Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar’s 2010 cowboy adventure, is now available on PlayStation consoles–and Nintendo Switch–but how does it measure up to the Xbox backward-compatible versions? On Xbox Series X and Xbox One X, Red Dead Redemption has a 4K presentation–1440p on Xbox Series S–and on PS5 and PS4, several key improvements are evident according to the game analysts at Digital Foundry.
While a small list of enhancements are noticeable, Digital Foundry noted that much more could have been done to improve the 13-year-old game. As the group explained, the Xbox backward-compatible version of Red Dead Redemption is the Xbox 360 edition of the game with a higher resolution, anisotropic filtering, and a negative LOD bias that enhances specific textures.
While the PS4 Pro version–which is used for the PS5 version–does have better shadows in comparison and a slightly different gamma presentation, the rest of the game “looks much the same” between the two consoles, according to Digital Foundry. “Models still have a sharp, slightly blocky character, with seventh-gen polygon budgets,” Digital Foundry’s Oliver Mackenzie explained. “I couldn’t make out any improvement in textures either, and the game still suffers from some very low-res artwork. This includes the main character, whose muddy face should have been a high priority to improve. LODs look about the same between the two releases, with grass extending far into the distance on both machines, but with some noticeable pop-in at times as well.”