…continued
The idea is clearly that, even though story missions may be a little more bombastic and fully-featured, the satisfaction in making your own fun is equal in Red Dead Redemption. What underlines all this, of course, is the fact that playing the kick-ass cowboy looks like bloody good fun. It’s a pleasure that shouldn’t be underestimated.

Yet, the game’s greatest triumph may not necessarily be the cool, slow-motion shooting of the Dead Eye mechanic or the sidequests. It’s that classic feeling, synonymous with Rockstar games that, in these sprawling, relentlessly detailed open locations, every key moment will feel entirely unique to the individual.

Experiencing this through the filter of the Wild West theme, especially one so well realised by a developer that clearly obsesses over its rich possibilities, should represent a turning point in our expectations from this genre. The open world merely started with gangsters, after all – Red Dead Redemption exposes how much raw potential lies beyond that.