2010’s Red Dead Redemption is a legendary title which, among so many remasters nowadays, deserves one more than most others. I’m wondering if it’ll actually happen and I think we have two things on our hands: It could be so good and it should be made.
Rockstar has made some legendary games. GTA4 and GTA5 each scored perfect 10s on IGN if I’m not mistaken. But everyone knows that. GTAV has sold 60 million copies. Holy shit. However, RDR scored a 9.7 and, unlike every GTA game I’ve played (which is 3, VC, SA, 4 and 5), I actually beat it. For some reason I never quite got around to completing any GTA game. In addition, I don’t particularly like westerns. The setting, the early 20th-century west, shouldn’t appeal to me, but damn that game drew me in. It was a perfect open-world game which contained utterly spectacular voice acting, perfectly-timed music and one of the best endings in gaming.
2013’s Game Of The Year Tomb Raider was one I rented on GameFly and later purchased for $7.50 digitally on the PS3. But I never finished it a second time. However, the Definitive Edition on the PS4 called to me and I 100%ed that guy in less than a week. I feel a remaster of RDR would do the same much as a simple replay of the game might not be as compelling. The visuals of a remaster could do just as TR did. I positively love the share button on my PS4, and I must’ve snapped three dozen screenshots of Tomb Raider just due to the game’s sheer beauty. There’s no question the game could be great. Not a doubt in my mind.
In addition, a third Red Dead game on current-gen systems could be oh-so-amazing. Much like other remasters set the scene for a new title, a RDR remaster at the end of 2016 could lead into Red Dead 3 in 2017.
While the game certainly didn’t find the commercial success the GTA games, it did ship over 14 million copies, a truly remarkable stat for an open-world western that no one really asked for. That’s a lot of copies and a sequel of the same caliber could be an enormous success. A remastered visit to the life and turmoils of John Marston just might convince me to get back on board. Just writing this makes me want to revisit that world, head into Mexico, and take snapshots of the beauty found within. Crossing my fingers Rockstar agrees with my opinion!
It was my Game of the Year in 2010. It was exactly what I didn’t know I wanted in life (kinda like Einherjer’s Album of the Year in 2014!) While the open-world sandbox of the late 19th-century west was interesting and compelling, it was Rockstar’s writing and the impeccable voice acting that made it such a remarkable landmark in gaming’s last generation. I’ve already lobbied for a remaster but here we are… A year before a long-gestating and sure-to-be massive launch. Red Dead Redemption 2!
