Gaming News Red Dead Redemption: an exemplary PC version, ideal for (re)discovering this gem from the studios behind GTA
14 years after its initial release on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Red Dead Redemption finally shows off its full potential on PC. The players have shown great patience and this is being rewarded by Rockstar Games in the best possible way. This western, which was the pinnacle of open-world video games long before GTA V and Red Dead Redemption, will be reborn from its ashes in 2024 to prove that good whiskey never gets old!
Red Dead Redemption is not a game like any other. There is clearly a time before and after May 2010, the release date. RDR “humbly” redefines player standards in terms of open world, narrative, graphics and finish. With an 18/20 rating on JV and a 95% rating on Metacritic, Rockstar Games’ Western is shaking up the industry and helping to make video gaming an art in its own right… the 10th art. After a release on PS4 and Nintendo Switch in summer 2023, it is finally appearing on PC almost 15 years late. Better late than never!
Summary
- Story
- graphic
- Gameplay
- scenario
- Contents
- Diploma
Story
Millions of fans already know the story of Red Dead Redemption, at the same time Rockstar’s game was released in 2010, but for those at the back of the class who have been hibernating for three years, I’ll summarize the scenario in broad strokes. Red Dead Redemption plunges us without warning into the wild and doomed Wild West of the early 20th century.
… except that the government doesn’t agree with this and leaves him no choice but to hunt down his former accomplices, the very people with whom he went through everything to save his family. Between gunfights, epic rides, duels in the sun and unusual encounters, We discover a universe in which the much fantasized Wild West is coming to an end. It is a story of survival, redemption and sacrifice that asks us what we are willing to do or not to do to protect our loved ones.
graphic
Red Dead Redemption was so ahead of its time in 2010 that it hasn’t aged a bit even 14 years later. The Rockstar Games title still impresses visually with its artistic direction that has nothing left to prove and its graphics that immerse the player in a believable and vivid Wild West. It’s the attention to detail that sets it apart from the competition and continues to set it apart. The wind in the bushes, the footprints in the mud, the snow-capped mountains, the desert plains and the setting sun add a truly realistic dimension. While it never technically competes with Red Dead Redemption 2 and that’s completely normal, it still has a lot to offer.
PC gamers will certainly have been waiting a long time to discover this John Marston adventure, but Rockstar Games is taking care of the copy just so the pill is over. This is the best version of Red Dead Redemption available on the market to date. It benefits, among other things, from the improvements of the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 versions as well as optimization on the Xbox One Red Dead Redemption lives its best life on PC in 2024. Finally, it supports ultra-wide and super-ultra-wide screens, which should please anyone who has invested several hundred or even thousands of dollars in this type of hardware.
Gameplay
Red Dead Redemption is the quintessential Rockstar Games video game. The fathers of GTA have since proven with GTA 5 and of course the sequel Red Dead Redemption 2 that they can improve the formula, but When the basic ingredients are excellent, the result is an open-world Western that is still just as fun even after 14 years. I could throw open saloon doors and tell you that this adventure is like no other, but you probably already know that. Still, it never hurts to point out the obvious, especially when evidence goes hand in hand with excellence.
Anyone who has ever dreamed of becoming a lonely cowboy roaming the Wild West in search of opportunity has fallen under the spell of this little video game gem. It offers nothing but the transition from an intense gunfight to a ride into the setting sun, from horse training to a wild game of poker… and so much more. The options offered are numerous and overall extremely well implemented. Even the most picky will certainly find something to complain about, and that is understandable given a work that is flawed in its qualities. I’m thinking in particular of an old-fashioned user interface and equally old-fashioned controls. Even when it comes to controlling the main character, Red Dead Redemption spares us a certain heaviness that is present in the second part.
Red Dead Redemption is an open-world action-adventure game that involves a lot of back and forth on a desert map as well as renewable missions that end up being pretty similar. However, It’s impossible to deny the pleasure because the magic works from the first minute to the last. This feeling of real belonging to this past and the imaginative Wild West that grips you is reinforced by a system of decisions that affect your reputation. This has a strong impact on how people perceive you and how they respond, and therefore your perception of the world around you. Still somewhat rudimentary in Red Dead Redemption, this classic principle gains in intensity and interest with the sequel.
scenario
The story told by Rockstar Games is a little gem. This western not only tells the life of John Marston and tells a cowboy adventure like you see again and again. Oh no! We’re talking about a pure search for redemption, hence the title of the game, where our anti-hero tries to make amends and erase the mistakes of his past in the hope of protecting his family. You immerse yourself in the heart of the Wild West, which is experiencing its last hours and which is populated by supporting characters who are written with finesse and make every encounter an unforgettable moment.
What can we say about the staging, except that even in 2024 it is still a model of the genre, supplanted only by Red Dead Redemption 2, which is 8 years younger than it? Rockstar Games draws inspiration from the greatest Hollywood directors of the Golden Age to create an adventure that combines the best of cinema and video games. There’s clearly John Ford, Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood, without forgetting John Wayne in Red Dead Redemption. What emerges is the authenticity of a Western from the great era, with its breathtaking panoramas, its moments on horseback, its palpable tension and that nihilistic tone that perfectly underlines the end of an era… that of pre-industrial revolution in America.
Contents
In terms of content, Red Dead Redemption is… solid. The opposite would have been surprising knowing Rockstar Games and its video game habits. The main adventure and its zombie expansion alone require no less than 25 hours to complete in one go. And that without all the side quests, mini-games and other additional content. If you want to 100% complete Red Dead Redemption AND Undead Nightmares, it will cost you at least 60 life hours. Incidentally, Rockstar’s title doesn’t have a multiplayer mode to extend the adventure, but since there’s so much to eat, I’m not sure that’s necessary.
Diploma
Red Dead Redemption can still be enjoyed in 2024, and this is proof that this video game western was, is and will remain an exceptional video game that is second to none. Its captivating story, its wild west as far as the eye can see, its meticulous gameplay and its exemplary longevity make it an essential experience of the 10th kind on PC, 14 years after its release.
Table of Contents
