14 Years Later, the Best Open-World Western Game Is Finally Coming to PC
Rockstar's Western classic hits PC at the end of the month.
After 14 long years of speculation and rumors, the wait is finally over: Red Dead Redemption will be released on PC platforms on October 29. The long-awaited port will include some added cowbells and whistles that help Rockstar’s Western classic look better than ever. This overdue port will also give the developer’s active modding community a brand-new game to wrangle with smart (and hilarious) new additions and features.
In a rare announcement from Rockstar Games, the publisher confirmed John Marston’s memorable tale across the 20th Century American Frontier, as well as its supernatural horror-themed expansion Undead Nightmare, will debut on PC, along with a flashy new trailer. This PC version is being co-developed with game studio Double Eleven and will include native 4K resolution and HDR10 support, Ultrawide (21:9) and Super Ultrawide (32:9) aspect ratios for monitors support it, and full keyboard and mouse functionality.
The PC version will also support NVIDIA DLSS 3.7 and AMD FSR 3.0 upscaling, NVIDIA DLSS Frame Generation, and the ability to adjust draw distances, shadow quality settings, and other graphical effects. For fans of this series, it’s clear that this will be the definitive version of Red Dead Redemption.
The announcement follows more than a year worth of rumors. Despite high demand for it, Red Dead Redemption remained one of the few games from Rockstar to not get a PC port following its release. Last year, when Rockstar brought the game to Switch and PS4, it seemed that a PC version was imminent. Then earlier this year, a PlayStation Store listing all but spoiled plans to bring the game to PC.
The 14-year wait is especially surprising since Red Dead’s sequel/prequel Red Dead Redemption 2, was released on PC in 2019, a little over a year after its console counterpart. For many PC players, this will be the first time they’ll get to see what happens in the years that follow Red Dead Redemption 2’s grand finale.
In Red Dead Redemption, players assume the role of John Marston, a former member of the notorious Dutch van der Linde Gang tasked by U.S. authorities with hunting down his former friends and fellow outlaws. Red Dead also chronicles the dying days of America’s Wild West era and is a great send-up of the Western genre in movies and television. The game serves as a direct story follow-up to Red Dead Redemption 2 and is considered one of Rockstar’s finest works.
The PC version of Rockstar San Diego’s Western classic will look better than ever thanks to a handful of exclsuive graphical features.
While one of finest games ever made coming to PC is exciting in its own right, the prospect of Red Dead Redemption finally getting mod support is arguably more compelling. The community is bound to create some really fun changes that let players make this detailed open-world as fantastical or as realistic as they want. If Red Dead Redemption 2 is any indication, everything from simulation mods that make surviving the elements harsher, to silly re-skins and abilities. It’s only a matter of time before these additive elements are available for the first Red Dead Redemption at long last.
This release will likely be the last thing players get from Rockstar Games before the release of the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6. By the time Grand Theft Auto 6 drops, it will have been seven years since the developer released a new title.
