--- description: Arguably still 'Grand Theft Auto'-maker Rockstar's finest hour title: 'Red Dead Redemption' May Be Worth Picking Up an Xbox One to Play image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c1f1776c4ee31b7/69889b4e3c163972cb45df8b/red-dead-redemption.jpg?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) ## Tech Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 'Red Dead Redemption' May Be Worth Picking Up an Xbox One to Play by [Matt Peckham](/author/matt-peckham/) ## Matt Peckham Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 8, 2016 8:58 PM CUT  Rockstar by [Matt Peckham](/author/matt-peckham/) ## Matt Peckham Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 8, 2016 8:58 PM CUT I have no time to replay most games, much less open-world westerns with seductive enticements to “gold metal” a bunch of grueling, checkpoint-allergic missions. But if you want to revisit what for many remains _Grand Theft Auto_\-maker Rockstar’s true magnum opus, _Red Dead Redemption_ now works all official-like on a current generation console. Make that the Xbox One, which I realize probably means I’m speaking to a smaller player base than Sony’s relentlessly buoyant PlayStation 4\. But if you’ve never played this thing, know that the Xbox version is the one to beat. Even were the game on PlayStation 4, you’d be stuck streaming through PS Now, with all of streaming’s downsides (meaning periodic drops in fidelity), plus the [further downs of it being the PlayStation 3 version](http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-red-dead-redemption-face-off "undefined"). Is it worth picking up a $279 Xbox One for (or a $299 Xbox One S when the slimmer version arrives in August)? When the game itself costs another $29.99 to buy digitally? I say that’s not crazy, but then I made time to play, then replay the game when it arrived back in May 2010\. It’s not what anyone expected from Rockstar, and even with the sort of valid narrative problems _The Witness_ creator Jonathan Blow calls out [here](http://time.com/4355763/the-witness-jonathan-blow-interview/ "undefined"), I’m not sure it’s been tonally equaled (yes, even given the occasional miracles pulled off in _The Witcher 3_). It’s a fascinating, harrowing, magisterial experience, warts and all, in light of what the rest of the industry was up to six years ago. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4399304/red-dead-redemption-xbox-one/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4399304/red-dead-redemption-xbox-one/"},"headline":"'Red Dead Redemption' May Be Worth Picking Up an Xbox One to Play","datePublished":"2016-07-08T20:58:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:50:13.368Z","description":"Arguably still 'Grand Theft Auto'-maker Rockstar's finest hour","url":"https://time.com/4399304/red-dead-redemption-xbox-one/","keywords":["Tech","Video Games","xbox One","Microsoft","rockstar"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c1f1776c4ee31b7/69889b4e3c163972cb45df8b/red-dead-redemption.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Matt Peckham","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/matt-peckham/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9c1f1776c4ee31b7/69889b4e3c163972cb45df8b/red-dead-redemption.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"red-dead-redemption","caption":"","creditText":"Rockstar","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4399304/red-dead-redemption-xbox-one/","name":"'Red Dead Redemption' May Be Worth Picking Up an Xbox One to Play"}}]}] ```