For the better part of the last decade, open world games have been all about power. How much chaos could I sow with cTOS in Watch_Dogs; how much havoc can we wreak with the “Awesome Button” in Saints Row? I feel like they were more about how much control we had over the people, the infrastructure, and the foundations of the world itself than anything else.

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16 New Red Dead Redemption Screenshots 16 IMAGES

“ You’re just a guy trying to scrabble together enough of a living to make it to the next day.

Thankfully, we’ve seen this subside somewhat in recent years. Games like Horizon: Zero Dawn and Zelda: Breath of the Wild do a good job of showing us our small size in a big world, though they still gave us that burdensome role of The Chosen One. Link and Aloy trot merrily from town to town slaying giant mechanical beasts and solving everyone’s problems before dashing off to rescue everyone and being hailed the Champion of Everything. I’m tired of playing God in a game, and I’m excited at the prospect that Red Dead 2 purports to offer - the ability to cast off the shackles of destiny and just... be.We spoke at length with Rockstar about how they’re working to make Red Dead Redemption 2 their most detailed open world yet : a world where everyone has a role to fill – even those that would normally just be crash padding or cannon fodder in GTA 5. A world where they exist beyond simply standing around waiting for our character, Arthur Morgan , to talk to them. But when we do, those interactions – even with the most inconsequential NPCs – are more complex than anything we’ve seen from Rockstar yet.In our demo, we went on a hunt, and afterward, we ran into a rider who commented on the quality of our kill. We chose to politely say “thanks” and kept riding, but Rockstar told us that in situations like these, we could have turned to follow him and kept talking, or harassed or even robbed him. These folks will allegedly remember you, too. They may not recall specific details of your interactions, but they’ll remember whether they like you or not, usually agreeing or denying to help or talk to you should you run into them again.The goal of Red Dead Redemption 2’s world is that life can and will go on without you. I find a special sort of irony in this - that the development team invests so heavily in how we interact with the world and the enjoyment we'll get out of it, yet the ultimate means to achieving that end is creating someplace that's all but indifferent to our existence. You're not the be-all, end-all focus of this world. You’re not some nomadic adventurer ready to deus ex machina everyone’s woes away - you’re just a guy trying to scrabble together enough of a living to make it to the next day.That notion coupled with the place in the world that Arthur finds himself - not geographically (though I am excited to revisit Blackwater and see more of the world beyond), but on the lower rung of the social ladder where he sits.For me, the most interesting aspect of Red Dead 2’s world lies in how these dynamics will play out. You won’t ride into town after gunning down a cadre of lawmen to a hail of “Hey, it’s Mr. Morgan! How’s it going, pal?” This might’ve happened to John in the original, but now it seems we’ll be the ones trying to put up the pleasant facade, just too keep ourselves out of (too much) trouble.While other games offer the clichéd “living, breathing” open worlds that may give the illusion of life and purpose, Red Dead Redemption 2 might be one of the first games to actually deliver on that promise. But that promise won’t be a platform for your power fantasy; the promise is this: you may be the center of your own story, but you are not the center of its universe and this world does not give a damn about you.I don’t think I’d want it any other way.

JR is an editor at IGN. When he's not writing guides, he's wrangling players for Red Dead Redemption's online mode on XB1 - you should posse up with him on Twitter