Red Dead Redemption 2
Some trees flourish, others die — that's nature.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is not a game you play — it's a life you live. Rockstar built the most detailed open world ever made and then had the audacity to fill it with one of the best stories in gaming. Arthur Morgan's journey from loyal outlaw to a man reckoning with his own mortality is storytelling at its absolute peak.
The world itself is a character. The way morning fog rolls through the Heartlands, how snow crunches differently depending on depth, the sound of a camp slowly waking up at dawn — every detail exists to make you forget you're holding a controller. You don't fast travel in this game. You ride, and you listen, and you watch the world breathe.
And then the story tightens its grip. Every mission in the final chapters carries a weight that's almost unbearable. Arthur's last ride. The music swelling. The sun setting over a world that's moving on without him. I've played thousands of games and nothing — nothing — has ever hit me the way that ending did. A masterpiece in every sense of the word.