Red Dead Redemption's brilliant opening

Rockstar games has established itself as the best when it comes to the open-world sandbox videogames due to their wildly popular Grand Theft Auto series among other brilliant games the famed studio has produced including my personal favorite game of all time, “Red Dead Redemption”.  With the sequel releasing next spring, I'd like to revisit this legendary game. Before I first played Red Dead, I wasn’t much of a Western fan until the story of a former outlaw hunting down his old gang to save those he loves in the dying wild west changed my life. If I were to convey everything I love about his beautiful game this post would turn into a novel so today I’m just going to explain how brilliant “Red Dead Redemption” is just from the opening scene.

“Red Dead Redemption” presents an opening that perfectly establishes everything the gamer needs to know about the world, story and characters. A variety of people exit a steamboat from preachers in black to ladies in fancy dresses and one or two cowboys of course; all to the score of a peaceful piano to ease the gamer in. The crowd exits onto the dock of what looks like a modern town for a Western. An old-timey automobile is transported onto the same dock and the echoes of industry have clearly hit this town. Rockstar establishes a sense of industry and innovation to sets this game apart from your traditional Western that would start in a desert or a saloon. “Red Dead Redemption” focuses on the dying Wild West and it’s made abundantly clear as soon as the player hits start.

The crowd begins to disperse into town revealing the main character along with a hard-Western guitar riff, jolting us into the action. Our hero just looks like a badass meant for the Wild West; he is not only one of my favorite videogame characters but one of my favorite protagonists of all time, John Marston. John is followed by a pair of men in ornate black suits perfectly establishing the difference between them and a rugged drifter like John. The trio walks down a town street as one of the men in black puts his hand on John directing him where to go who greets this personal direction with resistance by shoving the G-Man’s hand away from his dusty shoulder. Right from the get-go the gamer knows that our hero is being forcibly directed by the government and he must reluctantly accept with little to no dialogue; just a classic western score followed by the opening credits.

The cowboy and the G-men part ways at a train station where John Marston takes his fateful steps on board, gives a final look of dread to his apparent colleagues and embarks on his journey. The rest of the credits roll as Marston silently sits on a train making its way to what’s left of the Wild West. The further the train goes the more Western the game gets as green grass turns into yellow sand. Multiple characters also on the train provide some expositional dialogue about the state of the world from the decay of the outlaw to the rise of the politician. This exposition does not feel forced, it feels natural. These characters are on a train wide into the middle of the desert so they’re bound to talk about something.

The train eventually comes to a stop in the quaint small town of Armadillo, U.S.A where Marston’s quest truly begins as does my favorite game of all time. “Red Dead Redemption” is filled with brilliance from spectacular gameplay to a beautiful open world that amazed me from beginning to end. I hope this post has inspired you to try this legendary game for yourself. I promise you won’t be disappointed.