Red Dead Online Review (JonnytheZ)
This comes from somebody with over 2000 hours of online experience. Most of my hours are from the Red Dead Redemption 2 game on my profile.
While great at first, Red Dead Online’s ongoing support has been declining. There used to be weekly updates that brought new content to the game, and when was the last time we had any content updates? Last June, and it was a minor update, feeling like a filler update leaving us hoping for something much bigger. When was the last major update that added a new role which offered a completely new way to play? Nearly two years ago, July 2020. Where's our ever-evolving world we were promised?
One of the game’s major issues additionally worth pointing out because it ultimately hurts the game’s experience is cheaters and hackers. They comprise of about half the players you will see. If you are looking for PvP, this is not the game for you, at least on PC. The gunplay is amazing, but cheaters ruined it and it is now, and has been for the longest time, heavily discouraged in wanting to engage in any form of PvP. You may shoot somebody, only to wonder why they don’t lose health, you keep shooting them over and over again, and they never die, even from one-shot kill headshots. Then the next thing you know, many of them further ruin your gameplay experience by deciding they want to “fight back” with their cheats and spawn a cage on you, or even spawning explosions on your feet constantly, killing you over and over until you switch sessions, or even straight up crashing your game. Ironically, these are the reasons it is more fun to play this online multiplayer game by yourself. True solo content is offered, but you have to look for it.
While it may be a fun new game for newer players, this is one of Rockstar Games’ examples that have hurt hopes for their games’ longevities for us more veteran players. Yes, the Red Dead Online title has much to offer, where I would guarantee a few month’s worth of playtime, but there is generally not much reason to come back afterwards.
My ultimate verdict: beautiful game with lots of potential and a bit of replayability, and maybe I’ll admit, some grind, but we know Rockstar Games won’t put out content anytime soon. They also will refuse to address any cheating problems. They will do nothing about your reports, even with video evidence. Great game, poor support. 6/10