Red Dead Online: inventory: what has happened? Is it fun now?

Red Dead Redemption 2 cleared away in 2018. But while the story mode caused a sensation due to its wonderful world, the interesting characters and above all the rough western story, the multiplayer component Red Dead Online seems to be a bit forgotten. Above all, I was traveling with friends in the Wild West in the early days, but then I turned to other games at some point. Over the holidays, however, I saddled my horse again and oiled the revolvers. Developer Rockstar Games has been busy in the meantime.

When Red Dead Online started as a beta on November 27, 2018, I was there right from the start. The attraction of riding through this wonderful world with friends, completing assignments or just fishing and chatting a little bit sounded too attractive to be able to resist. In the first few days, my friends and I went on a revenge campaign for Jessica LeClerk, met the most diverse characters for whom we played the henchman, quarreled with other players (highlight: an epic fight in Valentine's saloon, which at some point is so degenerate that rods of dynamite flew through the shop) and when we finally reached rank 14, we were able to fish in peace.

However, this lead-containing honeymoon phase quickly passed. It wasn't easy to make enough money to buy a variety of clothing or weapons. It was not possible to protect yourself from the aggressive players. Most of the activities were eaten relatively quickly, which also nibbled on the motivation. The time came for me to take a break.

New jobs for Outlaws

Shortly before Christmas, after a year of abstinence, I took another look at Red Dead Online; developer Rockstar Games finally introduced the fourth special profession with the Schwarzbrenner. While a buddy of mine set up his Schwarzbrenner business and helped myself a little bit with it, I got to know the other areas of work above all: as a bounty hunter I hunt wanted people and deliver them to the sheriffs. Dead or alive. Madam Nazar introduces me to the world of collectors and together with Cripps I process animals shot in my own camp, which I then sell for a profit.

Every single job comes with its own ranking system. If you complete orders, you will rise in the ranks and unlock new objects. As a bounty hunter, I was particularly pleased with the reinforced lasso, which made it harder for people trapped to free themselves. Among other things, collectors have access to a metal detector, and traders can set up a stew in the camp and cook various recipes to spice up the various cores.

However, the field of activity as a black burner is somewhat more spectacular: With the help of Maggie Fike, you build up your illegal distillery and shoot your way through a small but well-staged campaign. Over time, you even open your own bar and earn money by selling the black-branded spirits. The alcohol business is a little reminiscent of the different companies you can build in Grand Theft Auto Online. In any case, Rockstar Games did not allow itself to be ripped off.

In any case, these four jobs make for a lot of pepp in the world of Red Dead Online, even if there is still room for improvement. For example, it annoys me that almost all orders have to be fulfilled under time pressure. That would be half as wild if the timer wasn't sometimes so tight. Going out completely empty, just because the person you were looking for was delivered a few seconds late as part of the bounty hunt, is simply annoying after the effort previously made. I rarely have enough buffers to find the target and come up with a plan. Instead of being clever, I now prefer to use a shotgun. Just go faster.

The constant time pressure is in stark contrast to the other leisurely pace that runs through Red Dead Online and I really like it. I would like developer Rockstar Games to be a bit more generous at this point so that I don't always have to rush so much. Either extend the timer significantly or do without it entirely. In addition, a few bugs can sometimes occur. For example, one day I was unable to accept orders from strangers. It also happens occasionally that the server dissolves in smoke and I find myself in the main menu.

Wild West Comfort

Basically, however, I have the feeling that Red Dead Online looks a bit more mature after all the updates, which is not just because the beta name has now disappeared. For example, it is now possible to set your character offensive or defensive. The latter variant ensures that players in the open world can no longer simply shoot you overboard. In addition, other gunslingers only appear on the map if they are close to you. This makes it harder to target players on a server.

With the Outlaw Pass, Red Dead Online also has its own Battle Pass. At the beginning I was skeptical, but I also wanted to get the Outlaw Pass on the tooth to match the second chance. In addition to the free version, which holds unlockable objects, there is also a lavish premium pass for 40 gold bars, i.e. just under nine euros. What surprised me: after a few sessions in which I was only moderately busy, I am now at level 25 and have grabbed numerous rewards. The Battle Pass principle is getting a bit on my heels, but this feature is implemented quite well with Red Dead Online.

Red Dead Online – Moonshiners Update Trailer

In Red Dead Online you can now earn something extra from black distillery.

Of course, that does little to change the fact that Red Dead Online still requires a lot of hard work to make a decent amount of money and gold. But the possibilities are more diverse and I personally like the leisurely pace of Red Dead Online more than the chaotic anarchy in GTA Online. Sometimes it's just enough to fish on the river after a stressful day and exchange the caught fish at the butcher for a few dollars. Finally, you can finally play poker with others!

Is Red Dead Online perfect in its current state? No not that. But the way the developers filled online mode with content last year and upgraded the gaming experience surprised me positively. I'm excited to see what Red Dead Online will have in 2020.