Even though there have been stories designed to evoke the emotions of a player, video games are often looked down upon as a medium of art, providing no benefit to the player aside from mindless entertainment. After all, the late great film critic Roger Ebert had once said that "video games can be elegant, subtle, sophisticated, challenging and visually wonderful. But I believe the nature of the medium prevents it from moving beyond craftsmanship to the stature of art." Thus, Ebert claims that the one thing that prevents video games competing with other forms of art, particularly film, is because "...video games represent a loss of those precious hours we have available to make ourselves more cultured, civilized and empathetic." Although arguably true in most cases, Rockstar Games begs to differ as they urge the player to experience the dreary story of Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption II.

Those familiar with the first game, Red Dead Redemption, will know the story of John Marston, a man extorted by the Bureau of Investigation as a means to hunt down the last surviving members of the Van Der Linde Gang, John's former gang. Once all remaining gang members are put in the dirt, John is then executed by the same people who employed him. The death of John Marston had left its mark on many players, and seven years later a sequel is released, but Red Dead Redemption 2 is a prequel to the events of the first game with a narrative designed for those familiar with the first game.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, Rockstar introduces the Van Der Linde Gang at the start of its decline. There are many members in the gang, including a young John Marston. But the player controls Arthur Morgan. Mr. Morgan is not mentioned in the first game, and immediately the player can presume the fate of this character, as well as the other members of the gang that did not make it to the first game. After all, the player familiar with the first game already knows what happens to John, so naturally, conclusions are drawn. It is with this knowledge in mind that Rockstar echoes the philosophy of one of America's great philosophers, Ralph Waldo Emerson, "life is a journey, not a destination."

Over the tenure of the game, the player journeys with Arthur Morgan over six chapters that eventually results in his death in the most unexpected yet fitting way. Then the player takes control of John Marston over a two-part epilogue. Even though the player already knows the ending to John's story and can reasonably deduce the ending to Arthur's story as soon as they kick off Chapter 1, Rockstar creates a story that urges the player to explore in its many intricacies simply because the story of Red Dead Redemption II is character driven.

Throughout the game, the player gets to know Arthur, as well as the gang. In time the player learns that Arthur once had a son who passed away because of a sickness, cannot be with the woman he is in love with because of his life as an outlaw, and vehemently admires the gang which he considers to be his family, most particularly Dutch, whom he sees as a surrogate father. Naturally, this all aids to deliver many of the themes presented in the game, most importantly the main one which is mentioned in the title itself, redemption.

This particular theme shines in the final chapter after Arthur receives the death sentence of tuberculosis. The reason Arthur becomes condemned is because of a man named Mr. Downes. The gang had given Mr. Downes a loan and it was time for Downes to pay up, but he did not have the funds to repay his debt. Being the outlaw he is, no was not an answer Arthur was going to accept, and so during the brief entanglement, Mr. Downes passes on his lovely sickness to Mr. Morgan. An ominous atmosphere suddenly permeates the game upon this revelation, which is exemplified in the change of Arthur's demeanor as he realizes that there is nothing he can do about the disease. Arthur reflects upon his life choices and is filled with regret and fear, so he decides to live to in accordance with his own truth rather than following the ideals of his mentor, Dutch.

So, Arthur decides to become a good man in accordance to goodness as he defines it, which the best deed he could fathom is to ensure that John Marston, his wife, and their only child, will escape the gang life to live out the rest of their lives as a family. Arthur's so determined upon his resolve that he decides to steal from the gang, particularly Dutch, the man he admired, respected, and revered, in order to ensure financial security for the Marstons. After the planning and the scheming, the time arrives to exact his plan, and Rockstar creates a simple interactive cinematic experience for the player to further immerse themselves as Arthur while he reflects on the decisions he made throughout his life as he embarks on what is to be his final ride.

A glance of the comments from the above clip gives insight that Rockstar had managed to create a great deal of empathy for Arthur throughout the game. One commenter writes, "For me this is the most devastating scene in game history. Playing and KNOWING the Death is crawling for you. After this I was almost unable to play, my hands were shaking and I couldn’t see through tears. When Arthur pull out his hat... wow... It's like part of my heart died with...﻿" while another writes, "I've played many video games. Ive laughed at a game. I've been mad at a game, I've been sad at a game. But red dead redemption 2 is the only game that made me cry.﻿"

Thus it seems that games can rival films as a cinematic experience, for games make the player 'more cultured, civilized and empathetic', after all, aside from creating a realistic world and believable characters, Rockstar Games had also created an original soundtrack for the game just like any blockbuster film would have. Interesting enough, Red Dead Redemption II ﻿generated a whopping $725 million in the first three days of its release. Further, Roger Clark, the actor behind Arthur, received the Best Performance Award for his work on Red Dead Redemption 2 from The Game Awards, a ceremony which closely resembles the Academy Awards. It's an absurd thought to consider... that there is an award ceremony for video games that are similar to the Oscars, however, the award itself was delivered by none other than Christopher Waltz, an Academy Award winner most famously recognized as Colonel Hans Landa of Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Bastards.

Although there are still video games being made to pass the time as simple entertainment, Rockstar Games has exemplified that games can also become cinematic experiences in their own right. These games have a narrative to explore with characters that are empathetic and themes that question the nature of humanity, bringing a much-needed redemption for this often looked down upon medium of art.