Along with GTA, Red Dead Redemption is Rockstar Games’ best-known brand. But the first part of the saga was originally created at a completely different studio – in Japan.
Rockstar Games has been working on the GTA series since 1997 and has been extremely successful to this day. The sixth part is probably the most anticipated game at the moment and will most likely be a great success again.
But the Western series Red Dead doesn’t have to hide away. It also produced great games. Red Dead Redemption 1 is considered a milestone in the open world genre and only recently received the long-awaited PC version.
The first part of the saga, Red Dead Revolver, was not initially created by Rockstar. The idea came from a large Japanese video game manufacturer.
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A western with fantasy elements?
How did the project come about? The origin of Red Dead lies with the Japanese company Capcom, which is known for series such as Resident Evil and Dragon’s Dogma. At the turn of the millennium they had the idea for a western game and commissioned the developer Angel Studio to do it.
The working title was SWAT, which stood for Spaghetti Western Action Team. The game behind it should be inspired by famous classic films such as Sergio Leone’s westerns. However, fantasy elements would also have their place (via polygon.com). SWAT should have been more exaggerated and magical than the later Red Dead Revolver ended up being.
How did the development go? Bumpy, as the US-based team at Angel Studio and the Japanese staff at Capcom had different views on what the game should look like. This led to conflicts and repeated delays in work.
Eventually, Capcom canceled development. Angel Studio was sold to Rockstar during this time and given a new name: Rockstar San Diego.
The canceled project attracted interest there and was restarted. It was brought to a successful conclusion under the new and now known name Red Dead Revolver. The game was released in 2004. This laid the foundation for a three-game series. If the ex-head of Blizzard has his way, there should be a fourth part.
Compared to the sequels, the first part is even less realistic and serious. You get the impression that it is a parody of well-known westerns.
Red Dead Revolver received good reviews, but it was the sequel, Redemption, that became a huge success. But the underlying idea remained the same. The latest spin-off was also a great success and impresses, among other things, with its attention to detail: “99% of people have never seen it”: Developer reveals what secrets there are in Red Dead Redemption 2