Remembering the brutal brilliance of Red Dead Redemption

Red Dead Redemption remains one of best open-world titles ever made and it’s also one of my favourite video games. With the long-awaited sequel just ten days away, I thought I’d look at it in detail. Recently I went back and played all the way through, reaching 100% completion and seeing everything the game had to offer. It has never lost an inch of its impact on me as a player. It should go without saying, but there are MASSIVE SPOILERS ahead; if you're never played Red Dead Redemption before, go back and experience it for yourself before reading on...

Developed over the course of five years, as is typical of any Rockstar title, Red Dead Redemption had a humble origin, setting itself out as a successor to the somewhat underrated Red Dead Revolver. With Rockstar North hard at work on Grand Theft Auto 4 and its expansions, the task fell to Rockstar San Diego, who had mostly been settled in the AA range with titles like Midnight Club, but they are also notable for producing Revolver back in 2005. Knowing Rockstar’s pedigree for open-world titles, excitement built up very quickly, though some naysayers wondered whether this new Red Dead would simply be Grand Theft Auto 4 with horses. Following its release on May 21^st 2010 (In the UK), Redemption went on to win countless accolades and game of the year awards, selling 13 million copies by 2013. For this retrospective, I won’t be covering the multiplayer mode or the Undead Nightmare expansion; while both are fun, it’s the single-player and its narrative that form the meat of the package.

And what a story it is… to this day Red Dead Redemption remains my favourite narrative in any Rockstar title. The Grand Theft Auto series is mostly satirical, often playing aspects of American culture for laughs but Redemption is much different. Following on from the similarly serious Grand Theft Auto IV, writers Dan Houser, Michael Unsworth and Christian Cantamessa put together an immensely detailed tale packed with memorable characters and standout moments. At several points it tributes classic spaghetti westerns like The Wild Bunch and Shane but for the most part, Red Dead Redemption’s story has a definitive thematic hook, that of old being replaced by the new and technology and order intruding on a life of freedom that is now coming to an end.

From the moment the game begins, a tragic undertone is instilled with “Exodus in America”, a slow and deliberate piano piece that instantly pulls the player into the setting; it’s 1911 and the American West that once offered an open freedom to those willing to settle it is coming to an end. We meet see the protagonist, John Marston; flanked by two forceful looking government agents in fancy suits; without a single line of dialogue, we know that John is an unwilling participant. He hops on a train and begins his mission; hunting down the former members of his outlaw gang. The ride is bookended by several passengers commenting on the current state of the world and the onset of modern civilization, most notably the invention of the plane and the ability to make men fly. The game doesn’t wait long to sell you on John Marston’s character, superbly portrayed by actor Rob Weithoff; for me the line: “People don’t forget, nothing is forgiven” instantly got me invested; there is a history to John, his time in the Van Der Linde gang weighing heavy on him and this fuels his character, a man who wants to put his past behind him and settle down with his family. The first order of the day in the New Austin frontier is to track down Bill Williamson, a former violent gang member who has set up shop in Fort Mercer; Marston won’t stand a chance alone (as the game already reminded you in its opening mission) so you’ll have to put together a motley crew.

This is where RDR’s story opens organically alongside the incredibly detailed open world in which every activity you do has a purpose; this is something that many open-world titles fall short of today, often sending the player on busy work and other meaningless tasks. But in Red Dead, animal hunting, herb-picking, gang hideouts, treasure hunting, stranger tasks, period piece minigames and challenges are all interwoven into the proceedings as you explore. The only real exception to this is crime, which does have suitable refinements when compared to Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto series. Whenever I play through Red Dead Redemption, I very rarely commit any crimes as John because I’d have a hard time connecting with a protagonist who is portrayed as honourable and good-natured in cutscenes. It’s the only real blemish I can think of when talking about RDR’s gameplay and its connection to story; other games, like the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot (In which Lara Croft, who has never killed before,suddenly starts racking up headshots like nobody’s business), suffer more from this narrative dissonance problem. It also helps that the gameplay itself is engaging from top to bottom; Red Dead Redemption sets itself apart from its contemporaries in the open world genre with two main facets; dead eye mode and the lasso. The gunplay is typical cover-based shooting from a third person perspective, but Rockstar San Diego tweaked the systems from Grand Theft Auto 4 to allow for more flexibility; Marston can disarm or disable enemies rather than killing them, which is especially useful in capturing wanted outlaws alive with the lasso and reaping the higher cash reward. Then there’s dead-eye, an immensely gratifying mechanic in which Marston can perform huge feats of marksmanship by marking multiple targets and placing them all in the ground with a series of deadly shots. Horses are the best mode of travel throughout the game world, operating on a stamina system while also reacting dynamically to wild predators and other occurrences as you power through the desert. Nothing feels rushed or under baked throughout the adventure.

Suffice it to say that the characters themselves are richly varied, developed and interesting; it’s great to see Marston play off all the different personalities, a mixture of good-natured peacekeepers, swindling cowards and sly hypocrites all looking to make their way in the Frontier. My personal favourites are Marshall Leigh Johnson, a lawman who does his best to keep things in order and the retired gunslinger Landon Ricketts, an old-time gunslinger with just as much experience as John when it comes to surviving the harsh landscape. Just like Marston himself, they are all brilliantly performed by their individual voice actors, adding even more depth and believability to an already absorbing world. Act 1 sees John interacting regularly with this gallery of characters, with each one having a role to play in the eventual assault on Fort Mercer and while it can’t really be altered by the player, it’s a still a rousing conclusion to the first part of the game. Conman Nigel West Dickens convinces the gang to let him and his wagon into the fort and charms them with stories of his special elixir while the others get into position, then John pops off the wagon’s roof with a Gatling gun, ready to mow down the opposition. It’s incredibly cathartic to take down the foes that put a bullet in Marston at the game’s opening and the fort is quickly taken. But with Bill Williamson having fled the scene to the south, it’s only a half-won victory for Marston’s crew and the next part of his mission begins…

Act 2 sees John journey to Mexico and his ventures south of the river are marked by a key transition point. Upon arrival and mounting on horseback, the song “Far Away” by Jose Gonzales eases the player in to this new country. Riding out into the desert, the new horizon stretching out before you as this track plays was one of the most atmospheric and stunning moments in any game I’ve experienced; the perfect synergy of gameplay and story as you enter the second act, which dynamically shifts from a simple fort assault to a more widespread civil war with John being caught up between both government and rebel forces. Neither side is all that trustworthy or reliable and this complicates matters as Marston searches not just for the fleeing Bill Williamson, but Javier Escuella as well. 

The scale is also opened considerably in act 2, with more large-scale invasions involving other soldiers and combatants aiding. It’s also clear that this territory south of the river is more unhinged, with the government forces led by Colonel Allende and Captain De Santa betraying Marston around halfway through. Some of the more extravagant moments of the second act involve the defence of a train carrying vital supplies and the storming of two major forts; Torquemada and El Presidio (The Prison). While Marston is still free to roam either side of Nuevo Paradiso (the game’s fictional stand-in for Mexico), there’s a definitive series of battle lines drawn; the government to the west and the rebels to the right, with the latter ultimately tipping the balance. Act 2 ends with two main missions; one is the capture or killing of Javier Escuella followed up by the storming of Escalara. Both Colonel Allende and Bill Williamson attempt to flee but are eventually caught and executed at the hands of John Marston and rebel leader Abraham Reyes. The protagonist believes this is the end of his troubles, but Edgar Ross and the United States government have other plans.

Act 3 moves John back to the United States and here, things come full circle. The bulk of the action takes place in the town of Blackwater, which is by far the most developed and closely colonised settlement of the game. It’s clear that this is the intended future for the American Frontier, for more defined towns and settlements to tame these wild lands. Here John is at the full behest of Edgar Ross and his associate Archer Fordham as he faces his final test; hunting down Dutch Van Der Linde, the leader of John’s former gang and the most wanted outlaw in the final years of the Wild West. On the other end of the spectrum, the Native American Nastas, an understated assistant to Ross’s plans, holds the third act’s other thematic hook. Against the ignorance of other supporting characters, Red Dead Redemption makes some reference to the brutal displacement and shocking treatment of the native tribes that lived in the frontier, with Nastas commenting on how nature was once pure and balanced before the onset of modern civilization. His sudden death at the hands of his own countrymen who have joined Dutch’s gang for revenge speaks volumes of how Native Americans at the time suffered and died for nothing.

 

The final set of missions in act 3 are interwoven, with the first being another use of the Gatling gun, this time mounted on a recently invented automobile; as the pinnacle of armoured technology at the time, it gives the player a hint as to where the world is heading. Marston, backed by Ross and a contingent of US soldiers chases Dutch all the way to his mountain hideout. Cornered on the top of the cliffs, Dutch relays some revealing final words before choosing his own fate: “Our time is passed John”; truly he was an outlaw to the end. At long last Marston can go home to his family, a moment poignantly marked by “The Outlaw’s Return” which plays as he rides back through the tall trees. This isn’t quite the end of the storyline however…

The end of Marston’s journey is one of the most emotionally powerful moments in any game and it accomplishes this in several ways. First,the collection of quieter family moments at Beecher’s Hope builds a false sense of security in the player’s mind, that John will finally be able to settle and find some peace, fully reconciling with his family. Yet Dutch’s final words remain; “When I'm gone they'll have to find another monster, they have to, because they have to justify their wages”. Despite all the running he did, Dutch knew better than most how the world worked and what it would do him and their kind of renegade outlaws. This line rings true in Red Dead Redemption’s closing moments and this exceptional writing is what makes me even more excited to play Red Dead Redemption 2 and understand how close the gang really was.

“The Last Enemy that shall be destroyed” is an assault on the Marston family ranch by the American army; the player kills many soldiers, who are ironically only following orders after following Marston in previous missions and you feel incredibly outnumbered throughout. The moment that always sticks out to me though is when John peeks out of the barn at the very end and takes a deep breath, his head bowed; he knows his time is up and that this is the only way to save his wife and son. So, he steps out and dead eye mode is engaged; the player can mark as many targets as they can, but it won’t change his fate. Marston is riddled with bullets by the US army, dropping his weapon to the ground as his final act before dying; meanwhile the slimy Edgar Ross, agent of the US government, lights a cigar, content that he has finally stamped out the last semblance of outlawed crime in the western frontier. The heartbreak reaches its climax as the player switches control to John’s son Jack as him and his mother bury the hero you’ve spent so much time playing as on a hill, the very same one pointed out by the stranger in “I know you”. The solemn “Bury me not in the lone prairie” raises the emotion to breaking point as the game transitions to the adult Jack Marston, a means to carry on John’s legacy.

Red Dead Redemption’s ending is an immense tragedy but when you look back at the game’s first act, the overarching narrative has also reached its full climax. John Marston did so much to bury his past throughout the game, but in the end, nothing is forgiven, and the crimes he committed years before had consequences. In the end though, he achieved redemption for these deeds, sacrificing himself to save his family. Just like every other aspect of the game’s storytelling, switching to Jack is a seamless means to let the player continue their escapades in the open world. This final send-off; Jack’s eventual revenge on Edgar Ross is the cap to one of best stories ever told in gaming history. Everything about it was designed to immerse the player, from the excellent facial animations and voice acting that still hold up eight years after the game’s original release, to the practically non-existent load times that only pop-up during fast travel, ensuring you’re never taken out of the experience. Red Dead Redemption went down as one of the most unanimously beloved games of the seventh generation, while also setting the highest standard for the western genre. Hopefully I’ve adequately explained in this editorial why I wholeheartedly agree. I look forward to seeing what Red Dead Redemption 2 brings when it releases on October 26th, 2018.

(Images used for the purposes of review and criticism under fair use)