There is a new ground-breaking game in town, and it wears a cowboy hat and and rides a horse. Rockstar Games, creator of the award-winning franchise Grand Theft Auto, recently released their third game in the Red Dead franchise, Red Dead Redemption 2.

RDR 2 is a prequel to the popular 2010 game, Red Dead Redemption, and the sequel to the 2004 game Red Dead Revolver. The main plot of all the games revolves around a time period from the 1880’s to 1911, and focuses on the struggles of outlaws during the wild west.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, you play as Author Morgan, a outlaw who is part of the notorious Van der Linde gang, who is on its last leg. After a failed heist, the gang must stay on the move as authorities close in. Thus begins the story of RDR 2.

Throughout the story you will meet multiple characters, such as Dutch, the leader of the gang, and even John Marston, the main character of Red Dead Redemption, and a fellow gang member. Along with interacting with other members of the gang, you can also interact with almost every single other NPC (Non-Player Character) in the game. You can choose to escalate or de-escalate a situation, or go in guns blazing with zero conversation.

In addition to the several choices to make, those choices are influenced by the Honor System. Similar to other games like Watch Dogs and Grand Theft Auto Online, the game will reward you as being seen as a somewhat good criminal, but only if you do good things, such as take down thieves or collect bounties. On the contrary however, people will see you as a public enemy when you do things such as killing a policeman or being a nuisance. Your conversations with people will change depending on your honor.

Another important part of RDR 2 is its surprising amount of realism. You need to do a lot of things, which can include keeping your gang’s camp fed, keeping your guns clean to protect from wear, and even wear warmer clothes to traverse the colder environments in the north. This makes the game challenging, but fun to play.

On top of the story, you may also partake in other activities, such as poker at a bar, hunting deer or other animals, and even hunting collectables throughout the land. Or if you just want to relax and look at the scenery, you can hop on your horse and use the cinematic camera to explore the west and all of its beauty.

While the game is easily one of the best I’ve seen and experienced, it does have a few drawbacks. One of the minor things that annoys me is that the game is a bit buggy, but then again what game isn’t. Many of the things that are somewhat annoying is how the accuracy of your weapons feel when shooting. In previous Rockstar games, aiming was a simple dot in the center of your screen, indicating where your shots would go. RDR 2’s aiming system is a little bit more complicated, as it takes a second or two to be accurate, with a ring around your dot slowing zooming in to get a precise shot.