This week, Rockstar Games made an announcement that I’ve been waiting for. They confirmed that on December 1, 2020, Red Dead Online is coming to PC and consoles as a standalone release. This is phenomenal news for a couple of reasons, but I’m most excited about it because I really want to enjoy this online game world without the hassle of having the main game of Red Dead Redemption 2 installed. I’m not saying I don’t like Red Dead Redemption 2. That game is beautiful, and it’s very good at doing what it does. I love online worlds though, and I’m so bloody excited to play in this one on my next-gen consoles.
Get Red Dead Online as a Standalone Game on December 1st.
New players who do not already own Red Dead Redemption 2 can experience everything Red Dead Online has to offer, including access to all future content updates. https://t.co/u09K5UeuAY pic.twitter.com/6Npqn8kNF8
— Rockstar Games (@RockstarGames) November 24, 2020
While this is mostly great news, there’s a caveat. This isn’t free-to-play like GTA Online. It’ll cost $5 until February 21, 2021, then it’ll be around $20. That seems like a rip-off when the developer and publisher know that they’ll make a lot of money through microtransactions.
Regardless of this, I’m still super excited to play the game. The world of Red Dead Redemption 2 is one that everyone says needs to be experienced. This is my chance to get in on that world on the ground floor. There are so many different ways to play, and there’s a progression path for each way to play too. This is what sets the game aside from many other online titles. It encourages you to follow each path and rank them up. In other similar games, you need to create one character for each path. I’m just glad that I won’t need to do that.
By far the best thing about Red Dead Online is the people who play the game though. I’ve read about gangs who occupy this space, as well as random players who do nothing but bother others all day. It seems like there are loads of different ways to have fun, and a plethora of missions to enjoy outside of the story of Red Dead Redemption 2. This could be an online game that takes on the likes of Destiny 2 and Warframe, providing it offers everything players want. The fact that you can play it on Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 also doesn’t hurt either.