RDR2 Online beta: Good news and bad from Red Dead Redemption 2 Online release

The first wave of players have access to the Red Dead Redemption 2 Online multiplayer experience, with feedback proving positive so far.

The new PS4 and Xbox One expansion is currently only available to select RDR2 players but will be open for everyone to try out by Friday, November 30.

And fans have been finding out what new features have been added to the game now that the RDR2 Online release has begun.

Feedback remains pretty positive for Red Dead Online, although fans might be in for a bumpy ride the closer we get to the end of the week.

The character customisation is a big upgrade on the one from GTA Online, while the skills you can unlock have also been expanded.

And while some aren’t quite as enthralled by having to complete an intro mission when they first log in, there’s plenty of things to be excited about.

Unlike in GTA Online, Red Dead Redemption 2 multiplayer has an honour system in place that will track your actions.

It looks fairly easy to balance out, with players gaining positive honour from simple tasks like brushing their horse.

And as you can imagine, shooting up saloons and robbing people on the road will help tilt you in the other direction.

From what has been reported so far, this new Honor System will also affect how missions play out, depending on if you’re an outlaw or a hero.

“In Red Dead Online, your honor will shift high and low based on your decisions and behaviour. You’ll shape your honor through your choices: from life or death decisions to natural interactions such as caring for your horse.

In addition to the world responding to you in subtly different ways, you’ll also notice the nature of certain missions will reveal themselves to you based on your current honor state.”

And speaking of missions, this is another area of the game that has seen a massive overhaul from GTA Online.

Missions are now more narrative based, providing players with the chance to complete multi-part missions which can change based on your actions.

Rockstar Games also appears to have added a story to Red Dead Online, something that data miners have been leaking today.

Below is some of the information from those missions that will be completed in the future by PS4 and Xbox One gamers:

Highly Illegal and Highly Immoral: Marshall Davies asked you to meet him near Van Horn. He is on the trail of Alfredo Montez, and he wants to finish things.

Honor Among Horse Thieves: Horley suggested you go to see Clay Davies, a horse thief, to learn the ins and outs of the horse-rustling trade.

So what about the bad news connected to the RDR2 Online beta release?

Well, players have been struggling to connect to servers since its launch earlier today.

And that is only going to get worse over the coming days, with more players being added very soon.

Each day will see the Red Dead Redemption 2 beta open up to more players, meaning more demand.

And Rockstar Games has hopefully got a plan to upscale their servers based on the surge that is coming.

Tomorrow will see a huge influx of people looking to start their outlaw careers, and this could cause some serious issues.

The good news is that Rockstar is treating this as a beta, meaning that they know there will be plenty of work to make this a stable experience. It should also be noted that some of today’s issues are connected with problems with the Ultimate Edition codes on Xbox One.

“During this process, we will be looking to our dedicated community to help us report and fix problems, share ideas, and assist in shaping the future of the full Online experience.

“As with all of our releases, we will strive to make the launch of Red Dead Online the best it can possibly be, and we ask that the community share that spirit with us over the next weeks and months.

“To help us ease into the beta and to mitigate major issues, we will begin the early access period starting Tuesday, November 27 at 8:30am EST, and gradually scale the player base up to full access beginning on Friday, November 30.

“This will help ensure that our servers can handle a steadily growing volume of concurrent players in the early hours and first days of the Beta and hopefully reduce the likelihood of any server crashes during the launch week as we get things up and running.”