Being negative about RDR2 is fun and all but lets look at some positives. Besides the awesome story and characters, one thing that truly stood out for me with RDR2 is how alive the game world feels. It's like nothing I've experienced before.
Unlike most other games there is actually stuff happening even if you just put down the controller, it does have trigger areas for missions just like other games but there is stuff going on even when there are no baddies to kill before you enter the next trigger area. I tried to play it with my kids at first since my daughter loves horses and I thought it would be fun to play it peacefully and take care of the horse and go out on a ride and maybe fish etc. But nope, I quickly got the feeling that anything can happen in this world, at any time, and there is no safe way to choose to play peacefully, stuff will happen in this world no matter if you want it or not.
Compare it to Gears of War 4, God of War, Uncharted 4 or just about any other big budget action game, there the game world is literally paused until you trigger the next enemy wave, nothing happens, at all, well maybe some water is moving or the clouds, usually you don't even have a day and night cycle.
Even GOAT Zelda Breath of the Wild seems paper thin regarding living things in the world compared to RDR2, it's still better than many games but it's quite telling that they had to invent the blood moon mechanic to reset the world so it doesn't feel completely dead when you've killed a bunch of enemy camps.
The norm today seems to be to have a pretty world of nothing combined with trigger areas for enemy waves. The game worlds are basically dead. If you don't reach a trigger point for the next enemy wave then nothing will happen. Most games just have the enemies going into two different modes, either go on with their preprogrammed walk in the same 50 by 50 meter area until the end of time, or rush out to attack. It's rare to see enemies that seem to live in the world if you watch them from a distance. Maybe some poor shop owner will stand somewhere day and night with no customer hoping for you to buy something. We usually have NPCs that pretends that you're air and say nothing at all or actually notice you but quickly say the same repeated line over and over, if we're lucky they walk around a bit but it's not uncommon to see them stand at the same spot forever like the trainers in Pokémon.
From this perspective RDR2 honestly makes many other games seem rushed and old school. It's not that I'm saying RDR2 is perfect, it has tons of faults we've already talked about in many other threads. But the game world itself really feels alive in RDR2. And I find it really neat that you can approach and greet every single one in a city, no matter how unimportant they are to the protagonist. Even a random dog can be your friend for the moment if you want, without giving anything important back from some scripted bonding event. And your gang members will go about their daily routines, go to sleep, talk to you without actually doing it just to trigger a new mission, food will be slowly prepared and cooked with lots of care by Pearson and served when it's ready and not a second earlier, etc.
I stayed up all night at a camp party just to see what happened and it just kept on evolving, people went to bed, other stayed up too long and got too drunk, some were talking, some were singing, etc. Next day some talk to you about the party last night while others were just going on with life as usual. It all feels wonderfully nonscripted and believable.
Then we have the wild life, I can't think if any other game with the same width of life in a game world, hunting and fishing is like a game within the game, extremely detailed even though it's completely unimportant (except for a few missions).
Anyway, it's really amazing when you start thinking about how they've managed to program it all, sure it took them many years to make but so does most other games as well without even getting close to what R* achieved with RDR2.
It may not be the best open world game but it has to be among the best open worlds gaming has ever seen, and that's something worth talking about I think.
Unlike most other games there is actually stuff happening even if you just put down the controller, it does have trigger areas for missions just like other games but there is stuff going on even when there are no baddies to kill before you enter the next trigger area. I tried to play it with my kids at first since my daughter loves horses and I thought it would be fun to play it peacefully and take care of the horse and go out on a ride and maybe fish etc. But nope, I quickly got the feeling that anything can happen in this world, at any time, and there is no safe way to choose to play peacefully, stuff will happen in this world no matter if you want it or not.
Compare it to Gears of War 4, God of War, Uncharted 4 or just about any other big budget action game, there the game world is literally paused until you trigger the next enemy wave, nothing happens, at all, well maybe some water is moving or the clouds, usually you don't even have a day and night cycle.
Even GOAT Zelda Breath of the Wild seems paper thin regarding living things in the world compared to RDR2, it's still better than many games but it's quite telling that they had to invent the blood moon mechanic to reset the world so it doesn't feel completely dead when you've killed a bunch of enemy camps.
The norm today seems to be to have a pretty world of nothing combined with trigger areas for enemy waves. The game worlds are basically dead. If you don't reach a trigger point for the next enemy wave then nothing will happen. Most games just have the enemies going into two different modes, either go on with their preprogrammed walk in the same 50 by 50 meter area until the end of time, or rush out to attack. It's rare to see enemies that seem to live in the world if you watch them from a distance. Maybe some poor shop owner will stand somewhere day and night with no customer hoping for you to buy something. We usually have NPCs that pretends that you're air and say nothing at all or actually notice you but quickly say the same repeated line over and over, if we're lucky they walk around a bit but it's not uncommon to see them stand at the same spot forever like the trainers in Pokémon.
From this perspective RDR2 honestly makes many other games seem rushed and old school. It's not that I'm saying RDR2 is perfect, it has tons of faults we've already talked about in many other threads. But the game world itself really feels alive in RDR2. And I find it really neat that you can approach and greet every single one in a city, no matter how unimportant they are to the protagonist. Even a random dog can be your friend for the moment if you want, without giving anything important back from some scripted bonding event. And your gang members will go about their daily routines, go to sleep, talk to you without actually doing it just to trigger a new mission, food will be slowly prepared and cooked with lots of care by Pearson and served when it's ready and not a second earlier, etc.
I stayed up all night at a camp party just to see what happened and it just kept on evolving, people went to bed, other stayed up too long and got too drunk, some were talking, some were singing, etc. Next day some talk to you about the party last night while others were just going on with life as usual. It all feels wonderfully nonscripted and believable.
Then we have the wild life, I can't think if any other game with the same width of life in a game world, hunting and fishing is like a game within the game, extremely detailed even though it's completely unimportant (except for a few missions).
Anyway, it's really amazing when you start thinking about how they've managed to program it all, sure it took them many years to make but so does most other games as well without even getting close to what R* achieved with RDR2.
It may not be the best open world game but it has to be among the best open worlds gaming has ever seen, and that's something worth talking about I think.
