Red Dead Redemption 2 is an epic tale of life in America at the dawn of the modern age.

America, 1899. The end of the wild west era has begun as lawmen hunt down the last remaining outlaw gangs. Those who will not surrender or succumb are killed.

After a robbery goes badly wrong in the western town of Blackwater, Arthur Morgan and the Van der Linde gang are forced to flee. With federal agents and the best bounty hunters in the nation massing on their heels, the gang must rob, steal and fight their way across the rugged heartland of America in order to survive. As deepening internal divisions threaten to tear the gang apart, Arthur must make a choice between his own ideals and loyalty to the gang who raised him.

Built from the ground up for the latest hardware, Red Dead Online blends the classic multiplayer of the original Red Dead Redemption with the best of everything we have learned since then about creating deep multiplayer experiences. The result is something completely new and fun, and an experience that will continue to expand and evolve over time as we gain valuable feedback from our community in the Beta period.

Now that everyone has had a chance over the past month to experience the story of Arthur Morgan and the Van der Linde gang in Red Dead Redemption 2, it is time to begin the beta period for Red Dead Online.

Built from the ground up for the latest hardware, Red Dead Online blends the classic multiplayer of the original Red Dead Redemption with the best of everything we have learned since then about creating deep multiplayer experiences. The result is something completely new and fun, and an experience that will continue to expand and evolve over time.

With the gameplay of Red Dead Redemption 2 as its foundation, Red Dead Online transforms the vast and deeply detailed landscapes, cities, towns and habitats of Red Dead Redemption 2 into a new, living online world ready to be shared by multiple players. Create and customize your character, tailor your abilities to suit your play style and head out into a new frontier full of things to experience.

Explore the world solo or with friends. Form or join a Posse to ride with up to seven players; gather around the fire at your Camp; head out hunting or fishing; visit bustling towns; battle enemy gangs and attack their hideouts; hunt for treasure; take on missions and interact with familiar characters from across the five states; or fight against other outlaws in both spontaneous skirmishes and pitched set-piece battles; compete with other players or whole Posses in open world challenges and much more.

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.

Today’s update to the Red Dead Online Beta introduces Gun Rush, where you’ll put your survival instincts to the test, gathering weapons and ammunition while the play area shrinks in this new mode for up to 32 players. Available to play now in Free-for-all and Team variations, where the last one standing wins.

More updates are coming soon including new Races and Showdown Modes and new clothing and emotes, as well as some additional changes based on player feedback including:

• Daily Challenges: Tackle new challenges each day covering every aspect of the game, from sharpshooting to evading the law.
• Law and Bounty Upgrades: Some changes are coming to the way the Law and Bounty systems work in Red Dead Online to reduce the enticements for griefing. Soon, players will get a bounty for committing crimes and will be incentivized to pay them off within an allotted time. Wait too long and bounty hunters from each of the states will track the player forcing them to either pay up or escape.
• Parley Changes: We’re making the Parley system easier to trigger so that you can avoid aggressive players more quickly. In addition, it will be easier to trigger Feuds, Posse Feuds and Leader Feuds to take on attacking players in structured competition.
• Proximity-Based Player Blips: Player location blips will soon appear only over short distances, reducing the range at which you are visible to others, decreasing the likelihood of being targeted by another player across large areas. Down the line, we’re also looking to introduce the ability to identify players who grief and kill indiscriminately with a progressively darkening blip that becomes more visible and at a longer range, so everyone in a session can identify potentially dangerous opponents at a glance and from a safe distance.

More to Come

We are working on lots of new content that we will be releasing this year. Just a few of the updates in the works are:

• All-new missions to build on your Story in A Land Of Opportunities – from previously established characters like Horley and Jessica LeClerk, and some new ones as well.
• A range of Dynamic Events throughout the world
• Lots of new competitive modes including new Showdown Modes and Races
• Plus new weapons and clothing, and lots more that we’re not quite ready to announce just yet…

Xbox One players can also now access the Red Chestnut Arabian Horse, Alligator Skin Ranch Cutter Saddle and the High Roller Double-Action Revolver in the Red Dead Online Beta.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is currently available for PS4 and Xbox One.