Red Dead Redemption 2's Online Beta Detailed

Red Dead Redemption 2's online beta will be available on PS4 and Xbox One from November 27, developer Rockstar Games has announced. As detailed on its website, Rockstar plans to roll out access to the Read Dead Online gradually over the coming week, starting with owners of Red Dead Redemption 2's Ultimate Edition on November 27 and building up to full public access by November 30.

On November 27, anyone that owns Red Dead Redemption 2's Ultimate Edition will be able to access the beta from 8:30 AM ET / 5:30 AM PST / 1:30 PM GMT / 12:30 AM AEDT (November 28). Those that played Red Dead Redemption 2 on its launch day--based on Rockstar's own data--will be given access to the beta from November 28. If you played the game at any point between launch and October 29, you'll be able to jump into the beta from November 29. Finally, everyone else that owns the game can check out the beta from November 30. This gradual rollout, Rockstar says, will help it "ease into the beta and to mitigate major issues."

According to Rockstar, Red Dead Online "blends the classic multiplayer of the original Red Dead Redemption with the best of everything we have learned since then about creating deep multiplayer experiences." The result, it adds, is "something completely new and fun, and an experience that will continue to expand and evolve over time."

Rockstar continues: "With the gameplay of Red Dead Redemption 2 as its foundation, Red Dead Online transforms the vast and deeply detailed landscapes, cities, towns and habitats of Red Dead Redemption 2 into a new, living online world ready to be shared by multiple players."

Red Dead Online will allow players to create their own characters and select abilities that are in line with their playstyle. From there, players can choose to venture out into the online world alone or with a Posse of up to seven other players.

Players will be able to engage in a variety of activities in Red Dead Online. They can hang out with their friends around the campfire, do some hunting or fishing, kill a few hours in towns brimming with life, trade steel with rival gangs or plot ambushes of their hideouts. Treasure scattered around the world is available to be found, and there's also familiar characters waiting with missions for you to undertake. For those that don't want to be directed to do things, you can start spontaneous skirmishes with either other players, or entire Posses in open world challenges." And Rockstar says there's still more to be discovered beyond that.

The beta launch of Red Dead Online is described as "the first step in what will be a continually expanding and dynamic world." Rockstar notes that the beta period will be used to address the "inevitable turbulence of launching any online experience of this size and scale" and it intends to lean on its community to help it report problems, share ideas, and "assist in shaping the future of the full Online experience."

Red Dead Redemption 2 has been getting a lot of play among the GameSpot team. If we aren't putting together guides or getting up to no good as Dirty Arty--the meanest, most uncleanist outlaw in the wild west--we're thinking about what we'd like to see in the game. With that in mind, we've put together a Red Dead Online wishlist with some of our most wanted features.

Red Dead Redemption 2 has been a big success for Rockstar and parent publisher Take-Two. Just over a week after its launched it was announced that Red Dead Redemption 2 had passed 17 million copies shipped worldwide. That means it needed had already passed the lifetime shipment figure of the 2010 original, Red Dead Redemption. Take-Two said that Red Dead Redemption 2 shipped more units over its first eight days than the 2010 title shipped in its first eight years. Given the ongoing popularity of Grand Theft Auto V's Online mode--which contributes to continuing strong sales of the game--we expect Red Dead Redemption 2 also has a healthy future ahead of itself.