There’s a new update available for Red Dead Redemption 2’s online component, and the highlight feature is the addition of a bigger battle royale mode.
The new mode is called Gun Rush, which is a battle royale mode that will support up to 32 players. Players will gather weapons and ammunition to battle for survival in a play area that shrinks over time. The game mode will be available in both free-for-all and team variations. Sound familiar? Yep, that’s because it’s yet another iteration of a mode that is quickly becoming available in every game ever released. Of course, there is already a much smaller, slower take on the battle royale mode available in Red Dead Online known as Make It Count, but Gun Rush sounds much more along the lines of the traditional battle royale experience.
Rockstar has emphasised that more updates are coming to the game, including new Races and Showdown Modes as well as new clothing items and emotes. They are also going to be making a number of changes based on player feedback, such as the introduction of daily challenges, changes to the way that the Law and Bounty system works, changes to the Parley system, and changes to player location blips.
The changes to the Law and Bounty system are designed to reduce the amount of griefing involved in the game. These changes will see players given a bounty for committing a crime and they will be given an incentive to pay off that bounty within an allotted time. Failure to do so will result in bounty hunters from each of the states hunting the player down, forcing them to either pay their dues or try to escape. The Parley system is also being made easier to trigger so that players can avoid aggressive players more quickly, and it’s also going to be easier to trigger Feuds, Posse Feuds, and Leader Feuds. Player location blips are also going to be refined so that they only appear over short distances, meaning you’ll be less likely to be seen, and therefore targeted, over longer distances. Rockstar has also said that further down the line they intend to introduce the ability to identify players who are renowned for griefing and killing without reason by way of a darkening blip that gets more visible at a longer range, allowing all players to spot annoying bastards (or “potentially dangerous opponents”, as Rockstar put it) from a safe distance.
Looking further on in the life of Red Dead Online, Rockstar is also planning on introducing all-new missions, dynamic events, new competitive modes, new weapons and new clothing items. As a side note, Xbox One players can now get their hands on a number of previously PS4-exclusive items, namely the Red Chestnut Arabian Horse, the Alligator Skin Ranch Cutter Saddle, and the High Roller Double-Action Revolver.
Red Dead Online has had a bit of a mixed reaction since its launch, with some people loving it and some people complaining about the lack of things to do, ultimately finding it a bit, well, boring. The mode is still in beta, of course, and Rockstar has said that it will be staying in beta for a few months yet:
“Red Dead Online will stay in beta for a few more months yet as we have many more new gameplay features to add across the board as well as further changes to improve, stabilize and refine the overall experience.”
I can’t help but feel like Rockstar have a lot of work to do with Red Dead Online if they intend to make it duplicate the roaring success that GTA Online has had. That being said, GTA Online was an unmitigated disaster at launch, to the point where it didn’t even work, but it has gone on to be a phenomenal success. Rockstar know what they’re doing, and I’m looking forward to seeing how Red Dead Online evolves from here.
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