Okay so a small pixel-art indie game is not going to compare to the spectacle of a western with Rockstar’s full-blown production behind it. Even so, there’s a lot Red Dead Redemption 2 could learn from Westerado: Double Barrelled.
The premise of Westerado, for those unfamiliar, is quite simple. Out in the Old West your home is destroyed and your family murdered. You have to then track down the culprit across a small open world in the name of revenge. The twist? Anybody could be the killer. On each playthrough they are randomly chosen from every NPC in the world, so you have to find clues as to their appearance in order to narrow things down. You’ll have people tell you a single piece of information like, “he had a black hat” or, “she had red hair” and with each piece you get closer to a definitive image of them. Of course you’ll still have to find them too.
But then there’s the games second twist. You can kill anyone in the game world. Any NPC can be gunned down if you want and the world reacts accordingly. Kill enough bandits and the outlaws of the world will begin to flee you on sight. Murder your way through towns and you’ll become an outlaw yourself.
Source: Eurogamer Compared to Westerado, other open worlds are stuck in a Red Dead Routine