It is worth noting that those who only had the Xbox One version have seemingly avoided the bug. Developer Rockstar Games has taken to social media to acknowledge the existence of this issue, and has said that it is working with Microsoft to try and get it resolved as soon as possible.

“We are aware of an issue where Xbox players are unable to upgrade their digital Xbox 360 version of Red Dead Redemption to the Xbox Series X/S version and are working with Microsoft to resolve it. Thank you for your patience,” wrote the developer on its support-oriented social media account.

According to PureXbox, Rockstar’s efforts have already begun to bear fruit for players affected with this issue. An update to the publication’s report about the matter notes that some users have started to see the roll out for a free upgrade for the Xbox 360 version of Red Dead Redemption. The upgrade is listed as being “Free” with a “-100%” discount applied to it, and also has a banner on its store page that this free upgrade will expire in 13 days. However, it is believed that this upgrade will be made free for all Xbox 360 version owners down the line.

The current-gen upgrade for Red Dead Redemption is priced at $49.99 for those that don’t already own the game. Subscribers to PlayStation Plus Extra/Deluxe and GTA+ can get it for free, however. The upgrade brings with it the ability for the title to run at 4K and 60 FPS, along with overall improvements to the visuals. The Nintendo Switch 2 version also gets its own benefits, including 60 FPS and support for DLSS and mouse controls.

Interestingly, PS4 and Nintendo Switch owners who already had Red Dead Redemption for their respective consoles can carry over their save data to the current-gen version. It is currently unknown whether Xbox One version owners will get similar cross-progression with the Xbox Series X/S version once they’ve completed the upgrade.

Red Dead Redemption, despite being the first game in the duology, has a story taking place after the events of Red Dead Redemption 2. The title puts players in the shoes of John Marston who has been tasked by federal agents to take down the remnants of Dutch Van der Linde’s gang. Along with the base game, the recent re-release also includes the Undead Nightmare expansion that tells a weird west-styled horror story where Marston gets to take on zombies and other spooky creatures.

For more details about Red Dead Redemption, check out our review of the PC release.

Dying Light

Dying Light taps into what makes horror games so irresistible. It’s got a scarcity of resources, infected humans transforming into zombies, and the fear of nighttime adding anxiety on top of it all. And while most gamers would argue the best horror games are linear curated experiences in nature, Dying Light uses its open-world to ramp up the horror in ways only it could. Threats aren’t fully scripted and can come from pretty much any direction in the map. Similarly, scrounging for resources takes on a new life given the large dynamic environments. Dying Light 2 would take the parkour of the first one and really polish it up while adding a paraglider for faster traversal. Though fans still largely prefer the darker tone of the first game over the more colorful style of the sequel.

Days Gone

Want to simulate what it would be like to outrun and outgun an ocean of zombies out in an open field? Well, Days Gone is the closest thing to that experience on the gaming market – yet nothing could prepare us for the sheer size of hordes that the game would bless us with. While it would have been amazing to mow down zombie hordes using pick-up trucks or even a combine harvester, Days Gone limits its vehicles to primarily bikes. Still, the bike controls are quite smooth and ramming into zombies is a fun, though less ideal, way to squash their huge numbers. The icing on the horror cake are the stealth sequences, which make for some terrifying moments when swarms get alerted. Now if only we could finally get a sequel that gives us more vehicles to mow zombies down with.

The Evil Within 2

The world design of The Evil Within 2 may not be as open-ended as the previous games on this list, but it makes up for it in its tightly crafted narrative. Sebastian Castellanos’ mind is still reeling from the events of the first game, but he still has to rescue his daughter, Lily within the surreal Union labyrinth. The stakes are more personal here than in the first game, amplifying the psychological aspect tenfold. The semi-open world design adds some interesting side stories and secrets to discover, nicely contrasting the more claustrophobic sequences. Oh, and the bizarre, surreal world can even be experienced in first-person thanks to a 2018 update to the game.

Sons of the Forest

Being stranded on an island full of cannibals has to be one of the more harrowing concepts in horror, and Sons of the Forest executes it frighteningly well. The size of the island and its predominant forest biome is four times larger than the first game. The larger layout both helps the player and hinders them with helpful NPCs and a host of new terrors lurking in hidden corners of the map.

Ghostwire: Tokyo

After developing The Evil Within, Tango opted to go fully first-person with Ghostwire: Tokyo. The more intimate perspective combined with a supernaturally shifting environment enveloped in fog gave it a unique brand of horror. The game’s developer describes battles with the phrase ‘karate meets magic’. You’d think being adorned with such supernatural abilities neuters the sensation of helplessness a bit, but no, the many occultic monstrosities populating the possessed Tokyo are enhanced with even more terrifying abilities than the player character, making for an unpredictable and haunting journey.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl

Stalker 2, actually the fourth game in the series, was first announced way back in 2010. Typically, games with development hell history turn out poorly, but Stalker 2 nailed the post-apocalyptic premise and gameplay the series had been celebrated for prior. The limited inventory space and sparse resources within the Exclusion Zone make for a true survival experience. Add on a hunger and sleep meter and some reality-altering anomalies within the open-world and you’ve got a game sure to raise players’ blood pressure.

Dead Rising

This 2006 game may be the oldest on this list, but it’s also one of the most iconic in terms of open-world horror. Willamette Parkview Mall makes for a fantastic locale to combat hordes of flesh-hungry zombies. Part of the endless charm of the series is the sheer variety of weapons available to smash zombie brains with. The first Dead Rising hosts 250 weapons ranging from useful shotguns to fun props such as Mega Man’s Megabuster. The horror aspect, while less severe than others on this list, still comes into play when dozens of zombies close in on a defenseless and unaware Frank.

State of Decay 2

The State of Decay series has quickly become one of gaming’s most immersive zombie survival experiences. There’s few games that can match the feeling of building outposts and combating zombies together with other co-op partners quite like State of Decay 2. The series has always been primed for co-op, yet the first game lacked any multiplayer, being a purely solo affair. Besides the four-player co-op, the additional facilities and utilities, as well as a far more diverse map made for an improved gameplay loop. The improved open-world may have sacrificed some of the memorable story moments the first had, but the series is certainly headed in the right direction, giving us optimism for State of Decay 3.

Metro Exodus

Metro Exodus is another game that uses its semi-open world structure well. The Volga, Caspian Desert, and Taiga regions feel so distinct from each other, as opposed to the largely monotonous regions of previous games. But the game still hones in on those narrow tunnel corridors that the original did so well. The Metro series also evokes a peculiar sensation of dread with the semi-frequent hallucinations and horrific mutant creatures aptly named The Dark Ones.

Dead Island 2

Dead Island takes a more arcady and fun approach to its horror, though getting overwhelmed by zombies still provides some tense jump scare moments. The sequel partitions up its open world into regions, helping to make each area distinct. What really makes Dead Island 2 stand out from the rest is the environmental interactions. Most objects lying around can be used as weapons, and a number of hazards such as electric and fire can be used against zombie hordes.

Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare

Combining a spaghetti western wild west setting with a zombie apocalypse probably hasn’t been done in games before Red Dead did it with Undead Nightmare. It’s such a unique fusion of disparate elements, yet feels so satisfying and fun to experience. The addition of classic folklore monsters, from Chupacabras to Sasquatches, is just the cherry on top of a well blended horror-tinged desert of the Red Dead franchise.

Project Zomboid

Project Zomboid takes a unique twist on survival horror. It’s not about how you survive, but how you die in this game. Players are fated to get eliminated by a single slow zombie bite, yet the game manages to make this process rewarding and, above all, fun. The unlimited nature of sandbox mode puts all the tools in the player’s hands, giving control of the zombie population, weather patterns, and loot. It’s a top-down 2D game though, so if you’re just in the mood for a cinematic and graphically intensive horror experience, others on this list will have to substitute.

Once Human

One of the most recent entries on the list, Once Human prides itself on its community-focused gameplay. Players can craft and build base camps meant to serve as a home base within the game world. Hunger and sanity needs to be kept in check lest players lose their loot with a respawn. What helps separate Once Human from other multiplayer survival games is the wild creature design. I mean, there’s a walking bus monster that players can use for transportation for crying out loud. Once Human isn’t lacking in creative  charm.

Beyond Hanwell

Surprisingly overlooked despite its quality, Beyond Hanwell lets players loose in the rainy streets of Westminster London amid an outbreak of mutant anomalies. The sound and music in particular really create an unsettling atmosphere, which is further aided by the environmental details of within the first-person perspective. Your primary source of self-defense is a pistol and some other light weapons, but a bigger aspect of the game is simply exploring the old buildings for notes and objects that help uncover the mystery.

The Sinking City Remastered

Fans of Lovecraftian horror should check out The Sinking City if they haven’t already. It’s filled with a variety of weird monsters beyond the familiar mortal coil, and even features a mental stability meter that diminishes as you learn new truths. The semi-open environments help fill out the background lore of Oakmont well, and the motorboat is just plain fun to traverse the waters with.

Red Dead Redemption tells the tale of John Marston, who must hunt down the remnants of the Van der Linde gang at the Bureau of Investigation’s behest. The open-world Western is considered one of the greatest games ever made due to its story, characters, and attention to detail.

Unlike last year’s PS4 and Nintendo Switch versions, Rockstar and Double Eleven has taken advantage of modern PC hardware, supporting 144 Hz, Ultra/Super Ultrawide displays, native 4K, and more. You can customize the draw distance and shadow quality, leverage Nvidia DLSS 3.7 or AMD FSR 3.0, and more.

Even the requirements are reasonable, though some may scoff at the $50 price tag. Check out our feature for everything about Red Dead Redemption on PC.

Though close to a decade and a half old, Red Dead Redemption won’t run on anything below Windows 10. On minimum settings, it will require either an i5-4670 or an FX-9590, along with either a GeForce GTX 960 or a Radeon R7 360. Meanwhile, on recommended settings, it will need either an i5-8500 or a Ryzen 5 3500X, along with either an RTX 2070 or an R 5700 XT. On either setting, you’ll also need 8 GB of RAM and about 12 GB of free storage space, while an SSD is also recommended for recommended settings. You can check out the full system requirements below.

Red Dead Redemption and Undead Nightmare will launch for PC later this month, on October 29, and are currently also available on PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.

Developed in collaboration with Double Eleven, the PC version includes support for native 4K and 144 Hz monitors, keyboard and mouse functionality, Ultrawide and Super Ultrawide displays, and HDR10. Players can adjust graphical settings like shadow quality and draw distances while leveraging upscaling technologies like Nvidia DLSS 3.7 and AMD FSR 3.0. Nvidia’s DLSS Frame Generation is also supported.

Additional details will be provided in the coming days, but it’s confirmed to launch on the Rockstar Store, Steam, and Epic Games Store for PC.

Red Dead Redemption first launched for PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2010. It was re-released for Nintendo Switch and PS4 last year, and though its features came up short (check out our review), Rockstar added 60 FPS support for PS5 players in a post-launch patch. Head here for more details.

“Journey across the sprawling expanses of the American West and Mexico in Red Dead Redemption, and its zombie-horror companion, Undead Nightmare, now playable on PC,” reportedly reads the marketing blurb spotted in the files.

It is important to note that this is just a rumour and shouldn’t be taken at face value. Rockstar itself is yet to make any statement or announcement regarding Red Dead Redemption on PC. It is also worth noting that PC is the only modern platform where Red Dead Redemption isn’t playable, having been released on PS4 and Nintendo Switch back in August 2023, and being available through backwards compatibility on Xbox for quite some time.

Red Dead Redemption takes place after the events of its sequel, Red Dead Redemption 2, and puts players in the shoes of John Marston who has been tasked with taking down members of his former gang.

It looks like Rockstar is gearing up to release #RDR1 on PC. pic.twitter.com/2xMmpFIdCk

— Tez2 (@TezFunz2) May 13, 2024

So far ahead of the curve was it when it released thirteen years ago that even a straight port to modern consoles does holds up – this is very well a game that you can pick up for the first time today and you will still fall in love with it and appreciate the intricacies of its mechanics and narrative, though, of course, where it stood alone at the top when it first came out, it has since been surpassed by a number of games (most notably its own sequel) and is now just one of many excellent open world and narrative driven games.

Ahead of the reveal and quick release of this port, expectations were running high and people were hoping for a Red Dead Redemption remake or at least comprehensive remaster. That this release was not even a bare minimum remaster and just a straight port, for almost full price, drew a lot of ire. And very honestly, at the very least on PlayStation, Rockstar could and should have done a whole lot more.

But on the Switch, this straightforward port sings, and we end up with a fantastic way of playing an all time classic. Like many others, I find myself wishing we got a full Red Dead remake (or at least a proper remaster); and yet, with how well the game holds up, and how well it lends itself to the Switch, this still ends up being a worthwhile release. For Nintendo-only players who have never played Red Dead Redemption before, or for those who want to revisit it portably, the Switch release of Red Dead Redemption still comes recommended.

When I say it’s a straight port, I mean it. There is literally little to no remastering or enhancement work here. This is the original game, as you remember it, running on the Switch as is. The frame rate holds up much better (it maintains a good, healthy 30fps, barring some infrequent dips), and there is some form of more sophisticated anti-aliasing; it also looks like some bugs and glitches (including the infamous headless zombie glitch in Undead Nightmare) have been cleaned up. Other than that, this is pretty much Red Dead Redemption, as it was.

"Red Dead Redemption as it was is still a great game, and it lends itself particularly well to the Switch."

But Red Dead Redemption as it was is still a great game, and it lends itself particularly well to the Switch. On the handheld screen (particularly if you have the OLED model), this game can still look stunning – particularly in some of the cinematic sweeping shots (you know the ones I am talking about, don’t you? The ones where the music swells as you get a shot of the vistas).

A lot of the graphical shortcomings that stand out more on modern PlayStation and Xbox consoles, given their more advanced hardware, are much less noticeable on a Switch, particularly in handheld mode. It looks great and performs well – a great version of a great game.

And what a game it is. The classic story of the outlaw turned bounty hunter John Marston is still one of the great tales in video gaming canon. The voice work, dialog, writing, cinematography, use of music, pacing, and plotting was top notch when the game came out, and is still hugely compelling and immediately arresting – even with the game’s infamously slow start, it draws you into its richly realized setting from the get go, and never relinquishes its hold.

And that setting is remarkable – the American Wild West setting is rich and ripe for video games, but very few games have attempted it, and fewer still have done it as well as Red Dead Redemption did. More than anything, the game establishes the tone, aesthetic, and mood for a proper Wild West story from the first frame and uses that to keep the player engaged while slowly setting up the story and ramping up the gameplay systems.

On the gameplay side, the game’s age shows a bit more than on the storytelling side. The open world itself is still magnificent – it is massive, full off gorgeous vistas, and full of content, random dynamic events, and so many things to find, so many things to do, that all feed into an interlocking mesh of systems. The Honor and Fame systems (Honor functioning as a morality system, that also decides how other characters in the game respond to you, and Fame simply being how aware the world is of you and your exploits) still hold up, and it’s actually remarkable that they are this fleshed out and this nuanced and reactive, given that this was a game made for hardware that had very limited resources to work with.

The open world itself is one you can lose yourself for hours in. Simply going hunting, collecting flowers, camping, trying to track down treasure, saving the random strangers you find along the way – all of that holds up. What holds up less well are the controls (we’ll come back to this in a moment), the mission design (we’ll come back to this in a moment too), and most of all, the combat.

"On the gameplay side, the game’s age shows a bit more than on the storytelling side."

Let’s talk about the combat. Look, I’m going to come out and say it – Rockstar sucks at proper gunplay. Max Payne 3 was, miraculously, one of the greatest playing third person shooters of all time, but that aside, the gunplay in their games has never been good, and that is very much the case here. The entire combat here is reliant on a fairly rudimentary cover system, and an auto aim where you more or less have to trust that the aiming is automatically locking on to someone you want to shoot, because you sure as heck won’t be able to do that yourself with how poor the controls are.

There was a Fallout 3 VATS style Dead-Eye mechanic included, where time slows down and you can aim more finely, but again, all of that just reinforces how clunky the combat was in the game to begin with. It is just about functioning enough to not detract from what it’s going for – in part because the use of music and cinematography during gunfights is excellent and does a lot of heavy lifting – but this is definitely one of the areas the game shows its age.

The controls in general do. While they are not as infamously clunky as they were in Red Dead Redemption 2, they are pretty damn bad. They’re easier to palate in the more intimate handheld play setting of the Switch, absolutely, but again, this is an area where I wonder why Rockstar couldn’t have added some improvements or QoL options to this release – they don’t even have a gyro assisted aiming setting here. The mission design is also an area that sticks out like a sore thumb. As open world games have grown more and more popular, their mission design has grown and evolved with that popularity. Most modern open world games allow the player to approach their objectives in any number of ways, and depending on what the player does, even allow them to bypass the objectives entirely.

Red Dead Redemption is not like that, having extremely linear and guided mission design for its main missions that stands in stark contrast to how systemic and rich its open world is. In a way, you get it, Rockstar have prioritized their cinematic storytelling here in the main story missions, which is obviously at odds with, and limits, player agency. It’s a different set of priorities and approach to open world design, but it does stick out like a sore thumb relative to other modern entrants in the genre, and while it is a valid approach to designing an open world games, it can be a bit of an adjustment period.

"It’s hard to tell if Rockstar will ever put in the time and money needed to do justice to a Red Dead re-release. But even if they don’t, at least we now have the original classic playable on all modern consoles."

So, Red Dead Redemption, as is, on the Switch. One of the most immersive and beloved open worlds ever, now on a screen in your hands. Is the port worth it? It very much is, at least on the Switch. While the game has aged a little, and those aspects stick out, and while there is a case to be made that Rockstar could have made some effort at polishing things up, the core game remains brilliant, and if you are playing it for the first time, it will still pull you in. If you are replaying it on a portable, it is an excellent way to revisit it. And, while Rockstar has sadly excised the excellent and underrated multiplayer mode from the Switch and PS4 releases, you do get the even better Undead Nightmare included here (and as mentioned, that one does see its bugs and glitches cleaned up).

I think, on a broader level, it is fair to expect Rockstar to do more, and to wish that a game as important and beloved as Red Dead Redemption was being treated better. But taking this release for what it is – a straight port of a beloved classic to the Switch – it holds up well, and is worth revisiting, worth recommending. If you have never played Red Dead Redemption before, or the idea of revisiting it on a portable appeals to you? This port comes hugely recommended. But if you were hoping for a more robust re-release, sadly, this isn’t that. It’s hard to tell if Rockstar will ever put in the time and money needed to do justice to a Red Dead re-release. But even if they don’t, at least we now have the original classic playable on all modern consoles.

This game was reviewed on Nintendo Switch.

It wouldn’t be too problematic if not for the $49.99 price. Remember: The Xbox 360 version has been backwards compatible with Xbox One for years, with 4K support on Xbox One X thanks to Microsoft’s tech (though it’s still locked at 30 FPS). Suffice it to say that fans aren’t happy about all this, especially the pricing and lack of major new features.

Speaking to IGN after Take-Two Interactive’s earnings call, CEO Strauss Zelnick addressed the pricing, stating, “That’s just what we believe is the commercially accurate price for it.”

Hannah Sage, EVP of Finance, added that it included Undead Nightmare. However, when asked if that contributed to the price, Zelnick said it “was a great standalone game in its own right when it was originally released, so we feel like it’s a great bundle for the first time, and certainly a great value for consumers.”

What about the PC version, which wasn’t announced? Zelnick said it’s up to the developer. Regarding the thought process behind ports versus remasters and remakes, he responded, “It depends on the vision that the creative teams have for a title, and in the absence of having a powerful vision, for something that we would do with a title, we might bring it in its original form, we’ve done that, and in certain instances we might remaster or remake, so it really depends on the title and how the label feels about it, the platform, and what we think the opportunity is for consumers.”

Red Dead Redemption launches on August 17th for PS4 and Nintendo Switch – check out screenshots for both versions here. A physical release is planned for October 13th.

Along with a new trailer, Rockstar has released screenshots for both versions. Check them out below and compare them to the original game here. There are some visual improvements, but it’s not a major jump in fidelity. The release will include the base game and the Undead Nightmare expansion for $49.99.

Red Dead Redemption is backwards compatible on PS5 for those who pick it up on PS4. However, Rockstar hasn’t confirmed native versions for the current-gen console or Xbox Series X/S (which can play the Xbox 360 version through backward compatibility). There also isn’t any news about a PC version. Never say never, so stay tuned in the future for more announcements.

Rockstar has announced that Red Dead Redemption and its standalone expansion Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare will be coming to PS4 and Nintendo Switch (as leaks suggested) on August 17. Both will be available as a single package for $49.99. The port is being developed by Double Eleven Studios, and will also include newly added language support for Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Korean, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, and Latin American Spanish.

Both games are also individually available on Xbox One via backward compatibility and boast visual and technical enhancements, which means the acclaimed open world experience will finally be playable on all modern consoles soon at long last. Native PS5 and Xbox Series X/S releases haven’t been confirmed, but the game will, of course, be playable on current-gen consoles via backward compatibility.

Red Dead Redemption will also release physically on October 13. The game can now be wishlisted on the Switch eShop and PlayStation Store. Check out its announcement trailer below.

Sadly, there’s no mention of a PC version. The original game hasn’t released for the platform to this day.