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I don’t think I’d survive long in the Wild West, to be honest with you. At least, not in Red Dead Redemption‘s version of it. If you’ve ever seen me try and extract my phone from my pocket, you’ll know it takes a couple of minutes and the occasional swear word. So if I ever got into a duel, I’d have to ask the opponent to assemble their gun from scratch before firing, just to make it fair. That’s not to mention my general aversion to being eaten by mountain lions. Thank goodness we’re controlling John Marston.
Speaking of which, rejoice! Red Dead Redemption has finally come to PC after fourteen long years. Just long enough for everyone to give up hope. Maybe the sequel made Rockstar realise that people don’t care what they play the game on, they just want to play the bloody game. That aside, it was quite the treat to relive the past. Red Dead Redemption remains a wonderfully written game, that understands how to build up its characters, with a great atmosphere. Though the gameplay is showing its age somewhat.
The Good, The Bad, And The Marston
Before we delve into Red Dead Redemption itself, lets look at the port in general. Rockstar were on slightly shaky ground after the sequel’s rough start on PC, but they handed it over to Double Eleven for this one. I’m pleased to report that Red Dead Redemption runs perfectly on PC. I didn’t notice any framerate drops*, nor any glitches or crashes to speak of. This is a straight port, though, so don’t expect updated graphics or new content. It bundles in Undead Nightmare, but that’s about it. Does make the £40 price point rather eye-watering, but if you can stomach it then it’s a wonderfully smooth transition to PC.
As for the game itself, chances are you already know a fair bit about it. It was (rightfully) acclaimed on first release. Still, let’s go through this like you’ve never heard of it. Red Dead Redemption follows the story of John Marston, a former outlaw that’s desperately trying to go straight. Unfortunately, he’s plucked off his farm by a couple of government suits and told that he has to hunt down his former gang members to get his family back. That’d be the ‘Redemption’ part of the title. A lot of people die, too, so that checks off that part. I guess blood fills in for the ‘Red’?
Either way, the driving force behind John Marston is the desire to turn over a new leaf. It’s an interesting – if not unique – character motivation and the writing on display is excellent. John Marston is sympathetic, even while he himself insists that he’s not. He’s a man that doesn’t shy from his past, but keeps his cards close to his chest – only showing them to people that understand. Listening to him wax philosophy about how much justice there really is in the law is fascinating. Red Dead Redemption also understands an old theatre rule: dialogue is more engaging when characters are doing something. Cutscenes are not static, people are always moving. It’s quite gripping.
The Howling Prarie
The other thing that gripped me about Red Dead Redemption was the world itself. Not in terms of graphics, mind you. Fourteen years have not been kind in the regard, though it’s not so ugly as to be off-putting. It’s more in terms of how the world feels. It’s a huge open space – you can ride through it and barely see another living thing – but it also feels quite alive. There’s just enough wildlife and just enough people shooting at each other to make it feel atmospheric. Traversing it at night is a nice feeling. This is a time before open world games felt the need to cram gameplay into every square inch.
Though that’s perhaps a bad example, as Red Dead Redemption‘s gameplay is a bit limited. Being that we’re in the Wild West, it’s mainly built around shooting. The gunplay itself is fine enough. The weapons all sound great and there are a ton to pick up. I found myself either sniping with a rifle, or switching to my pistol if I wanted to get a little personal. That said, the controller auto-aim is far too much – allowing you to snipe distant enemies without any difficulty. There’s also the Dead Eye system, which slows down time and allows you to mark targets for John to kill. This destroys whatever challenge the gunplay had left.
I also have a bone to pick with the story missions. There are a ton of them, split between a range of different characters. Problem is, once you remove these characters from the equation, they all follow similar templates. We’re either riding somewhere and shooting people, assaulting somewhere to shoot people or, worst of all, racing. If it weren’t for the interesting people tagging along, it’d be monotonous. Though to hop back to praising the writing, I do like that John canonically plays – and is played by – both sides of the conflicts he wades into. Man only cares about his family, which I respect.
Red Dead Redemption – Nice Writing, Dull Gameplay
Admittedly, there are a lot of other minigames. There’s poker, liar’s dice – you can even play knife your finger. I never really found much cause to do that though, as money isn’t hard to come by. Still, I did enjoy the bounty hunting – if only because it takes the leash off a bit. There are also a ton of ‘stranger’ quests, which are little side-missions – though they too suffer from a little repetition. Lastly, I’d like to point a finger at the Euphoria engine, which I always have issues with. John doesn’t feel quite as awkward to control as I remember, but tapping A to sprint is still a dumb idea fourteen years later.
Still, I never found myself wanting to put it down. I think it’s proof that if you have a likeable, interesting protagonist to play as then you’re going to naturally want to see how things conclude. Red Dead Redemption‘s ending is heart-breaking, and has long been held up as example of how gameplay and narrative can work together. It’s worth it for that alone. There might be some clunkiness in the engine and gameplay, but the beautiful writing and characterisation mean it more than holds up after a decade and a half.
*For comparison, I’m on Windows 10 with an RTX 2070 Super and an Intel i7-13700K.
