Red Dead Redemption 2 achieved something that only one other piece of media has ever accomplished, it made me cry. Towards the end of the game Arthur gets really sick and has frequent coughing fits and it's only when he falls off his horse and is dragged to a doctor that he is told that he has Tuberculosis. This is where his most prominent change happens, having been handed a death sentence and sure that he doesn't have a lot of time left Arthur grasps what's really important to him. Now he sees right through Dutch's lies and focuses on helping get those he cares about out of the game and trying to right the wrongs caused by Dutch's ill-intentioned plans. In a final standoff with Dutch and Micah as well as the Pinkertons Arthur and John ride to escape for their lives, only to become hopelessly outnumbered and cornered in the mountains and in one final act of self-sacrifice for a man who he sees as a brother, Arthur stays behind as a distraction to give John time to get away, knowing that this will be the death of him. Arthur fights Micah and in the end loses, being beaten to a pulp and left on a mountaintop to die, hardly breathing he utters the words "I tried. In the end, I did" as he breathes his last and looks out over a beautiful sunset on the mountains, and it was at this point the waterfalls exuded from my eyes. Never have I felt this sad for the death of a fictional character, but Arthur Morgan truly was one of the best written video game characters whose story I've ever experienced, and the truly touching act of self-sacrifice ties his story up perfectly.

And then there's the epilogue. If the ending of the main game affected me and many others so emotionally, the epilogue is the way of showing us that everything is ok, that Arthur's sacrifice was not in vain and that the good guys win out in the end. The epilogue takes place several years after the events of the main game and follows John Marston as he searches for a new and sustainable life for his family. Throughout this we see him struggle to fight against his urges to go back to being an outlaw and we also see how these urges strain his relationship with his wife and son. Eventually, after getting a job on a ranch and having to defend it forcibly from a gang, his wife has enough and leaves him, putting things in perspective for John and motivating him to work harder and buy a ranch where his family can hopefully settle down and make a new life. The complexity of John's character here is on display and seeing him turn his life around to get his wife and child back is truly heartwarming stuff. Scenes like John, Charles, and Uncle building the house or when John and Abigail get engaged on the lake are unexpected beams of light after a main story so bleak and show that just for a moment everything in these character's lives is ok and that Arthur's death was not in vain. If this was all that the epilogue was it would be worth experiencing, but at the very tail end we finally reach the game's real conclusion. John, Sadie, and Charles get news that Micah is hiding up in the mountains and go to head him off and get revenge for the last time, and when they arrive there find Dutch in cahoots with Micah as well. In one final standoff John convinces Dutch to shoot Micah and the cycle of revenge is complete, Dutch slithers off to an ending that's left ambiguous and John returns to Abagail and gets married properly, leaving the story on the perfect note. It's a really good ending and as the credits rolled, I felt satisfied with the masterful storytelling the game took me through.