Rockstar Games has finally broken silence on its long-awaited summer update to Red Dead Online (the online multiplayer mode of the Red Dead Redemption 2 console game). Here’s what Rockstar, and the game’s previous incarnations, suggest we should expect.
Rockstar’s press release confirms that while some gameplay improvements will be included in the update, its centerpiece is the introduction of three new character roles for players: bounty hunter, trader, and collector. Accessing these roles will cost between zero and 15 in-game gold bars.
Here’s a little bit on what each role will enable players to do.
The bounty hunter role will center on capturing non-player characters and other players under bounty. To support players in their counter-crime adventures, the bounty hunter will have access to a range of new equipment and capabilities. These include tracking arrows, bolas (“a thrown weapon, perfect for tangling the legs of bounties”) and a reinforced lasso. Rockstar notes that players will be able to make significant in-game earnings by capturing other players who have bounties to their names. Rockstar thus seems to have developed a clever in-game incentive against griefing (the unprovoked killing of other players). Those griefers will now face players incentivized to catch them.
The trader role is focused on hunting animals and selling their pelts. Traders will get access to a pet dog, which can be trained to “warn of thieves raiding your camp,” efficiency skills to maximize use of animal carcasses, and a “sturdy wagon fit for carrying multiple carcasses, hides and pelts.” The wagon is likely to be particularly popular with players who have become frustrated by the limited materials a horse can carry.
The collector role entails finding and selling rare collectibles found across the game world. Players in this role will be assisted by access to a metal detector, “refined binoculars,” and “an essential tool for uncovering buried collectibles.”
The level of detail in Rockstar’s release suggests this update will take Red Dead Online to a new level of fun. That’s sorely needed for a game that, while full of potential, is increasingly burdened by limited experiences and players who relentlessly cheat but face no punishment in doing so.
While it seems we will have to wait a while yet to access Mexico, the summer update at least offers cause for new hope.
