{"id":134389,"date":"2023-08-23T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-23T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/#article-154189"},"modified":"2023-08-23T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T13:00:00","slug":"soapbox-red-dead-redemption-ignited-my-enduring-love-of-the-old-west","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2023\/08\/23\/soapbox-red-dead-redemption-ignited-my-enduring-love-of-the-old-west\/","title":{"rendered":"Soapbox: Red Dead Redemption Ignited My Enduring Love Of The Old West"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Image: Rockstar Games<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they’ve been chewing over. Today, Ollie describes how Rockstar Games’ seminal Western influenced his love for the American Frontier…<\/em><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

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Growing up, I knew what kind of genres I was interested in when it came to books, movies, and games. I have always gravitated towards horror first and foremost (and I always will,<\/em> too), but I also had a keen love of sci-fi and fantasy. That didn’t mean I completely avoided anything that didn\u2019t fall into one of those categories; I adored The Godfather<\/strong> trilogy, I read Lord of the Flies<\/strong> more times than I can count, and I\u2019d be damned if I didn\u2019t watch Stand By Me<\/strong> at least once every year. But one genre that always produced tumbleweeds for me was the Western.<\/p>\n

For the first two decades of my life, I\u2019d never watched a Western movie, never read a Western novel, and certainly never played a Western game. This wasn\u2019t because I had anything against them \u2014 it wasn\u2019t like I could claim to have any kind of authoritative opinion on the genre, after all \u2014 but I just never particularly felt like engrossing myself in that kind of world.<\/p>\n

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Image: Rockstar Games<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That was until Red Dead Redemption<\/a> came along. Prior to its release in 2010, I\u2019d already become borderline obsessed with Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto IV<\/a> on 360. For me, it represented a significant step forward in open-world design, and I was enamoured with the studio\u2019s implementation of Euphoria, an animation tool that could allow for absurdly realistic human physics.<\/p>\n

So of course, despite the fact that Red Dead Redemption took place in the Old West, I knew I had<\/em> to play it. So I did. And it turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life.<\/p>\n

The opening of Red Dead Redemption is uniquely calm and quiet, all things considered. It starts off with the protagonist, John Marston, arriving via train to the quaint town of Armadillo. There, he meets a bearded old-timer called Jake, who rides with John to the fortified stronghold of Fort Mercer, where John will confront an old gang ally called Bill Williamson.<\/p>\n

The encounter winds up with John being shot, left for dead, and carted off to the nearby settlement of MacFarlane Ranch. Up until that point, however, Red Dead Redemption takes its sweet time, with the only actual gameplay being the relatively uneventful journey that takes you from Armadillo to Fort Mercer. It not only serves as an introduction to some of the core gameplay mechanics, but to the world itself. Leaving behind the sliver of civilisation found in Armadillo only to find yourself knee-deep in what can only be described as the middle of nowhere, Red Dead Redemption manages to make even the most desolate of environments feel real and lived-in.<\/p>\n

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Image: Rockstar Games<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was this first horse ride that ignited a faint spark of passion in my heart. Watching the dust kick up from the horses\u2019 hooves, the distant horizon shimmer in the heat, and a bunch of cackling coyotes munch on the half-eaten carcass of a dead deer, I instantly fell in love with the setting. It felt daunting and intimidating in the same way that stepping into the overwhelmingly expansive land of Hyrule felt in Breath of the Wild<\/a>, but somehow, the harsh reality of the Old West appealed to me even more.<\/p>\n

So I played through Red Dead Redemption from start to finish in just a few lengthy sessions. I was infatuated with it: the characters, the landscape, the wildlife, the music\u2026 all of it. And so, having watched the credits roll, I knew instantly that I wasn\u2019t done with the genre. Admittedly, going back to Red Dead Revolver<\/a> didn\u2019t feel like an option for me, because I already knew through friends that it probably wouldn\u2019t stack up next to its younger sibling, so I ventured out into other mediums.<\/p>\n

I started with a trilogy of films that I suspect many fans of the Old West have cut their teeth on: Sergio Leone\u2019s Dollars Trilogy<\/strong>, comprised of A Fistful of Dollars<\/strong>, For a Few Dollars More<\/strong>, and of course, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly<\/strong>. I loved each more than the last, with the finale proving to be one of the finest films of all time, propped up by killer performances from Lee Van Cleef, Eli Wallach, and Clint Eastwood.<\/p>\n

From there, I stuck with Leone and watched Once Upon a Time in the West<\/strong>, and while it certainly lacked the familiar faces of the Dollars Trilogy, folks weren\u2019t kidding when they said that it was Leone\u2019s magnum opus. Impossibly sweeping in scope, countless shots are forever burned into my mind\u2019s eye.<\/p>\n