It’s gorgeous once it works.

Leaked, teased, and now the talk of the town (which still ain’t big for all of us), Red Dead Redemption 2’s PC port is finally here. Looking to be Rockstar Games’ biggest PC release for 2019, the master race version of the instant PS4 hit was highly anticipated ever since the first word of its PC port broke out early this year.

So how does the PC experience hold up? Well, to sum it up nicely, it’s gorgeous…once it works.

Just like any other game port, Red Dead Redemption 2 is not without its early post-launch problems one of them being the constant crashing which commonly occurs when you enter the vicinities of towns. While a fix is yet to be deployed by Rockstar, a temporary fix would involve relaunching and clearing your local profile via the Rockstar Game launcher settings to give your game a quick refresh.

Annoying as it may be, the game itself is a beauty to behold as the PC port opens a lot of possibilities to enhance your experience mainly through maxing out graphics, additional control scheme support via mouse and keyboard, and hopefully in the near future, mods.

High-resolution textures, dynamic lighting, the overall new ambient feel, and additional control options are easily the strongest forms of this PC port, and, together with the already well-received content and production value, breathes new life into the game. Animations, especially during cutscenes, feel more alive, and the minute details that were already visible in the original PS4 version are given extra attention.

Still, the port is nowhere from being perfect and it is not without its seemingly annoying flaws (together with the crash issue). One thing to notice is how the gamepad support feels wack and the game does not let you remap gamepad keys leading to a lot of confusion as to which button is for which. The overall control scheme could also feel confusing especially when the game still prominently shows you keyboard hotkeys over the ones for the gamepad although my personal theory is that this could be caused by me using a generic gamepad instead of officially supported ones such as the Xbox pad. Or perhaps the game is just more optimized for the mouse and keyboard, which is one of the reasons as to why the damn thing is ported to the PC.

Looking past its minor flaws and current post-launch issues, it’s easy to fall in love with Red Dead Redemption II with its brand of storytelling now paired with a fresh, high-resolution coat of goodness. With its charismatic characters, highly detailed and greatly interactive environment, and massive world, the Wild West of RDR 2 leaves much to explore and to uncover from the snowy peaks of Colter to the plains of New Hanover and beyond.

All screenshots were taken using the in-game Photo Mode. Our copy of Red Dead Redemption 2 is running on the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S GX502GW. A complete review of this game (PlayStation 4 release version) is also available here on Reimaru Files via LINK