(Game provided by Rockstar Games)
By Sam Coles:
There are no games that have had a bigger impact compared to Red Dead Redemption, it was one of the best games of 2010 that everyone is still talking about today. With its emotional and engaging storytelling to the beautiful frontier world to explore, coupled with John Marston's journey as he redeems his past to save his family. However, it is also a game that has been stagnated on older hardware for over a decade and yes it got a backwards compatible update on Xbox One/Series X|S but PlayStation users have been left in the wind until now. Red Dead Redemption is now available on PS4/PS5 (via backwards compatibility) and the platform I will be talking about, the Nintendo Switch.
For the uninitiated I will give you a brief synopsis of the narrative of the game, you play as John Marston, an ex-outlaw who has been tasked with hunting down his former gang members. Set in the year 1911, it shows how the wild west is dying and civilization is taking over. Marston’s family has been kidnapped by the federal government and is blackmailed into killing his former comrades. What I like about the narrative, which holds up 13 years later still with writing and acting is that it portrays both the government and criminals as violent and corrupt thugs, showing that both sides are as bad as each other. It is a tale as old as time, but the performances and writing are fantastic, it was during the period that Rockstar Games started to mature with its writing instead of the whacky and goofiness from the PS2 era.
Now let’s talk about the port of Red Dead Redemption itself on Switch, now I know the Nintendo Switch gets dragged over the coals due to its weaker hardware. However, if it is utilised properly, you can get some amazing ports, just to list a few Dying Light, The Witcher 3, Doom and many more. Red Dead is another good port, but to be honest the Switch should have no issues running a game from 2010 as the Switch is far more powerful than the Xbox 360. The game looks great, it has better loading, textures and draw distances as well as the bugs that were present in the original release are no longer in this port. Yes, this is a basic port and not a remaster but honestly it is just nice to have this game on modern systems albeit with no PC release which is baffling to say the least.
Red Dead’s world still holds up in today’s environment, it is now more immersive on Switch when you play it with a good set of headphones as you lie in bed it is relaxing. It is just a wonderful world to explore, as Rockstar’s are worlds about narrative and not a checklist to complete so their worlds feel organic compared to most games at the time and even now. There is something about riding slowly as you see the sun slowly rise over the horizon, and let the ambient music play is truly stunning, you can almost feel the desert heat slowly bleeding through the screen as you drink whisky to get into character.
Not only do you get the base game for this port, but also the excellent expansion Undead Nightmare. This was released during the height of the zombie craze back in the day, during the popularity of The Walking Dead. It is a lot of fun, and is a less serious take on the game, plus being a gunslinger that guns down hordes of zombies is hilarious. It is also great seeing old characters return from the base campaign.
Now the contentious point of this port is the price point, which here in the UK on the eShop is £40. If you have played the game before, then yes that is an expensive price, however if you have never played this game before (where have you been) then this is a great way to start as it comes with the expansion pack and is the smoothest way to play it. Let’s just hope we can get a PC port at some point, as to this day (at the time of writing) there is no legal way to play this on PC.
Overall, this is a good port of the game. Yes, it is not a remake or remaster as some were led to believe for some reason, but it is a decent port and great for those who have never played it before. Plus, for me I get to play it on one of my favourite game consoles.
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