5 Main Differences Between RDR 2 and GTA V

We explain why Rockstar’s new game is not “GTA with Horses”, but something completely different.

1. Tone

Grand Theft Auto V makes fun of the modern world. Corrupt special agents, crazy rednecks, American obsession with freedom and firearms, unhappy marriages and midlife crisis, hipsters, startups — Rockstar goes through all aspects of consumer society. Therefore, the game has a non-serious, satirical tone. Although there is a lot of cruelty and violence in the plot, BUT GTA V is almost always perceived as a comedy.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is much more serious. This is a story about a painful transition from the old world to the new. There’s still Rockstar’s signature black humor here, but it’s much less, and there’s little satire.

This difference is noticeable in the gameplay as well. GTA V with its bright color scheme, dynamic animation and “toy” physics has a thoughtless fun. In RDR 2, on the contrary, you want to slowly climb a horse and gallop through forests and steppes, admiring the beauty of nature.

The developers have added 2 thousand details to Red Dead Redemption, making the world alive and reliable. For example, the main character will be punched in the face if he insults gang members too often. If there is a corpse lying somewhere, sooner or later a lawyer will come to take him to the morgue. When people fall off horses, their feet sometimes get stuck in the stirrups.

GTA V also had a lot of realistic details, but RDR2 is a new level. The game is thought out to such detail that even for 100 hours of gameplay, all of them can not be found.

What’s more, some game mechanics here also work for realism. The beard of the main character Arthur gradually grows back, it can be shaved off or left as is. Weapons need to be cleaned for them to work well. And Arthur must eat and sleep so that his characteristics do not decrease.

3. Characters

Despite thousands of lines of dialogue, there were practically no interesting characters in GTA V. Most of the characters the player met in the story were very flat. Even the main characters — Trevor, Michael and Franklin — evoked almost no emotion. There was no one to empathize with in the game.

At the same time, Red Dead Redemption 2 is all built around characters. As the player progresses, he gets to know the members of Dutch van der Linde’s gang better. He goes on forays with them, robs trains, drinks in a bar, just has intimate conversations around the fire. By the end of the game, it feels like you personally know all these people. And when something bad happens to them, it is impossible not to empathize with them.

4. Freedom of movement

GTA V offers almost complete freedom of movement. You can quickly get to any point on the map using one of dozens of modes of transport: bicycles, motorcycles, huge trucks, racing cars, helicopters, fighters and so on. Even on their own two, the characters move quite quickly, and it is easy to find a means of transportation if necessary: there is a special application in the smartphones of the main characters.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is much more austere in this regard. You can move in it only on horses, horse-drawn carts, and trains. There is also a quick movement, but to open it, you need to play for several hours. And even in this case, you will have to return to the camp yourself. In general, the game does everything to make you see as many locations as possible, and sacrifices the speed of the gameplay for this.

5. Relations with the law

Battles with the police are the hallmark of the entire GTA series. No matter how law-abiding a player is, sooner or later he gets 1-2 stars of wantability, and often this is followed by a long and fascinating shootout with the servants of the law.

In GTA V, fighting the police is a lot of fun: the game has a lot of opportunities to make a real war. More than 10 types of weapons, a parkour system that allows you to climb almost anywhere, many types of transport.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, things are different. First, they can be accused of committing a crime here, even if the hero did not commit it: they will see a corpse and Arthur with a cannon at the ready in the same room at the same time – and that’s it. Secondly, there is nothing much to blow up in the Wild West.

Thirdly, if Arthur broke the law, then it is better for him not to appear in the city, because the lawyers will try to catch him. Even if you kill them all, the reputation of a criminal will not go anywhere and you will have to pay a large fine, otherwise you will not be able to use public transport. Not to mention the fact that in a shootout you can accidentally kill a civilian, with whom some interesting side quest is associated.

In RDR 2, breaking the law is most often simply unprofitable, and fighting the police even more so.