Your walking through the dirty streets of Valentine -a small livestock town in the Midwest- and decide to enter the saloon where two of your fellow gang members are talking to some girls. You decide to walk over to the girls, but you make a rude comment and they walk away. Your friends chastise you until everyone’s heads turn to the entrance of the saloon, where a belligerent member of your gang walks in starting a bar fight. You join in on the bar fight. Fists are flying, blood is spilling, bodies are falling, unconscious people everywhere, and then a big man comes down to the stairs targeting you. He throws you out of the saloon window and decides to jump on you grinding you into the mud. You find a way to break free from the big man, turning the tide of the fight. After a long and brutal fight you arise victorious, covered in mud and blood, with jeers coming on all sides from the crown who watched the fight. Welcome to the world of Red Dead Redemption 2.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is the third game in the Red Dead video game series. The series is a critically acclaimed masterpiece. It has taken the hearts and minds of many down its very deep and enticing story, which is riddled with vice, crime, heartbreak, and heroics, allowing players to live vicariously through the main character as an outlaw in 5 fictitious U.S states located in the Midwest.

Red Dead Redemption 2 -a game made by Rockstar Games- has already surpassed the sales of its predecessors and has achieved the mark of having the largest opening weekend in entertainment history. The game grossed $725 million in 3 days, as well as 17 million copies in 2 weeks. The game is the second highest grossing launch in entertainment history behind Grand Theft Auto V – which was also created by Rockstar Games.

The fact that Red Dead Redemption 2 has already set records and amassed such an audience gives many hints to its longevity and its quality. These records and very high numbers also point to its potential to gain the award of Game of the Year 2018, which it has already been nominated for among other highly coveted industry awards such as Best Game Direction, Best Narrative, Best Art Direction, Best Score/Music, Best Audio Design, Roger Clark for Best Performance as Arthur Morgan, and Best Action/Adventure Game. Taylor – the older brother of a senior at GHS – says “I wouldn’t be surprised if [Red Dead Redemption 2] got Game of the Year. After having played it for a bit now, it’s already one of my favorite games”.

Though the game has been nominated for a variety of categories, it is up against a plethora of other games that also show promise to gain the title as Game of the Year. The other top contenders include God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Monster Hunter World, Celeste, and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey – only two of which show promise of really beating out Red Dead Redemption 2; Marvel’s Spider-Man and God of War. Both of which have huge followings and are known to be very good games by many publications – like IGN and Kotaku – and many casual gamers as well as famous gamers. Haydn a senior at GHS believes “the innovations of the game are outstanding, and the mechanics are not very clunky. Many improvements in the game have brought the audience it has gained.”

Red Dead Redemption 2 will undoubtedly achieve Game of the Year, just due to its sheer size and endless opportunities. The game will likely captivate the imagination of people for years to come and shows no signs of going down anytime soon – like some of its competitors have already done.