Red Dead Redemption 2 on the PC is the top-tier version of the game. It’s the Woodford Reserve bourbon when you’re used to drinking Kentucky Gentleman. It will most undoubtedly look better than the console version and include all the gameplay that you would expect from the title, but the cost of getting it to that Woodford Reserve level is definitely a price only a PC elitist would understand and accept.
Welcome back to the world of Arthur Morgan and his quest to maintain relevance in the old west (a feat that is more than a tall task). Rockstar Games came out with RDR 2 on the PC a week or so ago and it was interesting revisiting the world on a desktop. While most of the game from the original console release is very much the same, and you can reference it via my review a year or so ago, the technical power of a PC enhances the visuals exponentially, which puts it on another level, if you can get it right with the hardware. In addition, the ability to play the game with a keyboard and mouse changes the way you can experience Arthur’s quest, and in a surprisingly positive way. Other than that, the game is very much what you would expect and have experienced from its initial release.
Let’s get right into this sucker.
The Story
If you’re not familiar with Red Dead Redemption 2’s story, then let me shed some light on its tale. It’s the Wild Bunch of video games, where you have a band of outlaws (this time with families) trying to survive in a changing old west. Regardless of their survival, the west is definitely heading towards an Industrial Age of bigger cities that are connected via a railway system, which is bringing the future and bringing it fast. Of course, that doesn’t stop the band from trying to stand their ground and keep doing their ‘innocent’ thieving, but it certainly paints a tragic picture that their inevitable end is nigh.
Anyway, you play as Arthur Morgan, who is just trying to do what’s right, even if it means doing the wrong thing to set it right. Rockstar made him a poetic hero of sorts, an older Mad Max, where he is reluctant by design to be outright good, but can’t help himself when the time calls. He’s the very definition of anti-hero, which makes him a fascinating character to take control of and make decisions for when you’re trying to avoid/escape getting in hot water with the law. His delivered demeanor is chaotic neutral and that certainly tugs at the heartstrings of RDR players, who have that GTA blood pumping through their veins, as they don’t want to tip the scales too much and make his life harder.
This is essentially the story of Arthur and his band of baddies. The game goes through their trials, tribulations, and survival. And let me say, it still does it quite well. The story still connects, you get to know the characters extremely well, even on a virtual personal level, and you genuinely care about their survival as you progress. You will connect with them right from the snowy beginning until the bloody end.
The Gameplay
The gameplay in RDR 2 for the PC is that of its console brethren. You are given a story track to ride on during your experience with the game, but you can most certainly choose not to stay on that track. It really does Skyrim you a bit and you can get lost quick if you’re not paying attention. While I was certain this time around I would stay focused and stay on the story track, the need to explore in a Rockstar game is way too great to stay on the straight and narrow. Plus, I had to find that one guy in the swamp from my console review and make him pay. I can’t find the Twitch video for it, otherwise, I would reference what I’m talking about, but trust me — he needed to go without question.
Moving on, the game is built for exploration, as well as balancing itself on reward/consequences. Due to the construction of Morgan’s character, you can’t really always be on the path of good, but the game is flexible enough to allow you to teeter on it for a good portion of the experience. If you’re unfamiliar with the gameplay or have been holding out with the PC Elitist out there to play the game on the top-tier shelf of gaming, then let me enlighten you a bit. You have missions you can take, bounties you can pick up, and general tomfoolery that you can commit that will account for hours and hours of gameplay. Your actions in the world of RDR 2 directly affect if you’re going to have an easy or tough time. Should you go the route of good and try to do good without killing many people, you’re going to have an easier time in the game. You will roam freely through towns, talk to people without distrust weighing on the conversation, and get around smoother without much trouble from the law. Should you go down the path of the dark side, then you’re going to be constantly hunted down by bounty hunters until you repay your debt to society — or you die.
The former of those choices is actually a lot more challenging, as a simple ‘running into a person’ will bring the law. There is a compilation on YouTube where someone accidentally runs into people in several towns and causes havoc in the game, which defines the difficulty of trying to be a good outlaw. Historically, the gameplay is built around the notion that you want to be good to get the most out of the experience. In the original RDR, the game would actually be more difficult if you went full GTA on everyone, as you would be (like mentioned above) hunted down constantly. This world is a bigger, more challenging world than GTA’s moments because of the consequence system built around your actions during gameplay. Keeping yourself in check when the world is begging you to destroy it is a big crux to this gameplay. That’s actually what attracts me the most to the RDR series.
Do-goodery aside, the better you do in the world, even if it’s robbing banks or taking out criminals, the bigger the rewards. You can also gather up rewards by completing missions, and you can gather up goodies by simply exploring places. There are a lot of places to find random things, including hats, guns, and collectible cards, which might equal out to gameplay advantages. In addition, the game also features creepy-ass voodoo folks (that run at you like zombies), and incredibly entertaining KKK encounters, which always lead to the KKK dying in some comedic way. You can’t put a price on that comedy, as it’s invaluable.
Regardless of how you end up treating your RDR 2 experience, or what you end up doing or finding, just know that the game is flexible enough to accommodate your gameplay wants/needs. It has a bevy of ways to enjoy it, which makes it a fun game to experience.
You’ll Need a Big Steam Engine for this One
There is a price to pay when it comes to experiencing RDR 2 on a PC platform. Originally, I ran this on a 970 card using an ASUS Republic of Gamers laptop with a high-end i7 and 16gb of RAM. Surprisingly, the computer actually handled the game like a champ, but the GPU was struggling with textures along the way. To put this in perspective, Arthur’s horse had pixel blocks for spots, as the GPU couldn’t handle the whole gambit of environment elements, draw distance, character models, and textures at the same time. This was the first game I had seen on this laptop that struggled to output proper textures. I guess I gotta Old Yeller this thing now. Travis, get the gun.
*KA-POW*
Dark/Metal Disney movies aside, we moved the game to a newer desktop that was running a 1080Ti card on it and it worked like a charm. Textures came through better, the game played smoother, and a set of visual delights came to life. The game ran smoothly, though had some hiccups from time to time.
The bottom line is that you’ll need some serious hardware to fully experience the world of RDR 2. If you don’t have the peak requirements, you’re still going to get the same game and gameplay experience, but it certainly won’t be as pretty. Can you really accept that? No. You can’t. You own a PC for a reason. You carry yourself snobbishly through the gaming world with your favorite Astros, your ROCCAT keyboard, your dual monitors, and your specifically weighted mouse because you’re better than everyone else — so why settle for less when you’re playing this game? You’ll be eliminated from the elitist club if you play this game on low settings, so get your shit together when you’re trying to upgrade your hardware to meet RDR 2 standards. It will need some major GPU engine underneath that hood before you can call it a day.
Related to hardware, the inclusion of the mouse and keyboard controls was oddly comfortable. The good folks at Rockstar did a great job of laying out the control scheme with the PC gameplay. I thought there would a major learning curve in the transition from the controller to keyboard/mouse, but the layout actually made sense. I actually aimed better with a mouse and moved better with a keyboard. Having spent 99.9% of my life gaming on a console, it was nice to know that moving over to a PC wouldn’t be as bad. Anyway, the keyboard/mouse element is good. So, you know, enjoy that, folks.
All of this said, let’s wrap this review up.
Conclusion
Red Dead Redemption 2 on the PC is the top-tier version of the game. It’s the Woodford Reserve bourbon when you’re used to drinking Kentucky Gentleman. It will most undoubtedly look better than the console version and include all the gameplay that you would expect from the title, but the cost of getting it to that Woodford Reserve level is definitely a price only a PC elitist would understand and accept.
