One of my favorite pastimes is playing video games and I dedicated the final weeks of 2018 towards playing video games, which is one of my favorite forms of escapism beyond the theme parks. As some of you may know, I am autistic and I have these very specific interests as a result. As some of you may also detect, I am a historian and one of my favorite parts of history is dealing with the discovery and settlement of new lands, specifically in the Western Hemisphere. For example, I've been in a frontier craze due to the release of the video game "Red Dead Redemption 2" in late 2018.
On Christmas morning 2018, I wrapped the game and the following night, I played the game with my brother for the first time. I will admit that my late-night YouTube binges have enlightened me to the wonders of the game for over a month.
As part of my site, I plan to cover things that are of interest to me, including history and video games. Naturally, a review of "Red Dead Redemption 2" was in order. Here are a few things I enjoyed about the game: the setting, theming, realism, details, and accuracy.
1.SETTING AND THEMING
"Red Dead Redemption 2" takes place in the fictitious states of the Old West in the year 1899. So we know that since American historian Frederick Jackson Turner had delivered his Frontier thesis for the American Historical Association during the Columbian Exposition in Chicago just six years before the events of this game. Looking into how that thesis had not only compartmentalized the values of the frontier spirit, but general understanding into American history (albeit not entirely accurate), the thesis served as a basis for how people viewed the exploration of the western reaches of North America and the subsequent settling of said frontier. It was in 1890 when the US government declared the closing of the frontier, which places the heyday of the American frontier as ending almost ten years prior to the story in RDR2.
St. Denis in the fictitious state of Lemoyne (a recreation of Louisiana and its environs) is based on, you guessed it, New Orleans. It may not be the antebellum New Orleans Square, but it still retains that flavor with clapboard shacks bordering alligator nests in Bayou country, the iron galleries (balconies, but with columns), barely paved roads, and open-air markets. To add to the New Orleans theme, Rockstar Games added a multilingual element to the area where residents can be heard in not only English, but French, Spanish, Chinese, and Italian, which reflects the multi-ethnic background of the real New Orleans.
The other states reflect not only their real-life counterparts, but they place those settings in a duality between the urban and the rural and this offers the player the choice of operating as a moral and productive member of society or as a morally-challenged outlaw.
2. REALISM AND DETAILS
"Red Dead Redemption 2" is one of the newest and most detailed video games at this time. Similar to the Splinter Cell games of the 2000's, RDR2 is known for the attention to detail and atmosphere. The lighting, textures, and properties in the game border on the hyperreal where we are lulled into a state of immersion. The focus on surviving on the border of the wilderness and civilization adds to the realistic nature of the game and it especially drives home the fact that the scenery is a mixture of old and new, native and foreign, and definitely hot and cold. It's the same duality where American society is predicated, but it's given life when the game portrays both the locales and the human element in such detail.
The need to feed your horse, clean your guns, and the fact that mud, snow, and muck all share the same texture that looks eerily real are all a part of the realism and attention to detail. You shot a lantern in a wooden barn with stacks upon stacks of hay? Well, hey then you got yourself a fire that spreads quickly and engulfs the barn.
3. ACCURACY
One of the things in the game that really stood out was the historical accuracy of the game. While it would be difficult to base an entire video game on an accurate representation of history, "Red Dead Redemption 2" did a stellar job because the setting within the last year of the nineteenth century reflects that it was 1899. There were only a handful of phonographs (mostly spotted in the company of rich people), a network of telephone lines, electric lighting in the more prosperous areas, and none of the technology that would be developed in the next century.
Like I said before, the locales were themed to exist in the 1890's and the Rockstar team that developed the game did what they do best and they created a world based on research. Much like the Grand Theft Auto series, "Red Dead Redemption 2" exists in a world that reflects the past. It's the past where the most recent news would concern 1899, not 2019.
THE DISNEY CONNECTION
I will admit that I thought about how Disney portrayed the West in their films and theme parks while I played this. St. Denis unmistakably reminded me of the original plans for New Orleans Square from 1957 as well as part of what would be built in the 1960's. However, the cleanliness of New Orleans Square failed to appear for logic of historical accuracy within the city in the game. Obviously, the Bayou country surrounding the city particularly at night reminds one of the Blue Bayou and the creepiness that lurks in the Pirates of the Caribbean.
However, I had a question over whether the towns of Red Dead Redemption 2 belonged to Main Street USA due to its turn-of-the-century setting or if the rustic feel and looks of the towns fit in Frontierland because it doesn't really fit the idealized town depicted by Main Street.
The general layout of the towns of Rhodes and Valentine remind me of Harper Goff's imagining of Main Street USA in 1954, which was based on Fort Collins, Colorado, due to the horseshoe marks in the dirt roads, the plank sidewalks outside of rustic storefronts, and the prevalence of hitching posts (which can be spotted on Main Street USA). In fact, the Main Street Goff conceived is more in line with Frontierland than the Main Street USA Disneyland guests enter.
CONCLUSION
"Red Dead Redemption 2" was the best game I played in a long time. It was worth the money and the anticipation. I think it will serve as a testament to how theming, accuracy, and realism can enhance something and it's certainly fun to play with my younger brother.
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