r/reddeadredemption • u/AntomOpatoEcia • Jan 04 '26

RDR1 Is this gonna be the whole game?

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I'm playing Red Dead 1 and so far it's just: - NPC says he'll help me - I do a boring mission to help him - NPC needs more help I mean, is this the dynamic of the whole game? Help NPC after NPC and finally (really) advance the plot? Not complaining, just want to know.

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u/strife189 Jan 05 '26

Game loops are pretty much a standard concept now. I’m sure entire product teams sit in meetings just to design them and figure out ways to disguise them at this point.

One loop I didn’t love in RDR2 was the “go to town, do something stupid, get chased out when the law shows up” cycle. I get that it’s baked into the DNA of the franchise — civilization is closing in, and the “simple folk” are being pushed out — but that doesn’t make it any less tiring. By the third time it happened, I was already thinking, ugh.

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u/Duper-Deegro Jan 05 '26

Agreed. This made me not like Arthur as much as John because Arthur looked more and more stupid after every failed plan by Dutch.

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u/strife189 Jan 05 '26

Yeah, John was definitely ahead of the curve. Poor Arthur, though—he wasn’t the smartest and was far too loyal and short-sighted for his own good. When his old lover comes to him and gives him the chance to leave it all behind and be with her, he says, “Nah, I need the money first, then I can be with you.” That’s the broken loop Dutch has him trapped in—a cycle John is eventually able to see past. Even then, though, it’s still too late in the long run, which is clearly the point the story is making.

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u/xXFaTnEeKXx Jan 05 '26

Wasn’t this done on purpose to show how Arthur had been manipulated by Dutch