The only game I’ve been playing for a while now has been Red Dead Redemption 2… And if you’ve read my previous article, you know that I play this game mainly to relax and unwind.
There are two sides of Red Dead Redemption 2 that are pretty apparent. One side is the story and characters, and the other side is the open world and how it provides you with nothing and everything at the same time. The open world is where a lot of that relaxation comes from… But when you finally want some story missions after hunting deer for 3 hours, then I have to say that the characters are what make it amazing.
Not every character in RDR2 is fleshed out as our protagonist, Arthur Morgan, but they provide you enough to get a general idea of what they are like.
Arthur Morgan is our protagonist who constantly has a voice at the back of his head, doubting a lot of things happening at the present moment – He wishes for some peace and quiet after so much has happened but tries to do his best for others. Dutch is the leader of the gang and later the main villain of RDR1, which allows for RDR2 to set up a lot of explanations and reasons for Dutch’s actions in the previous title – You get to know a lot more on what he was like before the first game and he truly is one of the more interesting characters in the game due to how charming he is.
You have characters like Bill Williamson who is essentially the group idiot / punching bag, and people like Javier who people seem to like a lot in the gang… Then we have our very own John Marston who is the protagonist of RDR1. In this game, you get to see what he was like back when he was part of Dutch’s gang and understand more of his character as a greenhorn, initially introduced having just survived a bear attack – Though he is not given a lot of time just like the other gang members (Which I appreciate) – This is Arthur’s story after all.
..But getting to hang out with these characters and the many more at the camp is some of the most enjoyment I’ve had with the game. I just want to exhaust all their dialogue after a mission just to get a taste of what these characters are like, and what their relationship with Arthur is like, and speaking of which you also get to know Arthur’s character a lot more through these other gang members. You get to know what our boy is like by seeing why he treats certain gang members in the ways that he does. It’s really interesting stuff. Just walking around camp, talking to other gang members and watching them talk to each other is such a delight.
And this may be delving into spoiler territory but after certain missions, the whole gang will celebrate one night. And these moments in the game are some of my favourites. Just because there is nothing more wholesome than a group of friends hanging out by the campfire telling stories, singing songs, and getting shitfaced. The characters in this game, in my eyes, are what make this games story so fun… Because without them, you really wouldn’t have a reason to even want to go on missions, or you wouldn’t be bothered by who’s mission you wanna do first – Because we pick favourites. I know I choose missions with my favourite characters first rather than any other random mission, it’s cause I wanna spend more time with the characters I like.
The characters of this game are what make the narrative so great. Hell, I like some characters more than our very own protagonist (But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t die for Arthur Morgan I love you bb xoxo). It’s something I feel like all of us can agree on too… And here’s another thing we can all agree on, fuck Micah.