On October 26, Red Dead Redemption 2 was released to the public and my GPA immediately dropped. Instead of working on a science project, I found myself robbing a bank and shooting anyone that got in my way. I have spent so many hours playing this game when I could have been doing work.
Is that a bad thing? Yeah. Am I going to stop playing? Of course not.
Developed by Rockstar Games, Red Dead Redemption 2 follows Arthur Morgan and the gang of criminals he is a part of called the Van der Linde gang, as they flee across the United States from federal agents after a robbery gone wrong. It's basically Grand Theft Auto with cowboys. Playing this game has me doing things I don't usually do in real life such as getting a new haircut every few days, saying hello to every single person I walk past, and spending 20 minutes hunting an animal only for it to run away and disappear.
The game gives the player a lot of freedom and manages to be incredibly realistic. This can lead to some interesting situations. For instance, while hunting, I was almost mauled by a bear because I fired my weapon too late. I would have been done for if I didn't have a knife.
Other realistic features in the game include taking a bath, eating, and getting sick for not wearing warm clothes in warm weather. The game never runs out of ways to surprise the player either. Constantly I'll be riding my horse when all of a sudden, something completely random happens. Riding your horse in a certain territory might lead you to get robbed by a rival gang, or you might just come across a woman who is trapped underneath her horse. I have even managed to find the KKK (yes, that one) in the middle of the woods.
Rockstar Games managed to create one of the most memorable games of the year. Here's hoping that they can continue to do this with their future games such as the rumored Bully 2 and the inevitable Grand Theft Auto sequel.