I finally got around to playing RDR2 for the first time earlier this year and found it didn't live up to its imperious reputation. It feels like a game at war with itself. The open world is an incredibly vast and detailed sandbox which encourages the player to immerse themselves and play their way. That is entirely juxtaposed by the stifling linearity of the game’s many, many, many missions which effectively boil down to ‘go to this place and shoot two dozen enemies’. Any attempt to approach situations in an innovative manner are immediately stamped out by a ‘Mission Failed’ screen. It chases ‘cinematic’ moments so ardently that it ignores the strengths of its own medium.

The narrative is overlong and overwrought. You could cut entire acts out of the story and very little would change. There’s some really good writing on display at times but it's very uneven. Arthur Morgan is a very well realised character who ultimately carried the game on his back as it creaked and groaned under its own gigantic weight in its final hours.