Red Dead Online: A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Red Dead Online wasted no time living up to its name. With Rockstar games focusing on the GTA 6 cash cow, developers have no attention to spare for the lesser-known franchise.

Red Dead Redemption 2's online multiplayer has come a long way. There are way fewer griefers than in the early beta when all you could really do was grief with the lasso and hogtying mechanics. I’ve never had a parlay that I found productive.

If Rockstar wanted to follow the GTA Online model, it shouldn’t have been hard to implement heists, bank and train robberies, or otherwise create something for players to do that isn’t a circular fetch quest.

Like most multiplayer services, Rockstar relies on in-app purchases to generate revenue and test engagement. Without purchasing gold bars, you're not apt to make fast money.

Admittedly, I haven’t played much Red Dead since Rockstar nerfed the Daily Challenges. Determined to spend zero dollars and zero cents on this game, I found myself tasked with grinding for gold rewards. I didn’t really mind.

Bounty Hunting missions are extremely repetitive and predictable, sometimes in the most annoying ways. There are so many variables at play, but the structure of each mission is largely the same across each specialization. The same could be said for Moonshining, which ended up spoiling GTA Online’s courier missions for me when I realized I was traveling the same routes by Infernus that I had traveled in a covered wagon.

If you're looking to make in game money, the Collector specialty is the only job worth your while, if only to see Madam Nazar. But the other characters are largely annoying. Harriet was introduced for the Naturalist specialty, which turned out to be pretty bland in addition to her grating personality. Not to mention Cripps, who long overstayed his welcome after insulting my dog and otherwise never shutting up.

Rockstar servers are known to be capricious, meaning you can get kicked at pretty much any given time. The game doesn’t load at lightning speed, either, and glitches are not uncommon.

The flaws of Online play aren’t a reflection of story mode, or even RDR2 as a whole. Most fans are content to follow Rockstar’s lead in pretending that it doesn’t exist.

There are a few instances where online tops story mode–mainly clothing and customization items–but it's safe to say that pretty much anyone left on the servers is there for the love of the game. Maybe the nothingness is what makes it true to the western frontier.

How to Play Red Dead Online

: Red Dead Online is available through the purchase of Red Dead Redemption II on XBOX, PS4, PS5, and Windows PC through Steam.