Players Can Affect Relationships With Fellow Gang Members in Red Dead Redemption 2
Where Rockstar Games is concerned, the main storylines of their games tend to be linear. Granted, freedom is a mainstay, thanks to the open world, but the plot usual follows a designated course. Out in the world, however, the developer allowed some agency in Red Dead Redemption through the ‘Honor System.’ It looks like that feature will return.
As John Marston in Red Dead Redemption, players could garner ambivalence or dislike from the communities. In Red Dead Redemption 2, likewise, playable character Arthur Morgan can garner love or hatred from the characters surrounding him. In an interview with The Telegraph, studio co-head Rob Nelson discussed at length how the player can affect interactions through the ‘Honor System’ in the second installment.
“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,” said Nelson.
“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.”
Furthermore, Nelson mentioned that players can impact the other characters of the story. Red Dead Redemption 2 is very much about the end of the west, but also about the chemistry within Dutch Van Der Linde’s gang. Thus, you as the player, apparently, can impact the individual paths of the individual gang members.
“There are passages where the player’s on their own,” says Nelson. “But there are passages where the player will get to know the different gang members, who gets along with others, who doesn’t, who helps out and who does as little as possible.”
“There’s so much story in how the different characters get to where they are in the first Red Dead Redemption, and to a degree the player has input on it with the actions they take.”
Red Dead Redemption 2 arrives on October 26, 2018, for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Just yesterday we saw the release of the third trailer, which you can find here. Stay tuned for more info leading up to launch.
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