Today, Rockstar Games officially announced that its forthcoming western title, Red Dead Redemption 2, would be receiving a delay until spring 2018, causing fans of the franchise the world over to become crestfallen by the news. However, to make up for the holdup in development, the studio has decided it will try and appease those who have been patiently waiting for any concrete evidence of the project's progression since its announcement several months ago by putting out several fresh screenshots of the western title's world.

As seen in the gallery below, fans can get a look at several different scenes taking place within the environments of Red Dead Redemption 2, with some potentially featuring the game's protagonist. That said, though, with Rockstar Games having offered little in the way of explanation for the context of these pictures besides apologizing for the title's delay, there's no telling how any of the prominently featured characters in the images will be represented in the final product, or in what capacity.

Although one can only speculate as to who the cowboy is entering the dusty town by way of horseback, what kind of character the bandit with the bandanna over his mouth is, and who those hands holding the silver pistols belong to, Red Dead Redemption 2 fans can at the very least agree on the fact that the stills are nothing short of gorgeous. With such high resolution textures, detailed character models, finely attuned lighting, and lush landscapes, it's safe to presume many will be poring over these screenshots for a while, much like they did with the game's first trailer.

With Red Dead Redemption 2's delay until next year now in effect, there's a good chance that these screenshots will be the last official update from Rockstar Games for quite some time, especially when one considers the lengthy radio silence the developer held since the title's initial reveal. Nevertheless, there's always the possibility of the studio providing a look at RDR 2 during E3 2017 in June, but that's nothing more than conjecture at this point.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is currently in production for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, with a release window slated for sometime in spring 2018.

Source: Rockstar Newswire