Red Dead Redemption 2’s messy PC launch encapsulates the good, the bad and the ugly of PC gaming

INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Red Dead Redemption 2 is finally out on PC! At long last, PC gamers can play Rockstar’s cowboy simulator! Well … that was the plan. For
many PC gamers, the long wait to play Red Dead Redemption 2 on their PCs ended up being a whole lot longer.Instead of being able to jump
into Rockstar’s beautifully detailed world of cowboys, lowlifes, button mashing and seemingly endless horse riding, many people were
instead left staring at a message that reads "The Rockstar Games Launcher exited unexpectedly." Boy, howdy!Now, the less charitable amongst
us who have already played the game might say that this level of frustration offers PC gamers a pretty accurate Red Dead Redemption 2
experience
After failing a mission because you walked the wrong way, or died in an ambush because the game decided to lose all your weapons, you may
actually wish for the beautiful simplicity of a simple old fashioned crash to desktop error.When it works, Red Dead Redemption 2 on PC can
look stunning – especially with mods.(Image credit: DigitalDreams)Joking aside, if you’ve just bought a game, you should expect to be
able to play it
That’s kind of the point
And, the messy PC launch of Red Dead Redemption 2 has reminded many of us why gaming on PC can be so frustrating.While we’d love to say
that games crashing because of outdated drivers, or throwing up incomprehensible error messages that leave even the more technically minded
of us utter confused about what went wrong – and how to fix it – no longer happen, sadly it does
And, for console gamers who have sworn off PC gaming because it’s too complicated … they might well feel their prejudices have been
justified.It’s a shame, because the PC is undoubtedly the best platform to play Red Dead Redemption 2 – when it works.We had our share
of problems, with the Rockstar Games Launcher, the piece of software you need to install to play the game, taking forever to decrypt the
100GB file we’d just downloaded
And once, it had finally installed, the game refused to load.This cowboy is still trying to get Red Dead Redemption 2 to load.(Image credit:
Shutterstock)Thankfully, Rockstar released an update that seemed to fix the issue – after we updated our graphics driver.And once we were
in, it was definitely worth the wait
The graphics quality of the PC port puts the Xbox One X and PS4 Pro versions to shame
Not only does the PC version support a huge range of resolutions, including 4K and above (as long as your hardware can handle it), but it
also supports ultra-wide aspect ratios
And, as we found, this super-wide view is quite possibly the definitive way to play this game if you’re after a truly cinematic
experience.Add in a multiplayer mode you can play for free (remember that?) and an already promising collection of mods that will make the
game look – and play – even better, and the PC is clearly the ultimate platform to play Red Dead Redemption 2 on.It’s just a shame
that, at the moment the port is so messy, that it’s detracting from that fact.4v6PdNxazHuVb9ZFH2YqDF.jpg?#