The Big Country

After Half a Decade of Rumors, Rockstar’s Epic Western Sandbox Is Back. Saddle Up for Red Dead Redemption 2.

- David Meikleham

That’s how long we’ve waited for Rockstar to get back in the saddle and craft another wonderful virtual Western. Red Dead Redemption was one of Xbox 360’s very best games – a poignant sandbox love letter to the Spaghetti Western, full of doomed honor and snappy shootouts. Now its brand of outlaw (or should it be outlaws?) has returned, and it looks like Xbox One is going to be treated to the most sensationally detailed open world Rockstar has ever made. Get ready, partners… this is going to be quite the ride.

The big question going into Red Dead Redemption 2 is just how many outlaws will you be playing as? Considering the quality of the last game, epic frontier scenery, frantic pistol-dueling and lots of ambient horse-riding all seem assured. What we can’t bet the farm on is whether or not Rockstar is going back down GTA V’s multiple character-switching route.

Both the art reveal and the debut trailer’s big closing shot hint you could swap between as many as seven different outlaws. We look at who each of these scoundrels may be on page 41 (see The Scandalous Seven), but regardless of their identities, the notion of having that many antiheroes to switch between is dizzying.

OUTLAW AND ORDER