Red Dead Redemption 2
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 5 of 78 video games by recommenders
Praised for its immersive world, deep systems and story-driven single-player play, and widely called one of the greatest games. Critics often cite a repetitive story and slow, grindy missions.
Praised for its immersive world, deep systems and story-driven single-player play, and widely called one of the greatest games. Critics often cite a repetitive story and slow, grindy missions.
41 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 28
- criticize it
- 13
- approval share
- 68%
Recommended in 9 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 28 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 2.2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 9 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Runs well on Linux and Steam Deck
“I can confirm I finished RDR2 in story mode in Bazzite, zero issues.”
Comment from 21 Nov 2025 in “Gaming on Linux has never been more approachable” “RDR2 has a gold rating: https://www.protondb.com/app/1174180”
Comment from 12 Nov 2025 in “Steam Machine” “I have finished RDR2 on Bazzite (story mode), zero issues.”
Comment from 12 Nov 2025 in “Steam Machine” - Comment from 12 Nov 2025 in “Steam Machine”
- Comment from 12 Nov 2025 in “Steam Machine”
Widely acclaimed among the greatest games
“RDR2 has numerous accolades and there is multitude of reasons why it was so widely praised.”
Comment from 25 Jun 2026 in “GTA 6 will cost $80” “RDR 2 is widely considered to be among the best games ever made.”
Comment from 24 Jun 2026 in “John Carmack on the mistakes around Quake that ruined id software” “RDR2 is highly rated as one of the greatest games of all time.”
Comment from 25 Jun 2026 in “GTA 6 will cost $80” - Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “Resetting Xbox”
Immersive world and deep systems
“the amount of awe I get from the systems in the game and the immersion it gives me”
Comment from 24 Jun 2026 in “John Carmack on the mistakes around Quake that ruined id software” “People don't like RDR2 because of its gameplay but story, immersion and feeling.”
Comment from 25 Jun 2026 in “GTA 6 will cost $80” Rewarding side activities and chores
“While just a tiny part of the game, you improve your relationship with the rest of the gang by doing chores like splitting wood”
Comment from 14 Jun 2026 in “Firewood Splitting Simulator” “spent a LOT more time enjoying the game than touching the main story and cinematics”
Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “Resetting Xbox”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Repetitive, trite story and dialogue
“The ending of Red Dead II was actually quite trite, especially in terms of dialogue and narrative”
Comment from 7 Nov 2025 in “Rockstar employee shares account of the company's union-busting efforts” “despite thousands of hours of (high quality) voice acting, it can become quite repetitive”
Comment from 4 Jul 2026 in “2026 Unslop AI-Written Fiction Contest Results (judged by Gwern Branwen)” “I genuinely cringed at the end of RDII due to the dialogue just feel the need to mention that again”
Comment from 7 Nov 2025 in “Rockstar employee shares account of the company's union-busting efforts” Slow pacing and tedious missions
“Red Dead 2 has an absolute assload -most of which will bore folks to tears”
Comment from 9 Sep 2026 in “No Man's Sky Cosmos” “RDR2's intro absolutely did not respect my time. I sat down with an hour free to play it”
Comment from 9 Sep 2026 in “No Man's Sky Cosmos” “Almost all of the story missions are: walk/drive/ride to this place”
Comment from 9 Sep 2026 in “No Man's Sky Cosmos” - Comment from 24 Jun 2026 in “GTA 6 will cost $80”
- Comment from 24 Jun 2026 in “GTA 6 will cost $80”
Feels more like a movie than game
“RDR2 is a wonderful movie, but a pretty poor game.”
Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “Resetting Xbox” “RDR2 is very much a movie game so ofc it's popular”
Comment from 25 Jun 2026 in “GTA 6 will cost $80” Launcher bugs and crashes
“wasted hours of progress for a launcher bug that is corrupting savegames that Rockstar very well knows about and decided to never fix”
Comment from 25 Jun 2026 in “GTA 6 will cost $80” “I find many people on the forums that can't resolve the crashes in Red Dead Redemption 2”
Comment from 2 Apr 2026 in “Steam on Linux Use Skyrocketed Above 5% in March”
Other video games people recommend
The four most recommended other video games, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Helldivers 2 | 50 | 34 | 60% | 10 | 1.9 yrs3 owners | — |
| GPU building game | 49 | 16 | 75% | 2 | — | — |
| Triple-A Minesweeper | 40 | 25 | 62% | 1 | — | — |
| Quake II | 33 | 8 | 80% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Red Dead Redemption 2This page | 28 | 13 | 68% | 9 | — | Approved |
What people said
40 of the 49 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Playing e.g. RDR2 on a physical console, by comparison, is painful.”
“I feel I need to skip the first hour to do so?”
“RDR2's intro absolutely did not respect my time. I sat down with an hour free to play it”
“Almost all of the story missions are: walk/drive/ride to this place”
“Red Dead 2 has an absolute assload -most of which will bore folks to tears”
“the base single player experience of rdr2 is by all means totally complete”
“spent a LOT more time enjoying the game than touching the main story and cinematics”
“It's a decent movie, yeah. ... I had a blast with it”
“it's a bonafide masterpiece, deserving of 10/10”
“RDR2 is a wonderful movie, but a pretty poor game.”
“really good single player games that are a lot more fun to play than anything from 1980”
“despite thousands of hours of (high quality) voice acting, it can become quite repetitive”
“They play perfectly, hopefully forever”
“always been offline: RDR2; GTA5”
“People don't like RDR2 because of its gameplay but story, immersion and feeling.”
“RDR2 is very much a movie game so ofc it's popular”
“wasted hours of progress for a launcher bug that is corrupting savegames that Rockstar very well knows about and decided to never fix”
“the resource collection part of the gameplay is a bit of a grind”
“RDR2 has numerous accolades and there is multitude of reasons why it was so widely praised.”
“RDR2 is highly rated as one of the greatest games of all time.”
“I also stopped playing after about 3 hours out of boredom”
“RDR 2 is widely considered to be among the best games ever made.”
“the amount of awe I get from the systems in the game and the immersion it gives me”
“RDR2 I also stopped playing after about 3 hours out of boredom”
“While just a tiny part of the game, you improve your relationship with the rest of the gang by doing chores like splitting wood”
“loved obsessing over single player adventures like Spider-Man and RDR2”
“other AAA games like RD2 and Witcher1-3 run without issue”
“I find many people on the forums that can't resolve the crashes in Red Dead Redemption 2”
“The last game I felt that strongly about at the ending was Red Dead Redemption 2.”
“you can still make open-world games with 100s of hours of content that are still truly exceptional”
“it notices that its no longer the foreground window and "helpfully" makes itself windowed”
“I can confirm I finished RDR2 in story mode in Bazzite, zero issues.”
“after that it's just worked from gaming mode”
“i can run RD2 and CP2077 on the deck fine”
“RDR2 works great on my AMD Linux machine.”
“I have finished RDR2 on Bazzite (story mode), zero issues.”
“RDR2 has a gold rating: https://www.protondb.com/app/1174180”
“I genuinely cringed at the end of RDII due to the dialogue just feel the need to mention that again”
“The ending of Red Dead II was actually quite trite, especially in terms of dialogue and narrative”
“R* has made some of my most favorite games, especially Red Dead Redemption 2.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.