What it’s like to play ‘Red Dead Redemption 2’ video game

• “Red Dead Redemption 2,” is an open world video game set in the Wild West.
• The main character is an outlaw who can do things like hunt animals, rob stagecoaches, play dominos, and drink whiskey.
• The highly anticipated follow-up to “Red Dead Redemption” was released by Rockstar Games, the same company behind other elaborate, narrative games like the “Grand Theft Auto” franchise.
• Watch the video above to see what it’s like to play “Red Dead Redemption 2.” 

Following is a transcript of the video.

Ben Gilbert: “Red Dead Redemption 2” feels really alive, I think that’s what makes it feel so special is that there’s a lot of characters and a lot of different interacting elements and they all form one cohesive world.

Bartender: Down the hatch.

Gilbert: The world of “Red Dead Redemption 2” is full of dangerous animals and bands of outlaws and lots of different living things that react to you in interesting, unique ways. So playing as Arthur Morgan, this kind of grizzled, older, Western outlaw. I don’t know how else to describe that. He’s kinda like a caricature from a Western and he’s out in the world trying to discern what’s right and wrong. He sometimes does terrible things, sometimes he does good things, and the world reacts accordingly.

Character: He better get his act together. Now why would you want to be pointing that thing around? Gilbert: The reason that “Red Dead Redemption 2” is such an incredibly hyped game, I would argue, 2018’s most anticipated game, is because it’s the first game from the people who make “Grand Theft Auto” in five years since “Grand Theft Auto 5” came out. People are really just incredibly excited about it because of the pedigree behind it. “Grand Theft Auto” and “Red Dead Redemption” both series are known for being extremely well-written, smart, satirical, something different than the average video game.

I think “Red Dead Redemption 2” appeals to more people than the average game specifically because it’s so narratively driven. It’s so smart. It feels so natural. The characters in “Red Dead Redemption 2” are some of the best in any game I’ve played in my 30 years of playing games. They’re full of life, they’re nuanced, and they have understandable, if sometimes complex emotional responses.

Arthur Morgan: Hang in there, we’re on the up.

Character: I know, I’m fine.

Gilbert: It’s hard to put into words. The gang in “Red Dead Redemption 2,” the kind of family surrounding the main character, Arthur Morgan is full of vibrant, unique, interesting people who each have their own story, who each have their own backgrounds, who each have their own context, for who you are and the gang, and that makes a huge difference in making them feel alive and making the game feel like it’s full of real people, rather than a bunch of scripted characters.

So I think that one of the best ways to enjoy “Red Dead Redemption 2” is to really embrace everything that’s offered to you by the game. If you’re the kind of person who might mainline the story quests in a game or try to just stick to the narrative, it’s very important that you don’t do that in “Red Dead Redemption 2.”

In one particular mission, I was out hunting with an older gentleman in my, my gang and we came across a legendary bear. And in the world of “Red Dead Redemption 2” there are various legendary animals that you can go hunting and they are significantly more challenging than the average hunting expedition. And it came after us, it attacked us, I almost died, it was a whole thing. And then afterwards, I’ve got this massive skin from this massive bear and its head and I come across a trapper, who is out there in the woods and he wants, as it turns out, a legendary bear skin and he’s gonna make me a ridiculous hat that I can then wear all over the world. And it turns out that this hat is literally just the bear’s head on top of my own head and it’s just as silly and ridiculous as you might imagine. And people in the world reacted to that hat as amazingly as you might imagine.

Character: Why are you dressed so ridiculously, sir?

Gilbert: “Red Dead Redemption 2” is full of stuff like this. Little things that you didn’t necessarily know were coming and that was a real delight.

The cool stuff about “Red Dead Redemption 2,” to me, is discovery. It’s the unknown. It’s that feeling that you are in an unexplored Wild West. Just do the game, just say yes to the game. Embrace the world of “Red Dead Redemption 2” and it will offer you lots to do. “Red Dead Redemption 2” is gigantic. The studio Rockstar Games who makes it has ballparked that it’s about 60 hours, six zero hours to complete. That presumably does not include everything you could do as an optional. It is very big, so you know, get ready. Saddle up, or whatever you wanna say.

Arthur Morgan: Tried a desperate game in life, we tried the game and lost.