10 Times Gameplay Directly Informed The Narrative
1. Red Dead Redemption
At this point the amount of think pieces on Red Dead Redemption is pretty much countless, but a moment that I don't think I've ever seen discussed anywhere in great detail are the game's final missions at Beecher's Hope.
These missions were met with criticism by a lot of gamers when Red Dead was first released all those years ago, but they're personally my favourite moment in the game because they perfectly exemplify the game's core narrative.
Upon returning to Beecher's Hope at the end of the game you can't help but feel like something is a little bit off. I'm hunting? I'm breaking in horses? I'm herding cattle? After I've spent hours blasting countless bad guys? This all feels like the tutorial. Hell, it was the tutorial. I've done all of this before!
Of course you have, and of course it feels off and of course it feels wrong. Because it is. Because this isn't who John Marston is, as much as he'd like it to be. The Beecher's Hope missions are a strange, unsettling, subconscious reminder that what John has been told all along at almost every turn by everyone he meets is true: he can't ever escape who he really is.