I came late to RDR2 and I regret not playing it sooner
I'll be direct: I took way too long to give Red Dead Redemption 2 a real chance. I bought it on sale, installed it, played about 3 hours and dropped it because "it wasn't hooking me." Big mistake.
Four months later I picked it back up, gave it time, and burned through the next 120 hours. It's probably the best-crafted video game I've ever played — and that includes GTA V, The Last of Us, and Elden Ring.
But RDR2 asks something of you that very few modern games require: patience. If you don't go in with that mindset, it will bore you in the first few hours and you'll quit before the good stuff starts.
So here are the tips I wish someone had given me when I started.
The game really starts in Chapter 2 — get through the prologue
The prologue is necessary for the narrative but it's slow. Very slow. The first two or three missions are teaching mechanics in an almost forced way and the world doesn't feel free yet.
The moment RDR2 truly "opens up" is when you arrive at the Horseshoe Overlook camp. That's when you realize the scale of what you're playing. That's the point of no return — most people who quit do so before getting there.
Push through to that point. If after 6 hours of play you're still not hooked, maybe this game isn't for you. But if you get to Chapter 2 with the camp alive and the open world available, you're already lost in the best possible way.
Don't ignore honor — it affects more than you think
RDR2's honor system is one of the best-designed in open world game history. It's not a simple "good/bad" meter. It affects dialogue, NPC reactions, some missions have variations, and the end of the game changes significantly depending on your honor level.
My recommendation: decide from the start what kind of Arthur Morgan you want to play. A high-honor Arthur is genuinely moving — his internal monologues while camping are completely different. A low-honor Arthur has a different texture, darker and more desperate.
What I don't recommend is being in the middle without awareness, because you miss the depth of both paths.
Side activities that seem optional but aren't
This is what hurt most to discover late.
The wildlife collectibles. To complete the fauna illustration books you need perfect-condition animals taken with specific ammo. There are zones where certain animals only appear in certain chapters. If you advance without knowing this, you lock yourself out.
The random world encounters. RDR2 has the best random event system of any open world game. A man attacked by bears, a gang executing someone, a woman asking you to take her to the hospital. Many have follow-ups if you encounter them again days later in the game world. They're so good they feel like main missions.
Fishing. I know, it sounds boring. The first hour of fishing in RDR2 felt like an insult to me. But there's something meditative about fishing in that river while the sun sets and the music shifts softly. It's one of those moments the game gives you if you let yourself go with it.
The camp is your anchor — invest in it
Many players treat the camp as a respawn point and nothing more. Mistake.
Upgrading the camp through donations unlocks improvements that have real gameplay impact: better stocked provision stores, higher gang morale, unique interactions with each member. And those interactions are some of the best things RDR2 has — they're what makes you genuinely care about characters like Charles, Sadie, or Hosea.
Don't head to the next mission without talking to camp members. Many have their own side missions that don't show up on the map until you interact with them.
Your horse matters more than you think
At the start you take the first horse they give you and don't pay attention to it. After 30 hours, that horse will have survived battles, storms, chases — and you'll start to understand why the game built that emotional bond.
Your bond with your horse increases based on time you spend riding without mistreating it. A horse at max bond has significantly better stats and responds differently in combat.
The most important tip: don't swap horses constantly. Pick one early, give it a name, invest in it, and the game will reward you with moments you won't forget.
Why RDR2 matters beyond entertainment
There's a moment in Chapter 4 that left me speechless. I won't spoil it, but it involves Arthur reading his journal in a quiet moment. It was the first time I remember wanting to pause a video game just to process it.
RDR2 talks about mortality, misplaced loyalty, what it means to live with dignity when the system is against you. It doesn't say this with big cutscenes — it says it in dialogue while you ride, in journal entries the character writes alone, in the way the world treats you depending on your choices.
It's a game that deserves your time. And if you give it that time, it'll give you something back that very few entertainment mediums can.