New Dad Goggles: How Fatherhood Changed the Way I Experienced 'Red Dead Redemption'
Welcome to “New Dad Goggles,” a semi-reoccurring column here.
People always ask the hypothetical, “If you could forget and re-experience any piece of media, what would you choose?” You obviously can’t do that, but the next best thing? Becoming a parent.
It’ll give you a whole new perspective on life — and the media you consume.
2010 was an odd year filled with uncertainty for me.
I had just begun dating my wife, though I had no clue that’s who she would end up being in 2010. College was rapidly coming to a close, and I had no clue what to do with the rest of my adult life.
Perhaps most shockingly of all: My lifelong love for video games had begun dwindling, due in no small part to how much an absolute pain it was to acquire either a PlayStation 3 or a Nintendo Wii, and I had no clue what could possibly revive it.
Enter: Rockstar Games’ 2010 masterpiece, “Red Dead Redemption.”
WARNING: The following clip is for an M-rated video game, and contains scenes of violence and language that some viewers may find disturbing.
Just as it is in film, the Western genre is woefully underrepresented in video games, giving RDR an immediate leg up on Rockstar’s other darling franchise, “Grand Theft Auto.”
It was an absolute gem of a video game that took Rockstar’s mastery of open-world environments and storytelling, and applied those skills to a classic Western setting.
And while the game absolutely ate up my entire summer of 2010, it was such a profoundly fun experience, I had avoided replaying the game for nearly 14 years (much like how I haven’t gone back to “The Last of Us” since first beating it).
But now, with a new way to play (the Nintendo Switch version of “Red Dead Redemption” runs great in portable, so it’s the perfect way to play an hour or so before going to bed), I revisited this relic of my college days now that I’m a father, and here’s what I’ve found.
The first ending of the game hits way harder (Obvious spoilers)
The story of RDR includes a number of twists and turns, but could best be generalized as thus: Reformed outlaw John Marston has his family kidnapped by the Bureau of Investigation (a real world precursor to the FBI). In exchange for their safety and return, Marston must use his inside knowledge to help the BOI hunt down various members of Marston’s former gang.
After successfully neutralizing Marston’s former gang leader and mentor, Dutch van der Linde, the U.S. government keeps its word and lets John reunite with his family.
In a twist, the government ultimately decides that the best way to completely eradicate any remnants of the van der Linde gang is to actually eradicate any remnants of the gang — John Marston included.
In the game’s penultimate chapter, John stands against the U.S. Army to buy time for his wife and son to escape. In a gut-wrenching portion of the game that you must play, but cannot win, John shoots down a number of Army agents before finally being gunned down due to the sheer voluminous numbers of the opposition.
Obviously, there can be no greater fatherly duty than to lay one’s own life for their family, and that ending just hits differently post-fatherhood.
The second ending hits way differently (More spoilers)
After John’s death, the game opens up for its final chapter: A chance to play as Jack Marston, John’s now-grown son, in one final mission to avenge his father’s death.
Jack hunts down the government operatives who used and killed John, and finds the last man peacefully fishing by the river.
Jack obviously kills that man, and the game ends in earnest.
As a college kid, my instinct to watching that final sequence was one of satisfaction.
“Heck yeah, I avenged my dad.”
(Insert fist pump.)
As a father? That ending is almost melancholy in that John specifically didn’t want the life of an outlaw for Jack. And truly, what father would want their son to live a life dedicated to a bloodthirsty revenge quest?
I actually found myself playing as a “good guy” this time
Call me soft in my old age and/or due to my fatherhood, but I found myself adhering to as honorable a route as possible for John Marston in my second-ever playthrough of the game.
And yes, I think that having the role of real-life role model paints that decision.
Before my son, I largely stuck to more villainous playthroughs of various games. And the reason for that is simple: Villains have more fun. They can color outside the lines, bend rules and generally don’t have to work as hard for things.
But even on a meta level, something about taking John Marston, the father figure, and making him an incorrigible villain just doesn’t feel right or in service to the ethos and pathos of the game.
Because the biggest “adult” lesson I was able to glean from this masterpiece of a game is that absolution comes at an extreme cost. But even if that extreme cost includes your life, there’s no reason you can’t die paving a better path for your loved ones.
“Red Dead Redemption” is available on just about every current console.
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