Red Dead Redemption 2 achieves its aim to create a immersive and realistic world in which to play out its Western drama. The game is intentionally slow paced, which some may find off-putting, but this pacing is designed to make you explore, take in the natural world, and discover the various secrets and encounters that are out in that wilderness.

This is not a game full of high-energy action every few minutes, but a slow, and often lonely, experience which captures the pathos of the decline of the frontier and the old west. Personally I have spent hours simply cantering around the world, greeting strangers, interacting with random events, and observing the wildlife, nothing more than me, my horse (named roach in reference to the Witcher 3) and the wild. It is visually stunning and weather effects and lighting can give even familiar areas a different atmosphere.

In the critical reviews there’s a lot of negative remarks about “spending most of the time riding” or “no fast travel”; I just don’t understand this criticism – Why would you not want to ride through remarkable scenery, encountering random things on the way, while heading to your mission? The hours spent riding through the world were probably the most immersive, most enjoyable experiences I’ve had in an open world game for many years. Without that riding, I would never have been ambushed by the O’Driscolls on my way back to valentine, never met a crazy old man who tried to steal my horse, never camped in the wilderness and been threatened by a couple of crazy rednecks, never found out about the secret history of a certain abandoned saloon.

If games are only about action for you, then avoid this; If they are about the experience then this game will provide you hundreds of hours of entertainment.

I really hope the free expansion gives us an A.T.F mission. No civilians just dogs..