Red Dead Redemption 2

 Xbox One
User Score
8.3

Generally favorable reviews- based on 5168 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4,181 out of 5168
  2. Mixed: 305 out of 5168
  3. Negative: 682 out of 5168
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  1. Starmia
    Oct 26, 2018
    5
    Playing a Rockstar game is like playing a blast from the past, similar to playing World of Warcraft. All the old gaming mechanics that have been left behind by most for decades, like twitch-reflex challenges coupled with checkpoints that you have to keep retrying, reams of quest text, and being penalized for going off of designated paths during escort missions instead of being able to pickPlaying a Rockstar game is like playing a blast from the past, similar to playing World of Warcraft. All the old gaming mechanics that have been left behind by most for decades, like twitch-reflex challenges coupled with checkpoints that you have to keep retrying, reams of quest text, and being penalized for going off of designated paths during escort missions instead of being able to pick your own route, are here and kicking. Hi there 1996!

    These things are "old fashioned" because games these days use a lot of super interesting stuff about psychology to stay engaging, and older games just didn't. They keep you in the same general frame of mind throughout most of the experience, and if you have to change to feeling more tense or more relaxed, it's a gentle transition with lots of signals. On the other hand, Red Dead Redemption 2 is all over the place. You'll be sitting through a 10-minute horse ride sequence with everyone talking and talking (I know it's supposed to be 'character development', but seeing another set of rolling foothills in another video game just isn't interesting anymore, no matter how pretty they are now), and then suddenly you'll need to instantly have the controller in your hands and shoot five guys really fast or you'll die -- and if you die, you have to watch THE ENTIRE CUTSCENE OVER AGAIN! This was sadistic years ago, and moments like these in games got panned universally by critics. Now it just looks like whoever is running Rockstar has a vendetta against the way that modern games act, and is forcing their philosophies down everyone's throats and power tripping off of it.

    Also, I'm sorry, but the scriptwriting in Rockstar games is just plain insulting. They make some of the most mature, violent games around, and they have some of the best camera cinematics, great music, great understanding of technique. But the characters all sound very game-y, saying things like "shucks" and other stereotypical 'Western' words a little too often to be believed. The prime example is when Penny Arcade made fun of your friend in GTA4 asking if you want to go see the strip joint with the "Big American Tee Tees!" I mean, who talks like that? Who actually says 'big american' anything in a sentence? Usually people are more subtle, indirect, joke around a little bit. There's adultness, nuance, signs of life experience. I found the characters in RDR2, and indeed most Rockstar games, to be lacking any signs of adult life experience, and thus impossible to believe.

    For a *good* example of an old sandbox series that's been revitalized, I'd suggest checking out AC Odyssey, which I've also been playing. If any Rockstar devs read this, please give it a try. I loved the "Prince of Persia" quest near the start of the game, where you visit places around the world and then a mysterious character tells you about their past. It's pretty quick to finish, and despite talking about some really farfetched and heady things, the NPC sounds truly wise and grizzled throughout, instead of sounding like a caricature. On the other hand, pretty much everyone in RDR2 is a really obvious caricature.

    Also, AC Odyssey shows how to modernize an old game's interface to new standards - let a player walk and climb anywhere, why do you need terrain barriers when making things inconvenient is good enough? And most of all, streamline the quest system. What to do and where to go should be obvious and constant. It's 2018, why do we need to traverse the entire map twice just to talk to a quest giver? Receiving quests instantly (through the mail, perhaps?) is a shorthand that most players are fine with, that doesn't break most people's immersion.

    I hope it doesn't sound like I'm spending an entire review talking about another game. I'm just pointing out that in a lot of ways, RDR2 is a reboot of a pretty ancient video game, and it was also a chance for Rockstar to revamp and 'reboot' their storytelling style for the new, modern, 4K/HDR generation, and for all the new gamers who might be playing a Rockstar game for the first time. Instead they look totally incompetent to me, with dialogue that insults your intelligence and a core "game loop" that hasn't been updated since GTA1 basically.

    It also enrages me sometimes that all of the main gaming publications seemingly have to give these games good ratings "or else", because it destroys my trust in writers I like. When I get used to a reviewer's personality and trust their deep thoughtful opinions on something, and then they give the latest GTA/RDR a glowing review even though I don't think they actually liked it (for example, if it doesn't seem consistent with their personality for them to like it), I briefly hate the world and feel like everything's a lie, and I get upset that all the publications fall in line the way they do.

    Rockstar has some very talented people. But in general, they're a toxic "bad actor", made even worse because everyone acts like they can do no wrong.    … Expand
  2. Saltycracker
    Oct 26, 2018
    5
    The story telling of the game is top notch and the atmosphere is great, but I bought this game after sinking tons of time into the original Red Dead so that was expected. What was not expected was just how completely awful the controls and mechanics of this game are. The gun fighting felt clunky and underdeveloped, gunfights without cover are pointless because the enemies demolish you,The story telling of the game is top notch and the atmosphere is great, but I bought this game after sinking tons of time into the original Red Dead so that was expected. What was not expected was just how completely awful the controls and mechanics of this game are. The gun fighting felt clunky and underdeveloped, gunfights without cover are pointless because the enemies demolish you, NPC's start fights with you and shoot if you accidentally get in their way on the road, the main character needs to play fetch and do chores after every mission, and the home camp is apparently completely incapable of doing anything for themselves. The worst part is that I will bet the cost of the game that once online comes out single player won't get a single update to fix the clear and present issues. As is, this game deserves nowhere near a 98 rating and it is pretty clear how and why it is getting that kind of rating.… Expand
  3. Deez_Nuts
    Nov 7, 2018
    5
    This game should be called The Sims Western Version or Gta 5.5, I'm kidding lol.
  4. tjcrochet
    Jul 7, 2020
    5
    Pros:
    3/4 of the story is pretty good.
    Gunplay is also really good. Graphics look stellar. The ending is pretty good. Map is perfect as well. Cons: The last 1/4 of the game is pretty **** Game is way too long. Controls are little **** especially when driving. Way too much unnecessary realistic **** A lot of mechanics feel like they had an opportunity to be fleshed out and really good but    Pros:
    3/4 of the story is pretty good.
    Gunplay is also really good.
    Graphics look stellar.
    The ending is pretty good.
    Map is perfect as well.
    Cons:
    The last 1/4 of the game is pretty ****
    Game is way too long.
    Controls are little **** especially when driving.
    Way too much unnecessary realistic ****
    A lot of mechanics feel like they had an opportunity to be fleshed out and really good but never ended up being fleshed out.
    Rockstar doesn’t know whether is wants to be an open world game or a linear game that holds your hand.
    A good portion of the game is nothing but horse riding.

    Summary: It had a lot of potential, but unfortunately it didn’t use that potential, and the game feels stretched out.    … Expand
  5. lTio
    Dec 9, 2018
    5
    The visuals in the game are outstanding but that´s about the only thing that stands out in this game. It´s basically a horse riding simulator. I´m not joking, i´ve played the game for about 20 hours and 15 of them are riding my horse from point A to point B. The story is extremely frustrating and repetitive. Someone is in trouble, ride for 15 minutes, shoot people for 2 minutes, ride backThe visuals in the game are outstanding but that´s about the only thing that stands out in this game. It´s basically a horse riding simulator. I´m not joking, i´ve played the game for about 20 hours and 15 of them are riding my horse from point A to point B. The story is extremely frustrating and repetitive. Someone is in trouble, ride for 15 minutes, shoot people for 2 minutes, ride back for 15 minutes. Animations are slow so looting is a pain, the story is badly written. I´m up to a point where I do not want to play anymore but I will just so I can finish the story (which I am sure will disappoint as well).… Expand
  6. Bestpilotever
    Dec 9, 2018
    5
    If it wasn’t for the amazing graphics I would give this game a solid 2. It’s just soooooooooo boring. Goldeneye on N64 has better controls.
  7. Teverion
    Dec 30, 2018
    5
    A great technical compartment, fantastic single story but... multiplayer way worse than first game.
  8. PlayerTw0
    Jan 3, 2019
    5
    Red Dead Redemption 2

    RDR2 is a all round good game but after playing through the first chapter and a bit of the second i found that all be it a beautiful game its very very slow and in my opinion is not a £60 game and it`s better if you wait until the price drops.
  9. jed34
    Jan 8, 2019
    5
    Oh, how I wanted to love this game. I actually signed up to do reviews in Metacritic because of how blah I feel about the game. After 81 hours of playing, this is a game that feels like a chore more than anything else.

    - too much horse. I got the white Arabian and it is fast. The problem with the horse is that aside from walking it is the only way to get to around (sure there is a train    Oh, how I wanted to love this game. I actually signed up to do reviews in Metacritic because of how blah I feel about the game. After 81 hours of playing, this is a game that feels like a chore more than anything else.

    - too much horse. I got the white Arabian and it is fast. The problem with the horse is that aside from walking it is the only way to get to around (sure there is a train and stagecoach for city to city travel) but come on, do I really need to ride a horse for 5 IRL minutes so that I can go the next objective? Sure I get to see the "beautiful game", sure I can always stop and hunt or forage, sure there is always a chance at an ambush, race, or animal attack, but even with all of that. the travel feels daunting. I bet 20% of my game time has been riding a horse and doing nothing else.

    - slow and repetitive animations (walking in camp, picking up stuff or when stuff happens during missions). The game has no option to turn these off, so every time I pick up a plant I have to wait 1-2 seconds while the animation plays, same with every other action I do - and it adds up. If I forrage 1000 plants that is 16 minutes of IRL time watching the same animation at 1 second per animation, skin 100 animals that is 5 IRL minutes of watching the same animation (sure the animal in the scen and how the skinning is done varies but after the 20th time it all blurs into - I don't give a damn. Aside from the animations, the slow pace, in general, doesn't really trigger anything outside of frustration and boredom.

    - I feel like the game forces you to play the good guy - it rewards you by doing so (discounts in shops, no bounty hunters to harass you - which is a good thing as most of them are magical bounty hunters with teleporting abilities) and punishes you if you don't. The cost of being a criminal far exceeds the rewards.

    These are a few of the constant annoyances. However, the main problem is, that it's not a real open world game. If you focus on the main story you will experience a linear and scripted game with almost no freedom. Every time you try something different the missions will fail - and if you have to repeat the mission many are scripted and you can't skip the slow-ass ride from point a to point b because the NPC has some important story to tell you about how their balls hurt when they were riding wagons in the winter (I don't care). If you don't do the missions or follow the story, well then you get what I got - 80 hours of slowly realizing how laborious the game is and how unfulfilling it is to continue playing.

    In summary, RDR2 is an average game in an open world sandbox if you ignore the story and do whatever you want. However, doing whatever you want too early in the game limits you because you can't get some gear or rewards until you follow the storyline so then you end up with getting forced to follow the story just to get improvements you want. If you love the main story, the game provides maybe 15-20 hours of a very scripted and cinematic game with high production value. Both parts have average gameplay and problematic controls. The only highlights and reasons to play the game are its great graphics, atmosphere and story. Which for me was not enough to want to finish the game or keep playing, TBH even with my goal of not buying new games until I complete the ones I have, I will likely call RDR2 completed and not go back.    … Expand
  10. Stefan34
    Dec 12, 2019
    5
    Greatest game ever made and greatest protagonist ever made too Arthur Morgan you legend
  11. jsr88
    Jan 30, 2021
    5
    As great as it is terrible. Great story and ideas, but the tediousness often ruins gameplay. If all I do is push a direction button or hold the A button, then it's not making me feel like I'm interacting, I feel like I'm being tortured. Just because my character is undergoing hardship doesn't mean I have to. I've just turned it off several times because it wasn't fun at all. Also, doesn'tAs great as it is terrible. Great story and ideas, but the tediousness often ruins gameplay. If all I do is push a direction button or hold the A button, then it's not making me feel like I'm interacting, I feel like I'm being tortured. Just because my character is undergoing hardship doesn't mean I have to. I've just turned it off several times because it wasn't fun at all. Also, doesn't feel as open-world as it could when I cannot continue to loot/search during a mission because it fails, and I cannot come back afterwards.… Expand
  12. Thejodjeremie
    Apr 20, 2020
    5
    I finished the game and did not enjoy it. I thought story was slow and boring. The gameplay was decent.
  13. aejones
    Apr 18, 2020
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I created an account just to review this game.

    The good: beautiful game, a wealth of items and options for which to spend your time.

    The mediocre: the story, voice acting, gameplay were all hit or miss for me. I applaud the undertaking, but it really was like you're watching a C- movie a lot of the time-- cool for a video game, but not necessarily how you were planning on spending your time.

    And now, the bad: There is very little autonomy. Most scenes, even the most epic, are just "press B really fast!" or "let's do a punching match!" (where there is little to no skill involved). You also *must* ride for 5 minutes at a time to get to some of these missions, even though your entire task is "stay near the other character in the story." When doing some random task like shovelling manure or bailing hay, you have to walk. Finally, they do give you a few options to make a decision "kill the guy/spare him," but they are VERY few and far between. Maybe a dozen in 60+ hours of storyline gameplay? I guess I'm spoiled by Skyrim/Breath of the Wild, which were the last two games I played a significant amount of, but I thought this game was very disappointing.    … Expand
  14. Jb9797
    Jun 21, 2020
    5
    Best game I have ever played, by far! The character development and story line is sensational. You become so involved in the story and you feel so attached to the characters. Play all the way through and the story line gets 10x better every chapter, trust me.
  15. Lambda22324
    Mar 22, 2022
    5
    I tried enjoying this game...but failed. Not even sure why. It's beautiful, and big, and all, but felt boring to me
  16. echo_john
    Oct 10, 2020
    5
    It wasn't just a game. It's a masterpiece. The best characters, the best protagonist, very well written antagonists.
  17. Berellow
    Dec 1, 2020
    5
    One of my favourite games ever! The story is an absolute masterpiece!
    I recommend it 10/10.
    Although the online gameplay was full of glitches and bugs now is actually rlly better... Love this game
  18. MPrates
    May 26, 2021
    5
    Fantastic story, great mechanics and it looks gorgeous. The benchmark for single player story driven games over the last few years.
  19. YoRelaxYo
    Jun 25, 2021
    5
    meh, not as good as people say it is... Imo its very boring. HUGE map... to ride your horse around... should have been called horse riding simulator. I found very little enjoyment with this game, but I'm happy so many others seem to think this it like the GOAT... it's simply not though... I actually fell asleep one time playing it. At least the game is pretty to look at!
  20. Rekless
    Dec 16, 2021
    5
    It's not horrible but it's definitely not great gta5 makes this game world seem dead and boring personal preference I suppose.
  21. vespirstor101
    Mar 20, 2022
    5
    RDR2 is very enjoyable and I very much like it. One of the best open world games and the graphics are insane. Also they are lots of things to do such as Bounties, returning wagons and such else. Very fun game 10/10
  22. Ha8288
    Jun 27, 2023
    5
    Good motion and good story good ending
  23. TixyLix
    Nov 1, 2018
    4
    Crap combat, crap controls, crap story, really slow and boring, the world is pretty barren and every story mission is about shooting waves of enemies...

    RDR2 sucks.
  24. osprey
    Nov 30, 2022
    4
    I absolutely loved RD1 and never got tired of playing it. I was so excited to play this game and at first was struck by the beauty of the world and the quality of the voice acting. Love how real the horses are and how they behave exactly like real horses. The first game was full of fun things to do and surprises to find in the wilderness. This game has none of that. The constantI absolutely loved RD1 and never got tired of playing it. I was so excited to play this game and at first was struck by the beauty of the world and the quality of the voice acting. Love how real the horses are and how they behave exactly like real horses. The first game was full of fun things to do and surprises to find in the wilderness. This game has none of that. The constant maintenance of your character your horse and the camp are tedious beyond belief. The controls are ridiculously convoluted and you can't stay out of trouble no matter how careful you are. The game crashes or locks frequently and everything you try to do is ruined by the weakness of your character. I fail constantly and as for objectives to get a gold, forget about it. I am so sad that the game I love so much has become one I freaking hate. The four points are for the beauty of the game and the things that they did right, everything else has ruined this game for me. I will pass it on to my son and see if he can wring any fun out of it and maybe show me where the fun is. Biggest disappointment since Mafia 3. Update, my son hated it too!… Expand
  25. djball
    Mar 10, 2019
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Big beautiful world, incredible lighting, smooth acting, solid story, 8/10. Then you realize..... seriously GOD AWFUL slow motion game play, broken controls, broken inventory, and utterly USELESS rpg elements. Next you're gonna ride a LOT of horse, that is actually NO FUN TO RIDE at all! The controls are horrible, I mean horrible tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap! Then you're gonna ride that broken horse long distance for stupid fetch/kill missions. Maybe you will search Orchids for 7 days, wow awesome hat to go with that fancy useless revolver. You can't even drop crappy weapons from your inventory, so they just clog up that frigging clumsy wheel. Simply ridiculous on so many levels for such an expensive production. Game play 0/10… Expand
  26. Stinky_Winky
    Oct 26, 2018
    4
    The star of the show here is the open world itself. Everything else is just so mundane, tedious and boring. The game world itself is another technical marvel from Rockstar. The world is packed full of neat attention to detail. But that's pretty much all it has going for it. Every game has a tutorial level. Tutorial levels usually last 5 to 10 minutes and then you get stuck into the actualThe star of the show here is the open world itself. Everything else is just so mundane, tedious and boring. The game world itself is another technical marvel from Rockstar. The world is packed full of neat attention to detail. But that's pretty much all it has going for it. Every game has a tutorial level. Tutorial levels usually last 5 to 10 minutes and then you get stuck into the actual game. Well, in Red Dead 2 the tutorial level is 2 and a half to 3 hours long. So it takes forever to get going. And when you do finally get going its pretty boring stuff. Travel from point A to point B do something like kill some baddies, repeat. But when you go from playing Grand Theft Auto V and having thousands of vehicles to travel across the map in, to all of a sudden being given a horse, and only a horse, it is very tedious. You spend most of the time tapping the sprint button zoning out waiting to get to the next objective. The objectives are the same as always. And get this, if you don't build up a relationship with your horse it won't run as good as it can, it will slow down and won't be as loyal. You have to care for your horse by brushing and cleaning it and feeding it etc. It's a Tamagochi! You even have to take care of your character by having a candle lit bubble bath and shaving. I can't even be bothered to shave in real life let alone worry about shaving a virtual pixelated character. Outside of the slow burning story of running from point A to point B shooting some baddies and repeat. They have tried to pack the world out with filler items like mini games. You can play cards, a knife game where you put your hand on the table and try stab between your fingers with a knife, go hunting and hunt animals and skin them, or go see and show etc. These filler mini games are the equivalent or arm wrestling, tennis, golf and going to the cinema in Grand Theft Auto V. And let's be honest, how many times did we do those things? Options are nice to have don't get me wrong, but Rockstar's mini games aren't what keep us playing their games is it. Graphics wise it isn't much better than Grand Theft Auto V. It has HDR support but the only thing that really stands out is things like street lamps in the night. I'm playing on a 65" 4K HDR Premium TV btw. I've played the game on Xbox One X and the standard Xbox One. The Xbox One X is native 4K and looks like quite good. Not the sharpest 4K game i've ever seen, but not the worst. It looks pretty dreadful on the standard Xbox One. Very blurry and fuzzy. Both version suffer poor performance. Both versions stutter slow down and drop down to as low as 22fps, even the Xbox One X. So both versions can get pretty choppy. The story is also pretty boring. It's just so slow and takes hours to get going. Then when it does get going its nothing special and nothing we haven't seen before in movies.… Expand
  27. batiatus
    Jan 7, 2021
    4
    Fallowing in footsteps of GTA V, another step back in Rockstars once awesome gaming entries. Unoriginal and boring. 4 stars for graphics.
  28. snake923
    Nov 22, 2018
    4
    ok overall, buggy, no improvement from GTAV which is disappointing, story is just ok, cut scenes are rough and editing was done poorly. Game is very linear in play style. finish the game before exploring a ton.
  29. toolander
    Dec 9, 2018
    4
    I waited for this game for 8 years. And not like passively waiting, but actively waiting. Checking at least once a month if there were any news. That’s how much I loved RDR, which was a gloriuos game where the story was great, shooting was fun, doing chores and helping strangers was fun as well. Lots of great memories. It was the perfect mix between fun and reality. This game, however, isI waited for this game for 8 years. And not like passively waiting, but actively waiting. Checking at least once a month if there were any news. That’s how much I loved RDR, which was a gloriuos game where the story was great, shooting was fun, doing chores and helping strangers was fun as well. Lots of great memories. It was the perfect mix between fun and reality. This game, however, is all reality and no fun. You spend most of your time doing chores. Everything is overly complicated, which would be fine if you weren’t limited by the controls, so you end up shooting someone instead of saying hello. Just bringing up your weapon requires planning, and the characters movement are very difficult to control. The story is insanely boring, missions are planned out from start to finish so you feel like you might as well watch a movie. I think the main problem is that Rockstar have stopped making fun games, they’ve substituted fun for realism. The games are now trying to be smart, but end up being just boring. This applies to the GTA series as well, which hasn’t been fun to play since GTA:SA. And let’s face it, RDR was always just GTA in the wild west. In GTA III, the main character couldn’t even speak! Compare that with this game, which is all a bunch of useless dialogue. You feel like you’re watching a crappy movie, with plain characters.… Expand
  30. Sipuli69
    Oct 26, 2018
    4
    Stable 21 fps for that true cinematic experience. GTA V with horses, so nothing new, basically played this game for few hundred hours few years ago, but hey, at least horse testicles got a lot of attention in the studios, so that's what matters.
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Awards & Rankings

1
#1 Best Xbox One Game of 2018
1
#1 Most Discussed Xbox One Game of 2018
2
#2 Most Shared Xbox One Game of 2018

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
97

Universal acclaim - based on 33 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 33 out of 33
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 33
  3. Negative: 0 out of 33
  1. Official Xbox Magazine UK
    Dec 18, 2018
    100
    Unquestionably 2018's best game, and an all-time open-world masterpiece. [Christmas 2018, p.89]
  2. BaziCenter
    Nov 2, 2018
    100
    It doesn’t matter if you are gamer, a human being, or an alien from another planet; Red Dead Redemption 2 is a title that you just can’t miss. The bar set by RDR2 is so high that even Rockstar itself will probably have a hard time raising it. One of the best releases in the history of digital entertainment.
    Read full review
  3. The Sydney Morning Herald
    Oct 29, 2018
    90
    While it has some notable but minor flaws, it's hard to argue that Red Dead Redemption 2 is not a masterpiece. The end result of the meticulous detail, wonderful writing and stunning looks is an open world that sets a new bar for believability, and a time and place I can't stop thinking about or wanting to be a part of.
    Read full review
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