I Play ‘Red Dead Redemption 2’ For Scenic Views, Not Shooting

My reality is the pandemic but video games are where I dream (about pleasant strolls)

Photo courtesy of IGDB

I left base camp at dawn, leading my horse through a sparse forest and across the plains. The sun is already high and hot by the time we reach the foothills. The horse is dusty, so we trot upstream through the creek instead of following the trail alongside it.

I’m actually not horseback riding toward a majestic mountaintop in the wilderness. I’m playing Red Dead Redemption 2, in which the player guides cowboy-outlaw Arthur Morgan through an alternate version of 1899 America. Since I’ve been cooped up in my 1-bedroom Brooklyn apartment, avoiding the coronavirus, this action-adventure Western video game is the closest exposure to real nature that I’ve gotten in months. The year 2020 has been a long slog through one disaster after another. I’ll take any escape I can, and riding a horse through the Wild, Wild virtual West will do just fine.

I suppose I’ve covered a lot of ground, but the passage of time in the wilderness always takes me by surprise. There are no clocks out here. No meetings or schedules or read receipts. Time is not something I anticipate in the great outdoors. It’s not forward-looking; it washes over me, and I bask in it. I should eat…