I completed Red Dead Redemption 2 this week. Not a bad effort, considering that I have had the game since October. Then I read that loads of gamers had reached the end weeks ago.

To say that I completed the game wouldn’t be totally correct. I have finished the Story Mode. However, like most modern games, especially those made by RDR2’s creators, Rockstar, there are loads of extra bits and bobs to do, before you have achived full completion and salvation.

Now, if you are currently playing, or intend to play the story mode, stop reading this post now. It contains lots of spoilers…

At the end of the final mission, Arthur, the character you have been controlling for the last 100-or-so hours, dies. You are lead to believe that his cause of death is turbocliosis. Apparently this is contracted after kidnapping a man, who is vomiting blood, in an earlier mission – although, I’m pointing the blame at some crazy badger that bit me. Shame there wasn’t any badger baiters in the Wild West.

I think I was supposed to be upset by Arthur’s death. I wasn’t. I had used up all my virtual tears earlier into the mission, when my prized, beloved horse was shot and died. Now THAT was sad.

As Arthur is now worm food, you continue the game, playing as one of the few gang members he did not fall out with – John Marston. For those who do not remember, John is the charachter you control in Red Dead Redemption 1 (as RDR2 is a prequel). Don’t worry if you forgot – I did!

John’s earlier missions are a bit like The Sims. Build a house out of wood. Take your son fishing. Calm a horse, so it is safe for a child to ride. Put the recycling boxes out for the bin men. Finish the Tesco online shopping order.

If any kids are reading my blog and their parents are refusing to buy them RDR2, due to its violent content, just get on YouTube and show your mummy and daddy the mission where you take your son and pet dog for a walk. Just tell them that the entire game is like this. Good old wholesome fun. The don’t need to know about the shotguns, dynamite and meat cleaver.

Once you have recreated Little House on the Prairie, you’ll need to rescue your elderly friend, who is being cooked alive, over a fire. After saving the geriatric from becoming a hog roast, you must escape on horseback, killing a large number of his captors in the most imaginative and brutal way possible.

The final mission ends on top of a mountain. In typical Hollywood fashion, the baddie (Micah) nearly kills our hero (John), but is then unexpectedly shot by another character (Dutch), who features earlier in the game. It is the biggest plot twist, since a young Haley Joel Osment broke the news to Bruce Willis that he was dead.

So that’s it. The story is finished. A game I played throughout the whole of November, plus large chunks of October and December is over. That is, unless I want to find all the secrets – which I do. In which case, I had better say cheerio to remainder of December and January.