'Red Dead Redemption 2' Seasons Can Affect Wildlife

Rockstar Games is going for impeccable realism when it comes to Red Dead Redemption 2. It’s [...]

Rockstar Games is going for impeccable realism when it comes to Red Dead Redemption 2. It's delayed the game for well over a year to try and nail every aspect of the game that it can, and based on a recent hands-on report by IGN, it's paying off in a number of unimaginable ways.

According to that site's author, based on experiences that happened over the course of seasons, wildlife actually adjusts accordingly, depending on how you approach certain animals (out of the 200+ species that are included in the game).

For example, if you come across a bear during the winter season, it'll be much more hostile compared to the summer season, since it'll be in the midst of a hibernation period, and more desperate to store food before it settles in. That means, ulp, you could very well end up being the food.

Of course, a bear can still be dangerous during the summertime; but by winter, it's a little more desperate for foraging. So maybe keep your weapons handy just in case you run into one.

While there weren't too many examples of this in the hands-on preview, IGN did note some more scenarios in which real-life wildlife can make all the difference, such as a boar being much faster without snow to affect it, making it easier to catch and skin it; and how horses can be affected by the little things as you ride it, like tripping over a rock and potentially killing your character as it falls to the ground, or even sloshing mud causing its speed to slow down a little.

These subtle things should make quite a world of difference compared to how things worked in the first Red Dead. Winter can make hunting certain animals even more challenging as they can burrow into the snow; and during the summer, they're likely to run even faster or find a way to gang up on you in a "hunt them before they hunt you" fashion. Whatever the case, you'll want to prepare for these seasons accordingly, because the weather conditions and other touches can change your game within a nanosecond.

We'll be checking out more of Red Dead Redemption 2 soon enough, as the game is set to arrive for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on October 26.

(Hat tip to IGN for the scoop!)

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