Rhys T. reviewed Red Dead Redemption 2

Every challenge, every legendary animal, every stranger mission. About 190 hours.

The complaint about this game is that it's slow, and the complaint is accurate and also completely misses what it's for. Yes, skinning an animal takes eight seconds. Yes, you walk in camp. The friction is doing something — it's making the world feel physical and it's making time pass at the speed the story needs. A version of this game with snappy controls would be a worse game about worse people.

What I did not expect was how much of the best writing is optional. The stranger missions contain the two best endings in the game and most players never see either.

Gameplay gets an 8 from me rather than higher because the mission design really is rigid. "Follow this person at this speed" is a shape the game returns to too often for something this open.