What is the storyline of Red Dead Redemption II? This query was answered by Co-studio Head at Rockstar Games Rob Nelson in an interview with Telegraph. Nelson said – RDR II is the story of the gang that John Marston Alludes in the first Red Dead Redemption game.
Co-studio head at Rockstar Games Rob Nelson has provided more information about what the developer wants to achieve when it comes to delivering Red Dead Redemption II later this year on PS4 and Xbox One.
In particular, Nelson said that Rockstar Games is trying to blur the differences between the different types of content on offer and additionally is willing to see the story being formed by the different things you’ll be able to do in your gameplay.
“We’re trying to blur the separation between different types of content. We want an experience that holds up right across everything thing that you’ll do in this game,” Nelson told Telegraph.
“So you may do honorable things but then if you go to a town and everybody knows you because you’ve done these honorable things, realistically, how does that work? Or if you do dishonorable things and you go in and everyone knows you’re a bad guy, does that make sense with the story that we’re telling about a gang that’s being chased through the map by the law?”
“It should affect things and if it makes sense that you get discounts at stores or whatever – that’s more of the game side of things – but if that doesn’t interfere with the way you feel Arthur’s interacting the world then that’s okay.”
“We realised that technologically this was the right time to try this. We want players to feel like the gang is real and they were working and living with Arthur and the gang. Not just in terms of missions or content. The story is the game and the game is the story.”
As it always happens, the developer is really striving to push the boundaries when it comes to offering a believable open world context, and the primary means to do that is narrative and its influence upon the gameplay itself.
“It started out as direct companion piece to Red Dead Redemption, so the story was the first aspect we looked at. We wanted to tell the story of the gang that John alludes to in the first game,” Nelson added, letting you know that this won’t simply be a sequel to the first title in the franchise but something which is set to complete its story.
Since the original game, though, things have changed quite a bit. Open world is almost become a standard and a lot of great developers have embarked onto the genre to offer their takes. Rockstar Games isn’t changing its approach anyway.
“We know what other developers are doing in the open world space,” the studio head revealed. “But the fact is, we don’t want to be better than anyone else. We want to be better than ourselves.”
This is why stuff from the original game, such as the honor system and the Dead Eye, are coming back for this sequel, together with all the many icons on the screen and the video game-y HUD, no matter what the others have been doing lately.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is coming on October 26.
