Red dead redemption 2 is a prime example that video games are art just like any other forms of media. I put this game on my list for so many years and finally decided to play it and it was a great experience to say the least. As much as I agree with the amount of praise this game gets i must say I'm a bit disappointed with the game. Now the storyline is incredible and i have 0 problems with that, Arthur is easily one of the best characters I've seen not just in videogames but in any media in general. I have no qualms with the writing of the game. The writing and characters carried the game heavily, not to say that the other aspects didn't put as much effort into the game. I really expected a lot out of this game and I guess i ruined it a bit for myself. There are so many things i genuinely didn't understand why it's even there or things I found extremely annoying throughout my play time. For example why the fuck is camping the most lamest fucking thing in this game? You have this incredible open world with an insane level of details poured into it, the game even lets you craft things and such but when it comes to camping all you do is press a button and see a lame ass cutscene and you automatically get a camp. It's so wasted, rather they could've made it so that you can find different materials across the open world and build the camp accordingly. Not just camping, there's so much wasted potential in so many features in this game, I'm surprised people don't speak on it much. Staying on the camping feature, sometimes the game doesn't let me put a camp for no reason, I'm in the middle of nowhere bro it's like there's anyone nearby why the fuck can't I put my camp. Hunting gets a bit irritating because of the tracking trail being white, it's so hard to look at. I really appreciate the effort they put into the animations but my god why do we need them? The one where Arthur constantly puts his guns in the saddle every fucking time so whenever I get off from the horse Ineed to take out my guns again. I'm also not the biggest fan of the physics in this game, sometimes my horse jumps through an obstacle automatically and other times it just falls over some small ass rock on the road. Even with arthur he just falls down over the smallest fucking ledge.

As much as I love the story i really I'm tired of rockstars outdated gameplay. They really need to let go of the same heavily scripted gameplay. It's so restrictive and demotivating to play the game. Now I don't mind a linear game but when the game constantly goes from letting you do whatever you want in the open world but then literally treats you like a retard who never touched a videogame in missions. The game absolutely doesn't let you be creative at all, every single thing has a marker or a notification or has the NPCs keep yelling at you to do a certain thing. It's disappointing because the amount of freedom and creativity that could've been while playing missions but rockstar unfortunately thinks their audience are mentally challenged. There was this mission where you're supposed to find trelawny, during the mission you track him down and find two bounty hunters who then give you his location and when you go there you find two barns, now anyone with two braincells can figure they're supposed to search the barn right? But rockstar thinks we're retarded so they put a "search the barns" on the screen and the mark the barns on the map like i can't just fucking see it in front of me. There's many other instances throughout the game where the game treats you like a child with constant notifications and markers on the map that it really breaks the immersion I have in the game.

Cover shooting has to be the most boring way of playing a game, it's so boring to me that the only thing keeping it to together is the dead eye ability.

The honor system could've been fleshed out more than what we got. I finished the game with the highest honor Arthur but it wasn't because I wastrying to be a good guy, rather it's because it's very rare the game ever tempted me to be a bad guy so any neutral decisions i made still gave me more honor, this ties in with the another disappointing feature in the game - donating to the camp. They could've removed this feature and nobody would've gave a shit about it, you'd think it's a very important feature but no, it doesn't even matter if you donate to the camp or not. They could've made it more impactful so then the player is actually motivated to do activities in order to get money and donate to the camp. but wait, even that is useless because the game gives you so much money that sometimes Idek what to do with all that money. They give you too much money that it kills any intention of robbing places which could've forced you lose honor which then motivates the player to do good to gain back that honor. All I'm trying to say is that the game had so much potential but was unfortunately held back by rockstar's boring gameplay aspects and unnecessarily scripted gameplay.

Arthur Morgan to me will be one of the most memorable characters I've ever seen. The redemption part is so accurate to his character and ending. The fact that he got the disease so early in the game is some good foreshadowing and the dude who gives you the disease can be seen very early on in the game in valentine when he stops you from killing the big dude in the saloon. The parallels between them is amazing, both try to do good and redeem themselves after they get the disease, except arthur had more time and managed to save John and the other gang members. The interactions with Edith Downes and her son and the sister truly cemented Arthur as one of my favourite characters. The voice acting for Arthur was top notch, the way he delivers the lines and conveys his emotions is so surreal, especially during his final moments when Arthur tells dutch "i gave you everything i had" and I really felt that. Mind you I already was spoiled bout his death but the game still managed to make me care for Arthur and I did end up crying watching him go like that. Arthur's and micah's death's contrast each other well, one dies on a hill looking at a sunrise knowing he managed to save a father and a husband while the other dies like a loser on the a snowy mountain only accompanied by cold with nobody who gives a fuck about. I'd say even ducth had his own "redemption" in a way, he kills Micah and leaves the blackwater stash for John, maybe he was trying to do right by Arthur after clearl regretting his decesion during Arthur's final moments. Playing as John in the epilogue was solid. The final mission was brilliant, hunting down Micah while dogwalking all his goons with the most banger ass music in the background with John yelling "It's John Marston, Micah" felt so fucking cool.

I'm aware I'm sounding like i hate the game but I don't, it's just that these stupid shit in it really ruined the game a bit for me. All that aside I still enjoyed the game, otherwise I wouldn't have put over 100hrs into it. I adore the story, the characters and obviously Arthur. The epilogue was solid and the ending was satisfying. Top notch music throughout the game and some of the best voice acting I've seen in a game. Overall it's an incredible experience but lacked short due it's restrictive gameplay but nonetheless it's a great game that everyone should play at least once.

Rip to my horse daisy. She was a real one.