GTA: The Trilogy is coming in 2022 to PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC, but the rumored Red Dead Redemption remaster makes much more sense.
Rockstar Games officially announced Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition last week – a title that will remaster GTA 3, Vice City, and San Andreas – but there are more compelling reasons to remaster Red Dead Redemption instead. Rockstar’s announcement of GTA: The Trilogy came after news reports revealed it was in development. Said reports also mentioned that, depending on the success of the remasters, Rockstar could then shift its attention to a remaster of Red Dead Redemption – a video game that makes much more sense to revisit than GTA’s 3D Universe.
Rockstar hasn’t unveiled any gameplay footage or screenshots of the upcoming remasters but it has provided a few key details. GTA: The Trilogy will include gameplay enhancements as well as graphical ones, meaning that the studio isn’t simply providing the games with a new coat of paint. However, while modernizing aspects of the earlier GTAs is certainly an interesting prospect, there’s so much distance between them and the newer HD Universe titles that the move feels almost unnecessary. There’s likely still an entire generation of GTA fans who have yet to experience the 3D Universe titles, admittedly, but those games have all been readily available on online stores for years, and have aged remarkably well gameplay-wise.
In contrast, there are plenty of compelling reasons to revisit Red Dead Redemption. While still a classic that has aged well in the eleven years since its release, Rockstar’s first shot at the Western genre was succeeded by the vastly improved Red Dead Redemption 2. RDR2 was a prequel to Red Dead Redemption and served up Rockstar’s most immersive and detailed game yet, boasting incredible graphics and deep, rewarding gameplay. Eight years is a long time in the gaming industry, and Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption 2 may as well be lightyears apart. The former’s gunplay is easily outmatched by the latter, while there’s simply no competing with RDR2’s rich hunting and camp mechanics or its commitment to detail at every level.
RDR Would Benefit More From A Remaster Than The Older GTA Games
This is why it makes way more sense to remaster Red Dead Redemption than it does the older 3D Universe GTA games. The former is a modern marvel, whereas the latter titles are noted classics, unconnected to GTA 4 and GTA 5. Red Dead Redemption, though, is fundamentally wedded to Red Dead Redemption 2. It’s still a brutally brilliant anti-Western that can be enjoyed on its own, but its gameplay pales in comparison to its successor.
Not all of the features introduced to Red Dead Redemption 2 could make it into a remaster of Red Dead Redemption, but several important ones could work. It’s easy to see how RDR2’s gunplay could make the transition, in particular, the weapon degradation and cleaning mechanics. The prequel’s hunting system and NPC interactions would also feel right at home in a Red Dead Redemption Remaster, not to mention RDR2’s iconic horse upgrades. It’s unlikely a full remaster could ever achieve the graphical fidelity of RDR2, but improvements could be made to RDR to help make the gap between the two titles seem less significant.
There’s also the fact that the two games are split across two different console generations. This is less of a headache for players on Xbox, as they can simply load up their Xbox 360 copy of Red Dead Redemption and play it on either the Xbox One or Xbox Series X through backward compatibility, but it’s less simple for those who own a PlayStation 4 or 5. Currently, the only way to play Red Dead Redemption on Sony’s two most recent consoles is to stream it through PlayStation Now, which isn’t the same thing as owning it physically or digitally. However, the GTA 3D Universe games are readily available for digital purchase and thus playable on current consoles, making the remastered GTA Trilogy less of a necessity.
It just makes a lot more sense to remaster Red Dead Redemption than it does the 3D Universe GTA trilogy. While Vice City and San Andreas aren’t as technically impressive as GTA 5, they’re still beloved classics that fans could easily access. The Red Dead Redemption games, in comparison, are fragmented across two console generations. The gap between RDR and RDR2 is also massive in terms of gameplay depth, meaning a remaster could bring a greater sense of parity between the two titles.
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