— Red dead redemption 2

I might have spent more than 120 hours on this marvel of a game. I don’t know if I get 120+ yrs to live here. But even if I spend every second of my life on penning down the beauty of this game, I would have scratched only a meagre 2% of its splendours. On the other hand, I wouldn’t think twice to spend all those years within it.

Arthur Morgan wasn’t a protagonist you’d readily identify yourself with, in the beginning. You start with a basic camp and play alongside the villains from the previous installment. The game progresses. The usual killing of people and looting of banks aside, you would get to make certain choices, every now and then. The game keeps progressing. If you had been making a prescribed set of choices, you’d stumble upon a cutscene with a nun in a train station. Morgan would laugh in it. And you’d be all tears. The void Arthur leaves after the Red dead Redemption mission, is unfathomable. You will still be playing an entire Chapter or two after that, but then - it would be just a game.

My maternal grandfather from whom I inherit most of my sensitive side n receding hairline from, used to get heart attacks whenever India loses a cricket match. I used to mock and deride him for taking things as trivial as a sport (played by someone else; watched over live tv) so personally. My granny never used to let him watch cricket then on - so that he might live few more years with us.

But I think I now understand. I wish we had let him watch.