Ode To Dan Houser: Rockstar's Creative Image Personified

 

It’s everyone’s (least) favorite unintelligent slob pretending he’s a competent art critic back with a very long winded appreciation post for my favorite game developer Rockstar and in particular its co-founder and former writer Mr. Dan Houser who is no longer with the company as of early 2020.

Rockstar means a great deal to me. They were the first developers I really remember gaining a fondness for in my early exposure to the medium of games. As a young uncultured swine of a 14 year old it was the open world reckless abandon mayhem that could be found in their titles, in particular Grand Theft Auto, that drew me to them and ultimately ends up being the main draw for most people to this day. But what kept me interested and coming back for more was the engaging storytelling, the unconventional tone, the memorable characters, and that is, in my opinion, what truly set Rockstar games apart from others.

As I’ve grown older and revisited a lot of these works from a more informed perspective, their greatness is amplified tenfold. GTA has it’s reputation as being criminal power fantasies, and the games can certainly be played in that manner if you like. But what if I told you that the majority of modern GTA games are darkly humorous, sharp-witted, bitingly fierce and satirical crime dramas that reflectively view themes such as the death of the American dream and see fit to criticize everything that we have become as a society over the past decade?

What truly sets Mr. Houser’s writing apart from the pack is how fearless and brutally honest it is. It pulls zero punches, it is intellectually moving, and as all good art does, it makes you think, it challenges perceptions of the world we live in in an extremely effective way.

As I begin Red Dead Redemption 2, the game has taken on a new meaning for me, which it might not have if I actually played and finished it when it was released back in 2018. It will be the last Rockstar game written by Mr. Houser. It is not hyperbolic to say it is the end of an era.

As I look to the future, many thoughts fill my head in relation to what Rockstar games will feel like going forward. Will they be more cowardly? I don’t want to age this post too much with speculation, but my biggest fear is that the tones, themes, core identity and beating heart of this company’s works will turn into an imitation of what a “Rockstar game” is supposed to feel like rather than an actual authentic Rockstar game.

That’s not to say Mr. Houser is the only thing Rockstar had going for them, they are far more than just one person. The studio is full of extremely talented people across all of their teams. Whatever we get will be different, and in a way, as scary as the unknown is, it can also be exciting too.

Thank you Dan. No matter where life takes you next, no matter what that looks like and what it entails, myself and many others will forever appreciate the impact your stories have given us. No matter how controversial the subject matter was, you never self-censored, never backed down, always sought to explain, and never preach as if you had the answers to societal malaise.

That is what makes you an outlaw for life.