Member Red Dead Redemption

Another spooky location can be found North of the Grizzlies, just above the "N" in Ambarino. Searching the woods around there reveals an apparently abandoned shelter that appears to have previously housed a witch. One that has not been abandoned for too long, either, because inside is a seemingly fresh cauldron full of some sort of bubbling liquid. If you're capable of mustering the courage required to take a swig, you'll black out and reawaken a distance away from the cauld

Outside of that, Rockstar has created an engaging system that allows you to rob shops, stagecoaches and even trains full of people at any time. All you need to do is put on mask (if you don’t want to get caught) and start demanding the goods. If you do most of the story, you won’t need to do this all that often as you’ll be rolling in dough, but it’s a fun way to de-stress. The Wanted system is also back, as the more heinous of crimes you commit and people witness, the higher the bounty is put on your head. You can change your disguise or grow your hair and facial hair out to avoid being recognized, but you’ll probably want to pay it off the fee to avoid bounty hunters coming at you in the wild. Alternatively, if you catch up to a witness, you can threaten them, or if a police officer sees it taking place, you can defuse the situation if it’s not too damaging of a crime. Occasionally it can be a confusing why you’re immediately pinpointed as the perpetrator, though, as we’ve had a number of instances where we killed someone, a pedestrian comes across the body while we’re nowhere to be found, and yet a bounty is set on our character. Overall, though, the system works fine and can even be entertaining to chase witnesses down as they plead for their lives.

Red Dead Redemption is simply one of the best games available for the seventh generation consoles. It did receive a zombie-themed expansion pack called Undead Nightmare, which was a fun novelty but didn't resonate the same way the base game did. The Grand Theft Auto San Andreas Bigfoot reference was rather humorous, though. It clearly uses the Grand Theft Auto games as a template but ends up finding its own identity through the setting, characters and storytelling. Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of the most highly anticipated games of 2018, and with the quality of its predecessor, it has big boots to fill.

Member the games you used to play? We member. The basement at the Hardcore Gamer office has a section known as the Crust Room, with an old grey couch and a big old CRT TV. All the classic systems are down there collecting dust, so in an effort to improve the cleanliness of our work space, we dust off these old consoles every so often and put an old game through its paces, just to make sure everything stays in working order. We even have a beige computer with a floppy disk drive.

Don’t be deceived by the number at the end of the title, Red Dead Redemption 2 is a direct prequel to its predecessor. The story takes place years before our last adventure as we follow Arthur Morgan and the Van der Linde gang. If you recognize the latter name, it was the group of outlaws that John Marston rode with back in the day. As you can expect, you’ll see our loveable Marston often, who is perfectly implemented into the story. It’s not too much fan service or focus, but just enough so he’s a solid supporting role, especially in the later half of the campaign. He has his own arc, but it’s all about Arthur and his issues. The first couple of chapters in the story, Arthur is an unlikable individual. It takes him a little while to find his footing as he’s an overly serious character who never breaks a smile and plays the rough cowboy to a T. His relationship with the group, including the gang’s leader, Dutch van der Linde, is what stands out among everything else. It’s the little things around the camp; the songs, the gestures and the interactions that expand our protagonist’s likability, and you begin to better understand him. Even the most insignificant faces seem to bring out the more positive aspects out of Arthur more than the main story ever does, and it’s sad that it’s something players can completely overlook, especially considering entering the camp setting forces the player to move at a snail’s pace.

Rockstar has such a great opportunity to deliver a tale that is bathed in more of a classic period piece than a ritzy Hollywood do over. If the game looks anything like what the teaser presented, they just might deliver that game. It seemed calm yet brooding. It seemed slower, while being thoughtful. The posse of men on horseback seen in the trailer is fitting for the time. It was stupid to travel alone through the wilderness of America, and cowboys relied on each other for not only companionship, but the journey ahead. My mind keeps wandering to The Magnificent Seven though and I can’t shake that this is what might be showcased. A band of cowboy bandits causing all sorts of mayhem in a sort of Magnificent Seven bizarro Open world Game updates. The previous two games were great because the stories encountered seemed real; the characters seemed like real people dealing with personal qualms that had nothing to do with me. It’s the reason I loved the Witcher 3, the Open world game missions didn’t care about the player, but if I could stop and help, I’d go for it. Otherwise, time to hit the dusty trail.