Red Dead Redemption 2 could be just the video game we need in 2018

Let's hope Rockstar Games' follow-up has the same emotional heft as its predecessor while also reflecting our troubled times

After years of promotional material largely consisting of moody western landscape shots and artwork of men on horses, the new gameplay trailer for Red Dead Redemption 2 has finally given us a better idea of what you can actually do in Rockstar Games' death-of-the-old-west America when the game comes out in October. But while there's plenty to get excited about - I mean, that's definitely Steven Ogg two minutes and 55 seconds in, right? - it would be great if Red Dead Redemption 2 reflected the times.

The world is a vastly different place to the one that greeted the first Red Dead Redemption in 2010. Twitter was a fun little diversion in 2010, rather than an open sewer full of Nazis. Donald Trump was just a sideshow clown. The word Brexit didn't even exist. We might be more in need of a truly great video game to distract us from the trash fire that is real-world current events than we ever have been before.