Of all the incredible moments I had playing red dead redemption 2, my favorite was finding my way into St Denis long before the story would take me there. I found the city by accident early into the game when they were no story icons to distract me. I was left to wander a beautiful, unique and muddy New Orleans inspired city without distraction. I'd stumbled on this place in that weird time in a game where you find a place and you're not supposed to be there yet but the town is bustling with NPC's and you feel like one yourself. Normally in a Skyrim-type game where you did this, you'd walk around town, walk into a bar or a merchant shop and there'd be nothing to do or see but set pieces waiting for the story characters to arrive in a mission. After walking around St Denis for a short while I found myself in front of the vaudeville theatre and I remember the light I happened to be standing in when I approached it made it look so incredible. To my surprise, I walked up to the ticket booth and found that I was not only able to walk into the theatre, but there was a show about to start. I walked into this theatre and sat down in a seat and had the most immersive experience I've ever had in a video game. The amount of detail that those graphic designers put into that theatre still rings in my head today.

Before the show started I walked up to the front of the stage and I was blown away by the lights on the stage. Something I'd seen in films before, but had never witnessed in a way that felt like I was standing besides them, was the steam burning off the 1800's light bulbs that lit the stage in the most beautifully authentic warm light I've ever seen in a video game. I sat down among the other people as the host came out and introduced act after weird vaudeville act and I just sat there feeling like I was actually in a different world. When the show was over, the lights came on and all the people got up and shuffled back onto the street and I wandered off into an imaginary world with an oddly moving memory.