(Spoiler Warning)

What a beautifully horrific experience.

When it comes to depicting sexual assault in media, so many tend to glorify it, to show the act for shock, make it some sort of revenge story for the victim, showcasing it was necessary for character development. But Mouthwashing does none of that. Anya is a terrific character, not falling into the tropes of revenge hungry or timid and shy, but simply a woman who is trying to survive. Who is aware of the situation she is in, of the man who could snap at anytime and tries to act accordingly. Despite what Jimmy and perhaps the rest of the crew thinks, she's smart. She's one step ahead, hiding the gun from Jimmy because she has seen him at his worst, keeping Curly alive with scraps of medicine.

And without showing the assault happen, we see how this has affected her. The noises Curly makes reminding her of what happened, seeing someone choke and struggle to move due to lack of autonomy. Her attitude around Jimmy, carefully planning out what to say as to not set him off. And of course, the baby. The baby she does not want, trying to figure out ways to get rid off it. Alcohol (mouthwash) can't guarantee termination. waiting is not an option at all, and so she takes care of it by killing herself too, because she could not see any other way. That is a reality for many women. And that is pure horror.

And of course, the discussion around rape culture. How (predominantly) men will protect their rapist friends for whatever reason (they don't believe the victim, deep inside their friend is still a good person etc), and we see how protecting an abusers leads to more harm down the line, even to their own "friends." And when you protected them, and now you are the one being harmed (by said friend or someone else entirely), whose to say you'll be saved? Be believed? They'll use the same talking points you did "I can fix this", "I'll talk to him", and now you have no one. But all of that could have been avoided. If you had taken responsibility in the first place.

This game is so amazing I don't think anything i say will do it justice.

The Story
You are part of a gang that tries to survive in hard times. After a failed robbery, you and your companions are trying to find a new place where all of you will be safe. You will travel across a beautiful country, doing robberies, helping people or not - it depends on you. I don't want to spoil anything so I will not talk about details. The beginning of the game can be boring for some players but later it will change. Some parts contain really emotionally-strong moments. There are only a few games that can compete with RDR 2's story. I can imagine some players will dislike long travels between missions, but it was fine for me. I enjoyed the nice-looking country.

World life
In every open-world game, it's important for the world to feel alive. You can have a big map, but if it's empty and dead then it's pointless. It's not case of Red Dead Redemption 2. The map is massive, and everything lives here. Every NPC has its own purpose. They don't just stand somewhere, but they are there for a reason. Some work on a ranch, some do daily chores, others relax after a job, repair something and so forth. You can try to follow NPCs and you will see they have their own life. This applies to animals as well. When you are hunting, you feel like you are playing some kind of a hunting simulator, not an open-world story game. There is a huge amount of side activities. Everything is well made, tasks are nicely hand-crafted, random events are superb. There exist in GTA V but hey, Red Dead Redemption 2 is different and events are much more fun. For example, I saved the life of one guy and later he let me buy anything on his account in a gunshop. You can spend many hours in free roam doing all this stuff.

The Visuals
The game offers a superb photo mode where you pick a shot of a rock, and I can guarantee it will look nice. The game has so many details. For example, when you take a piece of paper from the table, it will look and feel like real paper, not just a rectangle with texture. Animations like placing a cable for dynamite, skinning animals, taking things and so on, are a masterpiece and everything looks realistic. Only clothes could have better physics. I can clearly say this is the most detailed game I ever played. Long story short, the visuals are outstanding.

Gunplay
Shooting guns is a story in itself. Guns feel realistic, you must maintain them / don't shoot like in Call of Duty. Weapons in the wild west had long reload times. In RDR 2, reloading is not as fast as in PvP games but not too slow to be frustrating either. The devs perfectly hit a balance between fun and realism. The game offers a big selection of guns. You can personalize them to your preferences. You can enjoy shootouts in 3rd person or 1st person view and use the dead-eye ability like a true gunslinger. There is a cover system, but it could be better. Many times my character didn't take cover or left cover after a short time and stayed in a crouch behind an obstacle.

Main character
Your character has some needs that you need to maintain. He needs to eat, heal, sleep, and keep his energy full if you want success in fights. There are plenty of food types, herbs and drinks that will help with it. Also, you can craft many items that will give bonuses to the protagonist. Don't forget to take warm clothing when you go visit the snowy mountains. You need to watch honour as well. You can raise it by helping random people - encounters and making the right decisions during the story. Honour has an impact on cutscenes and the ending.

Horse
Your protagonist's best friend will be a horse. You must take care of it if you want it in good condition. You don't want to be kicked down during an escape from robbery. So don't forget to feed and brush the horse from time to time. Upgrades and customization are available too. You can buy a new horse or try to tame any wild ones that you will find.

Conclusion
Do I recommend Red Dead Redemption 2? There are ugly games, bad games, good games, and then there is Red Dead Redemption 2. For me, it's a masterpiece that everyone should try.

Red Dead Redemption 2 10/10