Red Dead Redemption 2’s online competitive multiplayer includes a battle royale-style mode called Make It Count. Rockstar’s mixes up battle royale in some intriguing ways.
Red Dead Online launched in beta on Tuesday, letting Red Dead Redemption 2 players explore the Wild West together. There’s an entirely separate story to discover, missions you can tackle as a posse, and a chance to rub elbows with other players — or shoot them in the face — as you freely roam the world.
There’s also a series of more traditional competitive multiplayer modes called the Showdown Series. Right now, that exists as a trio of playlists, a rotating set of modes that includes traditional deathmatch, team deathmatch and control point game types. There’s also a separate horse racing playlist.
Red Dead Online also has its own take on the battle royale genre, and implements that genre’s rules in some fun ways. One game type, called Make It Count, drops a group of players into a map with the goal of being the last person standing. But Make It Count doesn’t scatter a bunch of weapons and items around the map that could potentially make you more powerful. Everyone’s on the same level playing field in Make It Count.
There are two variations on Make It Count. In one, players fight with bows and a limited supply of arrows. In the other, players only have six throwing knives (and a regular knife), which deliver one-hit kills. Those weapon restrictions force many confrontations in Make It Count to be up-close and personal — within range of a bow and arrow, at least.
