Back in 2010, Rockstar Games released a brand new, open-world Wild West game that quickly became one of my favourite video games of all time. John Marston sits alongside some of my most beloved characters like Arthur Morgan, Master Chief and Leon S. Kennedy. Fast forward 14 years later, and fans of the cowboy epic finally receive a PC release, alongside the fantastic Undead Nightmare DLC. Although not entirely perfect like its masterpiece console version, Red Dead Redemption for PC still manages to carry the torch on representing itself as one of the best games of modern gaming.
Same Coat of Paint
Don’t be fooled into believing this might be a remaster; Red Dead Redemption PC is simply a port with a few quality of life improvements like higher frame rates and different aspect ratios. For a 14-year-old video game, it has aged surprisingly well and controls quite nicely on the Steam Deck, besides a few awkwardly janky horse-bound movements. Playing on the Steam Deck, I noticed a dramatic difference in frame rate relating to the console versions, which would struggle to hit 30fps at times. Riding on horseback under a beautiful sunset with silky-smooth 60fps is a real treat that should have been welcomed to the game far into the past. One main gripe is the new addition of having to sign up to the Rockstar Games launcher to play a video game. For some bizarre reason, the game requires an internet connection to play, which is ironic for the fact that there are no online features besides Steam achievements. Multiplayer is no longer available for cowboys wanting more than just the story and its DLC, so having to log in each time you want to play the game feels unnecessary.
“What Were You Eating?”
Gameplay within the Wild West is so much smoother due to the higher fidelity and frame-rate possibilities that PC gamers bring to the frontier. Shootouts feel more intense, and popping off a couple rapid headshots in Dead-Eye is satisfyingly snappy. Cutscenes look more crisp, and now that the modding community can get their hands on the game, in-game movies will surely have some humour added with model changes. Challenges in the game are still a thing, meaning John can find different animals to shoot and skin for in-game rankings, giving PETA the most infuriating headache of all time. Preferably, I wish I could skip the animal skinning cutscenes, particularly for larger animals that have longer, more drawn out animations, but nitpicking aside, it barely takes anything away from the game. Just don’t try it near a cougar because these animations are in real-time, and John can go from cutting open something that’s dead to being cut open whilst alive.
This Horse Has Wheels
Exploring the world of Red Dead Redemption is a lot faster now on PC. Fast-travel times are now rapidly quicker, taking just a few seconds to travel from one location to another. Players have been able to do this by setting up camps in rural areas composed of flat ground or by using horse-drawn carriages found in towns and railway stations like Thieves Landing and Armadillo. When exploring in the console versions, I encountered next to no bugs and glitches, but compared to the PC port, there were a few strange occurrences. One time on horseback, a deer would start floating in the air, like it was Christmas Time in New Austin and Rudolph escaped from the sleigh. Other times, a random NPC would start zipping back and forth through Armadillo at lightning speed, and a tailor in Thieves Landing would be stuck in the ground, restricting my access to his goods and making the interact prompt unusable. These are hardly game-breaking, and some can certainly be minor inconveniences, but it’s possible that the porting team would have patched out these issues by the time of writing.
Final Thoughts
As a whole, Red Dead Redemption plays extremely well on the PC, with the version used by myself being played from the Steam Deck. Aside from its minor glitches and scrapped multiplayer mechanics, Red Dead Redemption’s PC port still holds up extremely well, allowing more players to dive into the western frontier as John Marston set after the events of its well-received sequel. Red Dead Redemption II players might be put off from the obviously dated graphics of the original title if playing for the first time, but with perseverance, they might find a worthy gem underneath the tumbleweeds.
Developer: Rockstar Games, Double Eleven
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Platforms: Windows PC
Release Date: 29th October 2024
Gaming Respawn’s copy of Red Dead Redemption was provided by the publisher.
