Early access to the Red Dead Redemption online beta starts today at 1:30pm today. But how well will such a brilliant story driven game will do when it takes its first steps into the online world of gaming and how excited should we be?
In an interview yesterday a spokesperson from Rockstar Games stated that there will be a staggered release for the up and coming online beta for the hugely success cowboy simulator. Red Dead Redemption 2 was released in the 26thof October on both PS4 and Xbox One and within a few days of its release the question of when the online mode will come.
Fans first thought that the online mode would be tested out two weeks after the release of the game as this was the timeframe that Rock Star used when it came to releasing the high successful Grand Theft Auto Online back on the 1stof October 2013. That date come and went with no word from Rockstar when it came it RDR2 Online.
For weeks we heard nothing until the creative director at that Take Two (the parent company that owns Rockstar Studio’s) stated that we would not be seeing anything on RD online until at least the end of the November. We now had a time frame and all we had to do was wait. Wednesday last week rolled around and fans of series started think that we might be getting a statement in the coming days announcing a delay as that is what happened with the release of the full game, which was pushed back 18months from its initial release of Spring 2017
Well Last night that all changed. A press release from Rockstar last night stated that Red Dead online beta will be dropping today for certain players. So the only question left to ask is when and where you can play it?
Well people who ordered the Ultimate Edition of the game will have access to the online beta today at 1:30pm GTM, Next people who played the game on release day will have access to the beta as of tomorrow and the rest of plays will be able to go online on Friday.
The press release also came with some more information about what we can expect from red dead online’s gameplay.
An official announcement for the online service read: “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.”
There’s not much else to go on until we all start getting access this week, other than the online mode from Rockstar’s other massive open-world property. If Red Dead Online is anything like GTA Online, we’re going to see targeted quests and missions in an alternative game world, with freer customization and actions without the same long-term narrative consequences.
Playing with friends or matchmaking with strangers is a given, though we could see servers restricting player numbers below GTA Online’s 30 for a more curated feel.
We imagine Red Dead Online will stay comparatively grounded, and not veer too much from the central game experience. We can envisage saloons where you play poker and start fights with other players, and we can see quickly descend into bottle-over-the-head chaos.
