Red Dead Redemption An Outlaw's Last Ride Across the Frontier

It is 1911, and the west is dying: telegraph lines, railroads and federal law are closing in on the last lawless corners of the country. John Marston just wants to raise his family in peace, but agents hold his wife and son hostage until he brings in the surviving members of the Van der Linde Gang, the men he once rode with.

You cross deserts, plains and border towns tracking them down, and the people along the way make it worth the ride: crooked sheriffs, politicians selling anything, settlers and stragglers of a world that is ending. The story is told with film-grade direction and dialogue that carries real weight, and it moves toward an ending people still talk about.

The open world rewards the slow route. Gallop between missions and the land keeps offering things to do: stranger side jobs with wildly different flavors, wildlife, small encounters, secrets off the trail. Some side stories can end more than one way, and your honor shapes how the world treats you.

Practical touches keep the wandering smooth. Set up camp in the wild to fast travel past ground you have covered, and a marker on the map keeps you from getting lost. The soundtrack does a lot of the work here: sparse, moody guitar that fits long rides at dusk, and it swells at exactly the right moments.