GameTech: Rockstar shoots for the skies

Rockstar is back for a few dollars more. On October 26, it’ll be riding into town with a big name and collecting its bounty.

Red Dead Redemption 2 (RDR2) is going to make it richer than Fort Knox, but will it be worth saddling up for?

Here are seven things we’ve learned about the game that have us excited.

Choose your poison

In the first game, a ‘fame’ system dictated how well known the player was and whether that recognition ever turned to infamy based on evil deeds.

In RDR2, that world interaction is tied to the L2 button, which allows you to choose how to treat people. You can save, threaten, and cajole NPCs as you see fit.

They will remember your actions too, as you slowly become a hero or villain by way of your choices.

Play it dirty

Like most gamers, Arthur Morgan forgets to wash sometimes. The central character of RDR2 can be as clean or dirty as you want him, literally.

If you chose not to shave or wash Morgan, he will appear exactly as muddy and downtrodden as you would expect, with people reacting appropriately.

On the other hand, you might choose to keep your Morgan clean-shaven and suave. It’s up to you.

Hold your horses

Unlike the previous outing, your horse won’t magically appear whenever you whistle. It will stay where you last left it.

While you can upgrade your whistling ability to improve the range, the underlying message is that the relationship with your horse is one to be cultivated this time around.

The wild bunch

There are said to be over 200 species of wildlife in RDR2, each of which you can hunt, collect, or just admire from afar.

The hunting system from the first game seems to have been expanded and with crafting now involved too, you can be sure the ecosystem will play a much larger role this time around.

If nothing else, we’ll be spending plenty of time fishing.

The cavalry

In a nod to Grand Theft Auto, it seems that there’s a new cavalry system in play, where too many bad deeds or murders might lead to the law actively hunting you down.

You can also have a price placed on your head, with bounty hunters looking to cash in.

In a world where the West is starting to civilise, this move makes sense, but it will be interesting to see how it affects the flow of open-world violence.

Cool in the gang

One of the biggest question marks over this sequel is how gang life will work in relation to the solitary wanderings of Arthur himself.

From what we’ve seen and heard, camp life will be largely optional in terms of player interaction, but the gang will be integral to the main story nonetheless.

More importantly, there will be other gangs roaming the west too — and Arthur can get on the wrong side of them.

Red Dead Online

One of the saddest developments in recent years was Rockstar’s decision to give up on single-player Grand Theft Auto V in favour of Grand Theft Auto Online.

The latter has become by far the company’s biggest cash cow.

Thankfully, while Red Dead Online exists and will no doubt get huge attention, it doesn’t launch until a month after the single player game, giving us time to digest RDR2 without buying ‘ranches’ or spending money on micro-transactions.

DESTINY FORSAKEN

If RDR2 seems destined to rule the charts, then it will likely have to pull players away from Destiny itself.

Destiny 2: Forsaken has launched and, with Sony’s decision to offer it free to PlayStation Plus members, the servers are full of new players.

Destiny 2 has split a lot of gamers due to the changes made from end-of-life Destiny 1.

Some people believe the balance achieved at the end of the first game has been lost with changes in the sequel.

However, Destiny 2 is a fantastic example of perfect console shooter gameplay regardless, mirroring the original Halo for tight controls and bite-sized bouts of action.

It’s also the best sci-fi world in big-budget gaming since Halo, with a really cool universe and lore to explore.

Highly recommended for anyone who has been avoiding their destiny.