this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2026
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[–] Exusia@lemmy.world 12 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

This was intentional. Micah is antagonistic towards you from the get-go, Dutch begins to turn on you while you start to agree with Arthur (Dutch sounds less reasonable etc) . By the time you get to the island you are meant to be frustrated, tired from trying to "just finish the damn game" and you're stranded with the 4 people you (the player) like the least - right after at least 2 of them bungled the heist in Saint Denis that got you in this mess. All the levels are just shooting gallery type beats to vent your frustration. There was a video on YouTube about emotional manipulation of the player that was a great write-up about this phenomena in RDR2, and why the ending mission American Venom feels so cathartic.

Edit: I actually found it! "Should Games Be Frustrating". The first 8-9 minutes are largely Red Dead 2 and trails.off with that theme of using frustration to funnel player emotion, so I dont think you need to watch the whole thing.

[–] Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Oh wow, that all makes sense. What a masterful game.

[–] Exusia@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

Found the video Should Games Be Frustrating

First 8 minutes or so are red dead 2, and explain using frustration to funnel the player places or to do things. I found it some years after I played it, but even then he basically called out how I did my playthrough, which was spooky. Means the manipulation worked lol