The original Red Dead Redemption has been out for close to a decade and a half now, and though many had given up hope of ever seeing the acclaimed Wild West open world epic ever making it to PC, it’s finally happening. After its release for PS4 and Nintendo Switch last August, Rockstar Games’ masterpiece is now making its way over to PC for the first time ever, and ahead of its launch on the platform later this month, here, we’re going to go over a few details on the port specifically, as well as the game itself and what to expect from it.
WHAT’S INCLUDED?
Red Dead Redemption is coming to PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, and the Rockstar Store on October 29, but what exactly is going to be included in the package? In a nutshell, you can expect all the single player content that Rockstar ever released for the game, included the bonus content that was included in its Game of the Year Edition. More importantly, on top of the excellent base game itself, also included in the package is Undead Nightmare, the seminal expansion that released a few short months after the base game itself did in 2010.
ENHANCEMENTS
Rockstar Games has worked with British studio Double Eleven quite a bit of late, with the latter having brought the original Red Dead Redemption to both PS4 and Switch. Now, the studio is also leading the charge for the PC port, and is adding in a number of enhancements in the process. On PC, Red Dead will feature support for native 4K at up to 144hz (as long as you have the hardware to support it, that is). Additionally, support for 21:9 and 32:9 displays (ultrawide and super ultrawide respectively) is also confirmed, in addition to HDR 10.
MORE TECH DETAILS
Red Dead Redemption will allow players to toggle with a handful of other graphical settings as well, as confirmed by Rockstar, including draw distances, shadow quality, and more. Meanwhile, those looking to further beef up their visual experience will be able to leverage both FSR 3 and DLSS 3.7, while it has been confirmed that DLSS Frame Generation will also be supported.
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
Red Dead Redemption is, of course, a fourteen year old game at this point, so unsurprisingly, its system requirements on PC aren’t too demanding (though maybe they’re not necessarily as low as some would have expected either). You’ll require either an i5 4670 or an FX 9590, along with either a GeForce GTX 960 or a Radeon R7 360. Additionally, you’ll also need 8 GB of RAM and about 12 GB of free storage space.
RECOMMENDED REQUIREMENTS
If you’re looking to play Rockstar’s Wild West odyssey with better visuals and tech and want to run it at its recommended settings, you are going to need either an i5 8500 or a Ryzen 5 3500 X, along with either a GeForce RTX 2070 or a Radeon RX 5700 XT. Same as minimum settings, you’ll also need 8 GB of RAM and about 12 GB of free storage, though here, the game also recommends having an SSD. Of course, given the fact that this is a fourteen year old game that first came out where there was no sign of SSDs in the consoles that it ran on, it’s probably safe to say that not having an SSD isn’t going to be a dealbreaker here.
STORY
For many on PC, this will be their first time experiencing Red Dead Redemption, so what exactly should you go in expecting from a narrative standpoint? A fricking masterpiece, that’s what.
Red Dead Redemption is set in the year 1911, starring former outlaw John Marston as its protagonist. Once a member of a gang that was run by notorious outlaw Dutch van der Linde, John is now trying to lead an honest life, but thanks to pressure from federal agents, he has no choice – for the sake of his wife and child – but to head out there and hunt down other members of his old gang. The slow withering away of the old American Frontier against the tide of growing civilization is a major theme in Red Dead Redemption, as is John’s personal story, as he attempts to get to grips with his own past, which he is trying desperately to get away from. This is, of course, also set after the events of Red Dead Redemption 2, so those who have played that game will likely get even more out of the story here.
CHARACTERS
Red Dead Redemption boasts an incredible cast of characters. In typical Rockstar Games fashion, that includes a stellar protagonist in the form of John Marston (voiced by Rob Weithoff), as well as a fascinating main antagonist in Dutch van der Linde (voiced by Benjamin Byron Davis), both of whom we’ve already spoken of. Other key characters that players will meet are federal agent Edgar Ross, John’s former allies in Bill Williamson and Javier Escuella, US Marshal Leigh Johnson, and more. For those who’ve played the aforementioned Red Dead 2, some of those names are, of course, going to be pretty familiar.
LENGTH
Red Dead Redemption came out at a time when the industry hadn’t yet grown unhealthily obsessed with making games longer, but it is still a Rockstar open world game, which means it’s got plenty of bang for your buck. Those looking to blaze through the game’s story can do so in slightly under 20 hours, but if you do a good number of side quests and optional content, you can easily stretch that to 25-30 hours. Meanwhile, completionists can squeeze a good 15-20 additional hours out of the game beyond that.
NO MULTIPLAYER
Back in the quaint old days of 2010, Rockstar was only concerned with multiplayer to the very limited degree of putting multiplayer modes in their games as little more than addendums. The original Red Dead did have competitive multiplayer offerings, too, but just like its PS4 and Switch ports last year, the game’s PC version will not feature the online mode. When the game launched for the aforementioned consoles last year, its lack of multiplayer was a bummer to quite a few, and one would imagine people are going to continue to be disappointed here. That said, at least there’s no shortage of single player content to dive into. Speaking of which…
UNDEAD NIGHTMARE
We touched on Undead Nightmare earlier, but for those who’ve never played it before, what exactly should you expect? Widely regarded as one of the best single player expansions for any game ever, Undead Nightmare is an entirely standalone experience that tells an alternate story set after the events of the base game. The non canon adventure sees John Marston in a Wild West overrun with zombies, following which he sets out on a harrowing journey to fight back against the undead and save his family once again.
UNDEAD NIGHTMARE LENGTH
Undead Nightmare is by no means as long as Red Dead Redemption itself, but it is a meaty expansion in its own right. Clocking in at about 8-10 hours in length, its main story alone is a sizeable experience, but those looking to spend more time on the optional stuff can easily get a dozen or more hours our of it.
