9 Reasons Red Dead Redemption 2 Is Already Better Than GTA 5

2. Revolutionary Mission System

Onto the big game-changing stuff. And not just game-changing, but genre-defining.

Ever since Rockstar perfected what we now think of as the open world genre with GTA III, everybody (including them) has stuck to the whole "large map peppered with icons" setup - something Red Dead 2 discards.

Now, there's no delineation between main and story missions. Yes, specific actions will progress the main narrative, but Rockstar have apparently designed a world more akin to IO Interactive's latest Hitman, or Bethesda's titles, where everything responds to your actions, generating content and missions dynamically.

Hands-on sessions talk about robberies gone wrong leading to chasing down witnesses, in turn triggering conversations with law enforcement, that then results in a change of clothes and a few games of poker down the saloon. Such things are standard fare, but characters and authored missions are wrapped up in these scenarios too, resulting in a natural stream of things to see and do, that never brings up the age-old "list of main and side missions."

One of those "you'll have to see it to fully 'get it'"-type things, Rockstar are detonating their own genre foundations and building something altogether more impressive.