Red Dead Redemption 2 Is About The Death Of Rockstar

GTA catapulted Stephen Bliss' iconic box art into millions of households, and Bully was like a Little Rascals game, or the Beano made playable. Total gore-fest Manhunt actually originated in the envelope-pushing 90s, coming back into development across the 2000s as Rockstar could now use GTA's engine to bring it to life.

Even The Warriors felt like a "Sure, why not" direction, and the game's animations embraced an over-the-top sensibility as you launched opponents through fences and windows, delivering roundhouse kicks and brutal slam finishers.

Dan's later comments make it feel like the team had to go down a more rounded out, hyper-coloured look for the most part, but they were clearly relishing this experimental "rebel period" as well. Things like San Andreas being developed with multiple sex scenes or bondage minigames showed a willingness to push boundaries, and Sam Houser's leaked email regarding an Adults Only patch that would "Unlock the darkness" after launch says it all.

That story by the way, confirmed that the Hot Coffee scandal was always somewhat planned by Sam Houser at the top, as the scenes were left intact under the proviso that once San Andreas had cleared the censors, Rockstar would patch in the ability to take part in sex scenes.

Point being: There were twin mentalities at the heart of Rockstar. The knowledge that they could do better from Dan, with the primal human reality that mischief, pushing the boundaries of gaming or all-out rule-breaking can be fun, from Sam.

These latter elements are largely what we all fell in love with, but as the industry moved on, matured and refined itself, you can almost ask the question:

"Is there a place for GTA?"

Cont.