Red Dead Online has reached the end of its useful life. It is both a fantastic experience that Ive explored for hundreds of hours, and a game that will never fulfill its potential, forever in the shadow of its bigger (and significantly more profitable) sister, Grand Theft Auto Online. It is worthwhile to revisit the frontier to see what it has achieved since its 2018 release.
Your character is betrayed, framed for crimes they did not commit, and is due to be hanged as an outlaw. Jessica LeClerk, a wealthy lady, has been able to escape the violence she did not intend to commit. Once she has been unleashed on the frontier, it's time to get back to work fulfilling obligations, killing criminals, and grooming a stable of beautiful horses.
If you follow the LeClerk missions, you are sent through a brief campaign that requires you to make the occasional ethical choice. Do you bring a disgruntled daughter back to her father, or let her run off with her lover? Do you tie some neer-do-wells to the tracks and allow the train to enact justice, or are you more merciful?
The honor system works in tandem with your actions, and at first, you might assume you're in for some serious role-playing; this assumption fades away when you do things like brush and feed your horse; the honor system tends to fill up over time when you do things like brush and feed your horse; it's usually pretty clear what leads to an honor drop or recovery. executing witnesses is a no-no.
It's just never really matters. There are a few minor flaws that were overlooked at some point, and characters like Old Man Jones who feels like the angelic answer to the devilish Stranger in the Red Dead franchise are just there. It's also a good thing that Jones has dropped all of his foreshadowing.
Once you've completed the campaign missions, cowpokes can have their own fun. You may hunt and fish, build a camp and make some mouth-watering stew, hunt down high-priced criminal bounty, or run your own moonshine shack. Then I hop on my big horse Hayseed and wander out in search of missions in the vast, unspoiled wilderness.
The purpose of these activities is always to wrasslin in a muddy field. On the paper, Red Dead Redemption 2's excellent grappling, fighting, and physics systems add flavor.
The world also feels organic, although it isn't as engulfed in single-player play. For instance, I might discover someone who needs help returning home after a wolf attack, and when I take them home Ill find a mission available at their ranch, which naturally leads me to Valentine, where I pick a bounty off the board.
Red Dead Online is a great social game, but one that can never quite match up to its sister game in GTA Online. The action rarely goes beyond a brief standoff in a city or a dramatic horse change.
The vast open world of Rockstars is still beautiful to explore and full of little secrets to uncover. There was no overarching strategy that led Red Dead Online to a tangible and concrete destination, and now there will probably never be one, as Rockstar is moving on to focus on GTA 6 and continues to devote time and energy to the gigantic GTA Online.
There's something tragic about this, but it does give you gravitas. In GTA Online, we'd contemplatively stare into the fire and drink coffee from a tin cup before starting off on our horses. These serene moments were matched with rootin-tootin cowboy action.
The fans who stayed stuck through new character roles and occasional events until Rockstar's recognition or vindication have come to an end, and the game is now in purgatory. Only time will tell whether the group it has attracted sticks around or strikes out for a brighter future elsewhere.