But One Overlooked Issue Sank Its Nintendo Switch and PS4 Potential

Red Dead Redemption is one of those rare games that nearly all PC players have been craving to play for a long time now. Now, with the announcement of the port at long last, people are gearing themselves up for the definitive way to play John Marston’s journey.

However, the excitement surrounding the PC port does bring to mind how all that positivity could have also been extended to the Nintendo Switch and PS4 versions had Rockstar given more thought to those player bases. When thinking about it, the underwhelming launch on these consoles sits in quite the stark contrast to the feature-packed PC release.

Now, here’s the deal: The upcoming PC port of the game brings with it a ton of features that people have longed to see for quite some time now—4K up to 144Hz support, adjustable draw distances, super-sampling technology, and more.

With all these Quality-of-life improvements, PC players will finally be able to leave all the bothersome seventh-generation emulators behind and experience the joy of wandering as a cowboy across South America in all its glory.

But as exciting as all this seems, the PC port also very clearly highlights the exact things that the Switch and PS4 versions of the game could have used.

For starters, both versions were noticeably missing the one thing that could’ve transformed all the negativity surrounding them—good old 60FPS support. The visuals didn’t seem all that improved either, with only marginal upgrades to shadows and textures.

“Red Dead Redemption is coming to PS4 and Switch”
– 44,000 likes vs 223,000 dislikes

“Red Dead Redemption is coming to PC”
– 62,000 likes vs 763 dislikes

I still believe RDR1 coming to PS4 & Switch would’ve been so much better received, including from myself if it shipped with… pic.twitter.com/WtRqiluZDg

— Synth Potato🥔 (@SynthPotato) October 9, 2024

So, super-sampling aside and compared to what’s being offered on the PC, the PS4 and Switch versions feel incomplete, as if they were released without much thought to making them the definitive versions of the game for their respective platforms.

Had Rockstar treated these versions with the same level of care they’re giving to the upcoming port, we likely would’ve seen a much warmer reception from fans.

But that being said, what’s done is done as well. Suppose Rockstar decides to revisit other classic titles like GTA IV or Bully in the future. In that case, we genuinely hope that the company gives equal attention to all platforms to avoid another wave of criticism.

In addition to all the visual enhancements, PC players will also get access to the Undead Nightmare expansion right out of the gate. However, one thing still missing from this release is multiplayer, which all of us were hoping would be able to make the cut.

While the absence of multiplayer would undoubtedly disappoint all who enjoyed it on the original console release, at the very least, it’s unlikely to overshadow the excitement surrounding the technical improvements on the campaign side.

Another thing worth mentioning is some players are approaching this release with cautious optimism, given how the recommended specs call for at least an NVIDIA RTX 2070 or AMD RX 5700 XT (possibly due to the game’s spaghetti code or the draw distances), along with an SSD for optimal performance.

While not completely extreme, that’s still quite the demand for a two-generation-old title. Rockstar is packing a ton of improvements into the port, but it certainly would dampen all the hype if it doesn’t perform as smoothly on all modern setups.

Whether Rockstar manages to deliver on the high expectations remains to be seen, but if the game launches without performance issues, it will, at long, long last, be a dream come true for the many fans who have waited years for this release.

But with all that said, what are your thoughts on the Red Dead Redemption’s recommended system requirements? Are you excited to jump into Red Dead’s world once again, regardless? Let us know in the comments below!