Snow is falling, all around me, shooting outlaws, my way of life is ending and also acting as a metaphor for the way the American Dream can never come true for those born on the wrong side of it because power begets power far more than violence begets violence. Those are the lyrics, right? Something like that. In any case, when I think of Christmas, I think of snow. And when I think of snow, I think of Red Dead Redemption 2.
You’re probably thinking “Oh yeah, the worst part of the game.” Well you know what buddy? You’re the worst part of the game! The snow in Red Dead Redemption 2 rules, both on a thematic level and on a ‘actually playing the game and just enjoying it without trying to seem smart’ level. Vastly underrated, and admittedly a rough opening for the game, it’s about time the snow got its due.
Red Dead’s Snow Has A Key Thematic Purpose
First, the themes if you’ll indulge me. We know Red Dead Redemption 2 is a cowboy game. We know it’s bang bang shoot ’em up, robbing trains and riding horses through sun-kissed fields. And yet the game opens in the snow. It’s all very ‘what da hell is a polor bear doin in Arlington, Texas?’. We feel we are in the wrong place. The characters feel they are in the wrong place. These are people out of places to run, out of time, out of options.
Though soon enough they are back in more typical settings, Red Dead Redemption 2 is about being, if not the right man, then at least a good man in the wrong place at the wrong time. They’re thieves in a world that don’t want ’em no more, they’re more ghosts than people. This is all laid out in the conversations of the game itself. The writing in Red Dead is excellent, but not entirely subtle. In Red Dead Redemption, it was a train carving through the map that symbolised the way of the Old West being severed by progress. In the prequel, it’s the soft white drift of snow.
But it’s not just the opening. It’s the ending. We see all of America throughout Red Dead Redemption 2, with the map acting as a microcosm of the different states as they were at the end of the 19th century. Our journey takes us everywhere, and we wind up back where we started. Men and women out of places to run, out of time, out of options. You don’t get to live a bad life and have good things happen to you.
The Snow Is Better If You Embrace It
Of course, for a lot of people, there’s an easy answer to that – they don’t care. While RDR2 is not always subtle, it is often rich, and there are plenty of examples of thematic storytelling to be found. I see what Guarma is trying to do (bringing in island territories to the view of America and showing early examples of Pax Americana), but can never defend it quite as passionately as I do the snow. The cleverness of the storytelling never quite holds up if playing it feels like too much of an ordeal.
I am more understanding of the lack of enthusiasm here. Rockstar is confident enough to give Red Dead Redemption 2 a slow start that keeps the botched robbery a mystery throughout the game, and starts Arthur (along with the rest of the gang) at his lowest point, making us feel like we get to uplift him, not just follow him. It is deliberately slow, but slow nonetheless.
I don’t think this is as much of a factor until the second time. The first time you might want to go off and rob banks or whatever, but you understand that meeting each character and seeing where the story goes is important. It’s not until a replay when you really want to throw the training wheels off. Similarly, the ending’s slow climb and sharp difficulty spike hits differently depending on whether you’re facing the end with anticipation coursing through your veins or, after a too-long section of downtime as John the farmer, just want to finally get the game over with.
However, while these two snowy bookends are the most important times you get to trudge around in your snow boots, they aren’t the only time. We can visit icy regions throughout the game, occasionally pushed there by necessity but mostly only visited on optional detours. Even if the narrative value of the snow doesn’t appeal to you, these moments show that to dismiss the snow entirely is to miss out on too much of RDR2.
Hunting is both easier and more rewarding in the snow with less foliage for cover, fishing brings some unique catches, and there are dozens of icy caves or abandoned mines unlike much else in the game. You’ll need to wrap up warm, but you’ll mostly be left to your own devices in the winter wonderland of Red Dead Redemption 2. Every time I look out my window and see snow on the ground, part of me wishes I was right at the start of my journey with the Van der Linde gang again. Merry Christmas indeed.
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OpenCritic
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Top Critic Rating:
96/100
- Released
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October 26, 2018