When I spent twenty minutes brushing the horses in the camp of _Red Dead Redemption 2_ and watched their fur shine like silk in the sun, I suddenly realized that it had gone beyond the scope of the game and become a kind of time and space capsule of western life. What’s more incredible is that when I put down the handle and walked into the park in reality, I had the impulse to comb a sightseeing horse’s mane.
The game opens with the escape from the snow mountain. Van der Linde gang struggled in the snowstorm, and every team member’s beard was frozen. But the details that really stunned me happened after arriving at the Horseshoe Overlook camp — Arthur’s diary will record what he has seen and heard in real time. Guns need to be maintained regularly or they will get stuck, and even clothes of different materials will affect the NPC’s attitude towards you. When I was first kicked out of the pub wearing a bloody shirt, I realized that the western world has its own rules of operation.
The most shocking experience happened on an ordinary afternoon. I happened to meet a lady outside Strawberry Town who asked for a ride. I took her home and chatted about her husband working in a mine. Two weeks later, during the game time, I happened to read the report of the mining accident in the newspaper. According to the description, I found the place of the incident and found the woman’s wedding ring in the ruins. When I returned the ring, her red and swollen eyes and trembling thanks made me sit quietly in front of the screen for ten minutes.
The game’s obsession with “useless beauty” is impressive. I will lie on the bank of the river to observe how the turtles sunbathe, follow the mushroom circle in the forest to find legendary creatures, and even take the train to see the changes in the scenery along the way. Once I watched the whole comedy performance at the St. Denis Theater, and at the end of the show, I heard the NPC audience discussing the plot — these experiences with no utilitarian value constitute the most vivid memories of the West.
As the gangs disintegrated, the details began to become the narrative itself. Dutch’s gradually irritable words, Hosea’s increasingly frequent cough, and Micah’s sinister changes in his eyes — these are not exclusive to cutscenes, but in the daily interaction. The most heartbreaking thing is that one night in Chapter 6, when I was wet and returned to the camp, Aunt Susan, who had always been indifferent, suddenly said, “Go change your clothes quickly and don’t catch a cold.” This moment touched me more than any gunfight.
During the western trip after customs clearance, I stood on the real Wyoming grassland. When the wind blew through the pennisetum alopecuroides and made a familiar rustling sound, he suddenly felt that Arthur might continue his redemption in some parallel time and space. The greatest legacy of this game is that it allows players to still have a deeper perception of the world after putting down the controller.
If you also want to escape from modern life temporarily, _Red Dead Redemption 2_ will give you the most complete second life. But be careful. When you spend 200 hours in the virtual West, the doorknob in the real world may look particularly monotonous. After all, after seeing the most extreme illusions, we all become addicts to the details.
