Red Dead Online
ROCKSTARBRINGSREDDEADTOTHEWILDWESTOFMULTIPLAYER GAMING CHRIS BURKE
PUBLISHER ROCKSTAR / DEVELOPER ROCKSTAR SAN DIEGO / RELEASE DATE OUT NOW/COSTFREE WITH RDRII
but the world is punishing once you
wander off the beaten track. The map
is so big, the world so detailed, that
we just wanted to ride off on our own
adventures. Dying outside of missions
is incredibly punitive, though, as it
docks you dollars and rewards you
with little. Meanwhile, making Arthur
fat, or watching his beard grow, could
only go so far in sating our RPG needs.Role with it
In Red Dead Online, all those things
you can do ‘on the side’ in the story
feel more important. And thanks to a
great Awards system, you can grind
this game to your heart’s content, for
XP, dollars and shiny gold buckles for
achievements ranging from wildlife
mass-murder to distances travelled,
crafting, trading and combat.
Exploring every inch of the map
is amazing, and fast travel enables
you to see it all without getting too
saddle-sore. Free-roaming the New
Austin locations of the first Red Dead
game is thrilling; feeling the need to
buy a coat before heading into theThere was never
any doubt that
Rockstar could pull
off a persistently-
online multiplayer
version of Red
Dead Redemption II – just look at the
success of GTA Online. Everything that
Rockstar has learned from that game
should certainly be able to help it to
craft an engaging Western multiplayer
world packed with fun things to do.
A decent creation suite births your
untalkative convict, sprung from jail by
a rich widow who wants you to wreak
bloody revenge on her husband’s
murderers. But although there are a
small number of decent story missions
that involve posse-ing up with other
players, you’re totally free to wander
the huge map doing whatever you like.
Actually, if there’s one criticism
we could level at the story mode of
RDR2, it’s that it can be a frustrating
experience if you go off-piste. Initially,
we were trying not to rush through
the story missions, instead taking a
little time to smell the prairie flowers,
snowy mountains suddenly seems like
the most important thing in the world.
Aside from the story missions,
there are Free Roam missions set by
NPCs that involve bounty hunting or
assassinations, retrieving wagons,
or delivering mail – though another
posse can steal your target or cargo
from you, or otherwise get in the way.
Series Showdowns, PVP matches
for 16 or 32 players, can be joined
at any time, and comprise the core
multiplayer activities here. Most
Wanted, a free-for all deathmatch
where more points are awarded the
higher up the leaderboard your kill is,
is superb. The other modes, such as
Name Your Weapon which rewards
using trickier bows or tomahawks, and
king-of-the-hill style Hostile Territory,
less so. How enjoyable each mode
is largely depends on the map, too.
Smaller towns like Tumbleweed are
perfect for shootouts, whereas in the
sizeable Tall Trees and St Denis maps,
half your time is spent spamming
the A button running for miles to find
other players, after you’ve died andshort
cutWHAT IS IT?
The online multiplayer
of Red Dead
Redemption 2,GTA
Onlinein the West.
Cowboys, cowgirls,
no superstar DJs
though.
WHAT’S IT LIKE?
GTA Online, with
cowboys instead of
gangsters, and
horses instead
of cars.
WHO’S IT FOR?
Fans of RDR2, GTA
Online, fans of
multiplayer games,
fans of MMORPGs.078 THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE