- [Narrator] With Red Dead Redemption Two on the horizon,

many gamers are excited to see

what Rockstar will deliver this time.

It's been over eight years since the original

Red Dead Redemption and that game

is still looked upon as a masterpiece.

And it's actually my personal favorite

single player game of all time.

But as I was watching the release footage

of the upcoming Red Dead Redemption Two,

I began to think about something.

It seems as if every single one of Rockstar's games

have massive open worlds, and every single one of these

open world games are absolutely amazing and outstanding.

While open world games are pretty much everywhere

these days, most of them are pretty disappointing and empty.

But Rockstar on the other hand,

oh no, their worlds are better than my world.

Yeah, I'd rather live in the peaceful and safe Vice City

than where I am right now.

It looks like a great place and I'm kind of thinking

that it's based off of somewhere else in real life,

maybe like San Antonio or Paris or something,

I really don't know.

Anyways, the point is, Rockstar games

have a certain charm and feel to them, and it's honestly

something I can only get from Rockstar games.

There could be a variety of causes

that make me feel so great when I play these games.

It could be the fact that I love being able

to recreate the way that I act in real life.

It could be that I like the massive skies.

But I really don't think that's the case.

Deep down I know that the real reason why I love these games

is because of the true open world experience.

Rockstar's worlds, like I said,

are the best open worlds of any games.

The consistency is almost always there and every new release

has a world that is better than the last.

So what exactly is so good about these worlds?

What is it that makes these games the way they are?

I'll go ahead and start from the very beginning.

Many open world games have a little bit of life

when you're playing them.

Like how FarCry enemies will jump out of their cars

and yell stuff at you,

how Fallout games have cool little side quests

that actually make sense,

and of course how Mass Effect Andromeda

had a super realistic flying animation when you're trying

to walk around on the ground and you just started flying.

Wait what?

Oh, that wasn't intentional?

What I'm saying here is that some of these games

do a pretty decent job at adding life into their world.

But many of them lack consistency

and only do it in certain areas of their world.

Diamond City in Fallout Four, Novigrad in The Witcher Three,

and New Vegas and New Vegas are all great examples

of places that do it right.

Those locations tend to have a sense of life

and feel like a realistic place in a realistic world.

Now, Rockstar doesn't just do this in some locations,

they take the same approach

in every single aspect of their maps.

In order to identify life in a video game world,

we're gonna have to take a look at what creates this life.

Now, there are three things, movement,

realistic settings, and differences in scenery.

Rockstar worlds have all three of these things

and that's what makes them feel so lively.

Movement, this is the factor that many games have

but don't do correctly.

In order for an open world to feel alive,

there needs to be some sort of movement and activities

in the area that there are other people.

And basically every single open world game

in the Grand Theft Auto series, this is done perfectly.

The NPC's move around about their daily business

and they don't make you stick out like a sore thumb.

Traffic flows freely and realistically,

planes fly around in the sky,

waves push boats and stuff just feels natural.

The day and night cycle is perfect and the constant changes

in lighting and the progression of time of day

helps to make the world feel

like it's in constant motion and growth.

The ambulances moving around helping the old man

that just got ran over by some dude

in a really nice supercar, add to the effect by making

the world actually feel like a functioning society.

Things move and they move

extremely realistically and smoothly.

And honestly, it just feels right.

It's not like we have a Fallout Four settlement on our hands

where the stupid old lady just moves from chair to chair

and people walk around in circles and get in the way.

This is an example of pointless movement,

but it's not like that with Rockstar games.

All of the people who are moving about their daily business

seem to have some sort of purpose and these NPC's

and this interaction is one of the factors

that helps to make this game feel alive.

Second of all is the realistic settings in Rockstar worlds.

If you take a look at Red Dead Redemption,

you can see this first hand.

The entire map is separated into different zones

and each zone smoothly transitions into the next.

There's a nice variation in areas

and it keeps the world from getting boring.

I personally feel as if this was a big problem

with Assassin's Creed British edition.

The entire world just felt like

the exact same thing, copied and pasted,

and it totally killed the exploration in the game.

But when I say realistic settings I don't mean

something that would be possible in real life.

Obviously some games aren't set in real life,

so I don't wanna be the guy who's like,

according to my calculations, this isn't possible.

That's not what I mean by this.

What I mean is that the locations in a good game world

and definitely all Rockstar ones, seem to fit the theme

of the time and place that they are set in.

In Red Dead Redemption, everything from the flooring

in the houses to the sketchy docks at Thieves Landing

are covered in the same western grit and grime.

It really helps to keep the feel of the world consistent

and it adds to the overall life of the worlds.

And this leads me into my third point,

the differences in scenery.

I kinda already mentioned it, but it's a thing

that is required for a good open world game.

Like I said with Assassin's Creed, The Syndicate Project,

if everything feels the same,

what is the point of exploring?

And if you take a look at every Rockstar game ever,

you would notice that absolutely none

of the locations feel the same.

In Vice City for example, you can feel the difference

between the rich estates on the canals,

the massive beaches on the east coast,

and the slummy shops in the interior of the island.

In Bully for example, the map starts out

with rustic mountains, cuts through a modern city,

and then ends with some luxurious Victorian style mansions.

And the same thing goes for basically

every other Rockstar world.

So the worlds are alive and we've determined that already.

But there's another quality about Rockstar's worlds

that makes them stand out from other games,

an dit was admitted by Rob Nelson himself.

You probably don't recognize the name,

but trust me, he's an important dude

who's a big part of Rockstar games.

Anyways, this guy stated that the studio tend to keep

an important quality in mind when designing their worlds,

and that is the fact that they want the world

to feel independent of the player.

They wanna make their games feel as if the world

continues to exist and be alive

even when the player isn't in the game.

As stated by IGN, many games are developed

around the player, and make the games seem as if

everything revolves around them.

In games like Skyrim, shopkeepers arrive

and seem as if they're basically waiting for you,

they just stand around and wait until you buy something

or if you're me, until you steal everything.

But Rockstar games aren't like that.

The way they design their open worlds

is to show that society still exists

and still functions even if the player isn't around.

NPC's still go about their daily business,

trains drive around the map on their own schedule,

and the world still continues even if you aren't around.

This is shown strongly with Michael in GTA5.

Even when you don't play as him,

you still realize that he has a family

and has aspects of life that he has to deal with.

When you switch from character to character

you can come back to any of them

and see what's going on and what they're doing.

They still exist and they still do stuff,

even if you aren't around to do it for them.

In a good open world, the world needs to exist

and the player just needs to play a part in it.

Or in other words the world can't revolve around the player.

While these are important, there's one final thing

that makes Rockstar games stand out to me in particular,

and it's the sounds.

Sounds are taken for granted in video games,

and not a lot of people realize

the power that they truly hold.

Like, imagine taking a good game that has good sounds

and replacing all of the footsteps

with Squidward from Spongebob walking.

Okay, honestly that sounds like a really good idea

now that I think about it.

(Squidward stepping))

anyways, the sounds in Rockstar games

help to make the worlds into what they truly are.

In GTA you can hear cars honking,

people walking down the street talking on their cell phones,

the hum of machinery, and differences in sound

depending on what you step on.

For example, if you break a window,

and then walk over the ground below where you broke it,

you will hear the crunching of glass underneath your feet.

These things are freaking awesome,

and without them the game worlds would feel much different.

And the soundtracks really contribute

to the feeling of the world as well.

When roaming the wild west in Red Dead,

you can hear the western style music

that makes you feel like you're really there,

and in GTA, the action music that appears

when you're in a gunfight makes it even more intense.

And the ambient noise helps to set the mood as well,

whe you can hear the crickets chirping

and the wind blowing in Red Dead,

and you can hear the waves crashing on the beach in GTA.

These sounds make the sensory experience even more realistic

and without them, the worlds wouldn't have the same vibe.

But it's honestly the attention to detail that defines

a Rockstar game, and a Rockstar world for me.

It's all the little things that yo don't really think of

that add up to contribute to these worlds

in a manner that makes them outstanding.

It's the fact that you can get in your car in GTA

and change the radio station

to whatever mood you are feeling.

It's the fact that in Red Dead Redemption,

you can ride your horse through the open world

and find a group of people who've been attacked

by bandits and need your help.

It's the fact that Rockstar takes the time

to make the sun rays reflect off the paint of your car,