I'm writing this just as I finished the game, and I might have to come back to this review to add more, because this was a masterpiece of a game.

Also, I've never played the first Red Dead, but after this, I'll definitely be playing it. The only thing I know about the first Red Dead is that you play as John, and you hunt down the remnants of Dutch's gang.

First off all, I love Arthur Morgan. For a second, lets forget about his character development and just talk about him as we first meet him. He is the quintessential cowboy, the one you see in fiction: Big guy, deep voice, absolute badass, everything. I also love the fact he is the right hand man to Dutch rather than the leader himself or just a lower rank in the gang, it's a very unique perspective that we don't see in many games.

Now onto the story, I love the intro and how it takes place on the snowy mountains and it just shows the conditions the gang are in. It then introduces us to the other characters slowly but surely. Then the first major event happens in the story, which is the train robbery, which is so cool, and all the planning up until that point shows how the gang operates and its just an amazing sequence of events.

They then arrive at a camp near Valentine, and I love how the gang just jumps into action, preparing things, finding work in town, getting information, planning heists, and all of that. Even the scene where Arthur gets drunk with other people and gets into a fight is amazingly made.

We also see bounties at this point, and it was awesome just going around doing them, and it makes the world seem a whole lot bigger. Other things, such as fishing with Jack, hunting with Hosea, and those small events make the world seem more alive, and makes you have more of a personal connection to the characters. We also go around collecting debts, and while at first it all seems fine and part of the game, in the later parts collecting debts play a much larger role. Then after a shootout happens in the town (which is amazingly done) we go to Rhodes.

I loved the mini story going on in Rhodes, as you have to play as a sheriff, as you navigate a family feud between the Greys and Braithwaites, alongside helping a couple pull a romeo and juliet. You also spend some time with the other members, like Sean (surely nothing will happen to him).

When you go into town with a few of the other gang members, Sean suddenly gets shot in the head, which tore me apart, as I really liked Sean, and felt he bought a very cheery attitude to the gang that some of the others didn't have, but I also think this was a turning point in the story, where everything takes a darker and more serious turn.

After the shootout that ensues, we return to the camp and turns out Jack was kidnapped. Dutch then rounds everyone up (except the women, Micah, and Kieran) and leads them to the Braithwaite manor. This is where I think the best (and most memed) moment of this game happens, where the gang is walking up to the manor side by side, with the old guard of Arthur, Dutch, Hosea, and John (in that order) in the middle, and it felt so fucking badass.

Then the Saint Denis part happens, where they meet with a mafia boss. At this point, I always thought Dutch was nothing but words, as it didn't seem like he did much in the gang except as the head and a dude who just talks and tells others what to do rather than do anything himself, and this was kinda supported during the confrontation with Angelo Bronte, the head of the crime family in Saint Denis, as Dutch kinda just sends the others in the gang to do the work while he just chats up Angelo Bronte, and Angelo Bronte even calls it out, saying he thinks he is bigger than he actually is. The foreshadowing is very good.

Then we go to a party, and it was cool seeing the gang in fancy suits and such. After Angelo Bronte screws the gang over in a robbery, we raid his mansion, and capture him. Dutch eventually drowns him, and we start to see Dutch slowly losing his mind, and straying from his ideals.

This leads into a bank robbery in Saint Denis where unfortunately, Hosea is captured and killed, and at this point in the story, he felt like a grandfather of the gang. Not only that, Lenny dies, which saddened both me and Arthur, and you can tell Arthur cared for him. John also is captured.

Hosea's death really makes the gang nosedive, with Dutch becoming more and more crazy. It showed Hosea was the brains of every operation, as every operation from here on out becomes less and less planned, and more on the nose and less intricate. I love that small detail.

Then Arthur gets stuck on an island near Cuba after the ship he was on while escaping Saint Denis sinks due to a storm. I really liked this portion of the story, as it was more "guerilla" with its combat and it felt almost like a survival game (kinda). It also showed Dutch progressively getting more and more violent and Arthur butting heads with Dutch.

When you return to the gang, it's really cool seeing Sadie (who Arthur helps become more of a fighter) take lead of the gang, and highlights the ability of the women in the story, which the story neglects for a lot of the time, as it takes place in the eyes of Arthur, who at first isn't too open about letting the women fight, but comes around when Sadie proves herself.

Strangely, Arthur himself starts looking worse after Guarma, and starts coughing a lot, along with red eyes, and we later find out that its Tuberculosis, and that Arthur probably doesn't have long to live. I love this, as when its presented, its a sad realization, and you think that Arthur probably won't die in a gunfight, but most likely to TB. The disease also allows Arthur to look at things more clearly, like his life, Dutch, and so much more. He begins to question what he is doing, and if its even morally right, and I think this is where the game went from a 4.5 star to a 5 star to me, as before, he was just a dude robbing things, with light amount of questioning.

Then the gang moves again, this time to the caves, where Molly O`Shea gets drunk and says she told the Pinkertons, and Dutch without hesitation attempts to kill her. This is a very different change than the Dutch we were first introduced to.

We then hear that John is still alive, and we want to rescue him, but Dutch refuses, and says to leave him, yet another sign that Dutch is slowly unraveling. We defy his orders and save him anyways, and John even mentions that during the bank heist, it seemed Dutch abandoned him. I love this slow unraveling of who Dutch really is: A con man. We also see Micah making plans with Dutch and being around him more than Arthur, showing that Dutch trusts Micah more and has effectively replaced Arthur, with Arthur having less information and control over the operations.

Then we learn about a war between the government and native americans, and as we see and hear about the chief's way of handling it with peace, Dutch corrupts his son into violence, and I love how in one of the missions, we see Arthur lead a group and Dutch lead a separate group, as we see their ideas separate, and we see the loyalties of each person. We also see Dutch ditch Arthur as he was about to be killed, showing the true colors of Dutch as someone who just uses others.

At this point, the trust Arthur had for Dutch is all gone, and he tries to get John to leave the gang and start anew, which I really love, as it really seems like an older brother trying to get a younger brother away from their abusive parents. We also learn that the money they had earned is in the cave, which shows that Dutch isn't as scrupulous as he once was when hiding the money.

In the meantime, I did a sidequest involving one of the families that borrowed money from, and who the husband died. We help piece together the family, and get them out of Annesburg, as well as a few other families with similar circumstances, with us pardoning their debt. We eventually get back to camp, and throw out Strauss, the one who made them accept the debt, and I really loved this part, as the debt collecting from earlier actually had a purpose in the story, and the effects of it shows in the end, making Arthur feel guilty and giving him a purpose to make things right.

Abagail was also kidnapped, and this is where Arthur fully realizes that Dutch isn't the same person, as Dutch is content on leaving her to die, while Arthur goes to rescue her. We also find out it was Micah who snitched during this, confronting him. We see John come out, taking Arthurs side and screaming at Dutch that he left him, and we finally see Arthur and John against Dutch, Micah, Javier, Bill, and some other people. Then a three sided battle occurs as the Pinkertons arrive.

I chose the option of helping John, and we fight our way up a mountain, as a heartfelt moment between John and Arthur happens, signifying this is probably the end for Arthur, as Arthur gives John his hat, and sack with his journal. John then calls Arthur his brother, and Arthur reciprocates, and I just absolutely loved this scene.

Micah and Arthur then fight, and both of them beat the shit out of each other, but then Dutch shows up, and refuses to finish off Arthur, and as Dutch and Micah both exit the scene to escape the Pinkertons, we get a somber yet perfect last scene of Arthur looking at the sunrise as he dies. This was one of the greatest moments in this game as well as gaming as whole, and I am not afraid to admit it made me cry.

Then the epilogue happens, and I love seeing how John survives and lives a somewhat normal life as a rancher. We reunite with people like Uncle, Sadie, and Charles, who are all of Arthur's allies. We finally take revenge on Micah, with a surprise appearance by Dutch, who shoots Micah after John convinces him, and walks off. Then John gets married to Abagail, and the game ends on a perfect note.

Thats not the end of the review, as I wanted to talk about a few other things.

One of those is the graphics, which are beautiful, and made the west seem so perfect and wild, perfect for a cowboy.

The gunplay is also amazing, even though I didn't know how it would be, using guns that don't fire as fast as the ones in GTA 5, but it felt so good, especially with deadeye.

The horse riding is a bit tedious, but its fun.

The side missions are top tier, whether it be bounty hunting or the stranger quests. Lets talk about that by the way.

The stranger quests are amazing, and lets you find other people in the world of Red Dead, and some of my favorites were:

The woman who Arthur helps defend herself and hunt after her husband passed away

The french dude looking to make art

The german dude making a robot

Helping the family that a took a debt from us (as ive said earlier)

and my favorite, the old man Arthur helps get his leg back, as well as hunting and fishing with him. Hamish was the first friend Arthur made outside of the gang, and even if its a really simple sidequest, its very peaceful and I just love it, as Arthur seems to genuinely enjoy the time spent. I unfortunately could not finish the last mission of his until the epilogue, but I felt that made it even better, with John telling Hamish about Arthur's death and them going for one final hunt, which ends in the loss of Hamish as well.

The characters feel so real and alive, with each of them having distinct personalities, and it makes it all the more heartbreaking when some of them (like Javier) take the side of Dutch at the end.

I think one of the reasons why this game speaks so much to me is that I've encountered a very similar situation in my own life, where I was Arthur, and I had another person who was similar to Dutch. I was basically his right hand man, and did a lot for him. He was the leader of everyone and we did a lot together. Eventually though, he showed his true colors, becoming very manipulative and possessive. He called the group "his kingdom" and whenever we interacted with other friends, he guilt tripped us, threatened to kill himself, etc. He got into fights with so many people and each time would guilt trip us and manipulate us. He even said he had cameras in my locker (keep in mind I was like 13 and he was like 18 at the time) and he also always called me his little brother. I was his right hand man until I saw him for he truly was, and I took the people who wanted to get away from him and blocked him, while some of my other (now former) friends stayed with him.

Now for some of the criticisms, although there aren't much.

I think the honor system was kinda stupid, as Arthur was redeeming himself near the end, and the honor system doesn't really make that much of a difference other than dialogue choices, and it felt really unneeded in the game. It also doesn't help that throughout the game you are mostly murdering innocent police officers and robbing banks and stuff, so the honor system doesn't really make much sense. I can see why it may be useful in the first game, but it wasn't needed here.

The horse riding kinda sucked, and for some reason after the horse unlocks drifting, you have to tap the button to slow down.

I also felt like near the end the camp upgrades were very useless, as they didn't even appear.

Other than that this game is definitely in my top 5, and I can see how it is one of the greatest games of all time.