Red Dead Redemption re-release is already being review-bombed

Red Dead Redemption is coming to modern consoles and that should be a time of rejoice, right? Well, it seems that not everyone is happy about the Rockstar Games re-release.

For the best part of a year or so, rumours of a remake or remaster of the critically acclaimed 2010 game Red Dead Redemption were running wild in the west. As its official announcement drew near, the rumours were leaning towards a full remake of RDR, rather than a remaster.

Check out the Red Dead Redemption trailer below!

Unfortunately for excited fans, when Rockstar Games announced the re-release of Red Dead Redemption, we learned that it would be neither a remake nor a remaster, it would be in fact, a straight-up port of the 2010 original game, coming to PlayStation and Nintendo Switch.

This, as you can imagine, infuriated the masses that were hoping for something more. I suppose if anything, this is a lesson to curb enthusiasm related to rumours and as we always say, take rumours with a pinch of salt until proven otherwise.

That being said, it’s totally understandable if some were not overly impressed by the £39.99/$49.99 RRP for a port of a 13-year-old game, even if it will look a little nicer when being played in 4K on PS5. It will also come bundled with the Undead Nightmare expansion, but the multiplayer has been removed.

Yet, it’s still an exciting prospect to play Red Dead Redemption on the go courtesy of the Nintendo Switch, but does that warrant its price point? That at least is subjective to each individual.

However, not content with merely letting Rockstar Games know that fans are not happy with the simple port of Red Dead Redemption, fans have now taken it a step further by preparing to review-bomb the game, despite it not being re-released yet.

On Reddit, fans are being urged not to buy this port if you are not impressed with its announcement and to be fair, the best way to make a point to a publisher is by hitting it where it hurts most, and that’s in the wallet.

“It's a $50 (USD) port of a 13-year-old game,” exclaimed Redditor dtv20. “No graphical enhancements. No fps enhancements. No multiplayer. And it wasn't hard to port like MGS4 because of the bad PS3 architecture. This is 100% the Xbox 360 version being ported for $50. If you want a proper remake/remaster then don't buy this cash grab.”

What’s more, fans are also letting their feelings be known by attacking the re-releases announcement trailer on the official Rockstar Games YouTube channel. At the time of writing, the video has a 35k/110k Like to Dislike ratio. Ouch!

It will be interesting to see the actual reception when Red Dead Redemption is re-released next week not only with user reviews but also in terms of sales. You may have also noticed that there is no mention of an Xbox release. This is due to the fact that RDR is a port and it’s already available on Xbox and is even playable on Xbox Series X|S via backwards compatibility. Might I add, it looks and performs fantastic on the Series X, it’s also available at a fraction of the price.

Red Dead Redemption and the Undead Nightmare bundle will be coming to PlayStation and Nintendo Switch digitally on 17 August, and then a physical release will follow on 13 October 2023.