Red Dead Recap – Part 1

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Having spent a little more time in the Wild West, I thought I’d write down some more of my thoughts and opinions of the game.

First things first, this game continues to blow me away with its stunningly breathtaking graphics and attention to detail.  The whole world feels so alive.  If you go inside from the cold, with snow on your top, it melts and leaves a wet patch.

As with Assassin’s Creed: Origins, I find myself spending the majority of my time, wandering around and taking screenshots.

I love this game, but I’m not in love with this game just yet.  It continues to feel like an extended tutorial.  This game is so big, and there’s so much going on around you.  Due to all of the hype, and the team at Rockstar, trying to push every boundary, it almost feels like the game could be its own worst enemy.  Playing it, you’re always waiting for the next best thing.

Hunting

Hunting is a fun, if unnecessary, experience.  Using your dead eye skill, you can track the unsuspecting (or in my case, very suspicious) animal’s footprints and then using the RB button; you can follow their scent which takes you towards their last location.  Once located, you can fire your arrow, to try and kill the animal.  It took me a few times to get this right.  Once dead, you can tie the carcass up and place it on your horse.

The next task is to bring it back to the hideout to skin it.  This is a particularly gory task!  I found out that you can later hunt animals for their skin to sell or craft into items to wear.

Trainspotting

I particularly enjoyed jumping on top of a moving train, and making my way through each carriage, killing all of the guards on board, before bringing the train to a grinding halt.

At the end of this train mission, you’re given another choice as to what to do with the remaining guards.  I was determined to be a nice guy. However, I somehow managed to shoot one of them in the leg, possibly as a result of the LT button being used to focus onto NPCs as well as aiming your weapon.  This resulted in the guard trying to limp away. 

I, of course, had to finish him off or risk being identified.  Doing this, resulted in a message that your actions have an impact on your honour throughout the game, although I’m yet to see the consequences of this as of yet.

I’m not sure if it’s a known bug, but it’s happened to my friend and me.  After completing this train mission, on loading the game the next time, we both had to do it all over again.  Luckily, it didn’t take too long to repeat it.

Thanks for taking the time to read my thoughts and I hope that you can join me next time for more tales of the Wild West.