The global video game industry is worth well over $100 billion a year. That speaks to a lot of good games and an abundance of consumer choice. But who takes the gold medal? What’s the best video game of the decade?
For me, it’s quite simple: Red Dead Redemption 2.
Released in October 2018, the game puts players in the role of a cowboy, Arthur Morgan, at the turn of the 20th century. But while Red Dead Redemption 2’s superb single-player campaign is a feather in its cap, the brilliance of the game rests on three other factors.
First off, its size and dynamic versatility.
Spanning a truly vast expanse of mountain ranges, deserts, forests, lowlands, and just about everything in between, the game requires about 20 minutes to travel by horse between its two furthest points. But within that scale, players find numerous cabins, caves, and nonplayer characters with whom to interact. Some are friendly, some are foes. Some can be either depending on how you engage with them.
This matching of scale to a deep array of experiences means that players can get a great deal of surprise from each gaming session. There are literally hundreds of different missions to carry out, and although some are repetitive, different landscapes offer varied approaches to success.
Beyond these missions, the game’s nearly 200 different animal species offer abundant opportunities for hunting. Hunted animals can then be skinned for meat and materials, which can then be used for food or sale. Artifacts hidden throughout the map offer another point of player interest.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is also a truly beautiful game.
When players are able to stand in grassy lowlands and look at a far horizon of mountains, those mountains not necessarily even delineating the edge of the map; the game reminds them that it is defined by art as much as by action. Aside from its extraordinary graphics, the level of detail into the smallest elements is what sets it apart here. Anyone who plays Red Dead Redemption 2 for a couple of hours will quickly realize how the game was eight years in the making.
Red Redemption 2’s final credit takes root in its enduring potential. While the game’s online multiplayer mode is a work in progress (absent use of a Mexican territory and cheating are standout problems here), it has been updated and improved in recent months. Allowing players to take on the role of a bounty hunter, trader, and collector, Rockstar Games is showing that Red Dead Redemption 2’s map and scale are only the foundation for what the game can become.
Judged by enjoyment, versatility, and attention to detail, Red Dead Redemption 2 must be regarded as the finest game of the past decade.
