No Game Has Ever Made Me Feel Like RDR2
Hey everyone, I wanted to share my experience and my personal opinion on why I think Red Dead Redemption 2 is the best game I’ve ever played. A little background first. I’ve always preferred singleplayer games over multiplayer ones. Storytelling and immersion are very important to me. Over the years I’ve played a lot of games, and some of my favorites are the Mafia series, The Last of Us, Uncharted, Half-Life, a few Assassin’s Creed games, and the Grand Theft Auto series.
So why would I put RDR2 above all of them? Maybe because of the story? Yes, the story is incredibly powerful and it can even make a grown man cry :D But honestly, it’s not just the story, the graphics, or even the gameplay itself.
RDR2 is the only game that has ever given me a very specific feeling the kind of feeling you get when you’re walking alone at night during a difficult time in your life, but somehow you still feel like life is beautiful. Like nothing is bothering you for a moment and you’re simply enjoying the world around you. I hope some of you understand what I mean. That’s exactly what RDR2 made me feel for the first and only time in gaming. Riding a horse through forests, across open fields, or through Saint Denis… sometimes it genuinely feels like time stops for a moment and you just absorb everything around you. You almost forget that you’re even playing a game because everything fits together perfectly, the graphics, gameplay, sound design, atmosphere, and the world itself.
Right now I’m finishing the game for the third time with over 130 hours played, and I still keep discovering new things. Every single playthrough feels different. And every time I tell myself “next time I’ll finally do a low honor run,” but somehow I just can’t do it and end up with high honor again :D I honestly don’t know how this game manages to do that.
For me, the story is a masterpiece because it can make you feel sadness, happiness, excitement, fear, and even peace. And I think that’s the most important thing a game can do make you genuinely feel emotions. As for the graphics… to this day, nothing has beaten it for me. Sure, some newer games may technically look a bit better, but none of them come close to the level of detail RDR2 has. Other games can be beautiful too, but compared to RDR2 they often feel emotionally empty. And honestly, that’s also the biggest downside of this game. After finishing RDR2, other games just feel empty :)
P.S. The night sky screenshot isn’t mine.