The hype train for Red Dead Redemption 2 has been kicked into overdrive with large posters going up in New York City and a new gameplay trailer - the first of its kind - having recently been revealed.
And now, most recently, the game's first press kit has seen the light of day. Though not as substantial as a 6-minute look at the game in action, it's still interesting.
Courtesy of Critical Hit, we have both a video and a set of photos showing off the small care package Rockstar is bombarding video game journalists with across the globe leading up to release.
Press kits are traditionally included with review copies, including style guides, review guides and a few exclusive tidbits of merchandise. These, presumably, are meant as some measure of thanks for reviewing the games, but based on what most game reviewers say, they end up being little more than bothersome loot putting strain on storage space.
Sometimes, press kits are sent out independently of review copies, and occasionally major AAA titles have multiple press kit waves. To remind journalists that the game exists, maybe? In the case of a title as big as Red Dead Redemption 2, that surely isn't a concern, but we digress.
The press kit is comprised of a metal camping mug, a t-shirt and a set of stickers - everything with prominent Red Dead Redemption 2 branding, of course. The shirt is plain black with the word "Redemption" printed on the front with large, red lettering in the typical RDR font.
The existence of this shirt was revealed some time ago when a few unverified claims of another press event being held went up alongside leaked images of the clothing item.
The mug is somewhat more interesting. A typical red metal camping mug known for being able to take a beating with a large Red Dead Redemption 2 logo on one side and some promotional artwork on the other. Since all promo art for RDR2 so far was stylised on a solid red background, this print works particularly well and makes the mug actually look great, instead of simply carrying generic branding.
The stickers are pretty run of the mill. You get a logo cut-out, and a rectangular one with the same key art printed on it as on the mug. They might be useful if you want to advertise your love for Red Dead by slapping them on the cover of your laptop or backplate of your phone - provided it is big enough, which these days shouldn't be much of an issue.
Hopefully some of these items will be available to the general public later on - that mug is something we'd definitely buy.
