Red Dead Redemption 2: 10 Reasons It's The Best Game Ever Made
3. Discarding Convention
The very best games and movies defy expectations. And that's not to say they're simply better than we expect. Rather it means they forego any assumptions you may have about the plot and the characters.
To use a separate example; with The Last of Us, Naughty Dog didn't need to kill Joel or Ellie to tug at your heart-strings, that story made you feel emotions games rarely even encroach. As was the case with Red Dead Redemption 2.
It's a game that doesn't feel the need to have one major villain; instead there are several characters that ebb and flow between good and bad, confusing your moral compass. Dutch can be a pain, but you want to make him happy; John is the guy you know you love but he's a douche to his family; Micah is the closest thing to a real bad guy, but the game doesn't let you kill him as most others would.
No, you don't get that satisfaction because real-life isn't like that.
It's a story that foregoes the obvious and conventional options, in favour of emulating real life and crafting a much more realistic and memorable world.