I finally, finally, finally finished Red Dead Redemption 2 single player after getting it on PC a few months back.
By the time the game ends it's both been a great game but also one hell of a slog to push myself through it.
My eyebrows were first raised a bit when I saw that something like only 30% of all the game owners on Steam had even got to chapter 3, barely a third through the game. That % drops as you carry on through the game to the extent that barely 20% of owners like me have completed the story.
It is an ALMIGHTY slog to get through the game's last 20 hours or so, as without spoilers, it's a surprisingly long and drawn out experience - great at first but it really drags it all out by the end. The horse riding is by far the best horse riding in any game, but I'm now completely sick of that concept in a game because you really have to spend a long, long time in the saddle in this game, with excellently rendered horses that are skittish and sometimes a pain in arse to control due to that realism.
I think this game also really shows how much energy and life the real life soundtracks add to the GTA games, the music in RDR2 is superb but does get boring and dusty feeling after a while, it definitely gives the game less vitality than the GTA games.
The gameplay is mostly great, but the "emergent gameplay," IE, getting interrupted ALL THE TIME is likely to grate heavily with completion-ists: you literally are constantly given reasons to go off track or interrupt your journey - again can be great, but by the end it's just a real slog. I completed all story missions, most all side quests and helped all I saw, so likely not nearly as much a drag just avoiding those extra quests and just doing main storyline ones.
You see a lot of posts about "now I'll finally get the time to finish RDR2," well you better put a long weekend aside because you've likely got another 30 hours at least to go.
It's a mostly great game that dare I say, outstays its welcome by 20 hours or more. If you're one of the 20% like me that actually completed it, then you'll know what I mean, the opinion of the game drops as you get closer to the end, because it really is an almighty slog to get through it.
I completed GTA 5 twice and I'll likely do the GTA 5 story again, I won't play through RDR 2 again unless it gets a director's cut that allows skipping almost all the horse riding, even with fast travel you still have to ride a huge amount of time.
8/10 the absolute higher end of my rating having actually completed it, I was considering a 7, though mid way through the game feels more like 9/10.
Though it's pretty obvious that most people rating the game and even calling it the best game ever or game of the year have not completed it or likely even come close, I'll say wait till you have completed it to judge it fully.
