Due to the nature of being a prequel to Red Dead Redemption, expect major Late Arrival Spoilers for that game, as Red Dead Redemption II ends in a Foregone Conclusion. You Have Been Warned!
Red Dead Redemption II is a Wide-Open Sandbox game and Prequel to the 2010 Red Dead Redemption, developed and published by Rockstar Games. It released on October 26, 2018 for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. A PC version was released on November 5, 2019 on the Rockstar Games Launcher, and on Steam on December 5, 2019.
Arthur Morgan is not a good man. He has lived a life of crime for as long as he can remember, and his loyalty to the outlaw Dutch van der Linde and his gang is unmatched. John Marston, Bill Williamson, Javier Escuella and others – they're more than partners in crime. They're family. But the year is now 1899, and with the 20th century rapidly approaching, the age of gunslingers is coming to an end.
After a job gone wrong in the town of Blackwater leaves Arthur and company with lawmen, bounty hunters, and the Pinkerton Detectives on their tail, it seems that the Van der Linde gang is entering its final days – the law is more determined than ever to bring order to the frontier and destroy the outlaw gangs of the Wild West. Now Arthur must make a choice: remain loyal to the man who raised him and the ideals he lives by, or save himself and his friends from the fate that no doubt awaits them...
Gameplay follows the usual Rockstar open-world formula, but with an added emphasis on environmental interactivity. A new Dialogue Tree mechanic allows Arthur to make small-talk to every single NPC in the game, such as complimenting them or picking fights. The game also features more refined hunting and crafting mechanics, and has an increased focus on realism. You can no longer hold a massive weapons wheel worth of guns, for example, but must instead equip them from your horse. The game also brings back some of the RPG-esque mechanics from Rockstar's other games like Grand Theft Auto V, allowing Arthur to increase his stats by performing activities in the world.
While the first game told the story of a former outlaw attempting to outrun his past, Red Dead Redemption II goes to great lengths to replicate the experience of being an active member of a criminal gang in the Old West as well as showing How We Got Here for that outlaw—which affects the presentation in a few key ways. While the first game allowed players to do more-or-less whatever they wanted between missions, the prequel puts a bit more emphasis on maintaining a consistent daily routine. To this end, the Van der Linde gang's camp serves as a consistent base of operations where the player can regularly return to eat, sleep, and restock on ammunition as needed. In addition to keeping a running tally of the player's personal cash supply, the game also keeps track of the gang's collective funds, encouraging the player to make regular donations to the till (and providing an extra incentive for earning money). The camp also comes with a few light "base management" mechanics: the player must regularly hunt and/or fish to keep the gang's food supply at sufficient levels, and a variety of practical and cosmetic upgrades to the camp can be purchased with money earned from various crimes. Said crimes also come in a considerably wider variety than in the first game: trains and stagecoaches can be robbed, horses and wagons can be stolen, and most civilian NPCs carry valuable trinkets that can be sold to an in-game fence for a profit.
The game also includes a substantial multiplayer component in the form of Red Dead Online, which allows players to make their own character and undertake a wide variety of jobs, side-activities, and PVP battles. Red Dead Online was released as a standalone game in December 2020.
There are three major editions of the game. In addition to the Regular Edition, there's a Special Edition, which includes extra content for the Single-player mode for $80, and the Ultimate Edition, which includes the Special Edition's contents and exclusive multiplayer content for $100. There's also a "Collector's Box", which includes all kinds of Feelies but not the actual game, for the same price as the Ultimate Edition. Details of the various editions and Pre-Order Bonuses can be found here
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Previews: Trailer 1,Trailer 2,Trailer 3, PC Trailer, Gameplay trailer 1, Gameplay trailer 2.
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