Red Dead Redemption makes its grand return with upcoming PS4 and Switch ports

With Red Dead Redemption 2 having shattered all kinds of sales records upon release, many have wondered when modern ports or remasters of its similarly-acclaimed predecessor, Red Dead Redemption, will arrive. A rumoured modern remaster reportedly had its development halted following the disastrous release of the remastered Grand Theft Auto trilogy. As such, it seemed like Red Dead Redemption would remain stuck on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 forever. Rockstar has now put those fears to rest, and confirmed that a port of Red Dead Redemption, along with its Undead Nightmare expansion, is being developed by Double Eleven Studios. This port will be heading exclusively to the PS4 and Nintendo Switch in the near future.

Red Dead Redemption, which originally released on PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2010, followed the story of John Marston, a former outlaw who must take down the remaining members of the notorious Van der Linde Gang in order to save his family. The transplantation of the GTA formula to the Old West setting was greatly successful, and the game was acclaimed for its strong writing and atmosphere. It also received a zombie-themed expansion not long afterwards called Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare, which added a bunch of out-there supernatural elements to the more grounded base game.

Initially, it seemed unlikely that Red Dead Redemption would ever be playable on modern platforms, outside of streaming services such as PlayStation Now which never made its way to Australia. Fortunately, we are now getting a port of sorts, albeit exclusively for PS4 and Nintendo Switch for some unexplained reason. PC and Xbox players will be missing out at launch. However that doesn’t discount the possibility of the game landing on those platforms later on, particularly considering Red Dead Redemption 2 had a delayed release on PC. It is also unclear why the port has been developed for the last-gen PS4 rather than the more modern PS5; at any rate, the PS4 version will be playable on the newer console via backwards compatibility.

These modern versions are quite bare in terms of new features. Aside from bundling the base game and Undead Nightmare together, the only new features it will really be receiving is support for some additional languages. Thus, if you were hoping for the visual overhauls, performance boosts and gameplay tweaks to bring it up to modern standards that the PS2 GTA trilogy received, you will be left wanting. That said, considering the vast number of bugs included in the GTA remaster, perhaps Rockstar is best playing it safe by not messing too much with a classic.

The Red Dead Redemption and Undead Nightmare bundle will be coming out on August 17th 2023 digitally via the PlayStation Store and Nintendo eShop, with a physical release planned for October 13th 2023. The port is being priced at $79.95 AUD at launch.