#reiver plays rdr2

[reiverreturns]

rdr2 is such a special game to replay because. god. the whole thing is a ghost story. the gang is dead before they even reach colter. everything that tears them apart - the mistrust, the friction, the loss, the lack of place and time - it's there from the beginning. before the beginning. papered over by a veneer of love and care and family but when the last of it leaves they're all just. gone. scraps of newspaper headlines faded in the sun and wooden grave markers that will rot and fall back into the earth. if you've played rdr you know what happens to these characters. you play your first playthrough of rdr2 knowing you're hurtling towards an inescapable end. you play every one thereafter knowing the end has already come.

#they're not doomed by the narrative. they're at odds with the narrative. this is a story that was never meant to be told #but it mattered. it fucking mattered. #this game makes me want to tear my hair out honestly #i'm also losing my mind thinking about writing a fic where the strange man pays each gang member a visit #so there's that #reiver plays rdr2 #rdr2

[reiverreturns]

you know, a lot gets said about john marston being stupid but no one mentions that near-universal gang consensus that he’s dumb as a bag of rocks. i thought it was just arthur with his bone to pick but no, i’ve replayed around two hours of this game and almost everyone has commented on it. abigail said he was smart when she was worried he’d been killed only to call him an idiot when i brought him back to camp half-eaten by wolves. john is a good shot with some slutty hips but those are the only goods he’s selling and everyone understands the rest of the shelves are bare.

#its very 'yeah he's an idiot but he's OUR idiot' energy #like its dire straights when arthur's expected to act like the brains of an operation but looking at what he's compared to i can see why #beloved filthy moron john marston #his traits are dumb angry and loves his wife #reiver plays rdr2 #rdr2 #john marston

[reiverreturns]

lenny having doubts about the gang after the valentine cornwall shoot out and hosea telling him the difference between them and the animals is they’ll go out fighting. both of them not really believing it. the opposite coming to pass; hosea dying in the mud without a gun in hand, lenny being shot in the back and killed running away. their bodies only bone dust when miles and miles away, many years later, when the gang is nothing more than a footnote in scraps of old newspaper, dutch tells john an unavoidable truth - “we can’t fight change. can’t fight gravity. we can’t fight nothing.”

anyway i’m fine

#i made it to clemens point after [redacted] hours in case you can't tell #there are SO MANY things i'm going INSANE for but this little one. oof. it got me in the throat #don't even get me started about all the signs dutch doesn't trust arthur in horseshoe overlook but arthur is completely blind to it #or charles and arthur in general #i am so fucking emotional about these cowboys #reiver plays rdr2 #rdr2

[reiverreturns]

spending a good hour breaking in that dumb white arabian who keeps drowning itself in lake isabella purely so dutch doesn't have a unique special horse anymore 😌✌

#your horse is the count??? yeah well mine is the rat king #check and mate #I hate how small arabians are arthur looks so fucking dumb #rides next to old man hosea and looks like he's sitting on a pony i stg #but equally i will do anything i think would canonically wind dutch up so #RAT KING BABY #reiver plays rdr2

[reiverreturns]

hosea “i was raised in the mountains and practically weaned on bear meat” matthews hiding and wheezing behind a boulder while arthur gets his ass mauled by a grizzly. sir are you not embarrassed. 

#i've said it before and i'll say it again #fanon does hosea a grave disservice by making him a kindly logical father figure #he is contradictory and hypocritical and cringefail and i love him so much #reiver plays rdr2 #rdr2

[reiverreturns]

hot new take: the strange man isn't actually that morally attuned and cryptic. he paid a visit to the van der linde gang years before and everyone bullied him so mercilessly thinking he was trelawney that when john started to stare down the end of the metaphorical barrel the strange man decided to fuck with him in particular. it was really sexy of him.

#OOOOO JOSIAH WHAT'S WITH THE NEW ACCENT #SOMEONE'S GOT MONEY FOR NEW CLOTHES #meanwhile the strange man is just here to make deals and has no idea what's going on #living-but-not ghost gang bamboozle and bully the embodiment of death - more at nine #still thinking fondly of john shooting the shit out of him for no other reason than he was annoyed #and when one bullet just passed through him without any effect john just SHOT MORE #fucking idiot #i love these characters so much i want to write a strange man fic SO BAD #reiver plays rdr2 #rdr2

[reiverreturns]

i am a simple woman. i see charles and arthur interact one (1) time in colter and i scurry to ao3 like a litle rat goblin looking for fic.

#they are EVERYTHING #i'd forgotten how much i love charles #the sadie simping really does blind me #but fr his dynamic with arthur is everything to me #reiver plays rdr2 #rdr2

[reiverreturns]

taking a break from playing with the cowboy blorbos by perusing tumblr dot com and liking every post known to man, beast, and god about the cowboy blorbos

#friends i am unwell #i spent like seven hours yesterday playing fuckin in-game blackjack #some bars got molotov'ed #but i finished the gambler challenges!!! so that's something!!! #i do not want to admit how many hours i've played and i still haven't left horseshoe overlook askjsjksjks #i haven't even been to the downes farm yet because.... yk #reiver plays rdr2

[reiverreturns]

GAMES!!! 2, 13 and 26?

GAMESGAMESGAMES

Game(s) you’re currently playing

oh god i usually have one 'narrative' game i'm working through and one game that's my palette cleanser when i need a break. just now those are far cry 6 (which i'm not loving tbh but have put too many hours into to quit) and crusader kings 3. i often do a single run in hades for funsies before i load another game as well. just can't quit that funky little bisexual demigod

Quick, name the first song from a game that comes to mind

UH UH UH that's the way it is from rdr2. screaming crying throwing up 4ever, i still listen to that song an absurd amount

Realism or stylized?

i love both! no art or gameplay style discrimination in reiver's house, no sir

ask me viddy game questions

#ty my darling <3 #ask games