtier you get the less likely people will be to talk to you or engage with you. You can also grow facial hair and trim it, however, you can't 'undo' any trimming -- it will need to be regrown in in-game time.
- Duals return as well as a fully revamped Dead Eye system where time slows and you can paint targets for quickfire release.
- The WANTED system also returns.
- Not all confrontations are a binary black or white scenario -- you can talk itchy trigger fingers down, while the whole game-world from humans, animals and other objects will feature a contextual level of interaction with numerous options. This means, for example, you can politely greet a person, or choose to intimidate or rob them -- the choice is yours.
- GTA V-esque heists are highly likely (more “assumption” on our behalf) given bank and train robbery feature heavily across the trailers and that at the start of our hands-on we robbed a train (we didn't see the setup for this, however). The intro to trailer #2 also sees Morgan acting as a debt collector, which we can also confirm is one of the myriad jobs available for you to take on to both grow your reputation and earn gear and coin.
- The game can be played entirely in first-person, with the horse-riding side of things being particularly awesome.
- The game will take full advantage of the Xbox One X and PlayStation 4 Pro's 4K HDR abilities.
- Red Dead Redemption 2 will have multiplayer, and will feature a GTA Online-like Red Dead Redemption Online.
- The game is due to release October 26, 2018 globally for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One X
- There is still no word on a PC release.
And honestly, that’s all we can truly give you at this point. We know the game-world is big, but is it seamless? As in, can you ride between each place the camp eventually sets up at, or is each region gated because of this and the sheer size? Will there be co-op as well as the announced competitive multiplayer? How does the character progress from a skill-investment sense? If the gang is on the run, how will the open-world work as far as player-agency and choice is concerned? Will you be able to romance NPCs? And, specifically, anyone from your Campsite? Can we please get our Westworld-themed DLC idea happening, Rockstar?
So many questions. But at least at the moment we have some answers. October 26 honestly can’t come soon enough.
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