Red Dead Online Review

The pendulum of the Red Dead Online experience, which quietly removed its beta label in May, is one that swings wildly. One moment I might be engaged in patient management barely distinguishable from Red Dead Redemption 2’s slow-paced single-player gameplay, perhaps perched on one knee by a fire barbequing a batch of pork rubbed with freshly plucked oregano (or mint, or thyme). The next, though, could just as well be the complete chaos of PvP multiplayer in indiscriminate, close-quarters slaughter in which I might be sprawled dead for the umpteenth time in the labyrinthine alleys around Saint Denis’ Lanik Electrical factory with a tomahawk in my face courtesy of someone called 420bong_rip. As an online environment full of real people, some of whom will invariably be pond scum, Red Dead Online may not be as elegant an experience as the carefully curated single-player world, but the true appeal tends to expose itself when facing its unforgiving landscape beside friends.

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