In the story sections that we played of Red Dead Redemption 2 , it's already clear that Arthur's relationships with the members of the Van der Linde gang will play a crucial role across the whole game, on larger and more personal levels. Right at the beginning of the demo, those relationships came into play as Arthur and the gang were preparing to rob a train under the ownership of the oil tycoon Leviticus Cornwall, which started with Arthur assisting Bill Williamson to blow up the train tracks and derail the car. Naturally, after that plan went awry, Arthur and several other members of the gang instead raced to the top of the nearby mountain path to hop on top of the train. In the midst of the action, we saw that Arthur can issue commands to the fellow gang members as they pushed towards the conductor car, making the action feel that much more involved when executing the heist alongside his other fellow gang members.

Unfortunately, GTAV felt a little too cliché. This is where I get nervous that Red Dead Redemption 2 might lean too heavily on certain tropes. I would much rather see an American western tale that resembles a classic, opposed to a film that has been rebooted as of this year. I do not need a game with big set pieces, explosions and more ammunition falling than the leaves on the trees. I’m going to make one more recommendation of the west I envision opposed to the west presented by Hollywood: the Lonesome Dove series puts on the glitz of western tropes while also doing a great job explaining how people lived at the time. This is more in the style that would be preferred in Red Dead Redemption 2. A game where cowboys are cowboys, people are living by the land they’ve settled and getting along fine with the natives. Yes, there were some bad Tribes, but mostly few and far between.

The hardcore mode in Red Dead Redemption left a lot to be desired. Instead of shifting the gameplay focus to survivalist activities, (hunting, finding shelter) it mostly just made it harder to kill enemies . A mode that would force a player to stock up his saddle with food or be prepared to hunt or steal for a long journey across the map would make for the ultimate Western experience. Simply trying to stay alive for a couple of days should be a challenge as plays fend themselves off from bandits, starvation, bobcats, and the weather. It would also make beating the game in Hardcore mode that much more rewarding. While it may come off a bit too "simulator" to some, it would offer versatile game play and better replay va

Just like Arthur himself is meant to feel like a living character for players to embrace and play their role as, the world of Red Dead Redemption 2 feels ripe for exploration and unexpected sights to behold. While roaming across the landscape on horseback, I saw majestic mountain passes and calming rivers full of opportunities to hunt and fish, especially as wildlife like deer and rabbits strode by. Just before that, I had Arthur and his horse perched on the top of a hill, only to see that a storm was brewing out in the distance, watching as clouds and mist rolled over the mountains. Standing there for a few minutes, the result of the passing rains ended up being a brilliant rainbow out on the horizon, something that even caught the rockstar Narrative ending reps with us during the demo by surprise.

Red Dead Redemption 2 will release for PS4 and Xbox One on October 26th, 2018. If you have yet to pick up a copy of the game, there's still time to pre-order it on Amazon before it arrives later this month.

And yet those moments, as action-packed and exciting as they are, were just a smaller part of the fact that Red Dead Redemption 2 's focus is turned even more toward its finer details. As I entered a small town as Arthur Morgan and went to the nearby general store, I was able to browse the shelves and interact with almost every individual object, item, or knick-knack that caught my eye, and able to examine it in fine detail, even down to reading the labels. At the conclusion of the previously-mentioned train robbery when looking for bonds and money to score, I saw Arthur rummage through cabinets and spending some time looking at the ornate decorations and items strewn about, when just a minute before this, he was hopping across train cars and taking down gunmen left and right. After riding my horse into the next town and stopping to take a break, I could examine my rifle, clean it with gun oil and a cloth, and make sure it was ready for the next engagement ahead.

What's worth noting though is that I don't think what Rockstar has done with these ideas is really all that revolutionary by any means. No: instead, they've just leaned into these things that other developers would certainly stray away from for the reasons that I've already heard many complain about this weekend -- it ends up being too slow and too boring. However, Rockstar knew before release that Red Dead Redemption 2 would sell millions of copies no matter what they did. This notion allowed them far more experimentation and more willingness to take chances compared to what other studios might attempt. For the most part, I think it's an experiment that has worked to Red Dead Redemption 2 's benefit so far.