Developers often go for each other’s take on their own games. I mean look at Kojima, who’s shown Death Stranding to everybody besides the public. In this case it was more of one developer voicing their opinion on another one’s game. Bruce Straley, director of the Last of Us criticized the lack of freedom in Red Dead Redemption 2.
The game killed me when I tried to flank in that mission – like so many RDR2 story missions. They need me to do what the story requires & continually remove my choices. The env was open & I had the skills, but they punished me for thinking for myself instead of rewarding me. ☹️
— Bruce Straley (@bruce_straley) January 14, 2019
This was a criticism of the lack of freedom in the game’s STORY by the way, not the game itself.
The RDR2 criticism was given in a respectful and open-minded way. Something nice to see in an online video game discussion. But do you all agree with what was said?
As someone who has played Red Dead Redemption 2 and enjoyed it thoroughly. It’s a yes and a no basically. Mr. Straley (ex-naughty dog director) does have a point when it comes to how much freedom is given to the player during the story missions of Red Dead Redemption 2. Since often a times there are branching out options visible to the player, but they can’t be taken. Due to the game needing you to act in a specific manner to transition into cutscenes and the story itself.
In a game that emphasizes doing whatever you want, this can be frustrating. Since it makes the game feel too boxed in and cramped. Forcing the players to do what the game itself wants, and taking away from the freedom of control. Such as not allowing you to flank the enemies since that’ll get your posse killed.
On the other hand, Red Dead Redemption 2 DOES compensate for this lack of freedom in the story mode. How? By allowing you to do whatever you want when not progressing the story. Since remember, RDR2 is an open-world game. Full of activities like horse riding/taming. Fishing, fencing, stealing, rootin’ and a shootin’ to name just a few.
The feel of the open wilderness that the game captured is paralleled by nearly none. Except for maybe other greats like GTA V. So while yes, the game’s story doesn’t offer as much freedom as a player would want. The story is just a small percentage of what the game actually is.
