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.

As Red Dead Online Beta continues to build its foundation, players can expect new Showdown Modes, Racing Modes and more in the coming four weeks, including a Free Roam Event with new items and bonuses set to launch later today.

And coming later this Spring in the Beta’s next update are New Free Roam Missions, new Land of Opportunity Missions, further updates to the hostility system, new Offensive and Defensive Playing Style options, the introduction of dynamic events and more.

With each passing week we continue to add more to the Red Dead Online Beta, and the next four weeks will bring new Showdown Modes and Racing Modes, as well as a new Free Roam Event that launched earlier today. Alongside incorporating player feedback and addressing existing issues, the beta period has allowed us to lay the groundwork for the more advanced aspects of Red Dead Online still to come. Our experience of building other online worlds has helped us create a more evolved foundation for the open spaces of Red Dead Online, but the world of Red Dead Online will evolve in its own unique direction - one in which players have greater freedom to customize their play style uniquely over time, allowing them to sink into the world and their character and feel more connected to the experience of living as cowboys, outlaws and gunslingers in the wilds of 19th century America. 

The next major update is currently planned to arrive later this Spring, bringing a host of feature upgrades and new content including:

The Hostility System

The Hostility system builds upon the anti-griefing measures added in February with smarter and responsive features that keep players immersed in the world through confrontations and PvP action. For example, players who have damage inflicted on them by attackers will be able to defend themselves without incurring Bounties or Hostility increases. Previously, the attacker and target would be marked as an enemy - now the attacker who inflicts damage will be immediately marked as an enemy to the attacked player; players will not accumulate Hostility increases for killing other players who are marked as an enemy.

Hostility increases will not apply within structured events such as Free Roam Events, Free Roam Missions, Showdowns and Races. Engaging in player vs player behaviors related to Free Roam missions will not incur Hostility increases, however attacking other players not engaged in the activity will cause your Hostility level to rise. 

The Hostility System has many more functions and will help balance experiences for all play styles.

Offensive and Defensive Playing Style Options

Some players just want to immerse themselves in the world, riding, hunting and fishing in peace. We want to offer these options while allowing players to coexist comfortably alongside other players in the world. The Offensive Playing Style is much like the current Free Roam play as we know it while the Defensive Playing Style is a more evolved version of the Passive Mode concept, designed for Red Dead Online’s more grounded experience - giving players more flexibility in how they interact with the world and at the same time de-emphasizing hostile contact with other players.

Choosing the Defensive option introduces balances that compliment a less confrontational approach: Defensive players cannot be lassoed by rival players - although if a Defensive player lassos another player, they’ll be removed from Defensive play and incur a significant Hostility level increase. Defensive players will trade the ability to lock on to other players for the benefit that other players will not be able to lock on to Defensive players.

While Defensive players can target and be targeted in free aim, they cannot deliver or receive critical hits – if a Defensive player is attacked with a headshot, they’ll survive and be able to defend themselves via the Hostility system or escape all while remaining Defensive.  There are several other adjustments that come with the Defensive Playing Style, all of which are built to work seamlessly with systems like Hostility and Bounties to keep all players rooted in the world.

Some other new additions include:

• More A Land of Opportunities Missions: continue Jessica LeClerk’s search for revenge as you explore between the path of a Gunslinger or an Outlaw
• New Free Roam Mission givers and mission types: Red Dead Online is set in the years before the single player story so expect to encounter a range of new and familiar faces as you traverse the frontier
• The Introduction of dynamic events: fight off ambushes, initiate rescues, defend folks in need and more as you travel across the world

All this, plus updates to the character creator, restructured Daily Challenges that eliminate hostile gameplay in Free Roam and introduce streaks for bigger rewards, the return of another classic weapon, the LeMat Revolver from the original Red Dead Redemption, and much more.

In the coming months, we will continue to add features and content that will allow players to immerse themselves in the world of Red Dead Online in brand new ways as they choose what kind of life they will make for themselves in frontier America.

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