After a fruitless E3, fans and the industry were waiting nervously for any kind of information regarding Rockstar’s sequel to the game-of generation contender, Red Dead Redemption. While few studios can be this secretive and well as this prestigious, the time may have finally come with a typically subtle post on Twitter that was as obvious as it was innocuous.
(UPDATE: After this writing, Rockstar tweeted a second image showing seven silhouettes. The above image is from Rockstar’s tweet.)
It could be argued that Rockstar and Activison and their tent pole IPs – Grand Theft Auto and Call of Cuty, respectively – are the two sharpest edges of the contemporary gaming sword. They are consistent and uncompromising in their jabs on a single console’s dominance since the ps2/ Xbox era, and the console shaped horses these franchised warriors ride on provide the technical muscle to persuade consumers looking for cinematic, emotional and epic experiences. Along with the PS2, Rockstar and Grand Theft Auto 3 changed public perception of the potential scope for a video game so drastically, that to this day the most recent entry in the series, across two generations and 5 platforms, has been the best-selling non bundled game for almost a decade.
The announcement of a Rockstar game, like a Legend of Zelda announcement, is an event. It’s special because of its scarcity. With that in mind, combined with the fact that Rockstar didn’t even NEED E3 to announce a new game, I move on to the possibilities of gaming’s lone gunman.
Maybe – just maybe – the time has come. Red Dead Redemption 2.
It’s been 6 years since Red Dead Redemption and 12 years since its predecessor, Red Read Revolver. Both games have taken what makes the GTA installments so impressive and beloved- interesting characters, rich narrative, vast, dense environments – but used the Old West, a time of the American frontier and a possibility in games to fully realise a period and world like only Rockstar could.
Red Dead is, along with 14 million copies sold, considered one of the games of its generation. The incredible coming together of an open world, epic storytelling, combined with great structure and thrilling set pieces, the time is right and, on their terms, the stage is set. But in the wake of games such as The Witcher and Metal Gear Solid V, our gun-toting, horseback riding anti-hero, along with a pointy eared Hylian, may have a gargantuan task on their hands. Red Dead, along with Zelda, are two open world games releasing after those two defining open world examples. But with games such as Horizon – Zero Dawn and even the procedurally generated space opera No Man’s Sky, the scale and scope of video games is entering a new era of technical and narrative prowess. I had no doubt that if Rockstar let Sony or Microsoft announce Red Dead Redemption 2 at their conference, it would’ve been a humdinger. A show stopper, and I’d love to see what they have come up with – I’d like more about the second industrial revolution, or using the multi character storylines or even the heist mechanics from GTA V – with steam trains. But I also can’t help but think that I personally would like a sequel to one of Rockstar’s unsung, more intimate titles, Bully, or LA Noire.
So, let the speculation commence. But a more apparent question is this: post-GTA 5 and in the midst of the evolution of open world games on current gen consoles and maybe, dare I say it, VR, what can a Red Dead sequel do to be a revolution?