Finally. In typical Rockstar Games fashion, they released the first gameplay trailer of their latest western-title, Red Dead Redemption 2 just mere months before the official release date. We can finally put to rest the swirling rumors (with little to no basis) of RDR2 being magically delayed without a word from Rockstar.
The just over 6-minute trailer features a bevy of gameplay, talk of an upgraded combat (both melee and shooting) system and details on what is to come. On a first watch through the trailer, it is evident that Rockstar is pushing the genre forward once more. The visual fidelity of everything is great, but it’s the overall liveliness of the open-world that really, really stuck out. Whether it was the way riders fell off their horses from being shot, or the interactions between the lead (Arthur Morgan) and random passersby on the trails, there’s just something about RDR2 that feels far more immersive than anything we’ve seen to date.
Red Dead Redemption had a great sense of immersion for the time in which it was released, but it is no where near what we’ve just seen in this gameplay video. Sure, it was very selectively edited, but if Rockstar can pull off such an immersive experience that’s teased in the latest video, selecting a game of the year candidate is going to be a bloodbath.
Another key takeaway from the video is the ability to settle disputes multiple ways. It’s certainly often more fun to settle it with your revolver or shotgun, but sometimes you may want to take a more civil route to end these disputes. It was unclear how exactly this would work, but the next video coming from Rockstar will detail that and the following: missions activities, enemy games and various other things to do. Also, more details on the evolution of sharpshooter using the dead-eye system will be revealed.
Red Dead Redemption 2 will be released on Oct. 26, 2018 for PS4 and Xbox One. There is no word on a PC release; although based upon their previously title (GTAV) making its way to PC, there is no reason to believe RDR2 won’t.
