Red Dead Redemption on PC Highlights the Pros and Cons of Its Xbox Port

With how culturally relevant the first Red Dead Redemption is, it’s surprising that the game wasn’t readily accessible on modern platforms up until only recently. Rockstar’s gunslinging action-adventure epic was first released in May 2010, but back then, it was only available on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game and its Undead Nightmare expansion were trapped on those consoles for several years. Eventually, though, Red Dead Redemption was made backwards compatible on Xbox One in 2016. It was also added to the PlayStation Now cloud streaming service in the same year, though the game wasn’t natively playable on PS4 at the time, like it was on Xbox.

Red Dead Redemption was finally ported to PlayStation 4, in addition to Nintendo Switch, on August 17, 2023. However, the game did not make its way to Windows PCs until October 29, 2024, a whopping 14 years after its original launch. A PC port of the original Red Dead Redemption was highly-requested throughout the years, perhaps even more so than the PS4 and Switch versions, so it’s almost hard to believe that it is currently available on storefronts like Steam. These modern RDR re-releases are all fairly solid on a technical level, especially on PC, but they have some benefits and downsides compared to the game’s Xbox version.

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Red Dead Redemption’s Xbox Version Has Some Benefits and Downsides Over Its Recent PC Port

Red Dead Redemption on PC Runs Really Well

Given how old the game is, it should come as no surprise that Red Dead Redemption runs really well on PC. On a decently-powerful rig, it can run at 60 to 120 frames per second at a native 4K resolution. It even plays smoothly on Ultrawide and Super Ultrawide monitors, with high draw distances and enhanced shadow quality settings enabled. Red Dead Redemption was only playable at 30 FPS for quite some time, so the fact that players can now experience the game with these features on PC is a pretty big deal.

Red Dead Redemption Can Run at 60 FPS on PS5 and PC, But Can’t on Xbox

Red Dead Redemption can currently run at 60 FPS on consoles, but only on PlayStation 5. The PS4, Switch, and Xbox versions of the game are still capped at 30 FPS. The lack of 60 FPS support on Xbox Series X/S is especially disappointing, considering the current-gen system is more than capable of running such an old game at above-average frame rates. Perhaps the main reason why Red Dead Redemption can’t run at 60 FPS on Xbox Series X/S is because the console doesn’t have a native port of the title. Rather, the version of RDR for modern Xbox systems is basically just the 360 port of the game running through an emulator. Some backwards compatible games on Xbox consoles do have FPS Boost support, but this one doesn’t, which is unfortunate.

The Xbox Version of Red Dead Redemption is Cheaper than the PC, PS4, and Switch Ports, and Includes Multiplayer

Despite its limited frame rate capabilities, the Xbox version of Red Dead Redemption does have some advantages over the PC, PlayStation, and Switch ports of the game. For one, it’s considerably cheaper. On the official Xbox store, players can grab Rockstar’s acclaimed action-adventure title for only $30, but the game tends to go on sale for far lower prices, both physically and digitally. Red Dead Redemption for Steam and other platforms, on the other hand, costs $50. It’s important to note, though, that RDR‘s Undead Nightmare expansion is included with the recent ports of the game, whereas on Xbox it costs an additional $10.

Red Dead Redemption on Xbox also has multiplayer support. The original version of RDR on PS3 and Xbox 360 had a significant multiplayer component that included various PvP and PvE modes. These were unfortunately removed in the modern PS4, Switch, and PC ports of the game. Because of this, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S are the only modern platforms where players can still experience RDR‘s multiplayer. This alone would normally make Red Dead Redemption‘s Xbox port the definitive version of the game, but the lack of 60 FPS support on Microsoft’s consoles does hinder it a bit.

Red Dead Redemption

America, 1911. The Wild West is dying. When federal agents threaten his family, former outlaw John Marston is forced to pick up his guns again and hunt down the gang of criminals he once called friends. Experience an epic fight for survival across the sprawling expanses of the American West and Mexico, as John Marston struggles to bury his blood-stained past, one man at a time.

Red Dead Redemption is a Western epic, set at the turn of the 20th century when the lawless and chaotic badlands began to give way to the expanding reach of government and the spread of the Industrial Age.

Released

May 18, 2010

Developer(s)

Rockstar San Diego

Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer

Engine

rockstar advanced game engine

ESRB

M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs

How Long To Beat

18 Hours

OpenCritic Rating

Strong

PC Release Date

October 29, 2024

Nintendo Switch Release Date

August 17, 2023

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