Rockstar on Abandoning ‘Typical Open-World Tropes’ in Red Dead Redemption 2

With nearly every game it launches, Rockstar Games innovates. The developer is essentially responsible for open-world games as we know them, thanks to Grand Theft Auto III. Red Dead Redemption helped reinvent the wheel, due to its immersion. It should come as no surprise, then, to learn of Rockstar’s intention to up the ante with Red Dead Redemption 2. How might the company accomplish this? By moving beyond common open-world tropes in favor of something far more dynamic.

During an interview with Edge Magazine, Rockstar Art Director Aaron Garbut explained that players won’t simply discover the fun. Thus, fans shouldn’t expect markers and the like to guide them from task A to B. Rather, subtlety is employed in the game’s design, ensuring RDR2 works to entice and surprise players. Garbut told Edge,

A big difference for this game is making sure that the player’s not just discovering fun things to do, but that the world is constantly serving things up to you in subtle ways.

A rattlesnake spooking your horse, animals lurking in the woods, a rival gang’s campfire off in the distance, the distant lights of the nearest town – there’s always something going on. The things that happen to you as you simply hang out in the world pull you through it, creating rewarding experiences in their own right. That feels real, and it feels new.

We have moved away from typical open-world tropes. This is not a collection of missions inside a big world filled with blips for pick-ups and minigames. It’s much more subtle, and much more real. We don’t think of it as a game to be played through. It’s a place for you to get lost in.

Red Dead Redemption’s influence in gaming persists, particularly in open-world marvels such as The Witcher 3 and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. How will the next generation of open-world titles borrow from Red Dead Redemption 2? It’s sure to be readily apparent once Rockstar’s latest launches in a few short weeks.

Red Dead Redemption 2 arrives on October 26, 2018 for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Red Dead Online goes live shortly thereafter, with a beta launch in November.

[Source: Edge Magazine via Wccftech]