What Red Dead Redemption 2 Does Better Than Every Other Open-World Video Game
2. Immersion With Consequence
How many times in The Witcher 3 did you storm into some poor persons hut to nick their bread, butter and fine china? Plenty. How many times did the residents smile as they watched you ransack their humble abode? All the time!
Rather than being submissive tools who willingly let you rummage through their drawers and cupboards, homeowners in Red Dead Redemption 2 threaten to blow your head off with a shotgun. Not only does this contribute to the game’s realism, it adds weight and consequences to the routine of looting found in pretty much every other open-world video game.
In addition to husbands, wives and the hicks of Butcher Creek not being best pleased with you pinching their belongings and life savings, Rockstar’s NPCs are attentive weasels who tattle on you to the law whenever seeing you murder a crew of gunslinging villains or – in most cases – innocent folk. The wanted system makes you cautious of your surroundings at all times.
Granted, it can be frustrating with strangers sometimes reporting you for finishing fights you didn’t start, but it ultimately makes you consider the non-lethal approach to antagonising situations that would typically have you take a gung-ho approach. It’s realistic and contributes to the game’s immersion, and it makes RDR2 more of a thinking game compared to its predecessors.