After an extended period of time with no significant updates, Red Dead Online has received a bunch of new content. The new update looks less to focus on crime and more on the game’s serene outdoors.
The update adds a new role, labeled The Naturalist, allows you to work with a conservationist by the name of Harriet Davenport. Davenport points you to the direction of “magnificent” animals across the lands in service of tracking, studying, and sedating them for gathering blood samples.
To help you document the wildlife of Red Dead Online, Rockstar had added a new field guide that lets your keep tabs on all the animals so you can easily learn how to track and hunt them. If you’re one for pictures, a new camera has also been added to the game.
Red Dead Online already has a camera but it’s restrictive in the sense you can’t really move around with it. The new Advanced Camera allows for much more mobility, new filters and settings, and more.
If that’s not dangerous enough for you, Red Dead Online has also added legendary animals, the more… “unique” creatures that are roaming the land You can speak to Gus Macmillan who will turn legendary animal pelts into 800 different pieces of new clothing or trinkets.
Of course, you’ll need new gear for your new adventures. You can now get an improved bow, an Elephant Rifle, a new varmint rifle, and new ammo types to successfully sedate an animal. If your heart is big, you can even revive them to ensure they don’t get eaten or killed by others in the open world. There are even new tonics to help you excel on your hunt.
“These include personal Weight Loss and Weight Gain Tonics, Animal Revivers and special Tonics that mitigate weather effects or increase your ability to sneak up on potential animal subjects,” reads Rockstar’s newswire post.
New missions also allow for you to follow storylines and gain unique opportunities such as raiding poacher’s camps to liberate caged animals. On top of hunting, you can protect the animals of the west from poachers in free roam events. Some of these will even spawn additional legendary animals. Whether you’re a hunter or an animal lover, it seems there’s something for everyone here in Red Dead Online’s The Naturalist update.
You can check out the various gameplay improvements to Red Dead Online below as well:
- Improved Threat Indicator: The Naturalist brings visibility improvements to the threat indicators, with the red tones at the edges of the radar indicating directions of attack being brighter and bolder across both Red Dead Online and Red Dead Redemption 2.
- Asynchronous Matchmaking: Asynchronous matchmaking uses Free Roam as a waiting area when Showdown Matches and Races aren’t currently available, improving load times for all Red Dead Online players.
- Updated Daily Challenges:Â New General and Role Daily Challenges, with total Role Challenges increased.
- Updated Daily Challenge Rewards: Two separate Challenge Goals and Gold rewards – the original one for completing seven General Challenges per day, and another for completing nine Role Challenges per day.
- Improved Wardrobe System:Â More clothing combinations and removal options are now available.
Finally, as part of a partnership between Rockstar and PlayStation, Red Dead Online players on PS4 will get some extra goodies. All PS4 players will be granted free gifts and early access to some clothing.
Free Gifts:
- 10x Sedative Varmint Cartridges
- 5x Animal Revivers
- 5x Blending Tonics
Early Access Bonuses:
- Woodcote Poncho
- The Legendary Gabbro Horn Ram
- Legendary Chalk Horn Ram
- Legendary Rutile Horn Ram
- Three Fossil Collection sets
