What a ride.

In my eyes, Red Dead Redemption 2 is an absolute masterpiece - and I hardly ever use that word! It has everything I could possibly ask for in a game: an unique and memorable cast of characters, catchy soundtrack, enjoyable gameplay and my favorite story in a video game.

There's many great things to be said about this game, so I'm starting with the immersive world, the scenery and sheer amount of detail put into just about everything. I expected the open world to be as generic as a Far Cry open world outside of the cities, but was pleasantly surprised. Not just in the sense of how it looks in terms of graphics, but also in terms of structure and pathing. It's just a joy to explore and you can always find something new on a trip. Whether it be a random encounter or change in weather, the game will keep you entertained while riding from A to B. Speaking of the weather, I absolutely love the many different weathers in the game. Ranging from a thick fog to a heavy sandstorm, there is a lot of variation in the weathers and not just the "standard" sunny/cloudy/rainy/stormy weathers present in most games. You know your game looks good when photo mode doesn't do it justice and seeing the scenery in-game is just a better experience overall.

As I mentioned before, I believe Red Dead Redemption 2 has one of the best written narratives in gaming and is my favorite story in a game as of right now. The characters act natural and the relationships between gang members also come off as pretty realistic to me. I like that unlike in other games not everyone got along with each other, just because they're part of the same crew. In terms of best written characters in the game, I'd say Arthur and Dutch easily take the top spots. I've also really enjoyed the characters of John, Sadie and even Micah. Arthur is just an amazing protagonist in general and Roger Clark really delivers his lines and the emotions within them. Then again, I believe all voice actors did a really good job for this game; I don't remember even one voice sounding off for a character. And they certainly had a lot of fun recording the lines, you can feel that.

Now onto some other positive tidbits about the game. The customization is great and you've got many different outfit parts to mix and match. Honor as a mechanic is also well done, because you indirectly influence some parts of the game depending on your good and bad deeds. Having high honor will allow you to get discounts in shops and new outfits, while low honor will make NPCs dislike you and you'll get worse loot from enemies. Also here I'd like to add that (in my opinion) there's hardly any real filler content in the game and everything has atleast some meaning to it.

But what about the gameplay itself? Hunting and tracking down animals, fishing and playing cards is a fun way to spend your time, but what's important in a game like this, is how the gunplay feels - and I believe it feels really good! Thankfully the revolvers have a certain power to them already, but rifles are also great to use with their extended zoom.

If I were to mention flaws about RDR2, there really wasn't anything major things that bothered me, just two little things that got annoying at times. The worst offender by far was "Mash A to run/boost horse", which just exists to give you thumb pain for no reason. Second point is the game forcing two weapons on you before any big fight, spoiling the surprise already. I also believe having two large guns on your back looks silly, but as I addressed earlier, this can't really be called an "issue", since it didn't hamper my enjoyment of the game overall.

Personally, I believe I have made my point clear - I like this game! A lot actually. And that's because it is a good game and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a world to just get immersed in. Now excuse me while I go think about Arthur Morgan again.

defies all laws of the universe because nothing should be this good.. even heroin gives you diarrhea. I'm new to this site but I know we all like to write essays about themes of capitalism or some stuff but I'm just here to talk about how awesome this is ... first up is the atmosphere. You are evil because you kill people and the whole game feels like it. There's an air of sinisterness throughout everything and it's perfect; especially in places like the suburb, even there feels like it's evil. Why? You're there and your evil music is playing. Jesper Kyd is a god and every time I do an action and it progresses the level and the music kicks in I go bananas! I like the new games but they feel so sanitized and they try to make 47 and the ICA to be a super spy hero to the point where it feels like the new games are made as a resume to get the James Bond IP. This has the perfect balance of feeling evil and being a silly sandbox killing game where you can dress as a bird and headbutt people. The gameplay hits that perfect balance of just passing the point of jank. Like it's very smooth and playable, and since I've been playing this game before I could talk and replaying it every day, I probably don't have much ground to stand on but it's very smooth, the controls while very contextual and somewhat controller oriented and tiny on high resolutions, work well and I never had to rebind. I actually rebound the new hitman trilogy to have the controls of this game so that's gotta say something.
Soul: 5/5
Awesomeness: 5/5
Gameplay: 5/5
Overall: 5/5

The best part of playing Hitman: Blood Money is that it makes me feel smart. Stealth assassination games are hardly in short supply these days, but none provide the same satisfaction as Blood Money. Getting in, eliminating your target, and getting out without drawing attention is never easy, and when you pull it off you feel like you’ve emptied a casino’s coffers with a pair of twos.

I miss this era of gaming, when jank felt fun, and we laughed at it instead of posting screeds on reddit about “dogwater AI”. One of my favorite moments from my recent playthrough featured me injecting lethal poison into my target while his guards stood idly just inches away. Their sight lines were perfectly blocked, allowing me to do the deed and saunter away scot-free. When I type it out like this it sounds silly, but when you’re in the moment, assuming the role of Agent 47, it’s absolutely exhilarating – and perhaps just a little hilarious too.

In any case, Blood Money is never boring. Looking back, there are so many memorable missions. Christmas party at Playboy mansion? Check. FBI witness protection scene in Suburbia, USA? Check. Redneck mobster wedding? Check. Hit in New Orleans during the middle of Mardi Gras? Check. Some missions are better than others, of course, but they’re all bangers.

As a newcomer to the series, the story didn’t make a whole lot of sense. It felt like a meandering thread that barely connected the wildly varying missions. If you told me IO Interactive designed the missions first and made a story connecting them later, I would not be the least bit surprised. It’s for the best, though: I’ll take strong, filler-free gameplay over boring story-focused missions any day. Oh, and shoutout to the ending, which features probably the most gratifying credits scene in the history of video games.

Hitman: Blood Money is a surprisingly deep game. Most levels allow for multiple ways of achieving victory, and I’m sure speedrunners have had years of fun seeing how fast they can get in and out while achieving a Silent Assassin rating. It’s a game full of secrets and subtle variations. Never has getting away with murder been this much fun.