When Nils bought a new gaming PC, the first game he played wasn’t a brand-new next-gen title, but one of his favorites: Red Dead Redemption 2. The game blew him away, just as it had six years earlier.

Note! This article contains spoilers for the ending of Red Dead Redemption 2.

Yes, there will be some spoilers for Red Dead Redemption 2. Because if you haven’t finished that game yet, despite it being a fifty-hour or so quest, I don’t know what you’re doing with your life. Not to attack people personally – of course you can decide for yourself what you play – but come on! For me, Red Dead Redemption 2 is the pinnacle of gaming, which even Grand Theft Auto 6, with all the high expectations that come with that game’s release, can’t match.

New round, new opportunities

A few months ago I decided to set aside some (read: a lot) of money to buy a new gaming PC. I’m originally a PC gamer, but due to my old hardware and unwillingness to spend big, I’ve been playing primarily on my PS5 and Switch for the past few years. At the beginning of this year I decided to really believe in it. I’d rather play shooters with a mouse and keyboard and sit in the basement, where I’m somewhat friendly, than lie in bed staring at the TV.

So my new gaming PC finally arrived. I was instantly eager to jump from one great game to the next. Thanks in large part to Steam, a world had opened up to me once again. What next-gen awesomeness did I want to experience first on my new gem?

However, deep down, I knew long before I plugged in my new game what I was going to dive into first. Because the magical experience I had with Red Dead Redemption 2 years ago on Xbox One is still very dear to me.

In terms of graphics and performance, I now have a monster at home that will turn Red Dead Redemption 2 when I played it on Xbox One into some sort of Nintendo 64 version. 4K image quality at 70 to 90 frames per second? Yes please!

Ins and Outs

Enough with the technical nonsense about my new PC. We’re here to sing the praises of Red Dead Redemption 2. As millions of people have done in recent years, of course. But since GTA 5 is still Rockstar’s real cash cow, Red Dead Redemption 2 remains somewhat of a forgotten child. There’s no narrative DLC (although GTA 5 didn’t receive one either), no next-gen patch, and an online mode that can’t compete with GTA Online.

While in my opinion, Red Dead Redemption 2 does a lot of things better than GTA 5. I’m talking about the setting, the story, the characters, the pacing, the voice acting, the graphics. In short: pretty much everything. Red Dead as a franchise is much more than just “GTA in the Wild West.” The games aren’t even comparable in many areas. And the pacing in particular, which we’ll start with, plays a major factor in this.

You really have to take your time with Red Dead Redemption 2 and not everyone has the patience for that. The game works in chapters, and the first chapter starts off slow. There’s little player interaction, there are a lot of new characters to meet and the pace is simply slower than you’re used to in many action games. But by immersing yourself in the game’s world from the first minute, you can be sure that you’ll be fully immersed before the end of the second chapter. hanging We are.

live like a cowboy

Since I was familiar with Red Dead Redemption 2’s great story, I was now less inclined to rush from one mission to the next. It gave me more time to fully absorb the world. Almost nothing can beat the immersion of this game. For hours I would do nothing but ride my horse through the wilderness, taking in the beautiful scenery.

I loved driving to Valentine, just to hang out with the locals or visit one of the shops. I would immerse myself in the area quietly, for example by reading a detailed book or by walking along the shelves. Then I would walk to the pub, where I had a few beers and got a little rowdy. I swore at some of my colleagues and before I knew it, I was punched in the face.

I quickly fled on horseback. However, on the edge of the village, I noticed something: a public execution of several people was about to begin. I watched as three men were hanged by local police officers. I returned to the camp, where I sat around the campfire with my loyal friends John, Sadie, and Javier, singing songs and listening to tall tales from my uncle. Well, that was just another day in the Wild West. And I was making no progress in the story!

All emotions

This immersion is probably the most unique aspect that makes Red Dead Redemption 2 such a special experience for me. Because so many other games also have a good story. From The Last of Us games to Mass Effect games and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – I don’t even need to mention them. But also in terms of story, for me there is no other game that can match Red Dead Redemption 2.

As you play Red Dead Redemption 2, you feel all the emotions. The tension of the horrific bank robberies and the action-packed shootouts, but also the feelings of betrayal, loss and grief as you watch the gang slowly but surely crumble under the increasingly extremist leadership of Dutch van der Linde. The deeply layered characters almost trip over each other to be the best. Arc of the letter to have.

When you finally, after dozens of eventful hours, reach the final chapter, and at the end you see Arthur lying on those rocks, looking up at the rising sun, as he takes his last breath – alone – you might shed a tear.

I could talk about Red Dead Redemption 2 for hours. We haven’t talked about the legendary monster hunts, the many outfits and weapons, the bounty hunts, the humor in the side quests, the minigames, or even the gameplay. For many, this is the biggest criticism of the game. But whether or not that’s true doesn’t matter to me. For me, Red Dead Redemption 2 will go down as one of the best games ever made, and I don’t know if anything will ever top it.