After one bad launch for Red Dead Redemption 2 with its PC debut on Rockstar and Epic’s stores in November, I had thought Rockstar might make the most of the second chance for a smooth launch presented by its belated Steam release last night. They have not. Along with the crashing and performance issues still suffered by all players, the Steam release seems to have even developed new issues. It’s also more clear quite how common the old issues are, now the game is on a store which has user reviews. Oh dear.
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Player reviews on Steam also complain about other crashes, Launcher screw-ups (apparently unplugging your controller before launching then replugging after launch helps?), performance issues, bugs, and disconnections from Red Dead Online. The game suffers these problems with the Epic Games Store and Rockstar Games Launcher releases too–they’re not specific to Steam–though it has become more obvious how common they are now the game is on a store with user reviews. Reports from people who choose to write Steam reviews aren’t the complete picture, of course, but it’s a wider view than looking at complaints on Reddit.
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Maybe Rockstar can go for a GOG release next, have another crack at a good launch. Then Itch if that doesn’t work out. Then Origin. Game Jolt. Uplay. Battle.net. GamersGate. Ninth time’s a charm?