The new update of Red Dead Online is a good start

After weeks of teasing and hyps, the last and the biggest Red Dead Online update has been posted online today. The update adds hundreds of new fashion items, changes how premiums work, rebalances the game, and fixes many bugs. This is a good update with huge improvements, but it might not be enough for fans who want to come back.

One of the most important changes is that players can no longer see where all the other players are on the map. In the past, this allowed players who were alone or fishing and hunting to be found, then killed again and again. Rockstar believes this new change will help reduce abusive behavior.

My time with the new update seems to suggest that this is not going to be enough. I was still killed while walking in a city by a random player. But fortunately, another new change helped prevent this murderer from killing me again and again. After being killed by another Red Dead Online player, you can now chat with them, be removed from the surface and no player can hurt the other for 10 minutes. Parlay existed before this update, but it was more difficult to activate and did not always work. Sometimes players were killed several times before they could speak, and members of the killer detachment could still attack the victim. Players can now park a player or their entire group. Hopefully this change will allow players to escape boring situations with trolls.

On a server to which I joined, a player kills all who have approached them. This player was marked with a bright red dot and could be spotted from anywhere on my map, on the other side of the world. That made it easy to avoid them, which is an interesting change. Previously, all players were represented by a white dot, which prevented them from knowing who was a good cowboy and who was a deadly asshole.

Aggressive and violent players have also been sued by AI bounty hunters for committing too many crimes. The higher their premium, the more bounty hunters pursue them.

Another big addition to Red Dead Online is daily challenges. Every day, players have access to seven new challenges. These can include the collection of herbs, the killing of animals or the consumption of certain foods. I even had a challenge asking me to cut my hair. (This update adds new colors and hair styles, which is nice!)

Achieving a daily challenge will give a nugget of gold. It's a simple system, but it gives players more things to do or try. Some players have encountered a bug in which the game asked them to complete a challenge using a firearm that was not added to the game, but Rockstar is already solving this problem.

The update is also filled with smaller and less noticeable corrections and changes. One of the things I'm really excited to see is that Rockstar is making significant changes to its "Dispatch Rider" balance, a mode where players try to ride on a target horse as long as possible while avoiding enemy players. This mode was usually boring to play because as you jumped on the target horse, each player would shoot you and kill you in less than a few seconds. The mode now gives players who climb the target stallion a protected moment in which they can not be killed, and they also get healthy when they first ride on the horse. This makes the mode less frustrating and more fun to play.

Another easy change to forget is the rebalancing of dead eyes and rifles. When activating the dead eye, the accuracy will no longer be perfect. This should make it harder to exploit a dead eye to kill players over long distances.

The varmint rifle is less and less precise, and more powerful rifles like the Carcano are polished and cause more damage. Prior to this update, the varmint small caliber rifle was popular on almost every other because it was incredibly accurate and caused surprising damage. Hopefully these changes will make larger guns more useful in PVP.

This update also adds emotes, although prices for these and some other items are too high. I've also been disappointed to see that some of the new clothes can only be purchased in certain styles using gold. Fortunately, these items are purely cosmetic, but for those who are concerned about price increases, it will not help to dispel these concerns.

PS4 users also gain early access to additional content. These exclusive items, a new knife and new clothing options are not terribly exciting. Rockstar also did not confirm how long these items would remain exclusive to the platform.

This update really gives the impression that almost every part of the game is affected. However, even if it's a big update, many players may be disappointed by the fact that this update does not add up.

There are no new story missions, side missions, new horses or real end-of-game activities. The world still feels a little sterile. Rockstar promises more content will be available soon, including a new free roaming activity next week.

This new update is a good start for Red Dead Onlinebut I do not know how many players who stopped playing will come back because of this update. Red Dead Online It's a better and slightly bigger game after this patch, but there is still a long way to go.