Red Dead Redemption player gifts game to elderly dad with wholesome results

The world can be a dark, cruel place at times, with only the most horrific details making it to the top of the news pile. While it’s important to know what’s going on in the world, I’m interrupting the strife to bring you a wholesome story to warm the hearts of all ages.

I don’t have to tell you that video games are pockets of joy – if you’re reading this, chances are you already know and agree with that sentiment. But not everyone gets it, or they need a little extra encouragement to help them see the light, like a Red Dead Redemption player who gifted his dad the game.

Go back to the beginning with the RDR trailer from 2010.

As Scott Innes, the thoughtful son, explains, his dad “sometimes dabbled with first-person shooters and similar PS3 games off and on”. However, with Innes’ dad turning 70, he wanted to do “something a bit different”; while RDR II has been hailed as the “best open-world game ever created”, it wouldn’t have been possible without the original, and thus, it’s the ideal something-different.

Innes’ dad agrees. Within short order, the 70-year-old budding cowboy was learning the ropes under the tutelage of John Marston – is there a better teacher? In one of the first texts to his son about RDR, the dad said, “I had a go on the game yesterday and it’s great.”. He then added, “Once I got to know what the buttons did.” We’ve all been there!

Two months later, the dad once again spoke of his tales, apologising for not replying sooner but he was “riding around Gaptooth Ridge and sorting some baddies out in Armadillo”. As someone who’s often overlooked a text from my parents due to being in the middle of some vital exploration (actually, I’m normally farming or crafting), the apology text message felt as if it had leapt off the screen of my own phone.

With the game weaving its magic so well, I’d like to think Innes’ dad will eventually move on to the sequel, which is arguably more chocked full of secrets than the first. So much so, that some players are only discovering secret encounters hundreds of hours into the game, a whopping five years after RDR II launched.

While the debate over whether RDR III is necessary rages – many fans say it’s not – we can be content in knowing that there’s still so much on offer from the first two games. And, if that doesn’t warm your hearts, you monsters, then surely a story about a man and his dad sharing the same love for a video game will.