Red Dead Redemption 2's Brilliant Open World Is Let Down By Its Restrictive Missions

thegamer.com:

I've been thinking a lot about Red Dead Redemption 2, mainly because of Elden Ring. A lot of you seem ready to christen FromSoftware's latest controller-breaker as the greatest open world game of all time, but with its lousy UX/UI, arcane and obtuse menus, and just the fact it isn't really for me means I'm unable to make that leap with you. I'm stuck on Red Dead Redemption 2, and I think I always will be. With its living, breathing world, excellent soundscape, and the way it bursts with engaging stories to tell you, it feels as if it's the most well-realised open world in video game history. The only problem is the missions kinda suck.

I know I'm going to get a lot of flak for that, but please hear me out. I think I've written enough versions of 'Red Dead Redemption 2 Is Great, Fuck Yeah!' to have earned the benefit of the doubt. I've defended Guarma and the snow - I'm all in on the Red Dead train baby. But the missions, they're just not that good. Narratively? Brilliant. I think we overstate storytelling in video games sometimes because we have been starved of high-quality narratives, but Red Dead Redemption 2 has one of the few that stands toe to toe with other mediums in its genre. I'd go so far as to say it's up there with Tombstone, Unforgiven, and The Revenant as one of the great modern westerns. Certainly it's better than Cowboys & Aliens. From a gameplay perspective though? Not so much.

Related: Red Dead Redemption Undead Nightmare Deserves A Sequel

As I've already written about, the best thing to do in Red Dead Redemption 2 is to do nothing. Partly that's because the open world is so fantastic, but it's also because playing the missions of Red Dead can be a chore. This is only a roadblock on very specific