Red Dead Redemption 2 is seven years old, yet it remains one of the most admired games ever made — a testament to Rockstar’s obsessive attention to detail and its reportedly massive budget. That legacy is impressive, but fans of Ghost of Yotei are asking if the constant comparisons can stop.
Ghost of Yotei — Sucker Punch’s follow-up to Ghost of Tsushima — has drawn some online criticism over certain animations in the roughly $60 million production, among other complaints. Many supporters say those critiques miss the point: they simply want reviewers and players to stop measuring every new open-world game against Red Dead.
Ghost of Yotei (2025) vs Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018)Rockstar Games is still the master of open-world titles. pic.twitter.com/ImWoobipriOctober 4, 2025
“Red Dead Redemption 2 is my favourite game,” game critic Synth Potato writes in response to a side-by-side clip comparing how characters walk on ice in both games. “What Rockstar achieved was extraordinary — it had a multihundred‑million dollar budget and nearly a decade of development. It’s reasonable for other titles made in less time and with smaller teams to be less painstakingly detailed. Yotei is excellent.”
“Red Dead is a gorgeous game,” agrees another popular post that has amassed over 132,000 likes, “but it’s also probably the single most damaging influence on how people talk about video games.”
“Sometimes I’m reminded how exhausting this community can be,” one user — whose post neared 6,000 likes — writes. “For Sucker Punch to reach this level with roughly $60 million and far fewer developers is remarkable. You can’t expect every studio to replicate Rockstar’s scale — not everyone can walk on water, or, in this case, ice.”
I enjoyed exploring Ghost of Yotei more than any other open-world game I’ve played — not just this year, but ever.
Source: gamesradar.com
