As time passes, a remake of Red Dead Redemption only makes more and more sense. Based on news from earlier this year, evidence from behind-the-scenes at Rockstar and Take-Two, and more, there’s plenty of reasons a Red Dead Redemption remake or remaster could and should be on the way, retelling the story of John Marston using the graphics and some of the features found in Red Dead 2.
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Continuing John Marston’s Story
Red Dead Redemption 2 is considered one of the defining games of the last generation of consoles, just as the first game was considered revolutionary when it released on the PS3 and Xbox 360. By 2017, just a year before Red Dead 2 launched, Red Dead Redemption had sold 15 million copies. Red Dead 2 overtook Red Dead Redemption’s total sales in just twelve days, and has now sold nearly 40 million copies.
That means a lot of players got their first introduction to the series with the second game without going back to the first. That fact and Red Dead 2’s role as a prequel perfectly sets up a Red Dead Redemption remake or remaster. Fans already finish Red Dead Redemption 2 in the role of John Marston as he builds his house in New Austin and prepares for what he hopes to be a peaceful life with his wife Abigail Marston and son Jack.
It’s likely that there are plenty of Red Dead Redemption 2 players who want to continue the original story, but don’t want to go back to the poorer graphics, less reliable controls, and smaller in-game world of the first game. The success of Red Dead Online’s roleplaying community shows that Red Dead 2 players are telling their own stories in the absence of Red Dead 2 DLC or the announcement of a third game. Releasing a Red Dead Redemption remake would play into that desire for more story content, potentially using Red Dead 2’s engine.
Remaking Red Dead 1
Earlier this year John Marston’s voice actor Rob Wiethoff said that he’d be interested in reprising his iconic role if a third game was in the works. Unless that game goes even further back in time, however, there isn’t much room in the Red Dead Redemption timeline for more stories with John before his death in Red Dead 1.
However, a remake of Red Dead Redemption 1 could see Rob Wiethoff return as John Marston to voice more lines that would bring the amount of dialogue in the first game up to the standard of Red Dead 2. In Red Dead Redemption 2, John and Arthur have a huge number of Greet and Antagonize voice lines that massively outnumber the more generic ones found in the first game, for example. A Red Dead remake could allow fans and the actor alike to get more out of John by diversifying the interactions he can have throughout the world without changing the story.
The world of Red Dead Redemption, at least on the American side of the border, is already mostly rendered in full in Red Dead Redemption 2. Not only that, but it has been shown that Red Dead 2’s map has its own version of Red Dead Redemption’s Mexico, even though it isn’t accessible in Red Dead 2 or Red Dead Online without exploiting or falling victim to certain bugs.
It’s possible that Nuevo Paraiso, the fictional area of Mexico seen in Red Dead 1, was originally planned for a DLC for either the main game or Red Dead Online. Whatever the original reason behind the area being rendered, the existence of Nuevo Paraiso in Red Dead 2’s world already means that most of the world of Red Dead 1 is almost entirely rendered in Red Dead 2’s engine. If there were plans for a Mexico DLC for either Red Dead 2 or Red Dead Online they appear to have been abandoned, but that means now is as good a time as any for a Red Dead remake to take advantage of those assets to make sure that work didn’t go to waste.
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Rockstar And Take-Two
Back in May Red Dead Redemption’s publisher Take-Two Interactive announced that nine re-releases were planned, described as “new iterations of previously released titles.” Six are set to be released in the 2022 fiscal year, and the remaining three before the end of the 2024 fiscal year. One of those nine spots could easily be taken up by a remake or remaster of the original Red Dead Redemption, and there are reasons that a remaster might be just what Rockstar needs.
Rockstar is currently in an interesting position. Red Dead Redemption 2 was the studio’s last major release back in 2018, and since then the developer has mostly been working on content for Grand Theft Auto Online and Red Dead Online as far as fans know. Red Dead 2’s development led to a lot of crunch time at Rockstar, and even saw Rockstar cofounder Dan Houser depart from the studio after its development.
Fans are unsure if either Grand Theft Auto 6 or Red Dead Redemption 3 are in development. With Rockstar at a crossroads, a remaster or remake of Red Dead Redemption could be a great safe bet that would likely satisfy fans without requiring the same intense development process as building a whole new game from scratch.
There seem to be few groups that a Red Dead Redemption remake would leave unsatisfied. Fans of Red Dead 1 would see the game brought back to life with more modern graphics, fans of Red Dead 2 who didn’t play the first game would get to continue John Marston’s story, and Rockstar would be able to develop a game without the same pressure as the development of a full Red Dead or Grand Theft Auto title. Whether or not the remake will actually happen is another question, but as both Red Dead and its prequel get older a Red Dead remake only makes more sense.
Red Dead Redemption is available now on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
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