Red Dead Online will launch in beta this November; Free with RDR 2

With Red Dead Redemption 2 just a little over a month away, we still know very little about the game. We have an idea of some of the mechanics thanks to a gameplay video and preview coverage, a basic understanding of the story, but something that has been a big mystery for the last two years is the mysterious online mode.

The mode, simply titled Red Dead Online, has been in the back of our minds since the announcement but Rockstar hasn’t really budged on details until now. Today, Rockstar Games announced that Red Dead Online will enter beta this November after the game launches in October, similar to Grand Theft Auto V.

Rockstar cited their focus on Red Dead Redemption 2’s single player and their struggles with launching and maintaining GTA Online in 2013 as reasons for the staggered launch of Red Dead Online. Speaking to IGN, Imran Sarwar, Director of Design at Rockstar North gave some insight into the mode.

“We love story-based, single-player games and they are the foundation of everything we do. Red Dead Redemption 2 is an absolutely massive story-based game that we hope people will be lost in for a long time and we want people to experience everything that world has to offer before we build on that with the Online experience. Not to mention, playing through the story and getting to know the controls and mechanics of the game is the best way to get ready for playing inside the world of Red Dead Online.

“Also, as we have learned from experience when launching Online games at this scale, there are bound to be a few issues and we want to ensure that we have time to gradually roll out the game and make the experience as smooth as we possibly can for everyone. We believe this way of rolling out will give people the best overall experiences with both single player and multiplayer.”

As for what Red Dead Online looks to accomplish in terms of gameplay, Rockstar is still being a tad vague but it sounds promising.

“Red Dead Online is an evolution of the classic multiplayer experience in the original Red Dead Redemption, blending narrative with competitive and cooperative gameplay in fun new ways. Using the gameplay of the upcoming Red Dead Redemption 2 as a foundation, Red Dead Online will be ready to be explored alone or with friends, and will also feature constant updates and adjustments to grow and evolve this experience for all players,” said Rockstar Games in a press release.

Red Dead Online will blend the best elements of the original Red Dead Redemption’s multiplayer and the innovations Rockstar brought forward through Grand Theft Auto Online’s lifetime. Josh Needleman, Senior Producer at Rockstar San Diego, addressed the narrative and gameplay structure of the mode to IGN.

“One of the biggest differences between GTA and Red Dead universes is that you’re often speeding through or flying over a GTA world, whereas in Red Dead Redemption the change of pace elevates the intimacy of the overall experience. Like the single player game’s story of Arthur Morgan, we want people to settle into their online characters and feel like every activity makes sense for the character, the setting and the time. This should feel intimate and personal while still feeling fun and action-packed from moment to moment.

“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. 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.”

Red Dead Redemption 2 will launch on October 26th, 2018 for Xbox One and PS4. Red Dead Online is slated for an unknown date in November.