Rockstar’s Hidden Message At The Heart Of Red Dead Redemption 2
It wasn't that Grand Theft Auto 4 was a bad game - far from it. It's that after the trio of overblown, cartoonish and caricatured GTAs, plus the reputation Rockstar had built up with Manhunt and Bully, it just didn't "feel" right. GTA 4's story had weight, flawed characters, analyses and on-the-nose commentary on the American Dream. It wasn't exactly cinematic brilliance (we still had Brucie and Roman), but in short, GTA 4 was Rockstar trying to move from Michael Bay, to Michael Mann.
They even mimicked the bank robbery from Mann's 1995 thriller Heat, just to hammer that home.
Naturally, the response was mixed. Niko Bellic wasn't as cartoonish or malleable as Tommy Vercetti, CJ or even the all-purpose blank slate of Claude. The clash between his cutscene depictions vs. what we could make him do in-game birthed the term "ludonarrative dissonance" - that of playing a character in a way that betrays how they're otherwise written.
GTA 4 lacked the youthful punk spirit of Rockstar's prior works, which was what they were known for, and didn't actively encourage you to embark on 6 star wanted levels or crime sprees. There were no shops selling chainsaws; no Rampage Tokens or random rocket launchers. It was this lack of connective tissue that ultimately makes it the black sheep of the franchise, but it's easy to see why Rockstar chose to mould this entry in such a way:
They were growing up, and they didn't mind leaving the utterly ridiculous stuff to Saints Row.
Like anyone maturing out of young adulthood and approaching their mid-twenties, thirties and beyond, it's easy to look back on the mistakes and emotionally-fuelled decisions of yesteryear with a notion of wanting to do better, or at least, not to repeat them. GTA V played things VERY safe in this regard, and got the franchise back on track, selling more than any other entertainment product in history.
Rockstar clearly don't regret what they've made in the past or what they've become, but with Red Dead Redemption 2, they have found a way to address it head on.
The key is representing both sides of the coin, and taking a stance with repercussions.
Cont.