Exciting news for Red Dead fans. On August 17^th, the original ‘Red Dead Redemption’ made its debut on the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4. To grasp the significance of this release, let’s take a quick trip through the history of Red Dead.

The original ‘Red Dead Redemption’

The original ‘Red Dead Redemption’, or RDR, first released in 2010 on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, captivating a global audience with its adventurous lore. A jaw-dropping 15 million copies were sold. With the arrival of PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2013, however, the video games landscape shifted. PS3 and Xbox 360 were phased out by 2016 to make room for the next generation consoles. According to Statista, by 2018, PS3 held only 30% of the market while PS4 claimed 70%. Inevitably, the unplayable RDR became obsolete. Meanwhile, Rockstar spent 8 years to develop ‘Red Dead Redemption 2’ for PS4 and Xbox One, and it was a massive success with a staggering 110 million copies sold worldwide when it was released in 2018.

Connection between RDR and RDR2

Usually gamers move on from the a game when its sequel comes out. Reason why RDR is unlike others is because timeline-wise, the story in RDR happens after the events in RDR2, even though the latter is marketed as a sequel. For fans who have finished the sequel and wanted to continue the epic journey through RDR, there lies a problem: the original game was only playable on PS3 and Xbox 360, and PS4 and Xbox One lacked the backward compatibility to support RDR.

Enter Rockstar’s announcement: RDR will be available digitally for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 on August 17^th, with physical copies set to be available in October. Red Dead fans who have never play the original story will finally get to experience what happens after the events transpired in the prequel. Granted, it is not a remastered copy of the game, the visual may be lacking when compare to the RDR2. Nonetheless, the fact that the game is playable on mainstream consoles today is a huge deal to Red Dead fans.

What is Red Dead Redemption about?

The prequel RDR2 takes place in a fictionalized 1899 United States and follows Arthur Morgan, a gang member, on an engaging journey of survival. Upon finishing the main story, an epilogue leads the story into the events of RDR, starting exactly where it left off. RDR is set in 1911, and is centered on Arthur’s protégé, John Marston, striving to save his family from government clutches. Other characters in RDR2 will also make appearances in RDR.