Being immersed in a credible world with a captivating story, capable of engaging the player, while giving them the freedom to lose themselves, then returning to the main quest in a natural way, is something important for us. And that was our main goal for Red Dead Redemption 2, to erase the boundaries between all these aspects to make it coherent and organic. Everything must appear natural, without any transition or lag, to reinforce the sense of immersion and connection between each mission. For example, in the camp, a simple conversation with an NPC can result in a bank robbery, or reveal important details about the story, background, and thus trigger a new mission that the player may want to do right away or later. Simply leaving the camp to search for supplies may allow the player to discover other interesting activities or other goals. Everything is done to reinforce the feeling of embodying the character Arthur, an outlaw who is part of a famous gang, not to mention that everything must remain as entertaining as possible.
The gang needs money to do this, you will have to carry out missions as diverse as various to rob banks, intercept trains, steal from people, hunt, but also resell. There are 1001 ways to make money, even outside missions, in an honorable way, and less respectable too, to let the player do what he wants. You can kill people to steal their money, but you can also threaten them and extract their currency less violently. To leave the choice to the player is very important for us. It is not a Manichean system, it is not good against evil, everything is nuanced. Of course, we play Arthur and he has his own character, but you are given the opportunity to shape his way of behaving a bit.
The idea of the gang, the camp, the interaction between the characters, those with whom there will be cutscenes, the way the horse behaves, which must be in osmosis with the attitudes of Arthur. The animal has a high level of interaction with the character, depending on your reactions. This is also valid with other animals. In the demo, you could see a deer grazing, raise his head as Arthur approaches him. If you are never a threat to him, he will continue to eat quietly. On the other hand, if you shoot him, there will be several different animations.
