Rockstar has finally decided it’s time to reveal some major, major new details on Red Dead Redemption 2, thanks to a round of hands-on previews done by several media outlets, which have come with a ton of new information on the game. Over at Reddit, massive thread has compiled all (or a lot, at least) of the most major talking points, and while we’ve already spoken about plenty of them, there’s still a great many things we haven’t even touched on.
Let’s talk about the camps first. The fact that Dutch’s gang is on the run and will be making its home in moving camps across the old West is something we’ve known for a while, but new details tell us just how deep this is going to go as a gameplay mechanic. There will be several tents in the camp which can be upgraded, and upon upgradation, will reward players with new features. For instance, Dutch van der Linde’s own tent unlocks a fast travel option in the map.
Keeping up the morale of your camp and your fellow gang members is also important, which means a certain portion of your loot goes to it automatically in the form of donations- but alcohol is also something that will help with morale. So if you see any out in the world, bring it back home with you (just like in real life). If morale is good, you can go about singing a few jolly songs with your fellow gang members. That said, taking care of your camp and its morale is an optional activity, so you don’t have to worry about it if you don’t want to (but you’ll be missing out on rewards).
Moving on to combat, it seems like Rockstar has really slowed things down to make firefights slower and more methodical. Reloading sees Arthur reloading one bullet at a time in all his guns, and he also has to pull back his weapon’s hammer before he can fire it. Additionally, it seems crouching and taking cover is also much more important this time around, since getting hit can impact your stamina, which might result in Arthur beginning to limp and becoming all around more sluggish.
That doesn’t mean it’s any less visceral though. You can use shotguns to literally blow off enemies’ limbs, while you can also hit people’s vital organs to make them go down faster- conversely, not doing so will mean they will be able to take more hits. You can also shoot people’s hats off their heads and steal them, so keep an eye out for any headwear that looks cooler than yours. NPCs can also fall down to the ground and pretend to be dead or knocked out, but might spring back up to surprise you. Dual weilding of weapons is also confirmed, while weapons have a lot more recoil (which makes sense, given the game’s period setting).
Stealth has also been confirmed to have a larger part in the game, and Arthur can manually be made to crouch. You also need to stay on the move in combat, since enemy NPCs will now manoeuvre around you and try to flank you or find higher ground to gain an advantage. By that same token, though, your allies in a firefight will also try to flank your enemies, or help you out with covering fire. After a fight, your fellow gang members will also loot dead bodies- so that’s not just restricted to the player character anymore.
You can, if you wish, also choose to turn down aim assist if you want to make things a bit more challenging. Arthur also has the ability to fire warning shots before getting into a firefight, or moving dead bodies after getting out of one. Additionally, it looks like hand to hand combat has also seen a lot of improvements, and seems to be more dynamic this time around. For instances, faces of characters involved in melees will get deformed with bruises, broken lips, black eyes, and other injuries. The game’s also taking a few cues from Max Payne 3, with not only a similar weapon wheel, but also a similar cinematic killcam (which will change its perspective depending on what your Honor level is).
And there’s still more. Seemingly, every building you see in the game, you will be able to enter- if it’s not every single building, it’s at least a large majority of them. The game’s map also contains 5 states- New Austin, West Elizbeth, Ambarino, Lemoyne, and New Hannover (many locations within the map were already confirmed by Rockstar recently. Read more on that here). Within these interiors, you can check drawers and cabinets to fns notes that might contain useful information. There will also be trains in the world that you can drive yourself.
Each NPC will also have a set routine that they will follow, while they’re also going to have a lot more personality this time around. For instance, they will react differently to you if your clothes are covered in filth or mud, while their behaviour will also vary depending on what they are- a sheriff will behave differently from a farmer. Speaking of filth, Arthur can get really filthy in the game, with details going as far as him having dirt underneath his fingernails- but you can always take a bath to wash it all away.
The game’s weather will also include things such as lightning strikes, which can actually even hit Arthur if you’re not careful (shades of Breath of the Wild in there). There’s some interesting new information on horses too- they can learn new tricks, which I presume will be tied to what kind of a relationship you have with one. Also, they can kick behind them – you know, like horses do – which can even actually result in the death of any person they might end up kicking. Finally, the game’s soundtrack is being composed by Woody Jackson, who also composed the first Red Dead Redemption– a whopping 192 music tracks have been composed for the game.
Recently, we also learned that Red Dead Redemption 2 will have a first person mode, as well as a camera you can click in-game photos with. The open world behemoth launches on October 26 for the PS4 and Xbox One, while its multiplayer component, Red Dead Online, kicks off as an open beta the following month.