Summary
WhenBreath of the Wildlaunched in 2017, there was a sense that something was forever changed in gaming. The open map, nonlinear story, and emphasis on discovery felt like gaming had finally reached a new frontier. Less flashy than the change from 2D to 3D, this still marked a monumental influence on the industry. And so it has proven. Many games have borrowed bits and pieces, from the glider to the climbing, while exploring at will has become en vogue, and is a founding principle ofElden Ring, the title most obviously influenced byZelda’sevolution. In the coming years, more will surely follow.
But what ofRed Dead Redemption 2? It launched one year after Breath of the Wild and felt at the time similarly monumental. More epic in its narrative than any game previously, with heart-wrenching stories intertwined with the main narrative that were stronger and deeper than the storylines many other games live off alone, it too was an evolution. But where the fruits of Zelda’s seeds are plain to see, Red Dead Redemption 2’s field lays barren.
Note: WhileGenshin ImpactandImmortals: Fenyx Risingmimic parts of Breath of the Wild visually and mechanically,Elden Ring seems to be influenced on a deeper, more effective level.
There are some games you could compare it to, sure. Narrative remains at the heart of many triple-A adventures today, while the likes ofBaldur’s Gate 3andLike a Dragonboth put heavy weight on the impact of their side quests. But neither of these games are influenced by RDR2’s way of doing things. Like a Dragon has been built around substories since way back when it was calledYakuza, while Baldur’s Gate 3 is offering a richer take on classic D&D side quests that were also present in the first two Baldur’s Gate games, as well as developer Larian’s previous CRPGs.
But it’s not just the storytelling in Red Dead Redemption 2 that felt like a step up. The world it offered was so rich, with your mark left upon it every time you rode your horse through town, every time you left a kill to rot. It developed organically with the game, the world swelling around you, and was alive without you. Characters didn’t go into houses and disappear, they continued to be active in the world, leading to unique experiences you could stumble into at any given time - the most famous being the hapless KKK members injuring themselves while trying to burn a cross.
Red Dead Redemption 2 offered a world that truly lived, right down to the horse balls. Maybe that’s why no game has stepped into its shadow. The reasonRockstarwas able to do all of this was because of a near-decade long development cycle and endless trucks of money. The studio earned that luxury through massive profits, including the immense wads of cash it earns daily fromGTA Online, and RDR2 turned out to be a gargantuan commercial hit which justified the expenditure in the end. Few other studios are able to take that kind of risk, and those that can want to innovate, not stand on the shoulders of giants.
You don’t teach young athletes to model their game off Messi, Ali, or Jordan. Genius is genius. Breath of the Wild is Lewandowski, Mayweather, Pippen. A meld of technical perfection and ceaseless effort. A greatness that is achievable. Red Dead Redemption 2 excels in a way that feels out of reach. ‘Write more gooder’ is already a tough ask when studios are gutting their creative departments and pivoting every few months in the wake of new algorithmic projections, but adding in a world that supports said richness from the ground up and is technically capable of having every single blade of grass remember your presence seems impossible.
Frankly, as impressive as Breath of the Wild is, it has an easier philosophy to adopt across a wider range of studios, and consolidates this philosophy into simple mechanics (like climbing anywhere using stamina but being limited by weather).Sableis basically Breath of the Wild on a budget. It’s a shame because Red Dead Redemption 2 is not perfect. Though its side quests and world feel revolutionary, its main missions feel oddly dated, and even did back in 2018. If you wander away from the specific route the game demands you take, it’s an automatic fail, and that doesn’t seem in-keeping with its reactive world.
One example I remember is when you must make your way through an abandoned settlement to reach a train cart that is firing a gatling gun square at you. Rather than be mowed down in the centre, I tried to scurry around the backs of the buildings, where I received a ‘mission failed’ for wandering away from the goal. I tried climbing onto the tavern, same deal. Its main missions are highly prescriptive, and that undercuts the sense of freedom it tries to create.
I’d love someone to take this living, breathing world and make its central arc as adaptable as the rest of it. But no one has the money or the time to make a game where shrinking horse balls are a core design philosophy, and so we will likely never see a game build on Red Dead Redemption 2’s foundation the way we have with Breath of the Wild. At least, At least not until GTA 6 arrives next year. Or, more likely, Red Dead Redemption 3 in 2032.
Red Dead Redemption 2
WHERE TO PLAY
As a prequel to the original game, Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2 sees you take the role of Arthur Morgan - an outlaw looking for redemption - as he and the Van der Linde gang are on the run, in a time where the Wild West is diminishing.
