John Marston is Back
After 13 years, Rockstar has re-released Red Dead Redemption on the PS4 and Nintendo Switch ending all rumors of a remake of the game that fans were anticipating. What has gotten the audience’s attention, is the hefty price tag of $50 for a game that was released more than a decade ago. However, you also get the DLC Undead Nightmare for free. Given that the game is known to be one of the most expensive games ever made and took the developers 5 years to make, does it still justify the price? You be the judge.
Red Dead Redemption, for those who don’t know, is a successor to 2004’s Red Dead Revolver. It is also a prequel to Red Dead Redemption 2, which was released in 2018. Red Dead Redemption was released on the Xbox 360 and the PS3 in 2010 and was highly praised by all critics and loved by the audience. By 2021, it had already shipped 23 million copies, making it one of the best-selling video games. To those who haven’t played this game, it has won year-end accolades and has received critical acclaim for its gameplay, visuals, music, performance, and storyline. It has won several Game of the Year awards from several gaming publications.
The game has been updated for the PS4 and the Switch with improved visuals, and the PS4 version of the game can also be played on the PS5 via backwards compatibility. The 2010’s Xbox 360 version of the game is still playable on Xbox series X’s due to it’s backwards compatibility unlike PS4 and 5 where PS3 games can not be played in either console. Let’s talk about the difference in visuals as the original game ran at a sub-HD resolution of about 1152 by 640. The new version runs on 720p and 1080p (Docked) on Switch, on the PS4 on 1080p, and on the PS4 Pro and PS5, in 4k.
Remastering done right
The light rendering, shadow quality, and image quality have greatly improved making the game run effortlessly and visually pleasing. Anti-Aliasing has significantly improved from the old form of anti-aliasing called quincunx to AMD’s Fidelity FX Super Resolution 2.0 eliminating jaggies to a smoother gameplay. A 30fps update on this new version is stable even in the most texture-dense areas of the game, but a 60fps update would have been viable if not on the switch, then on the PS4 Pro/PS5 at least. Besides these upgrades, game textures, animations, and pretty much everything else are the same. It is not a remake after all.
RDR on Switch
We get the game for the first time on Nintendo’s Handheld Switch, and it runs well. The noticeable drawback is that the Switch’s features have not been integrated, for example, gyro controls. However, not releasing the game on PC has left us puzzled about what beef Rockstar has with PC, even though Red Dead Redemption 2 and GTA V are available on Steam, so why disappoint PC players?
The fans are divided by this updated version due to the price tag. The low reviews the game is getting is a form of protest that Rockstar must have noticed. A re-release of a game is great to get Red Dead Redemption 2 players up to speed with the sequel or for players to dive into nostalgia and relive John Marston’s Life after the Van der Linde Gang, and for those who never got a chance to play the highly praised DLC Undead Nightmare, let’s not forget the new PS5 and Switch players who will experience one of the best games ever made in our recent history.
