The Red Dead Redemption Remake Rumor Unpacked
While fans continue to look for any and all signs regarding an official Grand Theft Auto 6 announcement, it's always good to remember that Rockstar Games has another massive franchise to be excited about. Red Dead Redemption 2 and Red Dead Online have been massive successes for Rockstar, so it's no surprise that people are wondering what is next for the western franchise. If a supposed leak is to be believed, it seems that Red Dead Redemption may be the next game to receive the big budget remake treatment.
The leaker's comments have been rounded up in a Reddit thread. Though these rumors should be taken with a grain of salt, one Redditor points out that it would make a good bit of sense for Rockstar to pursue something like this. As they put it, "If [Grand Theft Auto 6] is years away this would hold people over for a while."
Though the leak is unverified, there are quite a few interesting tidbits for fans if it turns out to be true. For one, this leaker claims that Rockstar is bringing back several voice actors from previous games in the franchise, including Rob Wiethoff. This isn't too surprising, considering the fact that Wiethoff voices John Marston, the protagonist from the original Red Dead Redemption. Wiethoff reprised his role as John Marston in the zombie horror spin-off Undead Nightmare and Red Dead Redemption 2, where he played more of a supporting role to that game's Arthur Morgan.
Speaking of Undead Nightmare, that entire expansion is supposedly getting the remake treatment as well. According to the leaker, Undead Nightmare will be included with the Red Dead Redemption remake, rather than being sold separately like the original version. This would be a cool way to give fans of the original the complete package. It would also offer folks who haven't played Undead Nightmare an opportunity to discover the spooky western tale for the first time in high definition.
The leaker claims that the remake would be more than a simple facelift or remaster. It will essentially be a rebuild of the first game running on the sequel's engine, much in the same way that the Resident Evil 3 remake used a great deal of the Resident Evil 2 remake's assets. Those two remakes have sold exceptionally well. With success stories like those and the recently released Final Fantasy 7 Remake getting rave reviews, it would make sense for Rockstar Games to try to get in on the action with their own high profile remake. Unlike those other remakes, however, the leaker suggests that this release would be treated as something of a budget title, retailing for somewhere around $40.
According to the leaker, the remake will also incorporate elements of Red Dead Redemption 2, such as hunting and fishing. While the chores in RDR2 have been a rather divisive element of the game, including them would be an interesting way to flesh out the mechanics of the first game.
Lastly, the leaker suggests that the remake won't be the only new piece of Red Dead Redemption content coming in the near future. Red Dead Online may be adding "a Mexico update" to expand on its map if Rockstar's higher-ups are excited about the progress on the remake. Considering the leaker's insistence that the remake is already in the later stages of development, it would sure seem that Rockstar is pleased with how it's coming along.
Again, there seems to be a good deal of disagreement regarding how far out Grand Theft Auto 6 really is. There have been suggestions that the game is still relatively "early in development", so we may not even see it until well into the next console generation. Even the leaker here seems to think that the game won't even be formally announced until the summer of 2022. If this is the case, then fans have a much longer time to wait than they'd even anticipated.
A 2022 announcement would almost certainly put GTA 6 coming out in 2023 at the earliest. Since Grand Theft Auto 5 came out in 2013, that would mean a full decade between GTA games. If that's really how long fans will have to wait, then it would be a nice consolation prize to be able to slip on John Marston's boots once again and take on the wild west.
If the leaker's estimation of an early 2021 release date is correct, then hopefully we'll hear something regarding this remake soon. If it's for real, it's highly likely that Rockstar would want to get the hype train rolling as soon as possible.