Yesterday, Rockstar Games confirmed that by the end of this week, all Red Dead Redemption 2 owners will be able to enjoy Red Dead Online. Not everyone, is able to do so at the same time, as only those who have purchased any of the game's Special Editions can enjoy the online multiplayer mode from today.
A few hours ago, Red Dead Redemption 2 received a new update which finally added support for the Red Dead Online beta, which has now gone live for those who can access it. A lot of gameplay footage has been shared since the beta went live. It shows character creation for Red Dead Online as well as some of the story missions, competitive multiplayer modes, free roaming and more. You can find the gameplay footage right below. Of course there is live Twitch streams too.
Together with the addition of the Red Dead Online beta support, the new Red Dead Redemption 2 update introduced fixes for several different crash bugs that were present in the launch version of RDR2, fixes for stuttering and lag issues, improvements to the frame rate and stability, and other minor fixes. Rockstar Games hasn't yet revealed more details on what precisely has been fixed, but we hope to get more detail shortly.
As for what can be done in the Red Dead Online beta, Rockstar Games has confirmed that players are currently able to enjoy the first few story missions of the mode, starting from the escape from the Sisika Penitentiary, located to the east of the map. Once out of prison, players can choose to complete more story missions, set up camp, ride with friends in a Posse, complete the many Free Roam challenges available or simply explore the world, which has some minor differences with the world seen in the single-player campaign.
The Red Dead Online beta also features some Stranger missions which will differ in terms of availability depending on your character's current Honor rating. A high rating will result in honorable escorting missions, for example, while a low rating will result in missions where the player may have to help a criminal escape from the law and so on.
Also available right now in the Red Dead Online beta are competitive multiplayer modes. They can be played by interacting with the "Showdown Series" signpost. Right now, players can enjoy:
- Make it Count: A battle royale mode where players are armed only with a bow and arrows. The player area will gradually shrink during a match, and the last standing player will win.
- Shootout and Team Shootout: Classic gunfight modes where players have unlimited lives. The player with the most kills wins the match.
- Most Wanted: An all-against-all mode where the player at the top of the leaderboards is the one with the highest bounty.
- Hostile Territory: A team-based mode where different teams work have to capture land while defending already conquered territories. The team with the most points at the end of a match wins.
- Name Your Weapon: In this mode, players are able to use a variety of weapons to kill their opponents. The harder a weapon is to use, the higher the points for each kill will be. The players with the most points at the end of the match wins.
The Red Dead Online beta is now live for those who purchased one of the game's Special Editions. It will be available from tomorrow to all those who played the game at launch, and from November 29th to those who played the game between October 26th and October 29th. Everyone else will get access from November 30th.
Are you enjoying the Red Dead Online beta? Let us know on our Red Dead Online forums. You can also find a Posse in our Recruitment forums.
