An often overlooked, yet essential aspect of a good visual narrative is the music. Whether it be a movie, television show, or video game, if the story contains some type of emotional element, it becomes the music's job to drive that element home. If you played Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption 2 last year, you experienced a story with a fair amount of emotional complexity that challenged the themes of loyalty, morality, and freedom, and did so in a way that resembled nothing short of a masterpiece. Like most stories of this nature, an enormous bow was needed to tie all of those layers together and create an experience that was just as moving as a movie you'd see at the theater, or a television show that you'd watch at home. Woody Jackson's The Music of Red Dead Redemption 2: Original Score serves as that metaphorical bow, elevating the game to be the immersive, unforgettable experience that is Red Dead Redemption

The Van Der Linde gang often refer to one another as a family and many of the male members call each other brother. In the Old Testament, there's a character named Micah who warns people that threats can come from familial relationships. If a player is well-versed in the Old Testament this would be a clear cut hint that someone in the Van Der Linde gang was going to betray their self-proclaimed family members. It turns out that sometimes the person warning you are warning you about themsel

Plenty of games have incredible graphics. Open-world games especially can be some of the most engrossing to move through and study the surroundings. But no other game that I know of has a Cinematic Camera. And they wouldn't need them, necessarily. But Red Dead Redemption 2 wants you to forget that it's a game. Which is possible. Because the environment is drop-dead gorgeous. When you play an open-world game, you usually want to explore because there is a host of tasks left undone that you want to finish. But Red Dead Redemption 2 asks you to seek out the undiscovered, with a slack jaw at the beauty around

The act of listening to this score pulls you right back into the experience of playing the game and watching its story unfold. Each song's instrument choice, structure, and climax emotionally matches the storyline in which it represents. For example, Mrs. Sadie Adler, Widow , structurally mirrors the narrative arc of its character, Sadie Adler. The low, melancholy strings start the track off in a tone of tragedy, calling to mind the fact that Sadie's story begins with the murder of her husband. The song continues to build in pace, as heavy drums and high strings come into the mix, setting a more powerful, menacing tone, and representing Sadie's transformation from victim to outlaw, and a full-blown member of the Van der Linde gang. We finally progress into a conclusion that resembles what might serve as the soundtrack for a horror movie set in the wild west, as screeching strings mirror the building of tension while Sadie accompanies John Marston on a mission to confront Micah Bell at the story's

In a gang of thieves and murderers, Hosea Matthews seems to be the most level-headed one. As one of the co-founders of the Van Der Linde gang, Hosea is usually the one Arthur can go to for advice. Many of the gang’s smartest decisions were usually made by Hosea as w

It's unclear if the name was the only thing that was passed down, or if being the worst type of human was a genetic trait passed down through generations in his families bloodline. He had a one night stand with a woman in Blackwater, so there's a chance a Micah Bell IIII exi

The Music of Read Dead Redemption 2 so easily and masterfully plunges you right back into the emotional intensity of the game's storyline. The attention to detail and careful construction of this score is instantly noticeable, and the manner in which it so perfectly represents the game Beta Tests's biggest and most complex moments is absolutely impressive. Red Dead Redemption 2 is an incredible mold of different tones, including humor, awe, entertainment, jealousy, morality, mortality, love, and hatred, and the task of unpacking all of that in a musical composition is certainly a tall one. Not only is this score a perfect western soundtrack that would go great with a horseback ride in the desert, but it also represents the complicated themes of the game's story so spectacularly, and to such a detailed degree, that I can't help but to praise Woody Jackson and the rest of the talented people who are responsible for

Later in the game, she makes an absolutely stupid decision to go on a drunken rant, informing everyone that she’s been talking to the Pinkerton agents. In this desperate want for attention, she ends up getting shot by Susan Grimshaw. We later find out that she was never a rat, which makes us wonder why she would tell such a foolish lie in her final mome

Sometimes open-world games sag under the weight of their content. There is simply too much to do. What's worst is when the same amount of time applied to develop content for the world is not equally applied to create a compelling narrative. That is not the case in Red Dead Redemption 2 . The writing is superb. The characters are fully realized. The emotions are nuanced. The story is believable. Every piece in that puzzle fits nicely, and the result is an elegant tale set in a wild wo