With the PC port of Red Dead Redemption 2 now out in the wild following its launch on November 5, how are fans finding it? Well, some players are having to battle against Rockstar’s launcher to get the game running. Still.
There’s no denying that Red Dead Redemption 2 was one of the masterpieces of recent gaming history. Not only is it Rockstar’s most ambitious project to date, it’s perhaps one of the biggest games ever made. When it launched on the PlayStation 4 last October, fans lapped it up. From slow-burning beginning to inevitably super-sad ending, players could not get enough. PC players, meanwhile, had an agonizing year to wait before Arthur Morgan and the rest of the grizzled gang made it to their rigs.
Needless to say, this beautiful, expansive title isn’t going to run on any old work laptop from 2002. It’s a technical marvel, and it’s going to take a PC with some truly stellar specs to do it justice. If you want the game to run at settings worthy of it, we’re talking about the highest end of the high end. Even if you’re fully equipped and ready to go in that regard, though, you’ve got the nefarious Red Dead Redemption 2 launcher to contend with first.
As Destructoid reports, eager players are finding all kinds of issues with the system. Incompatibility with Anti-Virus programs and Vulkan (DirectX 12 is recommended in the report) are among the biggest roadblocks. The good news is that Rockstar is aware of the problem and are working on updates to make the experience smoother, or at the very least, functional, depending on the extent of the individual issues players are facing.
Optimistic players can look out for version 1.14, which should alleviate some of these stability problems. It also brings new content along with it, including emotes, the Fortune Teller’s Collection and a fresh new Legendary Bounty in the shape of Etta Doyle. Aside from that, all we can do is trust in Rockstar and accept the teething troubles a huge title like Red Dead Redemption 2 is bound to have as it settles into its new home.