Saddle up, partner. Red Dead Redemption 2’s online mode may be available to play sooner than expected.
Yesterday, Rockstar announced that the online multiplayer component of Red Dead Redemption 2 will be playable as a public beta sometime in November; roughly a month after the single-player game releases.
Red Dead Online, as it is fittingly called, will be free to play for anyone with a PlayStation 4 or Xbox One copy of the game. The Rockstar team has already addressed the fact that there will likely be “turbulence at launch”, but the studio is prepared to work hard with the community to improve upon any of the issues.
Red Dead Online appears to be following the same blueprint as Grand Theft Auto Online, as the online world will blend “narrative with competitive and cooperative gameplay in fun new ways.” Players will be able to work together, or as a lone wolf, as they explore the vast, open world of the wild west. While elements from the single-player campaign will be brought into Red Dead Online, the mode will also act as a product separate from the actual game – much like Grand Theft Auto Online being a separate product from Grand Theft Auto 5.
But rest assured. Red Dead Online will not merely be a Grand Theft Auto Online 2.0.
In an interview with IGN, Senior Producer at Rockstar San Diego, Josh Needleman, stated that players’ experience in Red Dead Online will differ from Grand Theft Auto Online with its more intimate setting and overall change of pace.
“We’ve tried to take the best elements and best content packs from Grand Theft Auto Online and use them for templates for what we are making here,” stated Needleman. “We feel Grand Theft Auto Online really only found its feet creatively with Heists. That pack, along with After Hours, The Doomsday Heist, Gun Running and a few others represent the best of Grand Theft Auto Online, and provided the template for what we wanted to use here, (not in terms of content, obviously, but how they combined narrative, gameplay, modes and other content into a cohesive thematic whole) alongside all of the elements we liked from the old Red Dead Redemption multiplayer.”
If you were around to experience the slew of issues that plagued Grand Theft Auto Online went it live, you may be a bit skeptical towards the launch of Red Dead Online. However, while at-launch issues are to be expected, it appears that Rockstar has learned from their previous online games and are looking to make the launch of Red Dead Online as smooth and successful as possible.
Red Dead Redemption 2 will be available for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on October 26th. Keep an eye out for our review following the game’s release.
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