As it reaches its 5th anniversary of release this October 26th, a question nags at me; is the western story game still worth playing today? Does its graphics, gameplay, and story age well after 5 years? And most of all, is it a good game in the first place?

Red dead redemption 2 is telling the story of a gang of thieves, highwaymen, and loyal followers of their leader, Dutch Van der Lin, A con man with enough charisma to talk his way out of the belly of a bear. You play as his secondhand Arthur Morgan, a crack shot loyal to Dutch, and start out the game on the run from the U.S. government in the winter of 1899, the turn of the century in the snowy mountain range, The Grizzlies. You come to an abandoned coal mining operation to hold out from the storm. Soon you come across a rival gang and steal their score as you traverse down the powdered slopes. You find some safety in a valley cattle town called Valentine and try to lay low. As you progress, you see a dark interior to this merry crew. You see in-fighting and conflict with the members, each one with more depth and personality than the last. Over time, you find and get more and more scores, with more and more development in the story. There’s no way I could cover the entire pages of lore in one or ten pages, but the only way to know it is to experience the game for yourself. The question is, should you even attempt to play it?

Red Dead Redemption 2 for PC brings the epic story of Arthur Morgan and the Van der Linde gang to life in breathtaking new ways.

Watch it at https://t.co/KEZ3WxtYxm in stunning 4K to see how packed full of new details and greater fidelity every corner of this vast open world is. pic.twitter.com/j2HOstMSGW

— Rockstar Games (@RockstarGames) October 17, 2019

The game is not like many you’ve ever played before, there’s so much diversity and variability in the way you can play it. You can customize yourself from your boots to your haircut, to even what suspenders you’re wearing. You can do anything from rob a train, tame a horse, and find and shoot bandits. You can even find a random person, knock them out, tie them up, throw them on the back of your horse, ride them to a swamp, and feed them to an alligator. That being said, you can probably see the potential. The gameplay is smooth and has a lot of choices you can make. Its mechanics are great, although it’s the depth of the characters and story elements that truly shines.

The depth of the characters is undoubtedly the most complex and compelling of any game I’ve ever played. There’s the camp cook Pearson, a former navy man. There’s Charles, hailing from a native American mother, and an African father, he is a man of honor and of nature. There’s Micah, a gun for hire, gang runner, and an antagonistic member of the gang, who is always at odds with the main character Arthur. And that’s only 3 of the many members who you interact with in-game. They have backstories, personalities, different ways you interact with them, and they all have some different history with you as well. It has such an over-arching and beautiful story, and its scenery is gorgeous as well. Every hand placed tree, every water-carved valley, and the breathtaking views over each bridge you cross. Whether You’re a bandit or a traveler, you can’t deny the heart-stopping beauty that is this game.

Now what are some professional opinions on the game? Well from Meta critic, “Red Dead Redemption 2 is the most ambitious open world ever made. A new starting point for the genre, and an incomparable masterpiece. The astounding thing about RDR 2 is that there’s not only a staggering amount of story, side quests, and places to explore but that it’s all high quality and doesn’t feel tacked on”. . Another review from IGN, “Red Dead Redemption 2 is a sprawling Western tale of loyalty, conviction, and the price of infamy, chronicling the inevitable collapse of a motley crew of Wild West holdouts kicking against the slow march of civilization and industrialization. Set in Rockstar’s most authentic and lived-in open world ever, there are so many things to do, so many people to meet, and so many places to explore it’s giddily overwhelming. Red Dead Redemption 2 isn’t just Rockstar’s greatest achievement to date; it’s a game so lacking in compromise it’s tough to know where best to start discussing it.”  .These two prestigious critic organizations, as well as hundreds of others, describe what a beautiful and fulfilling world there is to explore, with a surprise around every corner. And with Red Dead Redemption 2 Being a beacon of beauty in the video game market, it not only will influence the

way we see and play video games, but how other franchises will need to take it to the next level. World Building, character development, and game content are all going to be a big part of the next decade in video games, and red dead will most certainly be playing a large part of it.

What a game, with so much to do, so many things to learn, and tons of lore to find, there’s never any end. That being said, where does that leave us? What’s the answer to that question we started at the beginning? The answer is however you perceive it to be. I’ve only covered a fraction of what this game has to offer, but if I’ve piqued your interest in the slightest, I recommend you play this game. It has everything I’ve covered here and more. It’s a beautiful escape into the ever more developing west. It’s a journey into a story like you’ve never seen before. And It’s an experience of action, mystery, and adventure. While it’s not your average shoot em up or your multi-player competitive fighting game, it’s a game to find yourself and enjoy the early American 1900’s like never enjoyed before. Leave this with an open mind, and hopefully you can see the beauty of this game that I play.