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.
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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!)
