Red Dead Redemption 2 Was Not Dan Houser’s Only Personal Favorite At Rockstar

Dan Houser went on record that he believed Red Dead Redemption 2 was his best work at Rockstar Games. But, it wasn’t actually the only game he brought up.

In an interview last week with IGN senior executive editor Ryan McAffrey, Dan listed his favorites and why. We’ll run them each down below.

Why Red Dead Redemption 2?

This is what Houser thought he and Rockstar achieved with the top game on his list:

Red Dead Redemption 2, I think, is still being played to this day. It’s the best thing that I worked on, the best realization of open-world storytelling, thematic, consistency.

And understanding how the games are assembled to take you on an emotional journey.

Of course, as his last game with Rockstar, it reflects how much he had refined his game design and production. You can think of it like his version of the Beatles’ Abbey Road or White Album.

The Second Runner-Up

Here’s where we talk about the other games. Houser did name a Grand Theft Auto game after this, and it was Grand Theft Auto 4:

I also think GTA 4 because we did try and evolve how we did the storytelling in a fundamental way.

In the jump from PlayStation 2 and Xbox to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Rockstar had to grapple with the same struggles to enter the HD era of video games.

Rockstar successfully cleared this bar with the most visually impressive realistic Grand Theft Auto at the time. But they also achieved much more, in terms of story, presentation, game design, etc. The common consensus is this was the game where Rockstar finally figured out their entire formula.

Parts Of Games Mattered Too

Houser also brought up parts of some games he also worked on. If you believe video games are art, than you can understand this.

There can be some games, like movies, that have brilliant sections, even if the whole movie doesn’t work.

Dan said this:

I think the middle section of GTA 5 is amazing when we got the three characters working. I think it was not flawless, but it was so smooth. That middle section, I thought that was really amazing.

And then the end of Red Dead Redemption. Yeah, those are sort of my favorite bits. Don’t spoil it for anybody if you haven’t if you haven’t finished.

Learning To Make Games Was Ultimately Gratifying

Houser sums it up like this:

In some ways, Red Dead Redemption, GTA 3, and Bully because they were all new or nearly new IP that we made. Doing that for the first time and assembling something strong is a really gratifying experience that I’m trying to take into what we’re doing now.

We have covered some of his new and upcoming works in Absurd Ventures. He has an ongoing comic book, American Caper, and two video games, for Absurdaverse and A Better Paradise.