How The West Was Won

The inside story ofRockstars biggest, deepest, and most beautiful game to date

- Nathan Brown

We are all of 30 seconds into Red Dead Redemption 2 when we realise that Rockstar is burying the lede again. When we think of its predecessor, we remember the glorious sunsets, the sun-parched grass of the New Austin frontier, the baked-clay plains of Mexico. In the Red Dead of our memories, there is rarely a cloud in the sky. We did not expect to begin Rockstar’s first game in five years, one sold on the promise of another adventure in the harsh burning sun of the old west, trudging through a storm in snow that comes up to our waist.

Rockstar also did this in Grand Theft Auto V, you may remember. The opening prologue was a quick tutorial heist set in overcast, snow-driven countryside, meaning players had to wait for the fantasy promised by the boxart. When the moment finally came, and you were finally dropped into the hazy, shimmering glitz of Los Santos, it was all the more striking for the delay. After an hour or so, Rockstar’s latest game does the same thing: the storm subsides, the thaw sets in and our outlaw posse trudges down a hillside, the sun peeking through the clouds as Rockstar flexes its muscles for the first time in HDR.