Double Eleven has updated last month’s much-maligned Red Dead Redemption port to include 60fps when playing on a PS5. This change right here changes a lot for a lot of people.
Double Eleven and Rockstar stealth dropped the update, in fact, the feature isn’t even mentioned in the 1.03 patch notes, as spotted by Reddit user dultimate02. At this time, the option is only available on PS5.
May 18, 2010, was the date that Rockstar thrust us into the Wild West with Red Dead Redemption on the PS3. Filled with Spaghetti Western tropes and the Rockstar patented open world, it was quite the release, and after over a decade, they’ve decided to bring us back into the lives of John Marston and his family… as lazy and pricey as it may be.
Saddle Up
I’ll be real honest, I played the original version as a kid, and coming back to it with a more critical lens, a better grasp of enjoying the scenic route, and a lot more interest in a good story over mindless fighting, it’s better than I remembered.
Putting on the boots of John, we’re supposed to face his past actions and former colleagues to save his family, is a noble cause — you feel for him. At first, you don’t know why you’re after Bill Williamson and members of the Van der Linde gang, which you formally ran with, but it quickly hooks you regardless, and you feel like you have to keep moving forward. You want Marston to succeed in his quest of rescuing his family from a corrupt government only interested in using you for your past.
The Real Wild West
This might be a surprise… or not, but I am often not impressed with open worlds. I can tolerate them, and even some of my favorite games operate in an open world, but new open world games are a different breed. They excessively pad out the playtime with useless junk missions that feel absurdly rushed and copy and pasted over and over. Plus, they often hold no real value and is only there to not make you board out of your skull as you make your way from Point A to Point B. A pretty world can only take you so far.
The random encounters you find as you traverse the barren yet pretty Wild West are fairly run of the mill, so clearly they’re something I can’t stange, right? Not quite, they’re engaging enough that I hardly kept going, I would often help the citizens in need rather than take the NPC route and ignore them because I have better things to do. Sure, I’ve ignored them before, but oftentimes, it’s simple to deal with and can net you some quick cash or favor among the townsfolk, which can lead to rewards like discounts at the local shops.
There are even mini-games sprawled across the map, from playing poker to standoffs, horse wrangling, and night watching, there’s plenty to do even after the main story is over.
That is to say, seeing Red Dead Redemption make a return to PS4, introducing this to a new generation, makes me crave more games like it — ones that aren’t so reliant on nothing-burger side missions to mask its middling story.
Whoa Now
Now, I’ve purposefully left the controversial release opinions aside — this isn’t a remake or remaster, this is a direct port produced by Double Eleven. Nothing big changed from its 2010 release, it’s not been upscaled or offered a good ‘ol FPS boost, even when playing on PS5. It’s a straight port with stretched assets that Rockstar felt comfortable releasing for $49.99. Sure, it has Undead Nightmare, which is a nice touch, but that’s more or less just adding content to make up for doing away with other content.
This wouldn’t be as much of a sting if it had all the content from the original release, but it lacks features, namely its multiplayer and while I won’t dwell on it for too long, that’s a feature that is prominent in the game, complete with trophies associated to it, so while Strauss Zelnick assets that it’s an “economic price,” I can’t fathom why they couldn’t sell it for $39.99, I’d argue that is a much better price… though, you can get the original version for like $30 and continue on with the OG multiplayer.
Yee-Haw!
Red Dead Redemption as a game is still a fantastic romp that any cowboy or open world fan should experience. Meanwhile, playing it on my PS5 (via backwards compatibility) is a treat, even if it doesn’t change how the game runs or looks. It has one of the best open worlds you can ask for and a compelling story to boot. But, it’s bogged down by its lazy cash-grab nature, with the Rockstar team opting to do away with content and instead do the absolute bare minimum.
When fans uncovered hints that Rockstar Games was working on bringing the original PS3 Red Dead Redemption to modern hardware, it was understandably met with a lot of hope, only for it to be squashed. The game hasn’t been available outside of its native Seventh-Gen consoles, going as far as even lacking a PC version.
While some hoped for a PS5 version, Rockstar was more interested in bringing it to the PS4 and — of all systems — the Switch. As it releases, Digital Foundry has taken time to look over the game and its new features, finding it a bare minimum effort.
The game is locked at 30fps, even when playing with backward compatibility on modern hardware. Games like Horizon Zero Dawn, Assassin’s Creed Origins, the Destroy All Humans remake, and more all bring the ability to play at 60fps. It does come with AMD’s upscaling technology FSR 2 as well as the inferior FXAA, but that’s about it in making the game distinct.
What makes this worse is much of the game’s elements still run at 720p, which means menus can look blurry and textures are more or less untouched.
After a ton of speculation, rumors, and leaks, news of a remaster of Red Dead Redemption has come to a head with Rockstar Games unveiling plans to launch the game to the previous-gen console. Yeah, it’s coming to PS4 and isn’t a remaster at all but rather a simple port.
The Red Dead Redemption port, co-developed by Rockstar Games San Diego and Double Eleven, will come bundled with Undead Nightmare, the zombie-based story DLC that launched during the spooky season of that year. Unfortunately, the port isn’t reviving all the content from the original Red Dead, as while all the single-player stuff is likely to remain intact, multiplayer is a no-go. This is likely cause they don’t need to manage three different multiplayer games, especially when the original RDR’s multiplayer was mixed, at best.
This reveal kind of stings for people who hoped for a bigger reveal. Red Dead Online is — for the most part — out the door with most of its crew pushed into the next Grand Theft Auto, with no regular content updates, though new content is coming this month, which is certainly a nice nod to the active fanbase.
It’s also a huge bummer for some that this isn’t a PS5 port. Instead, we’d have to rely on the backwards compatibility of the PS5 to play it, which isn’t quite ideal. We’ll see a digital-only release on August 17, meanwhile, physical collectors get a much-deserved win as the game will receive a physical release in October.
The biggest positive for it hitting the PS4 rather than the PS5 is that it’s not beholden to the new standardized price for AAA games, case in point, it’ll retail at the much more reasonable $49.99.
Red Dead Online is hitting the digital stores as a standalone title after two years on the market as its multiplayer component to Red Dead Redemption 2. Rockstar said Tuesday that starting December 1, new players can skip purchasing RDR 2’s single-player campaign if all they want to do is hook up with their friends in the old west.
It isn’t limited to versions, either, so, if you’re a PS4 owner, you can snag yourself a copy. The caveat is you will need a PS Plus membership to play it. You can also play it on PS5 through backwards compatibility, if you so choose, too.
If you aren’t sold on the idea, though, the studio did give a tantalizing introductory price of $4.99 until February 2021. After that, it’ll skyrocket to a modest $19.99.
Oh, and in case you’re wondering, Red Dead Online will take a sizable 123 gigs of space.
What do you think? Are you going to jump on the deal or let it pass? Tell us below!
Dan Houser, one of the four founders of Rockstar Games, is ducking out of the company after more than two decades. This is according to an announcement by its parent company, Take-Two Interactive.
“After an extended break beginning in the spring of 2019, Dan Houser, Vice President, Creative at Rockstar Games, will be leaving the company.”
His brother, Sam, will remain Rockstar’s president and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
The younger Houser led Rockstar’s creative choices with him being a primary role in the direction of many of Rockstar’s releases throughout its life. He was the writer for both the Red Dead Redemption and GTA franchises. He also worked on Bully.
The announcement also thanked him for his contributions. They then shifted gears by reassuring fans they’re still going to be shooting for the stars.
“We are extremely grateful for [Dan’s] contributions. Rockstar Games has built some of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful game worlds, a global community of passionate fans and an incredibly talented team, which remains focused on current and future projects.”
The announcement, nor Houser, have touched on his plans going forward, whether he’s aiming to opt for retirement or if he’s going to stick around the games industry as part of another developer. Whatever the case, players won’t easily forget the impact he’s made on gaming.
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