Red Dead Redemption 2 Is Too Sad To Replay | Screen Rant
Red Dead Redemption 2 is a gaming masterpiece, but players saddling up for a second playthrough as Arthur Morgan may find the experience too emotional. The game features top-class gameplay and writing from the developers. However, the game is also a tragedy, and playing through it a second time already knowing the outcome can be difficult.
[Warning: The following article contains spoilers for RDR2.]
The story of Red Dead Redemption 2 acts as a prequel to Rockstar's previous Western title, Red Dead Redemption, which released in 2010. Whereas the first game saw players take on the role of John Marston, a former member of Dutch van der Linde's gang of outlaws hired by the government to hunt them down, RDR2 focused on Arthur Morgan, Dutch's most reliable ally. While there was a sense of inevitable tragedy playing RDR2 the first time around, given that Red Dead Redemption shows the Van der Linde Gang had collapsed, there was still hope that many of its members would reach a happy ending. Sadly, for many, that was not the case, and reliving those moments on a second playthrough can be even more heartbreaking than experiencing them the first time.
RDR2 features many sad stories, and despite being a very long game with a lot of replay value, it is actually one of the more difficult Rockstar games to play a second time. Knowing the story means that even a lot of the game's earlier segments will be tougher to watch the second time around. Although Red Dead Redemption 2 is still a very fun and well-made game, it is a rare example of a game being too good at evoking an emotional response from the player.
Red Dead Redemption 2 follows the Van Der Linde Gang at the beginning of their downfall. While Dutch still has high hopes for the gang, and they do have some successes, anyone familiar with the first game knows where the story will lead. By the end, the gang will have broken up, and John will seek vengeance on at least four of their number (although John only has to kill Micah in RDR2).
Of course, even players familiar with the first game will be able to be enthused by the story, especially with all of the characters that didn't appear in the original. When things work out for the gang, it's easy to get excited even if there is a suspicion that the good fortune won't be for long. However, after reaching a certain point in the story, certain scenes can be harder to watch on a second playthrough. Benign or even happy moments can be ruined if the player knows that they will lead to something dire in the future. The gang's successes can wind up feeling like losses before anything bad happens, because of the knowledge of what comes next.
Knowing that things will just get worse and worse for Arthur and the Van der Linde Gang can make their small victories in Red Dead Redemption 2 feel hollow. RDR2's gang has many spirited and dangerous members, but every battle won is just another step towards its final defeat. When the player knows that an inevitable failure is around the corner, it can be harder to care about the progress that they're making in their second playthrough.
A lot of characters die in Red Dead Redemption 2. Considering that the series has a reputation for essentially being Grand Theft Auto in the Old West, that should not be a surprise. However, when the characters are so well-written, interesting, and likable, it becomes much harder to see them fall well before the game's credits have a chance to roll.
A couple of good examples come in the form of Hosea and Lenny. Hosea is a soft-spoken father figure of sorts to Arthur, while Lenny is a bright young man spoken highly of by Arthur and Dutch. Tragically, Hosea and Lenny both die during RDR2's botched Saint Denis heist. Knowing that, it can be harder to enjoy Hosea and Arthur's peaceful hunting trip or Lenny's hilarious mission "A Quiet Time" when both characters are doomed to die no matter what the player does. They are two of the gang's most likable members in Red Dead Redemption 2, and their deaths hitting one after another is a major blow to morale for the gang and player alike.
The deaths and departures of the gang's members are a major cause behind the darker atmosphere of Red Dead Redemption 2's later chapters. As the gang gets whittled down, the morale drops with it. Going through those same blows all over again in a second playthrough can be difficult, particularly with the knowledge of the story's full ending.
The final phase of Red Dead Redemption 2 can be tough to get through even in a first playthrough. Only Dutch's loyalists, including RDR2's villain Micah, remain; the camp's mood has turned hostile and hopeless, and almost all of the likable gang members are either gone or preparing to leave, with almost no levity to be found. However, the game is finished with possibly the biggest emotional blow of all, as Arthur Morgan dies in the final act.
Arthur is the game's protagonist, the character who the player has been controlling since the beginning. He may have been a hero, he could have been a lowlife, but he was the player's guide through the world of Red Dead Redemption 2 either way. Arthur contracts tuberculosis early in the story, and by the end of the game it has become terminal. Sadly, Arthur cannot be cured in RDR2, and he spends the story's final chapter at death's door, knowing that he's on borrowed time but still fighting regardless. After the climactic final battle with Micah at the story's finale, it's clear that Arthur's time has run out. As the main plot draws to a close, Arthur Morgan breathes his last. No matter how many tasks Arthur completes, or how many people he befriends, he will always die at the end of the story.
There is a small silver lining in that in the epilogue, John can find some of the people that Arthur helped, and they will speak well of him. However, it's somewhat inevitable that there will be a feeling of wistfulness playing as Arthur in a second playthrough. There's the knowledge that, no matter what, Arthur will die - as well as that John Marston's happy epilogue ending in RDR2 will only be temporary, with agent Edgar Ross spotted overlooking Breacher's Hope during the main credits.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is an excellent game, but also a very sad one. The tragedies of the Van der Linde Gang span the entirety of the story, from the aftermath of the Blackwater incident to Arthur's last breath. It can be breathtaking to experience, but on the second time around, moving to one inevitable tragedy after the other can be upsetting.
Source: Screenrant
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