It didn't matter how often I bathed, or how frequently I ate, Arthur's wheezy breaths and violent coughing outbreaks weren't going away. The sense of control I had over Arthur's appearance was suddenly wrestled away, ensuring the impact of his deteriorating condition had a tangible and much more profound effect over his gradual demise than it ever would have without that personal touch. What's more surprising, however, is the way each aspect of Arthur's previously breezy customisation is reconfigured to shine an uncomfortable light on the futility of his situation. It was a death sentence for anyone unfortunate enough to be afflicted, and while we all knew Arthur wasn't long for this world - what with Red Dead Redemption 2's status as a prequel - it's still an unexpected way to go for a fugitive that's constantly under fire. Tuberculosis was the leading cause of mortality in the United States during the 1800s. Perhaps this shouldn't be too much of a surprise. It's an innocuous moment that isn't particularly noticeable without hindsight, but Arthur's journal spells it out in refreshingly plain terms: 'All them bullets shot at me, all them horses threw me, all them fights and it was the beating of that pathetic little fella Downes that killed me, I reckon.вЂќ When he can't pay, Arthur beats Thomas until his wife and son intervene, but not before he fatefully coughs up blood onto Arthur's face. Thomas Downes is a minor character you might spot in Valentine before Strauss asks you to pay him a visit on his ranch.

Predictably, it almost never goes well, but there's one encounter relatively early on that has unexpectedly far-reaching consequences. When these debtors invariably can't pay, Arthur is the blunt instrument sent to convince them otherwise. Strauss' business dealings are conducted with the hopeless and desperate denizens of 1899's America. Or to put it in less amicable terms, he's a predatory loan shark. Leopold Strauss is the treasurer in Dutch van der Linde's gang of outlaws. Maintaining and altering Arthur's appearance became a ritual I was happy to partake in. I trimmed his hair, shaved his beard into a distinct style, and bought a new outfit whenever I entered a new town for the first time. I took frequent baths, regularly slept, and made sure he was at a healthy weight by eating a couple of meals a day.

In my time in Red Dead Redemption 2, besides one exploratory journey of discovery where I let Arthur's mane grow to its limit (both on his head and his face), I enjoyed keeping my Arthur looking prim and proper. If there's one universal truth, it's that we love altering the way our characters look. ThereвЂ™s no wonder Fortnite makes gangbusters selling skins. It's the reason why the term 'Fashionborne' was coined for FromSoftware's eldritch masterpiece, and itвЂ™s why we'll often ignore improved armour statistics in an RPG so we can wear that one particularly sexy pauldron. I might be a little obsessed with character customisation in video games, and I know I'm not the only one. There are subtle gameplay benefits that accompany the type of clothing you wear and the food you eat, but Red Dead Redemption 2 never ventures too far into survival game territory. You can even choose whether his sleeves are rolled up or his trousers are tucked inside his boots.

His hair grows in real time and can be maintained and shaped by visiting a barber he gets dirty and can take baths to give himself a good scrubbing eating or ignoring food impacts his weight and numerous layers of clothing allow you to dress him however you please. So it should come as no surprise that protagonist Arthur Morgan's appearance is subject to Rockstar's tremendous attention to detail. After all, this is a game where every item in a general store is manipulatable, different arrows penetrate wood to contrasting depths, and your horseвЂ™s bollocks shrink in the cold. There's been a lot of talk about the granular details in Red Dead Redemption 2. This feature contains major story spoilers for Red Dead Redemption 2, pertaining to the end of Chapter 6.

Red dead redemption 2 arthur morgan