20 Years Ago, Red Dead Redemption’s Weird First Draft Almost Sank The Whole Series
Fourteen years ago this month, Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar Games found its next open world mega franchise.
Fourteen years ago this month, Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar Games found its next open world mega franchise. Taking the thrilling abandon and American-Dream-gone-sour themes of Grand Theft Auto and transplanting them into the Old West, both Redemption, its zombified DLC, and its prequel have sold on a massive scale. But this was a success story that almost never was. In the early 2000s, the original game in the series, Red Dead Revolver, came close to not even existing at all.
Twenty years ago, also this month, Red Dead Revolver was released during a serious hot streak for Rockstar Games. Bookended by titles like Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and San Andreas, both of which had sales that dwarfed Revolver’s milder output, Red Dead Revolver was fun and admired for its intricate approach to gunplay and action. But it couldn’t really compete with the gigantic scope that drove the modern era of GTA. Revolver quickly became lost in the shuffle.
Fourteen years ago this month, Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar Games found its next open world mega franchise.
It wouldn’t be the first time. Originally, Red Dead Revolver wasn’t even a Rockstar Games product. Instead, it was a co-production between Angel Studios and Capcom, the mega company behind franchises like Resident Evil and Street Fighter. Around 2000, development began, with Capcom’s original idea for it evolving into a sun-beaten Western that delighted in the tropes of the genre.
Played today, it’s clear that Red Dead Revolver’s atmosphere is more of a glorified Yeehaw- fueled tribute to the classic Western than its Redemption follow-ups, games that often try to subvert it. But with a storyline about a bounty hunter that seeks vengeance for his murdered parents, it can often feel like you’re experiencing two different games shoved together. This is more than a bit reflective of Angel Studios’ experience with Capcom, a partnership that was constantly rocked by not just creative disagreements but cultural ones too. Neither one was on the same page in regards to the tone of the game or the way work on it should progress, and so its original 2002 release date seemed more like a cruel joke for the developers than a reasonable deadline.
Played today, it’s clear that Red Dead Revolver’s atmosphere is a glorified Yeehaw- fueled tribute to the classic Western.
It was around the planned debut that Angel Studios ceased to be Angel Studios - it was seized by Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar Games’ parent company. Take-Two, at the time, was in the midst of an acquiring spree - Within a few years, it would also purchase studios like Visual Concepts (creators of the 2K sports franchise) and Firaxis Games (makers of the Civilization series.) But Angel Studios would stand out, as it was renamed Rockstar San Diego, and one of their first projects would be resurrecting Red Dead Revolver. Capcom had left it for, well, dead, and it would be up to Rockstar to take the reins.
Rockstar found the game to be promising, even in the imperfect state left by the creative collapse of Angel Studios and Capcom’s alliance. Plus, they’d always wanted to do a Western game and shifting gears with this project was a halfway compromise toward that. As Dan Houser, co-founder of Rockstar, told IGN, “We knew it wasn't going to be completely designed the way we would have done it if we were doing it from scratch, but that doesn't mean there weren't some good ideas there…” Most of all, though, they seemed to like the shooting and if they could stitch the other pieces together, it might be able to match the reputation that Rockstar was quickly amassing.
The “Dead Eye” feature allows the player to aim in gloriously dramatic slow-motion before unleashing a hellstorm of bullets on unlucky buckaroos.
Of course, Red Dead Revolver never quite did. Its main issue is its slightness. Not even the “Dead Eye” feature, one that allows the player to aim in gloriously dramatic slow-motion before unleashing a hellstorm of bullets on unlucky buckaroos, can change the fact that its levels appear arcade-like in comparison to the free-for-all roaming of a San Andreas. When Red Dead Redemption came out in 2010, a game that allowed players to travel across the rugged expanses of the Southwest and even down into Mexico, one could be forgiven for thinking that it was actually the first game in the series.
But that rip-roaring bullet play of Redemption, the kind that keeps you ducking, running and shooting as you aim to clear out a canyon of bandits or empty a house of its ne’er-do-well inhabitants? That has its roots in Red Dead Revolver. It might make Revolver sound like a rough draft for greater things to come, but there’s no shame in that. Considering the heights reached by the Redemption games, sometimes a stepping stone is necessary.
