John Marston must be the single tardiest outlaw in Wild Wild history. The original Red Dead Redemption first launched on PS3 and Xbox back in ye olden times. While rumors persisted for years that the Old West open-world masterpiece would eventually come out on PC, nothing happened. The fact that last year even the Nintendo Switch got a port of RDR feels especially cruel to PC players everywhere.
Well wipe away those tears, son. There might finally be good news regarding Red Dead Redemption launching on PC… even if said news feels 14 years too late. The latest rumors regarding Marston’s sensational sandbox arriving on one of the best gaming laptops comes from well-known dataminer Tez2 (thanks, PCGamer). Though as with any rumor, have a shaker of salt sitting next to your desk, just in case.
Earlier today, Tez2 posted new code via the Rockstar Launcher, the contents of which certainly suggest Red Dead Redemption could be released on PC in the not-too-distant future. The key part of the uncovered code is the following text, which doesn’t leave that much room for interpretation: “Journey across the sprawling expansions of the American West and Mexico in Red Dead Redemption, and its zombie-horror companion, Undead Nightmare now available on PC.”
Rockstar has previously made PC players who want to experience the iconic developer’s games wait a long ol’ time. Both GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 saw their PC versions launch a full year after their console equivalents, though that now looks like a “blink and you’ll miss it” time frame compared to the 14 years it could take Marston to saddle onto the best PCs.
It’s pretty baffling that Rockstar has kept its cowboy away from Steam and other PC platforms for so long, not only because RDR did gangbusters on PS3 and Xbox 360 back in the day, but that Valve’s platform reportedly has 132 million monthly active users (thanks, DemandSage)
West is best
As someone who loves Rockstar’s masterful Western and its incredible prequel Red Dead Redemption 2 — that plays brilliantly on PC — I obviously hope this rumor pans out. All Rockstar has to do is throw out the same barebones port that the Nintendo Switch, PS4 and PS5 received last year. Not least because the latter was quickly treated to a free 60 fps upgrade that instantly makes it the best version of Red Dead you can play.
Don’t get me wrong, Arthur Morgan’s mournful prequel is superior in pretty much every way. The map is larger and more varied. The hunting system is way more nuanced and there are considerably more critters to stalk. And some of the setpieces during those 93 campaign missions are astoundingly well done. Its 12-hour epilogue is also one of the finest pieces of storytelling I’ve ever witnessed in a video game.
"I’ve been playing video games since 1993, only Red Dead’s ending and The Last of Us’ prologue have made me physically cry"
The one area Marston outguns Morgan, though, is when it comes to his game’s perfectly paced final act. I won’t overly spoil the specifics for any PC players out there who have been playing the loooongest of waiting games, just know it’s both a warm character study and a devastating comment on revenge. I’ve been playing video games since 1993, only Red Dead’s ending and The Last of Us’ prologue have made me physically cry.
Even though I could switch on my PS5 right now and boot up Red Dead Redemption in 4K at 60 frames per second, I still hope PC players get that same chance in the near future.
