The negatives:
- Horseback and cart riding can feel inconsistent, especially during convoy sequences where the horse sometimes turns automatically and sometimes expects you to do it yourself. It's something you eventually adapt to, but it never feels completely natural. Sometimes it completely fail the mission because I hit a slight bump.

Now for the positives:
- The open world is absolutely stunning. Even years later, it's one of the most beautiful worlds to explore. Every region has its own atmosphere, and simply riding through the world is a joy.
- The world feels alive. Wildlife, random encounters, NPCs, and countless points of interest constantly give you something to discover, even when you're ignoring the main quests.
- The cast is fantastic. There are several incredibly memorable, well-written characters, and even the supporting cast has their own personalities, stories, and motivations instead of feeling like generic NPCs.
- The story delivers some genuinely powerful emotional moments. When it's at its best, it's an excellent drama that makes you care deeply about its characters.
- The gameplay is incredibly polished. Shooting, and all feel great, and the sheer level of detail throughout the game is still impressive.
- The animation quality is phenomenal. There are hundreds of unique animations, many of which you'll only see once or twice during an entire playthrough.
- You're going to be constantly discovering small touches that most developers wouldn't even think to include.

There's a disconnect between its grounded world and some of its story missions. The game does an incredible job making you believe in its world, only to occasionally throw all that realism away when the plot needs an action sequence. But I do feel it's somewhat a point of the western. People want cowboy, actions, all that jazz, mixed with the gritty stuff.

If you're looking for an immersive open-world Western with unforgettable characters, incredible visuals, and some of the best attention to detail in gaming, this is an easy recommendation.

If I had to score it, I'd probably give it a 9.5 out of 10. It isn't perfect, but the world, characters, presentation, and overall polish make it one of the best open-world games ever made.

There's one slight spoiler mention I want to make though:
DO NOT SKIP going fishing with Hosea and Dutch. If you do, you will have committed a crime against humanity and I will hunt you down :V

Faith.
Faith is all that matters. We had faith and we made it. We are gonna make it...
We are going to leave this place, and we are going to find our own paradise. Our own heaven...
We are gonna be free!
Free.

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