Red Dead Online could be so much more if Rockstar gave it more attention

Rockstar very conspicuously has a favorite child when it comes to the developer's currently active games. Grand Theft Auto V, which commencement launched in 2022, has made its way onto every single platform that information technology possibly can, and an upgraded version of the game for PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X/Due south is coming out this March. Insufficiently, Red Dead Redemption 2 has been left in the dust. While they're both peachy games, there's 1 clear reason for this: their respective online components.

GTA Online is huge; information technology was when it launched, has connected to be, and at this charge per unit will continue to be so until the heat expiry of the sun. The soon-to-exist standalone multiplayer side of Grand Theft Auto V has attracted players in a way that not many other games take. The continued massive sales of GTA V going into 2022 could even exist chalked up to GTA Online at this indicate.

But I'one thousand not a city-dweller. I've spent my time in Los Santos, I've driven my supercars, made my millions. Now, all I desire to do is lead the life of a not-and then-simple outlaw in Red Dead Online. But when it comes to depth of content, RDO is basically a pool compared to GTA Online. Sure, players tin take on different roles equally a moonshiner or compensation hunter, but is at that place any content in Red Dead Online that's as exciting every bit, say, destroying a nuclear submarine off the coast of a city? Or how nearly stealing precious art and artifacts from a tropical paradise? Allow me tell you from personal experience that there isn't.

Red Dead Online Halloween update leak Undead Nightmare 2 — Image via Rockstar Games

Like I said before, Rockstar has a favorite kid, and it's been treating that kid well. GTA Online has grown because Rockstar has been feeding it more and more content, giving players more ways to spend their millions and play. The same can't be said for Red Dead Online. You can only buy and then many new horses, purchase so many new cowboy hats and boots before information technology all becomes tiring. Nevertheless, if Rockstar were to requite Red Dead Online the same attention that GTA Online receives, the former could be simply as exciting, albeit in its own former-due west way.

Now, when I say that Red Dead Online deserves the same "attention," I mean it should be given the same kind of content updates. Yes, Ruby-red Expressionless Online and GTA Online both receive weekly updates that add discounts, special offers, and bonus rewards for certain tasks, but that's not what I'm talking about. Instead, I mean things like GTA Online's heists, the ability to buy buildings, the player's pick to dip their fingers into multiple illegal businesses, or big updates like the recent The Contract update.

Insufficiently, your grapheme in Red Dead Online is a boy spotter. Illegal work is hard to come up by, and a majority of the roles you take on aren't exactly crime-filled. As a trader, you'll sometimes steal cargo, and distributing moonshine sure isn't legal, but those are the standouts. Otherwise, you'll exist taking pictures of animals as a naturalist, or tracking down criminals equally a compensation hunter. That's not exactly blood-pumping excitement.

What Rockstar needs to add to Red Expressionless Online first and foremost are larger-calibration heists. Yes, they're the cornerstone of GTA Online, but heists play a massive part in Red Dead Redemption two likewise. There's no reason why players in Red Dead Online aren't able to pull off an epic daring old-fashioned bank heist to the scale of what you see in GTA. There are even trains in Ruby-red Dead Online practically begging to exist role of a train robbery mission. The framework is all there for Red Dead Online to have more exciting content, but Rockstar is ignoring it.

Of course, at that place are other things Rockstar could do to bolster Ruby Dead Online. For instance, the game has a suite of different multiplayer modes, similar to GTA Online's Jobs, but in that location'due south no menu for starting a lobby yourself. Similarly, a majority of these multiplayer modes aren't worth playing if you lot're trying to make a decent buck. With some simple quality of life improvements, players would gravitate more towards the game modes that stick them with other players instead of solo content.

This all isn't to say that Cherry Dead Online isn't on the mode to being better. Rockstar gave the game a summertime 2022 update that added a new role and more criminal enterprises for players to pursue. If this all plays out the right way, we could be getting the bigger heists with the cops and robbers action we've been waiting far as well long for.

I feel like this is just scratching the surface of what's possible in Cherry Dead Online. The developers at Rockstar are a creative bunch — that'due south why they've been able to go along GTA Online's community agile and vibrant for and so long now. If they could pump just an ounce of those artistic juices into Red Dead Online, we could come across a long-overdue old-due west renaissance.