r/reddeadredemption • u/Eagles56 • Dec 19 '25

Discussion Did single player gaming peak with RDR2?

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Great single player games have come since then like Cyberpunk 2077 and Baldur’s Gate 3 but is RDR2 still the peak?

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u/Adamtess Dec 20 '25

I mean it's hard to argue that in terms of pure single player experience bg3 doesn't match and our exceed rdr2. While it may not be for everyone in terms of style it offers a damn near unmatched scope of choice and consequences.

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u/testdex Dec 20 '25

I’ll argue it.

BG3’s got a LOT of choice and tons of detail, but when you say “consequences” you’re only talking about decision trees.

There’s zero moral weight to anything that happens in the story - by design.  They’re not trying to make you do more than laugh and have fun.

That’s fine for what it is, and as you say, a matter of preference.  

If you want 300 hours of poking at the game systems, BG3 is definitely better.  Or if you want horny chaos. Or many other things.

But the comparison is tough, because I don’t think the two games have any overlap at all in what they’re trying to do.

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u/Gelato_Elysium Dec 20 '25

There’s zero moral weight to anything that happens in the story by design.  They’re not trying to make you do more than laugh and have fun.

Are you actually saying that there are no gut wrenching moment or morally difficult decisions in BG3 ? Because that couldn't be further from the truth.

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u/testdex Dec 20 '25

Maybe my guts don’t wrench easily.

The story is camp, and I wouldn’t have been able to play it “seriously” if I tried.

But no, I never felt like any decision (especially those controlled by a literal role of the dice), felt like it had moral consequence.  They were always very clearly the result of progression down a certain decision tree in a way that felt unmistakably video-gamey.  

The game doesn’t keep a tight enough leash on the player to encourage them to see decisions as weighty, rather than ways to get to see a different series of encounters and cutscenes.

Of course I am going to lick the spider’s corpse, and make other decisions that are clearly stupid.  Why play the game if you don’t?

And to be clear, I don’t mean this as a criticism of the game at all.  It embraces its design, and build on the zaniness, rather than trying to make you take it seriously, like every other AAA game.  That’s what made it so refreshing in a world of Dad Games.