Red Dead Online received criticism at launch for its balancing of gameplay and in-game currency later updates addressed the issues. The team took lessons learned from the multiplayer of Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto Online. Developed in tandem with the single-player story, Red Dead Online was viewed as a separate product despite the development team's wishes to translate elements of the single-player to a multiplayer environment.

Players can traverse the open world alone or in a posse of up to seven players, with or against whom they can partake in organized activities. A bounty system governs the response of law enforcement and bounty hunters to crimes committed by players. Gameplay elements include shootouts, hunting, horseback riding, interacting with non-player characters, and maintaining the character's honor rating through moral choices and deeds. Like the single-player game, Red Dead Online is presented through both first and third-person perspectives, and players may freely roam in its interactive open world. Set in 1898, one year before the events of Red Dead Redemption 2, the game comprises story missions where up to four players can complete tasks to advance the narrative, as well as various side missions and events. In Red Dead Online, players control a customizable silent protagonist who is freed from prison after being framed for murder, and tasked with taking revenge in exchange for proving their innocence. A standalone client for the game was released in December 2020. After several months in beta, it was released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in May 2019, and for Windows and Stadia in November 2019. Red Dead Online is a 2019 action-adventure game developed and published by Rockstar Games as the online component of Red Dead Redemption 2.

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