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 Beta players who log in this weekend (January 25th through Sunday January 27th) can expect a bonus of five Gold Bars set to be delivered by Tuesday, January 29th.

Additionally, upgrades have been made to the lobbies of Gun Rush, the latest mode which pits up to 32 players in a battle-royale fight to the death in a rapidly shrinking play area full of weapons ranging from Repeating Shotguns to Dynamite Arrows.

Along with the changes to matchmaking, further upgrades can be expected for Gun Rush and beyond.

Gold Bonus

Thank you to dedicated Red Dead Online Beta players worldwide for your continuing feedback as we work together to refine the game experience. As a token of our gratitude for your support and understanding throughout this Beta period, we are rewarding this weekend’s active players with a bonus of 5 Gold Bars. Play the Red Dead Online Beta between today Friday January 25 and Sunday January 27 to qualify for the bonus, which will be delivered to your account by Tuesday January 29.

Gun Rush Feedback & Matchmaking Improvements

Following the launch of the new Gun Rush mode, we identified a few matchmaking issues, some of which we have addressed with short-term improvements and all of which we are working towards more permanent and proper fixes for in the longer term. The minor improvements should help generate fuller lobbies and we will add more fixes in upcoming title updates. Gun Rush is best experienced with as many competitors as possible, so if you had any issues with smaller lobbies around release, we strongly encourage you to give it another go this weekend as we are already regularly seeing much fuller matches on both PS4 and Xbox One.

For those who haven’t tried it yet, Gun Rush is a tooth and nail, Western style battle-royale fight to the death for up to 32 players that can be played either with Teams or as a Free For All. Players compete in an ever-shrinking battle zone with horses for quick transport (and associated risks). Skirmish for weapons ranging from Mauser Pistols to Repeating Shotguns to Fire Bottles and Dynamite Arrows – as well as for valuable, hard to obtain armor like the headshot-thwarting Ned Kelly Armor to help you survive to the end.

We also updated our official Feedback page to now include dedicated sections for Gun Rush. We of course want to know what you like, don’t like, suggestions for improvements and changes to this and other modes and types of gameplay – so please do keep it coming!

More to Come

Our teams are currently working on lots of fixes, changes and improvements to the game based on player feedback including the quality of life improvements that we detailed in our last status update: Proximity-Based Player Blips, Parley Changes with quicker access to Feuding, Law and Bounty Improvements to discourage griefing while introducing a new Freeroam dynamic between bounty hunters and criminal rogues, plus Daily Challenges with gold nugget rewards and more. We are currently planning to have these and other improvements to the game included in a Title Update scheduled for release in the coming months – we’ll provide more information as we get closer to the date.

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