Red Dead Redemption was a sprawling depiction of the wild west, brimming with personality, with adventures and dangers to be encountered throughout. However, for all its massive world, and a strong core campaign, the world in itself can feel empty at times. Random encounters, and some bounty hunting aside, Red Dead Redemption, and even GTA V for that matter, gave players very little reason to completely immerse themselves in what is otherwise a fascinatingly detailed, and meticulously designed game world.
So here are five things that we want Rockstar to up their ante with, and do better:
More Side Quests, Instead Of Random Activities
As much fun one might derive from throwing around horseshoes, I’d rather engage myself in meaningful side missions that contribute to the main goal of the story. This has been one of my major issues with GTA V as well. While the main campaign is a blast to play through, and one can validly argue that the online component is fun, the lack of more single player content did put me off from playing the game any more once I was got bored shooting dogs and deer. Which is a shame becauuse the worlds Rockstar creates are believable and it’s clear that a lot of work goes into creating them. So please give me more of a reason to roam and want to explore every nook and cranny, not just for collectibles, but also for quests and missions.
More Focus On Single Player Stories
The single player in Red Dead and Grand Theft Auto IV was satisfyingly long, with a series of ups and down that led to a satisfying end. However, the campaign was cut rather short in GTA V, with no single player DLC in sight. This has mostly been attributed to Rockstar making money hand-over-fist in GTA Online. And it’s already evident that the company has plans for greater focus on the online component in Red Dead Redemption 2. I really hope that this does not dissuade them from making a meatier single player campaign. Hell, if you really want to focus on the online component, give us missions to play co-operatively, I’m sure that should keep players coming back for more. Add more characters, stories about the natives, bandits, and fill up the game world.
Badass Female Characters
Another thing that Red Dead Redemption already did better than GTA V was the strong female characters it had. Now I know that GTA V was designed in a way to focus on its male protagonists, but that does not mean that there can’t be strong female characters supporting the story. Bonny MacFarlane in Red Dead Redemption saved Marston’s ass on more than one occasion, and there were many others who left a memorable impression on me, and it’s a damn shame that GTA V did not carry that forward. Maybe even have a playable main character be a woman.
Standard Multiplayer Modes Along With The Shared World Experience
Now this might seem like an oddball, but hear me out. While performing heists with friends, or goofing around and even causing grief in the online multiplayer was a ton of fun, I do want some standard multiplayer modes seeing a return in Red Dead Redemption. Give us some deathmatches, shootouts, king of the hill, etc apart from the shared world multiplayer. one of my main hesitations from playing GTA V online is the long wait times in the servers in order to find a match to play, and that’s after having joined a session. I would have appreciated a separate lobby for some quick rounds of multiplayer, and would really like to see that in the new Red Dead.
Multiple Protagonists, And Make Them Better
As much as Trevor, Michael and Franklin were fun to play as, they never showed the same depth of character and personality as John Marston or Nico Bellic. Now I know it’s not easy to juggle three characters, and while Rockstar did an admirable job of creating the characters that it did, I know that they are capable of more. Lets do away with the stereotypical characters from GTA V and have more relate-able, and complex characters. Nico Bellic was a true delight to play as, and listening to his take on the events around him was truly hilarious. And I still remember that ‘National Gigolo’ dialogue between John Marston and Abraham Reyes, more so than anything from GTA V.
PC Port Please
Red Dead Redemption 2 has only been announced for Xbox One and PS4 consoles for now, which has gotten PC gamers somewhat angry, atleast enough to have a Change.org petition already up asking Rockstar to make release a PC version of the game alongside the console version. And I can understand the frustration that gamers feel of being shafted while owning the superior machine. Rockstar might just take their time and release the PC version properly with increased options, as they did with GTA V.
So that’s what we want from Red Dead Redemption 2.I’m sure we missed some things, or said some thins that you disagree with. Be sure to let us know in the comments below.
For more news and reviews, keep checking back at Gaming Central.
