Riding With a Legend: A Red Dead Redemption I Review (Part 1)

Let's finally talk about Rockstar Games! 

Rockstar Games is known for multiple games, one of its most popular being Grand Theft Auto V (GTA V) and the growing anticipation for GTA VI is unprecedented. But I’m not here to talk about GTA. Rockstar also has another series of games that is incredibly popular and my favorite of theirs. 

Red Dead Redemption. 

In this review, I’ll only be touching on the first game, Red Dead Redemption I, released in May 2010. Red Dead Redemption I is a single-player western that takes at least 10 hours to finish. You can start your adventure in the wild west on Steam, PlayStation, Mobile, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, or Windows.

The first Red Dead Redemption I is the perfect encapsulation of what it would have been like to be a person in the wild west. But it’s much more than that; it's a story of a gunslinger seeking redemption for a life that he once lived and wants to get over. 

A Legendary Outlaw 

Red Dead Redemption I is not the first game in chronological order. There's also Red Dead Redemption II, which is a prequel and you get to play as a different main character—Arthur Morgan—who is my favorite video game character of all time. In fact, Red Dead Redemption II is my favorite video game. But before we dive deep into what Red Dead Redemption II is, why don't we go back to the roots in Red Dead Redemption I. 

Now technically Red Dead Redemption I is not the first installment in the Red Dead Redemption series. There is a video game from the early 2000s by Capcom, not Rockstar, called Red Dead Revolver, which is kind of the basis of what the Red Dead Redemption series has turned into. Rockstar Games would eventually take over the production of Red Dead Revolver. They would release Red Dead Revolver and then release Red Dead Redemption I. 

What I will say about Red Dead Revolver is that you can see the influence of both major studios—Rockstar Games and Capcom—which is very interesting. The wacky characters and the art style of the game are very reminiscent of a lot of things you see coming from Capcom, and then the dialogue and music is very similar to stuff you see coming from Rockstar Games. It's fascinating to see these two powerhouses of studios have such a big influence on one product together. Red Dead Revolver is definitely worth a play if you like the Red Dead Redemption franchise. If you decide against it, don’t worry, you won't be missing much. 

Red Dead Revolver does haunt the narrative of Red Dead Redemption I and Red Dead Redemption II. There’s a character called Red Harlow that’s found in Red Dead Revolver and looms over the narrative of the other two games. 

To avoid this review from getting significantly longer, if you’re interested in the lore of Red Dead Redemption, how all the timelines come together, who Red Harlow is, who the strange man is, and all these little things that big fans of the games love, I would recommend playing both games and then following up with playing Red Dead Revolver. 

But now, let's actually get into the review of what we’re all here for: Red Dead Redemption I. 

Will you ride with us? 

Giddy-up! 

Back when Red Dead Redemption I was released in 2010, it was a one-of-a-kind experience. It was one of those games that you had to be there when it was released to get the full picture of what it was like and why it was so popular. As someone who played Red Dead Redemption II before playing Red Dead Redemption I, I got to miss out on what that was like, but I can assure you that Red Dead Redemption I still is an experience that you can’t replicate, not even the second game can. 

Red Dead Redemption I was also the first of the western genre in video games. There weren't a lot of western games back in the early 2000s, so Red Dead Redemption I had a whole new idea to bring to the video game world, which added to its popularity. 

The End of an Era

Red Dead Redemption I is set in the early 20th century. In this time frame, an early version of what will be known as the FBI is starting to form, which is beginning to bring law and order to the wild west. They're going around hunting down old outlaws to get rid of the old ways. This bureau forces an old outlaw, John Marston, to hunt down his former comrades from the gang he used to be in in order to secure his family's safety and his own from the repercussions of his previous lifestyle. 

In Red Dead Redemption, you play as what is arguably one of the best video game protagonists of all time, John Marston. He is a man searching for redemption. John works with the bureau basically for a get-out-of-jail-free-card and the motivation that his family is in jeopardy is all the man needs to go on this rampage across Mexico and the entire country just to bring three men in. 

John's old gang has a very shady past, which is something that Red Dead Redemption II elaborates on; but in Red Dead Redemption I, all you learn about the gang is that it was led by a man called Dutch van der Linde. There are only a few living members of the gang that remain: Javier Escuela, Bill Williamson, Dutch van der Linde, John Marston, his wife (Abigail), and his son (Jack).

To learn more about this gang that John Marston was a part of, you can play Red Dead Redemption II where you get to meet all of those characters and what it was like prior to the gang’s separation. 

The Last Outlaw 

John is one of a kind, not only as a video game character as a whole, but also as a character within his own game. John still dresses like an outlaw, still acts like an outlaw, and still behaves in ways that remind everyone of what the wild west was like. He's a relic of a time that is being taken away and replaced, which makes him stand out so strongly within his own game. 

But the other thing about John is he's immediately likable. He might be a little rough around the edges here and there, but as a player, you're compelled to love this character who is just trying to save his family. That’s the core of John’s character. He loves his wife and his son, and he would stop at nothing to protect them. John's a family man at heart and that makes him such a compelling protagonist.

Despite his love for his family and the fact he wants to do good, the player is forced to see John as a bad man. Throughout the game, he kills many, but not out of cold blood. John has morals, which makes him slightly better than the antagonists; afterall, who doesn't love a morally gray character? 

A Stand-Off 

The opening sequence of Red Dead Redemption I, if you pay attention, shows you how the wild west is coming to an end and that civilization is starting to change. You see automobiles being implemented, industries, electricity, and industrial movement taking over the wild west. That’s something that's hardly ever associated with the wild west. In a way, Red Dead Redemption I is a show of how the era of the wild west comes to an end. 

The story in Red Dead Redemption I begins in New Austin, which has two towns: Tumbleweed and Armadillo. This is where we begin our story with John Marston. He's on the train heading into a town to find a fort where his old comrade Bill Williamson is hiding. This is the first of John's companions that you will meet and get to understand the dynamic between him and his previous gang. 

While in New Austin, John needs to put together a team to help him infiltrate Bill’s fort and get past his forces. After John accomplishes that goal, he goes to Mexico and hunts for Javier Escuela next. Then after Javier, he goes for Dutch; after that, John returns to his family. And that's pretty much the story of Red Dead Redemption I, minus a lot of details to spare you spoilers.

Robbery and Ransoms 

Red Dead Redemption I has its main missions but it also has some optional side missions that you can do and experience at your own pace. It doesn't matter if you do them or not when playing the game. If you do, you get to see more of John and experience more of what Red Dead Redemption I has to offer. 

The missions are captivating and engaging. To start a mission, all you have to do is go to the marker on the map and then the game takes over and gives you a cutscene. The cutscenes are what makes Red Dead Redemption I practically an interactive movie. As someone who loves story games, the cutscenes are the best part of the game for me because you get to see how the characters act and get to know their personalities.

My least favorite missions in Red Dead Redemption I are the ones in which you have to help herd animals like cows because it's a very slow process that is annoying. However, I also love these missions because they show a different, less violent side to John’s character. In these missions, John works as a farmhand to pay off his debt to a woman who saved his life. It's important that you get to see this side of John. He’s no longer a gunslinging outlaw, but rather a hard-working man who can live life without being a criminal.

Red Dead Redemption I has 57 main missions that you need to get through, which is significantly less than the 107 that you need to do in Red Dead Redemption II. Many criticisms I see of the missions in Red Dead Redemption I is that all the missions seem to be action-packed, unlike in Red Dead Redemption II where some missions are there to build characters up. 

I personally like how action-packed Red Dead Redemption I is because the run-time is so much shorter than Red Dead Redemption II. Red Dead Redemption I takes 10 hours to complete if you're following just the main missions. It’s squeal prequel is about quadruple that, so I find it's important that II gives you missions where you can take a moment, sit back, relax, and just get to experience a silly little mission where you go after a stagecoach or take the youngest member of the gang into town and have some fun. 

Both games have their ups and downs, but comparing their missions is a criticism that I think should be ignored because of the vastly different runtimes.

The Frontier’s Oddities 

Outside of the main missions, there’s also optional stranger missions. Out of all the Stranger missions and the weird things you can come across throughout the world in Red Dead Redemption I, there is one that stands out to everyone: The Strange Man. 

In this mission, you come across a man in a top hat who we call him The Strange Man. You don't know much about The Strange Man and it stays that way. It's often theorized that he's either some sort of higher up like a god or devil, or he's death. A lot of people theorize that John meets this man as a way to show that The Strange Man is slowly creeping into John's life to symbolize the life of the wild west and gunslingers is coming to an end, and that maybe this is the end for John Marston. 

But those are all just theories and aren't really backed up by anything in the game. But it's one of my favorite little details in Red Dead Redemption I so I thought I had to mention it. 

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To read more about the mechanics, the DLC, and setting you can find the second part here.