In a surprise announcement, Rockstar Games has revealed that soon you'll be able to buy Red Dead Online as a standalone title, separate from the single-player experience Red Dead Redemption 2, for a better price. There is also a new Bounty Hunters DLC coming to Red Dead Online next week.
All this time, only players who bought Red Dead Redemption 2 had access to the multiplayer mode set in the same location and setting. Many features and mechanics are shared across the two games, but it makes sense to open up the multiplayer mode to players who didn't feel like spending a full game's price on a title only half of which they're interested in.
While the single-player portion of Red Dead Redemption 2 is a fantastic, engrossing and beautifully written epic, some people only vibe with multiplayer games, weird as that may be. As a result, Red Dead Online will launch on the PlayStation Store, Microsoft Store, Steam, Epic Games Store and Rockstar Games Launcher as a standalone on the 1st of December.
The initial price of the standalone game is going to be $4.99 through the 15th of February. Buying the standalone version will grant you the same level of access to content as buying the full version of Red Dead Redemption 2, so there won't be any kind of restrictions in place. This means access to all of the free DLC Rockstar has added to the game since launch and all future updates as well.
If you purchase the standalone game and later decide that you are, in fact, interested in the story mode, you won't need to go back and buy the whole game again. There will be an option to upgrade by separately purchasing the story mode. Rockstar's statement isn't entirely clear but it does not imply that one will be able to buy just the singleplayer portion as a standalone.
Rockstar Games has also revealed that a new Bounty Hunters DLC will be released next week, expanding upon the content available to the most popular Role in the game. The Rank cap will be increased by 10 with a bunch of new contracts, legendary bounties and items for players to unlock and purchase, alongside a new season of The Outlaw Pass with 100 tiers of goodies.
Players should expect the frontier to be flooded with new blood during the holiday season!
