Rockstar is known for keeping a very tight lid on their games in the lead up to release, but in an uncommon occurrence the first non-official footage of Red Dead Redemption 2 has leaked a mere handful of days before release.
The clip lasting all but 20 seconds is making the rounds on Reddit after having been uploaded to mixtape and doesn’t shed all that much light on the game. The setting appears to be a camping outpost where Arthur Morgan tenderly talks to his horse before dismounting, before being questioned by what we assume are either a rival gang or the law and engaging in a short lived fire fight. As Arthur fires a final shot into the last enemy, we switch views to a slow motion action sequence.
The brief snippet is sound-tracked by a mounting orchestrated crescendo suitably matched to the fight at hand. There’s no indication whether the scenario forms part of a mission or is simply an event that occurs randomly within the open-world.
Alongside the action, we also get our first proper glimpse at the UI, which players of past Rockstar titles will be accustomed to: the mini map and ‘Wanted’ tracker are reminiscent of the first Red Dead game. The tracker switches to ‘interrogating’ as the gang approaches, then once shots are fired starts displaying ‘Arthur Morgan’, suggesting the assailants become aware of who they were dealing with. Once Morgan drops a few bodies, it shows a bounty for murder set at $185.00.
The top right of the screen displays game info, in this case detailing collectable Premium Cigarette Packs, while we get a short look at the weapon wheel housing a variety of weapons including a bow, lasso, revolvers, sawed off shotgun, fists and a hunting knife. Ammunition is indicated just below the ‘Wanted’ feature in the top right. Just above the mini-map there are three circular indicators: a heart, a lightning bolt, and an x. We assume these are linked to either buffs or Morgan’s health stats.
As for criticism, Arthur’s bow seems to clip through his hat, while a fleeing horse in the closing frames gets stuck on a rock. These are minor issues and not necessarily immersion breaking, but a brief look at the comments section of the Reddit post shows a portion of players are already pretty upset.
With the hype surrounding Red Dead Redemption 2, the fact nothing has leaked until today is fairly baffling and in many ways it was bound to happen. A few days before release isn’t all that bad in our estimation.
As with most leaks, the clip will more than likely be removed before too long and as such here are a few alternative mirrors.
