3 Reasons Red Dead Redemption II Will Captivate You Like No Other Game

By Kate Mulligan

IMAGE COURTESY OF ROCKSTAR GAMES

Want an extra-long game to sink your teeth into? You're in luck! Red Dead Redemption II (RDR2) is an expansive world offering countless side missions, story quests, ridiculous shenanigans and intense combat that is certain to keep you engaged. 

Developed by Rockstar— who also created iconic games like Bully and the Grand Theft Auto franchise— and released on October 26, 2018. The story of RDR2 follows outlaw Arthur Morgan and a gang of other outlaws led by Dutch Van Der Linde as they work to gain money to leave their previous bust of a heist behind them. 

Sounds intriguing? That's not even half of what makes RDR2 compelling! There's a reason RDR2 has cemented itself as one of the best story-driven games out there. What is that reason, you may ask? Well, let me give you all the juicy details!

Gameplay Friendly No Matter Your Gaming Style

You heard me right; RDR2 is an open-world game that offers countless things to explore. No matter if you merely want to enjoy the story, 100% the game, want to stylize the main character, explore the map, or find collectibles, you can do that and so much more. There is so much to the game that not even everything could be said without making this blog post 5x as long, no exaggeration. It’s not for no reason that the game takes 150-200 hours to 100% complete, but that doesn’t mean you have to play for long. The main story on average takes around 50 hours to complete, but who’s to say you can’t take your time with it? You can speedrun the game and compete to get the fastest track record or take your sweet time enjoying all the lovely animals you can encounter.

IMAGE COURTESY OF ROCKSTAR GAMES

Expansive World That Leaves Hundreds of Possibilities Open to You

Did you know RDR2 has 144 card collectibles, 179 animals and over 400 things to do? It would be ridiculous to say that there isn’t much to do, as that is far from the truth. Rockstar’s development with RDR2 didn’t take 8 years to complete for nothing and it shows with how vast the world of RDR2 is. Taking time to ride your horse around or bunting legendary animals, or even bringing yourself around the world to complete side quests. It’s even possible to go from town to town causing a havoc of NPC deaths or robbing trains and carts, however I’d only recommend that if you don’t mind the hundreds or even thousands of dollars of in game wanted money. The Rockstar team developed the world of RDR2 to make almost anything possible within the story.

Like any open world game, RDR2 has many possibilities right at your fingertips, but what makes RDR2’s world different is the sheer detail crafted within the world. Your actions shape the world around you through RDR2’s honor system. The honor system is a simple thing. Whether you do good or bad actions, your honor will lean to either of those. This system isn’t there just for show because depending on if you lean to either bad or good honor, the ending of the game will change. I won’t go into detail as it is something worth checking out yourself, but simply put, the demeanor of the main character Arthur Morgan and the visuals will change depending on which honor you choose.

IMAGE COURTESY OF ROCKSTAR GAMES

A Strong Community That Persists Even Seven Years Later

You would think that after nearly a decade later, the community would have died out by now, but that is far from the case! To this day, I see countless of RDR2 based YouTubers, modded gameplays, challenge videos, and roleplays using the Online Play of the world. It is an absolute joy to be around to witness all the creativity from fans of the game, even with all the time that has passed. It is never too late to join in and experience the entertainment RDR2 brings, so what do you say? Play the game and explore the countless of possibilities for yourself!

---

Kate Mulligan

Kate Mulligan is one of our authors who will be responsible for the world building section within IGN. Born in Edmonton Alberta, Kate has lived their entire life within Canada. Having been raised in a household that loves video games, Kate has taken just as much of a liking, especially towards story driven games. For IGN, Kate will be focusing on the importance of world building and how exactly it effects the continuity of story based video games. Catch their first blog post titled “3 Reasons Red Dead Redemption II Will Captivate You Like No Other Game.”

𝘠𝘜𝘔𝘌 𝘕𝘐𝘒𝘒𝘐, or Story in the Absence of Story

By most accounts, YUME NIKKI should not be considered a story-driven game. There is little text, zero dialogue and whatever plot exists is close to non-existent.

And yet, almost everyone who plays the game forms their own story around it. What about YUME NIKKI makes people do this?

Hold the phone, you promised MOTHER inspired games?

A brief detour: YUME NIKKI isn’t often cited as a game inspired by the MOTHER series, and we don’t have definitive proof that it was. KIKIYAMA, the enigmatic creator of the game, certainly never said so.

But we can deduce that it was an inspiration, as two areas seem to be visual homages to the first instalment of MOTHER:

• The FC House to various house environments
• The Pink Sea to Magicant

(While not confirmation, Toby Fox also alluded to the similarities during an interview with KIKIYAMA.)

It’s possible that KIKIYAMA was inspired by the surreal elements of the MOTHER series and the idea of exploring a place created by one’s subconscious, à la Magicant.

(Funnily enough, many games inspired by the MOTHER series also cite YUME NIKKI as inspiration, such as UNDERTALE, OMORI, OneShot and the LISA trilogy, the last of which actually started as a fangame.)

Okay, carry on. What’s the deal with YUME NIKKI?

YUME NIKKI’s plot, if it can be said to have one, is as follows:

• A girl named Madotsuki refuses to leave her house.

• She spends most of her time exploring an elaborate, trippy dream world.

• After a certain point of exploration, she kills herself.

That first point, I think, is at the heart of YUME NIKKI’s narrative-building power. When playing a top-down exploration game, exiting rooms is a core mechanic one almost takes for granted. Being met with refusal on your character’s part to leave a space is a simple subversion that immediately begs the question of why.

The second point is a perfect segue into answering that question. Dreams are said to be a window into the subconscious, and really, it’s the only place you can go in YUME NIKKI.

But I don’t believe YUME NIKKI would’ve been so effective at making players craft a story if KIKIYAMA had just, excuse my French, thrown random shit at the wall.

Sure, there are many strange places and events to explore in Madotsuki’s dreamworld. But there are also reoccurring themes and imagery throughout the seemingly random nature of it. Be it traffic accident allusions, reproductive imagery, indigenous art, peering eyes or several other recurrences, there’s many ways to weave together who Madotsuki is and why she refuses to go outside.

I also don’t believe it would’ve been so compelling if the imagery were too consistent. The sense of mystery is a large part of what draws people in. If the answers were too obvious, it wouldn’t be fun to piece together. What stands out will vary from player to player — which also lends itself to discussion around the game.

Even the quirks in how Madostsuki interacts with her dreamworld helps build on these themes. In my own playthrough, I found the world to be an oppressively lonely one, populated with silent entities. Even as I was surrounded by people, I felt so deeply alone without a way to speak to them. Trying to find some way, any way, to make a connection with these entities almost consumed me. I would cycle through effects with very little success in achieving an interaction. There was the occasional breakthrough, but most met my attempts with indifference.

And then I found the knife.

(Courtesy of Kikiyama)

While unnecessary for progression, the only way of meaningfully interacting with most entities in YUME NIKKI is by stabbing — and usually killing — them. Why someone’s psyche would manifest in such a way was an impossible question for me to ignore.

The last point reframes whatever throughlines the player picked up in the dreamworld. Whatever happened to Madotsuki, it was enough to drive her to suicide.

Ultimately, YUME NIKKI is a game about someone else’s dreams — a stranger with her own mind and will. We cannot know what is going through Madotsuki’s head, and it may just be nonsense. But it offers just enough to keep us asking why without overwhelming the player with questions, and it gives us just enough to grasp onto without handing answers to us.

That is the beautifully simple force behind YUME NIKKI.

---

(Photographed by Carol wolf.)

The name is Mole Cricket. The world is a fascinating place when you’re cursed with sapience. I have too many thoughts in my mind and too much time on my claws. Without the need to work as my human peers must, I have endless time to devote to video games.

I first delved into the MOTHER series upon pupating, having heard of my kind’s inclusion in the series’ third instalment. It sparked my love for games and inspired many new game devs. My blog posts will examine games made by those devs over the decades.

I also graduated at the University of Texas with a masters in English. (The more impressive feat was not getting squashed by my squeamish classmates). You can follow me and my fellow bloggers here!

The Evolution of Game Narration: From Pixels to Prose

By Liam Kettle

Image Courtesy of ZA/UM, Naughty Dog/Sony®, 2K games.

In the early decades of video gaming, storytelling wasn’t the central focus. The blinking pixels of early arcade games offered action and challenge, not emotional depth. But over time, game developers began to explore new ways of weaving narrative into gameplay, laying out the foundation for the deeply immersive storytelling we often take for granted today. 

The Origins: Mechanics Before Story 
 
The 1970s marked the birth of video games, and titles like Pong and Space Invaders became instant classics. But these games were primarily mechanic driven. The story was extremely simple and only provided context to justify the gameplay, with Pong having no story at all. Whereas Space Invaders, you defended Earth from alien attacks, but no backstory or characters were offered. The goal was purely survival. 

But a game that went under the radar was Colossal Cave Adventure. This was one of the first instances of narrative in a video game. It had the player character go through multiple text-based scenarios where they were required to make a choice to progress.

Story Gets a Face: Visual and Graphic Adventures 
 
As graphical capabilities improved during the 8-bit and 16-bit eras, games like The Legend of Zelda and Metroid began integrating sparse but meaningful narratives. While gameplay still dominated, the addition of simple story hooks such as rescuing a princess or defeating an all-consuming evil force, gave players purpose. 
 
Most of these games used minimal dialogue and cutscenes. Instead, the story was conveyed through level, design, music, and atmosphere. Metroid’s haunting isolation or Zelda’s sense of epic quest were as much about tone as they were about explicit storytelling.

Image courtesy of Nintendo®.

The CD-ROM Revolution and Cinematic Narratives 
 
The 1990s brought CD-ROMs, which expanded storage space and opened the door for more elaborate narration. Games like Final Fantasy VII pushed the envelope with character development, dramatic plot twists, and cinematic cutscenes. Voice acting started to appear, and developers experimented with branching narratives. 
 
Meanwhile, Western developers were exploring new territory. Half-life integrated storytelling directly into gameplay, eliminating cutscenes and keeping players immersed in the experience. The story unfolded around the player, not in spite of them. 
 
This era marked a shift: narration was no longer separate from gameplay – it became part of it. 

The Rise of Player Choice 
 
In the 2000s, narrative ambition surged. Massive franchises like Mass Effect, Bioshock, and the Witcher series embraced complex stories with moral ambiguity and player-driven decisions. Developers began treating players not just as passive participants, but as storytellers in their own right. 
 
This period saw the rise of branching narratives and consequences. Games now offer multiple endings, unique character arcs, and dialogue trees that make each playthrough personal and varied. The idea that games could offer interactive storytelling truly took hold, and there was a certain appeal behind each player having a different story of their gameplay experience to share. 
 
This marked the steppingstone for what is considered the golden age of video game narratives.

Indie Games and Emotional Storytelling

As indie games gained prominence in the 2010s, a new wave of narrative innovation emerged. Without the pressure of AAA production, indie developers explored more intimate, emotional stories.

Titles like Journey, Undertale, and Celeste experimented with minimalism, unreliable narrators, and even meta-narrative. These games proved that powerful storytelling didn’t require massive budgets our out of this world graphics - just creativity and authenticity.

This doesn’t mean that AAA production wasn’t pumping out narrative masterpieces though. A popular title of being the Last of Us and its sequel set new standards for character-driven storytelling in blockbuster games, blending cinematic direction with interactive drama. The narrative in particular here was strong enough to adapt into a TV series which became immensely popular.

Image courtesy of Sony®, Toby Fox, Extremely OK Games.

Over the Horizon

From text-based adventures to cinematic epics and emotionally resonant indie titles, video game narration has traveled a long road. It’s no longer just about saving the princess or defeating the “big bad”. Today’s games grapple with identity, loss, morality, and ideology.

As technology continues to grow, so will the ways we tell and experience stories in games. Unlike passive media, games offer something no other form can: the power to live the story, to shape it, and to feel the consequences of our choices in a world built for interaction.

Video game narration isn’t just a part of gaming experience. It’s what give it meaning.

The Wired Revolution Act I: How Metaphor ReFantazio Shows the Power of Collective Action

By Nathan Moloney

(Image COURTESY of sega/Atlus)

Metaphor ReFantazio opens with one question, can fantasy affect reality? The truth is messy and not without nuance, but I would argue that it comes to the conclusion that fantasy can inspire us to make a change in the world. Before we get into that however, I want to give a big, massive spoiler warning. This essay is for people who have beaten Metaphor: ReFantazio and want to further engage with the themes of the story and what it has to say, I highly recommend experiencing the game before reading further.  

Let’s recap the narrative. You play as The Traveling Boy (Canon name Will, which will be how we refer to him from here), you are on a mission with the fairy Galica to kill Louis. Louis was blamed for trapping the prince of the United Kingdom of Euchronia in a deadly curse and killed its king, and you are part of the group that is harboring the prince and working against Louis. By the time you get a chance to make the attack, the King’s Magic kicks in and calls an election. From there you set out on your quest to get high enough in the race to get close to Louis.  You discover the truth behind the curse (it was ordered by this worlds corrupt church), that Will is actually the prince, and then you kill Louis to bring peace to the kingdom before being crowned King.  

Image COURTESY of sega/Atlus)

However I want to discuss one key plot point, the book that Will takes around with him at all times. It is a utopian fantasy novel that is clearly being written about our real world, it tells of a world without bigotry and without strife in a way that is  appealing to a young man facing racial discrimination at every turn as an Eldan boy (the lowest tribe in the United Kingdom). By the end of the game Will is faced with a choice, leave the world he knows for the world he reads about or stay to face certain death against Louis.  

He chooses to stay and fight for the world he knows instead of escaping into the fiction of his book. I think that is Metaphors answer to the question it asked you some 60-100 hours prior. Fantasy impacts reality through inspiring you to make the change that you want to see in the world, and through sharing the fantasy with others you can make them see the world differently. Throughout the entire game Will shares this novel with those around him, and they change as a result. The book is utopian not because it shows our deeply un-utopian world as that, but because it makes others dream big and want to make their world similar.  The fantasy brings people together in a world so divided by their differences and prejudices. We also see this through the character of More, who spends most of the game as your mentor who is locked away in his own realm. At the end it is revealed he is both your father, the now dead king, and the author of the book that Will carries around, and he is the one who offers the choice to leave the world to come to our real world. More does this because he lost hope in the world and its ability to change after his son was cursed, in his eyes his fantasy could not affect reality, and he simply wants to give up on making that difference. However, Will’s views are different because he shared this fantasy with others, and he has those bonds built with different people.  

This is the core ideal of Metaphor ReFantazio, that fantasy can inspire you to make the change in the world, that fantasy when shared with others is among the most powerful forces in the world. It is not that the mere act of reading a book makes that change, it is acting on the ideas of that work which makes the change, and that is why I love Metaphor Refantazio. It is a smart story about changing the world and I love all its many facets. 

Fantasy can inspire us to change the world, together. 

Image COURTESY of sega/Atlus)

Author Bio: Liam Kettle

Liam Kettle is a prominent writer at IGN and will be constructing a deep analysis into the history of game narration. Born in Ottawa Ontario and then raised in Quebec, his upbringing into gaming started from the rest of his family being gamers. Growing up near Ubisoft Montreal only added to this, being allowed to playtest many games that hadn’t yet come out to the public and provide his feedback. This led him into journalism for gaming, now with five years of experience. For IGN, he will not only be reviewing older games that revolutionized each genre, but explaining the steps as to how we got where we are with cinema-esque experiences in gaming. You can catch it all at “The History of Game Narration”.

Author Bio: Nathan Moloney

Nathan Moloney is one of our featured writers, and will be heading up the review section for IGN. Born in Oakville Ontario and raised between there and Toronto Nathan aims to bring a wide range of experience to the team. Being a lifelong gamer, he has played everything from Lego Batman to XCOM 2 and Hades. With a particular interest in role-playing games, Nathan will bring his love of narrative into everything he does. Expect reviews telling you about what he loves and dislikes about the storylines in the games he loves, as well as powerful discussions about the revolutionary narratives in many video games. You will catch his first review coming soon in “The Wired Revolution Act I: How Metaphor ReFantazio Shows The Power Of Collective Action.”

Introduction To IGN (In Game Narratives)

In the public mind, a video game is Minecraft or Fortnite — pure play. But here at IGN (In-Game Narratives), we are devoted to exploring games that make us weep, let out cries of joy, and feel ravenous hate. Stories in games across nearly all genres have evolved to evoke profound emotions in the player. From Return to Monkey Island to Kingdom Hearts, we love a good story in a game. If you feel the same way, you have found a home here!