*Spoilers within* What should a phenomenal game that can be held up and be championed as a reason for the medium actually do for the person taking it in? Well, in Red Deads case, itll make you genuinely want to kill a man. The story of John Marston is beautifully told, and its one that has you going from wrangling cattle out in the old west as the sun sets before supper, through to heading into the big city and taking on a multitude of contracts for increasingly-shady characters, all while tidbits of Marstons past are slowly unfurled leading to one of the most memorable finales in gaming history; where Marston actually loses everything. Yes, for all his past crimes Marston is gunned down by the corrupt official Edgar Ross, leading to what is a pretty sour end to the rest of the game. However just as you start to think this is actually how everything is going to wrap up, we pan up from Marstons grave years later to reveal an older version of his son, kitted out in similar attire to his father and its from here that you have the completely optional means to track down your fathers killer. Sufficed to say 99% of players did exactly that, instinctually heading to the capital city to see which threads could be picked up on, and thusly began this post-credits tracking down of Ross. Naturally when you do finally find him, theres no mansion full of guards to wade through, no overpowered bullet-sponge hardman who takes a few clips to put down before the final confrontation; instead Edgar Ross is now an older man who is simply fishing by the side of a river. In a moment that means so much not just to the idea that John Marston was trying to bury his past as a way to spare his wife and son from being involved in his prior wrongdoings, but also just because you actually want this guy to pay for what hes done, you end up unloading an entire clip into his body and watching him float off down the stream. Then, just as the camera cuts back to your characters face the title of the game appears; simultaneously being the best timing of a title card in history, and that with the most poignancy. Red Dead Redemption is the best game of all time because of this moment, everything it represents, and everything that leads to it its Rockstars finest work and that truly is saying something. So what do you guys think? Are there more phenomenal games that should be on this list? If the answer's yes, then let us know what you swap out or reshuffle - and why - in the comments below!
