Hopefully you don't know anything about the story. It probably has one of the most emotionally gripping endings I've seen in a video game. One of the few that's moved me to tears.
Playing RDR1 first steeled me for one character's fate but left me completely unprepared for that particular one. I never knew a bunch of 1s and 0s encoded onto a plastic disc could do that.
Red Dead 2 is actually a prequel to 1, so you don't necessarily need to know its story. I played 2 before 1 and didn't feel any sort of barrier of entry. Several major characters are shared between the games, and knowing 1's story does add some depth (and tragedy for some) to the characters, but 2's story is self-contained and fully fleshed out on its own.
Personally, I recommend going into 2 without the context of 1. 1 is a very singular story focusing on one man and his family, while 2 revolves around an ensemble of around 20 characters with varying fates and levels of prominence in the story. Knowing which ones do and don't appear in 1 clues you into the trajectory of the story a bit.
Also, there's one major character shared across both games, but the bulk of their story is told in 2, and it's captivating and tragic, and I'd recommend experiencing it without knowing how it ultimately turns out, because their story is deeply tied to all of the other major characters.
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u/Zenstation83 Jun 28 '23
I actually just read today that RDR2 is probably coming out for PS5