Red Dead Redemption 2 is officially available to purchase and play on PC. And while launch hasn't necessarily gone as smoothly as Rockstar hoped, that isn't slowing down the already very large and passionate player base shifting from Grand Theft Auto 5 to the new game. Among those fans is the notorious Rockstar modding community and it has already gotten to work. Before Red Dead Redemption 2 even launched on the Epic Games Store, the open-world game had a mod transforming its protagonist into Batman's archnemesis, the Joker.
The very first visual mod uploaded to Nexus Mods, in fact, is RedDeadModders' "Arthur Morgan as The Joker" mod. The mod replaces the face texture of Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2's story mode with a different face sporting some sloppy clown makeup, based on Arthur Fleck from the recent The Joker film. It's not exactly the highest quality of mods, but it's something. And considering the typical rowdy fanbase behind most Rockstar games, it's surprisingly appropriate.
RedDeadModders is working on several other additional mods for Red Dead Redemption 2, as well. One Joker not being enough, they're also working on a face mod with the Joker's makeup from the character's depiction in the 2008 film The Dark Knight. Other skins include a full body mod turning Arthur Morgan into a Terminator robot, and several skins related to a possible Undead Nightmare DLC for Red Dead Redemption 2.
The RedDeadModders aren't the only group pushing mods out for Red Dead Redemption 2. Nexus Mods already has more than half a dozen mods for the open-world game. Many of them are simply save files allowing players to bypass content, but several more interesting mods are available, too. The "RDR2 Photorealistic reshade" mod gives the game an interesting sharpness, while the "Simple Realistic Reshade for RDR2" claims to offer realistic lighting with a small performance hit.
Clearly, this is just the beginning of modding for Red Dead Redemption 2. It doesn't help that the Epic Game Store lacks mod support through its client, making mod installation more difficult than on Steam. But with Red Dead Redemption 2 coming to Steam in December, mods are certain to proliferate soon. Expect the gigantic graphics updates, the roleplaying servers, and many, many more Joker skin mods over the coming months.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.