The guided part does take a bit to get through, but it sets you free pretty soon after you're out of the snow.
It's very much worth it, in my opinion. It continues to ruin many other games for me.
Yeah, after replaying a couple of times idk why but the training area felt very locked in and long, but really it's only 3 missions.
I’d say wait for Chapter 2 and then go have fun.
You need to complete the entire story to get to the bottom left of the map, the rest opens up during act 2.
The entire story? Like complete the entire game once?
There's a portion of the map where you and the gang are wanted dead or alive because of the ferry heist. Entering it for most of the game will get you a maximum wanted level, headhunters will show up, and eventually the game kills you. That restriction is lifted in the final act.
The world opens up once you get out of the snow and settle down in the Horseshoe Overlook camp. You'll still have linear story missions to do, but you can start those whenever you feel like, and explore as much as you want.
Holy shit! Spoiler tag for my boy, plz!
That's not really much of a spoiler
It's all information that is given to the player during the prologue, or otherwise vague enough where one can't reasonably guess the events.
Not unless you point and call it a spoiler.
It's part of the epilog.
After you beat the story you can go to the area from the first game as a fun little bonus. The main area of the game opens up in chapter 2 after about 4 missions
Once you make it to Valentine (youll know when) the game pretty much gives you the reigns, but until then, as others have said, the tutorial is pretty long and guided
As others have said, it does set you free eventually. Takes too long IMO. The world is really nice and beautiful. I never got totally on board with the control scheme and UI.
I felt the game doesn't lean onto the open world idea hard enough for my liking. But I'm an outlier. I finished the game but ai thought it was a bit shit. Very pretty though
Took me about 5 hours to get through the winter intro story that is linear before it gets to being the open world. Not sure if that was slow or not, but it was a bit longer than I would have preferred.
You'll be cut loose before too long.
Yes, the game gets much better. If you want something totally "open world" there's an online game mode too.
Too bad RDR2 online is dead and abandoned by the devs
Yeah, I tried it for the first time the other day, seemed a little too open. I wasn't even sure what I was supposed to do. Encountered one single player in the hour I was online playing it.
While others have answered your question, I just wanted to go on a tangent and add to some of the same frustration that you felt.
I hate hand holding in this game. I feel like missions trap you into playing a certain way. You have to treat the missions like they are an interactive movie experience. But otherwise, the open world exploration is fun.
For future, If you really like freedom but also need some goals and story and not just a sandbox, I would recommend trying either legend of zelda botw or totk. I think you can emulate BOTW on steamdeck.
If you can take some punishment then Elden Ring is also a great choice.
I hope that you can enjoy this game though.
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