Red Dead Redemption 2 does a lot of things better than Grand Theft Auto V. We're not afraid to admit it and you shouldn't be either. The level of detail in Red Dead Redemption 2's world is unrivalled and Los Santos could only dream of having such a diverse wilderness alongside its cityscape.
Of course, Red Dead Redemption 2 was always going to be an improvement on Grand Theft Auto V - since it was released quite a while after. However, that hasn't stopped people from still buying and playing the latest Grand Theft Auto game over Arthur Morgan's adventures.
At this stage, you could throw a rock out of your window and hit a new Grand Theft Auto 6 rumour. They're far too frequent for a title that hasn't even technically been confirmed and a lot of the rumours sound downright foolish.
One of these, though, doesn't. One of them actually raises some concerns. One of these is to do with GTA 6 adopting the weapon storage mechanic from Red Dead Redemption 2.
We don't think that should happen and here's why.
Rockstar Games should leave it on their horse
In Red Dead Redemption 2, you can only carry a limited amount of weaponry on your person at any one time. You can carry two long weapons, like Repeaters and Rifles, and two handguns (provided you have a second holster). This mechanic sounds frustrating at first, but it quickly becomes a part of the day-to-day life of an outlaw and you learn to live with it.
If anything, it actually adds to the therapeutic experience that Red Dead Redemption 2 offers so uniquely given its subject matter.
You need to check in on your horse before you embark on a mission, making sure you're carrying the right tools for the job. If you want to go hunting, you need to make sure you're carrying your Bow and Varmint Rifle. Or, of course, your long-scoped Rolling Block Rifle if you're going after bigger fish.
It might seem like a small feature, but it's quite an important one that contributes to the realism Red Dead Redemption 2 offers and it helps Rockstar Games differentiate the pace of their Wild West game against their Modern Age game - even though the two seem quite similar on paper. It adds a level of forethought and strategy to everything you do and can end up creating unique challenges for you to overcome.
To put it simply... Rockstar Games should leave Red Dead Redemption 2's weapon storage mechanics on their horse for GTA 6.
Why should they abandon such a great feature?
The weapon storage mechanics employed in Red Dead Redemption 2 would work on paper, but they would be detrimental to what Grand Theft Auto games are all about.
Logically, you could easily replace Arthur's horse with any sort of vehicle in GTA 6 and the system would still work. Cars have boots - well, trunks - for you to put things in and a motorcycle is even more similar to a horse in the type of storage options it would offer. However, it just wouldn't work.
Grand Theft Auto games are, on the whole, faster and more intense. This is especially true when you look at the gunplay Rockstar Games has developed.
They offer a more arcade-like feel to combat, essentially. You can already see the difference in gunplay between the first Red Dead Redemption game and Grand Theft Auto V - Red Dead Redemption 2 just furthered this divide. Having a system where you can only carry a couple of weapons at a time would take away from this faster-paced action that Grand Theft Auto games are known for on a base level.
In addition to this, it would also make gameplay very annoying. In Red Dead Redemption 2, It's actually quite hard to run out of ammo. It's possible, but not easy. The main reason why this is the case is due to the fact that Revolvers and Repeaters just don't fire that many bullets when you're in a gunfight. The gunplay is slower and more methodical, with one good bullet the difference between life and death.
In Grand Theft Auto games, on the flip-side, you fire a lot of bullets a lot of the time. Automatic weapons can unload hundreds of bullets in a minute and this means you can run out of ammo a lot faster.
Of course, in Grand Theft Auto V you can carry more ammo, but if Rockstar Games was to adopt the level of realism the Red Dead Redemption 2 weapon storage system suggests... Why would they stop there? It doesn't seem impossible that they'd adopt a system for believable ammo capacities and thus give you more of a reason to think about the weapon storage system and use it in a similar way to how players use it in Red Dead Redemption 2.
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Essentially, it would slow gameplay down a lot and it doesn't really feel like that's how a Grand Theft Auto game should be played. Grand Theft Auto V was all about fast cars and big explosions and we don't think GTA 6 is going to forget that.
The weapon storage system works for Red Dead Redemption 2's grounded realism. It doesn't work for Grand Theft Auto's bombastic action-packed sandbox of destruction.