We’ve waxed lyrical about the quality of Red Dead Redemption 2 over the last month or so almost nonstop, but it’s a game that deserves it- it’s massive and ambitious, and for the most part, it does those ambitions justice with spot on execution of some excellent ideas. It’s a new benchmark for the open world style of games, and one that all future titles, regardless of who develops it, will most likely aspire to, and try to emulate, at least in some ways. And that most probably applies to Rockstar’s own inevitable Grand Theft Auto 6 as well.
Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto are, admittedly, very different kinds of experiences, with one grounding itself in reality, and focusing heavily on narrative, and the other being a more bombastic, chaotic, over-the-top sandbox experience, so it would be strange to expect GTA 6 to emulate Red Dead Redemption 2 in every way possible. But we feel there’s enough that Rockstar have done in their latest title that they should, and most likely will, take cues from when GTA finally returns. In this feature, we’ll talk about fifteen things GTA 6 can learn from Red Dead Redemption 2, both its accomplishments, and its admittedly few shortcomings.
NPCs
Owing simply to the vastness of open world games, people don’t usually expect much from them in terms of NPC interactions, but Red Dead Redemption 2 has come along and changed all of that. Interactions with every single person you run into game, no matter how insignificant, feel meaningful, organic, and different. NPCs have long memory spans, they react to you and your actions, and the make the world that much more believable and immersive. This is one area where all open world games can stand to learn a great deal from Red Dead Redemption 2, including GTA 6. NPCs in Grand Theft Auto games have historically been little more than stage dressing, or just props for you to gun down or run down while you’re wreaking havoc in the open world. Having a GTA sandbox that has reactive and dynamic interactions like Red Dead Redemption 2 does, though, is a mouth-watering prospect.
