The Unfocused West: Oversights in Red Dead Redemption's Story

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR RED DEAD REDEMPTION AHEAD!

Okay, before you jump to any conclusions, please put the pitchforks and torches down and hear me out—this is not an article designed to bash Red Dead Redemption. Red Dead Redemption is a great game. It has a well-realized and expansive world, memorable characters, engaging side-missions, tight mechanics, some truly action-packed set-pieces, and a powerful, shocking ending.

But it isn’t perfect. Despite the fact that it stole most of gaming’s highest awards last year, I feel there is one aspect of the game people are being far too kind to. Quite frankly, Red Dead’s story is not all it’s cracked up to be.

It’s certainly not a bad tale, but the game’s narrative—while filled with endearing characters and some poignant moments—is far more flawed than people seem to want to admit to, and while we should certainly praise it’s strengths, it’s only by analyzing what it does WRONG that we’ll be able to further progress story-telling in an open world setting.

First things first though: let’s discuss what the game did right when it comes to the story. To start, John Marston is a fantastic character. As a protagonist he’s very clearly drawn, with major hopes and dreams and a haunted past that dogs him at every turn. His interactions with every character are memorable, and over the course of the game you stand behind him, wanting so desperately to save his family and get the redemption he seeks.

But there is something else great about Marston: he fits the gameplay. This may sound self-explanatory, but here me out: often, many game protagonists are good characters, but they don’t match the genre they’re thrown in. Nathan Drake is a smarmy frat-boy treasure hunter—why the hell is he capable of gunning down thousands of people, leaping across massive chasms with bleeding stomach wounds, and taking on yetis in below-freezing temperatures wearing little more than a jacket? Oversights like this in many AAA titles break the immersion, as characters are constantly engaging in unbelievable actions. Marston is a character who fits his world—an old bandit whose done some awful things, trying desperately to escape his past. This gives him the ability to engage in some of the ugly deeds and moral conundrums you run across in the main story without making it seem out of character (we’ll get to the more open world aspects later). He’s human, he’s flawed, and he has a dark side.

Not only that, but the beginning subtly yet flawlessly outlines his personality and vulnerability. Getting shot in the gut is a great way to teach the player he’s not some sort of superhero, and Marston’s slow recovery works wonders for introducing gameplay mechanics and well as his lawless past. In fact, you don’t even shoot a person until over an hour into the game, which is not only a rarity in the industry, but also helps in making Marston likeable. While he does mow down hundreds of people before the finale, we’re always made to believe that they are far worse than he, and that Marston’s hands are almost completely tied on the matter. In short, perfect casting for a videogame west epic.

Also doing their part is a fantastic cast of memorable characters you interact with. Considering the scope of the game, it’s no easy feat that every person you meet sounds distinct, realistic, and are almost always fun to engage with. Everyone has their favorites (I personally adore the Marshall, Bonnie, Ricketts, and Dutch) but you’re sure to love most of the characters in the game. Lastly, Marston’s adventure has some pretty powerful moments as you near the end, with the final confrontation with Dutch and the attack on your family really stealing the show. Rockstar took some big risks with the last hours—you don’t get redemption, and even if you go after the “bad guy”, it’s unsatisfying in every way. These were both tremendous gambles that paid off in crafting an engaging story.

But I’ve done enough gushing. It’s time now to talk about the issues most other reviewers have overlooked that I personally think take a lot of wind out of this game’s sails, starting with…

1.The story is unfocused. Quite simply, the writers had way too much they wanted to say. While the heart of the game is about one man’s (ultimately futile) quest for redemption, many other ideas and subplots are thrown into the mix and only serve to confuse matters. In addition to the main story, the game also wants to make a commentary on the death of the west as civilization encroaches, begging the question as to whether or not it’s actually a better way of life. Then it also wants to talk about the nature of power, and how those with power always seem to become corrupted by it. Then it wants to talk about the nature of redemption, and whether or not a man can ever truly get rid of an evil past. Then…well, you get the idea. This is simply too much ground for the game’s plot to cover, and all it does is muddle the main story with pointless moments not spent trying to accomplish your overall goals. The overabundance of themes segments the plot so that all the story elements don’t quite gel together, which brings me to…

2.None of the games acts are connected. Try as it might—and boy does it ever—the game’s acts are seriously, seriously disjointed. Part of the problem arises from the fact that you generally have a different goal in each area that feels distinctly separate from the one before it, and you seem to engage in missions that don't seem to be helping you achieve it. Another issue is the fact that most of the characters you meet either seem superfluous to the main story, or do not follow you throughout the game.

For example: Act 1 takes place in New Austin, and is primarily focused on coming up with a plan to break into Bill Williamson’s fortress. This area is fairly tightly pulled together, even if you do quite a few errand missions for characters who don’t seem to be all that helpful (i.e. was the graverobber Seth really necessary as a distraction?) Eventually you get the means to storm the place only to find out—oopsie daisies—that Bill scampered off to Mexico the day before. Ignoring the fact that apparently no one decided to check if he was in the compound before they raided it (seems pretty important if you ask me) you head off to Mexico…and don’t see any of these characters again. Ever. Again.

Let that sink in. Yes, you see a brief scene with West Dickens when you convince police to let him go, and Bonnie eventually does make her way back into the story, but no one else returns. The Marshall seemed incredibly important to the narrative, and then he disappears altogether. You never work with these people again, and you also don’t speak to Bonnie at any other point until the ending—which is quite odd, considering the last time you saw her she was almost HANGED. She saved your life, and you don’t check up on her once during the next ten hours? I know you’re after your former gang, but I was shocked that she completely disappears until you need some cattle.

Moving on, once you get to Mexico, things get even more disconnected. You spend the next few hours embroiled in a Mexican civil war, helping out both sides to try and find out where Bill and Javier are hiding. Most of the missions, while fun, are relatively unconnected to the main story, and serve as time-killers more than anything. On top of that, once you finish up Mexico you again leave all of these characters behind.  The story finally gets it’s act together when you head after Dutch, and the final few hours with your family are well done—but you have to play through nearly 15 hours to get to that portion of the game. Speaking of Marston’s family…

3.We have no connection to Marston’s past. I don’t care what anyone says—this game needed some flashbacks, either playable or cutscene, in order to fully help us connect with John Marston’s time in the gang, or his family's abduction. We’re constantly told about his experiences in vagaries, but it leads to a confusing mess of a narrative and—most importantly—a lack of connection to the people you’re hunting down, as well as the family you’re trying to save. Consider: how are we supposed to feel about Javier Escuela when we run into him? He is the least detailed gang member in terms of back-story, yet he is the only one we are allowed to capture as opposed to just kill—why? Why should we capture the man? We have no reason to feel one way or another about him, and there’s no reward outlined for letting him live as opposed to putting a bullet in his head. It’s a wasted opportunity to toy with the player’s feelings towards his own actions, one of many in the game. Even when going after Dutch (one of the most interesting characters by far) we only see him a few times before the inevitable showdown—yet his section is undoubtedly the best. Why? Because you get the sense of connection he and Marston once shared, and for the first time, actually feel a bit conflicted about what you’re doing. You’re hunting the man who once acted as your father, to save a family we haven’t even met? Doesn’t sound like the most noble thing in the world.

But that’s not the only reason his section of the game is the best—namely, it’s the only time you have a clear antagonist, and all the missions are centered around taking them down, which leads into…

4.There is no overarching antagonist. Most of the antagonists are barely in the game—Javier gets a cutscene or two, Bill disappears for most of the adventure, and Dutch (while prominent in his section) only appears towards the end. Even the goons who are forcing you to kill them only show up towards the end of the game, appearing (very randomly) after you get to Javier. Why not have them breathing down your neck more, reinforcing exactly why is it you’re on this quest? Much of Red Dead’s middle lacks narrative thrust because you have no clear reinforcement of your goals and no clear enemies. As evidenced by how fantastic the act with Dutch is, it’s obvious that giving the antagonists more screentime could’ve led to far more thrilling scenes, as well as a more coherent and emotionally connected story. And finally…

5. The last issue—and quite possibly the biggest—is that the story does not fit the gameplay. I know that earlier I said John Marston fits the game, and that’s still true, but the narrative doesn’t. Why? Because Marston’s tale does not make sense in an open world context. Think about it: It’s a story with a deadline, with time pressure. Sure, you don’t have to kill any of the gang members by a specific date, but the longer you take, the longer your family is in harm’s way. This is a story that makes sense for a linear game, not an open world. It ridiculous that you would go help strangers, spend time in bars playing poker, and breaking in cattle—your family is on the line, why are you wasting time?

This is a problem many open world games have—they push a story that has a time limit and offers no real excuse for you to investigate the world. You may argue that Marston needs to explore in order to find his gang, but that’s only true in Mexico. In both the first act and Dutch’s, you know exactly where your target is when you arrive. It also doesn’t make sense from a character perspective, as even though Marston has done some evil deeds, it’s out of place that you’re allowed to do things such as tie someone to train tracks, or rob a bank and murder all the tellers. Rockstar crafted a story about redemption, and quite frankly, these elements don’t fit whatsoever (and actually lend themselves much better to the lawless multiplayer mode). Open world games have yet to solve the conundrum of making stories and choices that make sense in the context in their worlds, and unfortunately, Red Dead is no different.

As I said before, the goal of this essay is not to tear down Red Dead for it’s faults, solely to point them out so the game industry as a whole can learn from its shortcomings. Yes, Red Dead Redemption did accomplish some great things story-wise, but I still believe it's a flawed gem, and many of these blemishes only serve to dampen the shine on a great game. My hope is that La Noire ( which I have yet to play...damn poverty) will improve on some of these issues.