Red Dead Redemption 2 “Tries To Think Beyond Story Missions And Side Missions”, Says Rockstar

Open world games have moved to a point where the integration of side quests and main story missions is more important than it has ever been, with many titles having come along in the last few years that have done incredible stuff with optional content. As the kings of the open world genre, Rockstar are obviously not going to just sit back and keep quiet, though, and with Red Dead Redemption 2, they’re looking to transcend the very distinction between the two kinds of quests.

While speaking with the Official Xbox Magazine (November 2018, Issue 169), Rockstar North’s Imran Sarwar, who’s working on Red Dead Redemption 2 as the Director of Design, mentioned that rather than trying to draw a schism between optional content and critical content, the upcoming open world title just provides players with content, requiring them to discover it and engage with it through exploration and interaction.

“We tried to think beyond story missions and side missions,” said Sarwar, “to simply create a huge range of experiences for the player to move in and out of as naturally as possible. The world is packed with things to do, and the best way to find them is to explore and interact with the people you meet. Talking to people in town or in camp will often reveal new activities for the player to get involved in, and you never know what kind of experience that might be.”

Red Dead Redemption 2 is shaping up to be an incredible game, based on all appearances. Recently, there’s been a deluge of new information on the upcoming game, about everything from its open world’s interactivity, to dynamic NPC interactions, to the level of detail in the game, and a lot more. You can find our comprehensive and thorough round-ups of all these details through here, here, and here.

Meanwhile, Rockstar also recently released new details on several of the major characters we will meet in the game, as well as some of the towns and cities within its map. Be sure to read up on those as well. Red Dead Redemption 2 is roughly a month away, launching on October 26 for the PS4 and Xbox One.