Next Major Red Dead 2 Online Update Releases This Spring

Red Dead Redemption 2 released to a wave of positive praise. However, its online multiplayer mode, Red Dead Online--which remains in beta--hasn't been met with the same positive reception. With outlaws incessantly griefing players out in the Wild Wild West, Rockstar Games has tasked itself with addressing the problem in a new update releasing later this spring.

Rockstar has released a new game update for Red Dead Redemption 2, which introduces new fishing challenges and other content. Alongside that, it published a blog post that details some of the additions and changes coming to the game in what it describes as the next major update (coming sometime this spring). Keeping in line with anti-griefing methods implemented in February, Red Dead Online will add a hostility system. Players who defend themselves against attackers won't receive a bounty or an increase in their hostility meter as long as they don't initiate the gunfight. If you happen to gun down your griefer, your hostility meter won't increase. The hostility meter won't affect Free Roam events and missions, Showdowns, Races, and other structured events either.

Rockstar acknowledges not every cowboy's an outlaw. "Some players just want to immerse themselves in the world, riding, hunting, and fishing in peace," the post reads. To this effect, the developers are including two modes of play: Offensive and Defensive. Offensive play lets players interact with the world however they see fit, like the current Free Roam mode. Defensive play is, according to Rockstar, "a more evolved version of the Passive Mode concept," giving players access to the entire open world while de-emphasizing conflict.

Choosing to play in Defensive changes some of the game's mechanics. For example, Defensive players can't be lassoed, but if you, in Defensive play, lasso a player, you'll be removed from the playstyle with a "significant Hostility level increase." Further, you won't be able to lock-on to players in Defensive play. But in the same token, players can't lock-on to you either. Sounds like a fair trade-off for those looking to bask in the world a little longer.

Additionally, this Red Dead Online update will bring about new A Land of Opportunities missions, more Free Roam missions, an introduction to dynamic events (ambushes, rescues, etc.), and more. And another Red Dead Redemption classic weapon, the LeMat Revolver, will make its way to the game with this update.

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