Red Dead Redemption's Switch and PS4 “conversion” is not the PS5 remake fans were hoping for

Red Dead Redemption is coming to PS4 and the Nintendo Switch for the first time.

Announced today, the new release of Red Dead Redemption is a bundle of the 2010 Western RPG and its Halloween-fuelled Undead Nightmare companion. The bundle will set you back $49.99 and release on October 13.

The PS4 and Switch ports are confirmed as a "conversion," rather than a remaster, and certainly aren't the Red Dead Redemption remake that some fans have been hoping for. Recent datamines have hinted that Rockstar was getting ready to make some kind of announcement about an entirely-remade version of the game, but this conversion sounds like the bundle is just a port. Rockstar hasn't clarified any new features beyond language support in Chinese, Korean, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, and Latin American Spanish.

It's also worth noting that this is a last-gen port. While the Red Dead Redemption conversion will be available on PS5 via its backwards compatibility with PS4, this isn't a new-gen version of the game. There's no reference to any substantial graphical or gameplay overhaul. The re-release is also not being handled in-house, but by porting specialists Double Eleven, a UK studio best known for its work on Fallout 76, Rust, and Minecraft Dungeons.

Red Dead Redemption itself, of course, is a beloved RPG, and Red Dead Redemption 2 cemented the series as equal in stature to Rockstar's other massive series, Grand Theft Auto. Arguably, that makes the decision to avoid a full-fledged re-release of the game even more confusing - as Red Dead Online has gradually slowed down, it's clear from that community that a significant audience remains for the series. With GTA 6 still a long way off, it's likely that some extra love for Red Dead Redemption might help Rockstar keep the money flowing, but this is unlikely to bring players flooding back to the Old West.

Here's what a full Red Dead Redemption remaster might have looked like.