Despite limited proof that the much talked-about title even exists, for weeks now gamers worldwide have been caught up in discussions about a rumored remaster of Rockstar’sRed Dead Redemption.Talk about aRed Dead Redemptionremasterhas swirled around the gaming industry for years, but a series of recent leaks suggesting that the long-rumored title is finally in development have left gamers buzzing. If Rockstar truly is updating the fan-favorite game, it’s almost certainly taking steps to avoid having theRed Deadremaster face the same backlash as the controversial release ofGrand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - Definitive Edition.
Following the latest batch of rumors it quickly became clear that somegamers are concerned about aRed Dead Redemptionremaster, fearful it could suffer from the same issues that plagued theGTA Trilogy.But while that poorly-executed return toGTA’s roots failed to impress many players, its critical failure provided lessons Rockstar can draw from when tackling an in-houseRed Deadremaster. And withRed Dead Redemptionbeing a far more recent title, Rockstar also may have a technical head start that could help it avoid many of theGTA Trilogy’s biggest pratfalls.
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Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy’s High-Profile Failure Provided Some Valuable Lessons
Despite the hype surrounding its 2021 release,Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy’s launch was a failurein the eyes of many players. While the gameplay loop of the original titles remained largely intact, nearly every other element of the games was downgraded in some way. From character models rendered unrecognizable thanks to developer Grove Street Games’ use of AI upscaling for in-game textures, to controversial changes to the lighting system, to bugs rendering the PC version unplayable at launch, the game was a technical disaster.
Even following numerousupdates toGrand Theft Auto: The Trilogyin the years since its release, the game still carries a stigma, standing as an underwhelming substitute for the original titles. Rockstar took a huge gamble relying on third-party developers and unproven tools to recreate some of its most beloved games, and it failed to pay off. But thanks to the painful lessons ofGTA: The Trilogy, and the Old West open-world title being a more recent game, aRed Dead Redemptionremaster should be able to avoid some of these missteps.
One of the biggest advantages Rockstar will have with aRed Dead Redemptionremaster as compared toGrand Theft Auto: The Trilogyis the relative recency of the game’s assets. Whereas the developers of theGTA Trilogyfaced the unenviable task of updating decades-old titles for modern hardware,Red Dead Redemptionwas only released in 2010. While its graphics obviously can’t compare to recent releases, they should provide a far better starting point for updating the assets to modern standards without relying on AI-assisted upscaling.
This ability to use existingRed Dead Redemptionassets as a base for a remaster should come in particularly handy when it comes to the game’s map. As some intrepid gamers quickly discovered shortly after its release,Red Dead Redemption 2’s mapalready contains many of the locations from the original game locked away in an area meant to be inaccessible to players. It’s unclear what the intended use of these unfinished areas was, but these pre-existing assets could make rebuilding the world far easier and allow Rockstar to focus more on polish and presentation than rebuilding level geometry.
Given the fact thatsales ofGrand Theft Auto: The Trilogyexceeded expectationsaccording to Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick, it could be tempting to simply release another low-effort remaster and call it a day. But although it would likely be able to cash in on aRed Dead Redemptionremaster no matter the quality level, taking the time to put out a polished product worthy of theRed Deadname would serve as proof that Rockstar still has respect for one of its biggest franchises.
Red Dead Redemptionis currently available on PS3 and Xbox 360.
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