Red Dead Redemption 2 & The Paradox Of Western Storytelling
The content below contains some (semi) minor spoilers.
Video gaming, as an industry, has now existed for more than 40 years. In that relatively short span of time, we have seen a transition, or rather, an evolution of entertainment like no other, something that could only be rivaled by the growth of cinema in the early 20th century. That is not to say, however, that both are independent entities existing mutually exclusive of each other. No, video games have taken, often very explicit, inspirations from films and books, which is perhaps why they feel more like an experimental art form than a crude representation of what already exists. This is by no means a negative, considering how games allow artists to encapsulate experiences that might otherwise feel very out of place in any other medium.
However, like I previously mentioned, video games are a rapidly changing medium. We’ve gone from arcade games like Tetris to linear, story driven titles like The Last Of Us in less than 40 years, a fascinating transition. This is also true for Rockstar Games, who published their first title — Grand Theft Auto — in 1997. It did not, by any means, set the bar for the industry at the time, even though it was a commercial success. However, it provided Rockstar some very implicit insight into what open world games were supposed to be, and how they could possibly prove to be the future of the industry, which has since proved true.
Red Dead Redemption was one such game that was based off of that open world model, the very same model that Rockstar provided structure to with Grand Theft Auto III.
Without going too much in depth, I’ll say that it was very different from Rockstar’s other open world franchise game in that it represented a more grim and realistic picture of what, according to the game, the world really is. It represented a microcosm of life in a rapidly industrializing world by incorporating within it nuanced, branched out relationships with the protagonist’s family and the many people he met along the way. It subverted expectations by creating a fully realized Western experience, something that had arguably never been done before, that too in a video game.
However, Red Dead Redemption failed to solve one of the more implied paradoxes, something that has made every Western film/television show & video game feel very outlandish, something that has taken you out of the experience: it failed to create a connection between the audience and the environment [the world, characters and even the story to some extent], which is where Red Dead Redemption 2 comes in.
It’s no denying that the first Red Dead Redemption was an action western, replete with gunfights at every figurative corner, a staple of every Rockstar franchise game. Even with just nearly 60 total story missions in the game, the game felt mostly natural, with its pacing allowing for the incorporation of enough emotion to sustain the game’s story and help execute it really, really well. However, at times, it also felt like it moved too fast, symbolistic of the game’s representation of the creeping ‘fear’ of civilization in the face of the uncivilized west. This was not only representative in gameplay, but also in the story, in which every hand you dealt was to further the action, only letting John Marston, the main protagonist be able to interact with his family for a whole 2 hours, before penultimately ending the story with his death, something which in itself defied the conventional principles of storytelling in video games.
Red Dead Redemption 2 cranks this up a notch, significantly slowing the pace to where it becomes semi-predictable, overwhelming you with side missions (that sometimes play into the story) while you accomplish the relatively more minute tasks. With the passing of each mission, you feel the game becoming darker and more grim, finally culminating with a unique action-oriented twist towards the end of each chapter. Admittedly, this has has been done in games like The Last Of Us before, but never on this scale. The game executes these segments so well that even when you think you what’s going to happen next, the game ups the ante and completely subverts your expectations. Take Chapter 3 for example: you spend the entire portion working with law enforcement authorities and investigating two rival families, each working seemingly passively to eliminate the other’s power. For the first 5 hours, you spend your time working the sheriff and committing minute tasks in favor of the sheriff, who himself is revealed to be part of one of the rivaling families, while simultaneously unravelling the reason for animosity between the two families. However, the story takes a gradual shift towards the darker side of the story spectrum, culminating in a shootout and a very sudden death 8 hours in. Now, I won’t spoil the rest of the chapter for you, but what I can say is that the ending shares many parallels with, say, Breaking Bad, in that it signals a very climatic & satisfying end of something. All of this is done with such finesse that even the one (and first) death that the group incurs towards the middle, something that seems so irrelevant and inconsequential in context, becomes a very implicit driving force behind the motivations of the Van Der Linde Gang. Everything that Arthur’s seen so far, you’ve seen too, and you’re thus forced to put yourself into the shoes of Arthur Morgan, the protagonist, and think like him. It prevents you from delving into a realm of disbelief, making everything seem as realistic as can be, especially in a medium of this sort.
“Everything that Arthur’s seen so far, you’ve seen too…”
The true genius of this game lies in the game’s pacing of the story, executing even the most predictable and, on paper, drabby moments of the game with extreme sophistication. Segments that involve, say, building a house or going exploring after a chapter’s climax involve a level of detail that underscores the primary focus, intertwining it with different parts of the story using music or some other similar tool. At one of part of the story, very late into the game, the same song is used to signal a very distinct transition, from one of exploration to one of melancholy and poignance. This transition is very implicit, and is only motioned by the inflection and tone of how the different artists sing the same exact song.
Finally, Red Dead Redemption 2 takes liberty with its characters, some who had already been established in the first Red Dead. I won’t comment much on this, considering how I’d be crossing spoiler territory, but it’s very rare to see a story take liberty with established characters, more so in a prequel. The game includes John Marston, Bill Williamson, Javier Escuella and Dutch Van Der Linde. These characters, all of whom previously had copious amounts of backstory and dimensionality, now have their potential as characters fully actualized, giving them motivations and reasons for their actions in the first Red Dead Redemption. These moments aren’t just limited to story though; Rockstar Games purposely made you able to interact with these characters in normal conversation to add to the nuance and create a sense natural flow throughout the story. I can remember listening and singing to Javier’s rendition of Cielito Lindo, being lost in the moment, seeing everybody dance and enjoy themselves, not realizing what had come before or what could come next. These moments of personal growth provide not only the character but also you, the player, a period of respite from the gradual shift towards grimness and bleakness that the game continues to take throughout the story.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is not only a masterclass in storytelling, something that defies the current norms of narrative in not just games, but in all mediums of entertainment. It solves a paradox that has disrupted the propagation of plot and has thus frustrated directors/writers before, not by limiting the scope of said project but by exponentially increasing it. It truly challenges the role of games in the entertainment industry and is sure to disrupt the conversation for many years to come.
