It only took 16 years, but the man behind John Marston finally completed a play-through of Red Dead Redemption. Rob Wiethoff finished the main story in Rockstar's Western sandbox just this week, and the conclusion left him speechless.
He posted the concluding part of his series, playing through Red Dead Redemption, on March 2, in which he laughs through the climactic gunfight between Jack and Ross, leading to the stylish closing title card. "Oh my goodness," Wiethoff exclaims, now ogling at the credits. "Look at this, all these people."
It takes a lot of people to make a game the size of Red Dead Redemption, and you see him become visibly awe-struck and pensive at just how much work went into the blockbuster release. Hundreds, across dozens of departments, many of whom put years of their life to get this piece of work over the line.
Gradually, it becomes overwhelming, assisted by the American melancholia of 'Deadman's Gun', and Wiethoff gets emotional seeing everyone listed. It's worth understanding just how much John Marston means to him: not only is this his biggest role, it's what defined his career as a performer.
After a number of years trying to break into Hollywood, Wiethoff was chosen as the voice for John in Red Dead Redemption. One hit game led to DLC, the incredible Undead Nightmare, then an expanded part in the prequel, Red Dead Redemption 2. The outlaw is as defining as a character can be for him as an actor, and understanding the scale of how John was brought to life was clearly a heavy moment.
"I don't know how long this takes, to go through this," he says, as the credits continue, "I definitely want this to be part of a stream that I'm doing. Everyone's name is going to be shown."
Just short of 20 minutes later, the names are finished, and he starts laughing at being plunged back into the new frontier for that 100% trophy. Sadly, that's not happening, but we might get Red Dead Redemption 2 one day, once he's emotionally recovered.
