Red Dead Redemption 2 fan puts their mobile through the wringer by running the open-world cowboy game on it "very poorly"

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The massive Western epic running on its smallest screen yet

Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2.
(Image credit: Rockstar Games)

Red Dead Redemption 2 can now kinda run on mobile as one content creator has shrunk the Western epic onto their Android.

YouTuber Serg Pavlov has posted a pair of videos showing how Red Dead Redemption 2 runs, or maybe crawls, on their Red Magic 9 Pro via emulation. In the video's description, Pavlov writes that the mobile version has issues with a low framerate, stuttering audio, and generally "works very poorly," but you can see for yourself below.

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Slow-mo Red Dead Redemption 2, as shown above, is more of a proof of concept video rather than a version that's supposed to be realistically playable. (I can't imagine constant freezing shortens the game’s mammoth runtime.) 

The video sees the main man, Arthur Morgan, partake in less intense activities, strolling through towns and riding across fields on horseback. The stuttering issues persist even when there isn't a cowboy shootout afoot. Either way, seeing a game as lavish and massive as Red Dead Redemption 2 on the small screen is novel fun. 

Red Dead Redemption 2 on mobile might have been a far-fetched idea a few years ago, but blockbusters like Death Stranding and Resident Evil Village now work relatively well on smartphones as long as your device doesn't overheat and scorch your fingers. 

If you're instead craving an official Rockstar romp on the go, the GTA Trilogy’s mobile ports fixed tons of lingering issues from the console and PC versions. That might be our only open-world crimefest for a while since GTA 6 development is reportedly "falling behind."

Why not check out the 50 best iPhone games to make your commute 97% better?

Kaan Serin
Freelance contributor

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.