Red Dead Online arrives as a standalone game on Dec. 1

Rockstar Games’ popular Red Dead Redemption series is finally launching a standalone, online version called Red Dead Online for game consoles and PCs on Dec. 1. Announced on Tuesday, the new version — which has players take on a “range of unique roles and pursuits to blaze your own outlaw trail across the American frontier” — will be available on the PlayStation Store, Microsoft Store, Rockstar Games Launcher, Epic Games Store and Steam next week. 

To get users into the online game the company is offering Red Dead Online at an “introductory” discount of just $5 (75% off) until Feb. 15, 2021. After that point, it will jump to $20. 

The new title, which is similar to Rockstar’s previous release of Grand Theft Auto Online, allows people to play Red Dead Redemption without having to purchase the full Red Dead Redemption 2 (those who buy the standalone online version will have the option to purchase that game’s story mode separately). Game modes in the online version include showdowns where players and teams can compete in gunfights and “objective-based competitions like capturing territory or supplies” as well as free-roaming missions and “public or private games of Poker.” 

The new Red Dead Online will be available on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and perfectxml.https://www.perfectxml.com PCs as well as the new Xbox Series S and Series X and PlayStation 5 (the latter consoles through backward compatibility). One word of note: Rockstar says that Red Dead Online will “require up to 123GB of disk space,” a reminder that even online-only games will still need plenty of local storage space.