Red Dead Online Review (Xbox, PlayStation & PC)

Red Dead, despite having an award-winning moniker and it being the cultural equivalent to Clint Eastwood of the Wild West, has one looming shadow that keeps it from lassoing its own throne: Grand Theft Auto. Well, not just Grand Theft Auto, but its Online counterpart—the poster child for Rockstar Games’ booming portfolio. Due to it being the elder sibling with thrice the influence and weight, Red Dead Online falters even when it shouldn’t, almost as if to illustrate the fact that, although equipped with its own identity, it still has the monumental task of strafing from the shadow of its kin to make an impact on the Frontier.

While both games are worlds apart, both thematically and conceptually, Red Dead Online does share a lot of similar elements with Grand Theft Auto Online, including an open-ended mission formula, character development, and leveling (or honor, in this case) system. It’s Rockstar; it doesn’t take much to notice the signature qualities and that all-important format. The sad reality here is that, while Red Dead Online does have its own unique blueprint, it isn’t quite nearly as popular as Grand Theft Auto Online. It isn’t as popular, mainly due to the fact that Rockstar has kept a rather tight leash on it since its launch. And as of 2022, well, the Frontier speaks for itself, truly. Cue the tumbleweed, I guess.

Although Red Dead Online isn’t dead dead, it is but a mere shadow of what it once was—a dust ball that strongly counteracts a once-beloved hub for Western civilization and multiplayer shenanigans. However, that isn’t to say that it isn’t worth pulling out your holster for. No, because if Rockstar Games is anything at all, it’s consistent with its evergreen qualities. Heck, just take a gander at Red Dead Redemption 2. Believe it or not, folks are still unraveling secrets over half a decade after its initial launch. And the same applies in Red Dead Online, thankfully, in that it sets a standard that other online multiplayer platforms can only dream of reaching. It might not boast the bottomless nexus that Los Santos brings to the table, but to give credit where it’s due, it is a world that has more than its fair share of adventures, challenges, and avenues of progression. That’s a Rockstar trait for you, though.

On the bright side, Red Dead Online retains a great deal of its core appeal, even after several years of undergoing various changes and pivotal events. In addition to a wealth of evergreen content and mission milestones, the game keeps a firm hold on what it takes to provide an intimate experience with its users and their characters. Although not equipped with a perfect character customization suite, the game does offer numerous options and areas to enhance, as well as a sizable selection of jobs to take and challenges to shovel through. Add the fact that it also comes loaded with hundreds of activities—moonshine runs, bounties, shootouts, and frequent events, and so on and so forth—and you have more than enough to sink your teeth into. I can’t fault any of that. Scratch that — I applaud Rockstar for finding ways to make dormant worlds feel timelessly enjoyable and immersive.

Here’s the bad part: there is no real future for Red Dead Online. Sadly, as Rockstar Games has more or less abandoned the Wild West to focus on its other, slightly more profitable ventures, the odds of seeing anything original in Red Dead Online are pretty slim. To that end, you might find yourself hitting something of a brick wall in terms of content and general chores, as in, you won’t have much else left to “experience” after completing all that there is to do to bring your level up to scratch. In other words, you’ll likely reach a point where you’ll have nowhere left to turn but to the tumbleweed. And that’s a shame, truly, as it could bring so much more to the table. Due to Rockstar’s priorities being set elsewhere, however, it seems that the chances of it finding a new lease of life in the near future are slim at this point.

While the majority of Red Dead Online has been sent out to greener pastures, there is, at least at its core, a beautiful open-world multiplayer game here with a ton of great features to explore. The world itself is still as striking as ever, and the old-fashioned Wild West is still teeming with all of the familiar facets and award-winning materials that made its counterpart the grand slam of action-adventure games that it was back in 2018. The only difference here, of course, is that there are no real reasons for you to stick around in Online, whereas in Red Dead Redemption 2 there is enough replay value to keep you coming back time and time again. With that in mind, there’s a question that needs to be answered: is it worth dipping into Online at all, or should you keep to your guns and stick with Arthur Morgan? Decisions, decisions.

Verdict

Red Dead Online isn’t at the tumbleweed stage just yet, though it is rolling through its golden years as a slightly slower, less active “grandpa” version with half the population and content than what the original incarnation had back in 2019. Nevertheless, Red Dead Online is still a great deal of fun to work through, especially if you’re relatively new to the Wild West and are desperate to wrangle some of Rockstar Games’ award-winning adventures, bounties, and challenges. The only downside to being a newcomer in its world is that, due to there being little to no perks for post-game loyalty, there isn’t much of a reason to stick around once all the knots have been assembled. It’s an anti-climax, if anything, and one that dampens an otherwise excellent journey with a tremendous amount of genuinely enjoyable moments and events, encounters and missions. But that’s Rockstar Games’ doing, unfortunately; you can more or less blame Grand Theft Auto Online at this point.