Red Dead Redemption 2 - For a Few Redemptions More

Small Detail Spoilers

  1. Arthur’s facial hair grows in the game’s real-time, and his options when styling it depend on how long it’s gotten – just like facial hair in real life.

  2. Arthur can shave at his tent in camp, going clean shaven, keeping a full beard and anything between. He can trim the different areas of his face - chin, cheeks, sideburns - so they’re short, medium or long.

  3. To change his hairstyle Arthur will need to visit a barber in town.

  4. If you don’t eat and rest, Arthur will suffer from fatigue.

  5. Arthur will visibly lose or gain weight depending on how much food he eats.

  6. Bodies of downed enemies are marked as a small ‘x’ on the minimap, so you can go back and loot their corpses.

  7. Similarly, killed animals are marked with a paw print on the minimap.

  8. Fellow gang members will also loot downed bodies, so move fast or they’ll bogart all the extra cash and ammo.

  9. If you lose a hat or weapon it will reappear on your horse’s saddle; if you lose your saddle it will reappear at a stable.

  10. If you lose your hat, it will also appear as an icon on the mini-map.

  11. You can wear animal carcasses as a hat.

  12. Outfits are customizable to an insane degree. You can choose to have your pants tucked into your boot or not, or sleeves rolled up or not, for instance.

  13. Weapons get dirty and clogged up over time, or if you get them wet, so you’ll need to clean them to get the best performance.

  14. Similarly, your horse will get covered in mud over time, which slows him/her down, and will need grooming – though a horse can be cleaned by riding them through a body of water or a rainstorm.

  15. Arthur’s comments while grooming or soothing his horse will change depending on the sex of the horse.

  16. If Arthur is covered in mud or blood the reaction you’ll get from those around you will be different than if he were clean.

  17. Snow on Arthur’s clothing will eventually melt. Mud will harden and wipe away. Blood will dry.

  18. If you hold the trackpad to turn on the cinematic camera you can set a waypoint and hold X and your horse will automatically make its way to the destination. Or you can move around of your own accord.

  19. You can switch camera angles while in cinematic view.

  20. If you’re riding with other gang members, holding X in cinematic mode ensures you ride as a pack at the same pace as them.

  21. You can choose what position you ride in when you’re in a group.

On one hand, hype!

On the other, I would, you know, kinda like to find out some of the details when plaiyng the actual game.

I wonder how you go about losing a saddle. “Cotton pickin’ thievin’ bobcats!”

I’m going to wear you as a hat.

Ok, serious question here: with all the stuff that gets incorporated here, e.g., the need for adequate food consumption, hair growth, horse testicles size changing depending on the temperature - does the protagonist get to pee and poop?

No, but the horses have dynamic pooping action.

Damn it, Rockstar. PS4 bundle pre-ordered. Supposedly ships 10/26.

Barstein is super excited about dynamic horse pooping.

My resolve began to crack at the hair/beard options and carcass hats, but the crazy horseshitting was the final straw.

But seriously, waiting so long for GTA V to become available on the PC and listening to everyone talk about it was an awful experience. As annoyed as I am with Rockstar, I’m not about to put myself through the same ordeal again. I’d been looking for a good excuse to pick up a PS4 Pro anyway.

I am still waiting!

LOL, I meant GTA V. This head cold, man.

Some of this stuff seems more like busy work and not fun, but I’ll wait and see how it turns out. Some of this type of stuff was incorporated into San Andreas, and I thought it worked there OK without being too fun-sucking. OTOH, the frequent ‘man dates’ in GTAIV got annoying, and you couldn’t just ignore them because the rewards were worth the pain (for example, having a gun store come visit you).

Don’t get me wrong - it’s still pre-ordered. But it’s a concern.

Release date is October 26th.

I’m quitting my job on the 19th. Im going to Croatia for two weeks on the 24th - this sucks.

That categorically does not suck ;)

But how am I going to get Redempting!?

Wah! I gotta go to Dubrovnik! Video gameses! Wah!

It’s the off season! Tongue in cheek aside - I am very much looking forward to Croatia. I am also very much looking forward to playing some games rather than just reading about them. RDR2 wasn’t on my radar a month ago. I much prefer being surprised that a game is one month away from release rather than waiting for years.

That is a problem I wouldn’t mind having…

Psst… Xbox One X is going to be the best version!