I was thinking along the same lines and wondering if R* had been a little too clever for their own good. Did you read this was the case somewhere?


If there is a difficulty setting I missed it. There really is no way to go through the game without some fairly heavy combat action. However these set piece sort of sequences are mostly main story missions. It would be possible to get quite a lot of gameplay out of everything else, as Coot said. But to move forward through the game's story combat is required as Lieste noted, and advancing the story unlocks a lot of the best abilities, gear and horses. There is a 'Dead-Eye' ability that gives you a limited amount of bullet-time, so you can usually pop several of the bad guys before they can even aim if you want. And if you fail any of these missions a few times you should have the option to skip the sequence and just get on with it.

The combat feels pretty good though. The weapons fire slow enough and at times inaccurately enough that it feels right, with men ducking and popping up from cover and not just getting shot dead straight away, though the AI isn't all too challenging unless attacking in large groups. I like the guns, they sound good, belch smoke and have great animations. I'm partial to the side-by-side shotgun, dual-wielding revolvers and a repeater, though I have yet to see most of the better rifles. Most of the heavier combat sequences have allies along with you too. So while combat is required, and can be heavy at times, it will never be something that could stop a player from advancing.

Coot hit on a lot of good points, and there really is a ton of stuff to do in free roam, just like GTA 5, but like he said, more leisurely. Side missions, random encounters (many of which involve no conflict), and all sorts of activities. Just today I pulled this Smallie out of the Dakota River