Repeating Shotgun

Price: $434
Rank unlocked: 11

Arguably the best gun in the entire game. Sharing the same lever firing system as Red Dead Online’s repeating rifles, the Repeating Shotgun combines gut-punch stopping power with admirable accuracy. With a generous chamber that holds six slugs, this beast favours gunfighters who may need that extra shot or two to down their target. In close quarters there’s no stopping this shottie, and even at mid-range this weapon proves surprisingly potent. No, it’s not cheap, but save up your cash for your first few hours with Red Dead Online, and you’ll soon be inflicting cowboy carnage with this slug-spewing beaut.

Bow

Price: $124
Rank unlocked: 10

Alright, so it’s not a gun, but going all Robin Hood with this stealthy weapon can lead to all sorts of arrowing online success. Pair the bow with Dead Eye, and this silent weapon becomes absolutely deadly. In closely contested matches of Hostile Territory, remaining under the radar as you take out the opposition can be key to capturing bases. After all, if they can’t hear you coming, you’ve got a better chance of stealing the objective. Steely nerves are needed when you’re pulling back on that quiver, but for those with ice running through their veins, Red Dead Online’s bow is a brilliant, brutal enforcer.

Semi-Automatic Pistol

Price: $537
Rank unlocked: 22

Another gun that pairs beautifully (and devastatingly) with Dead Eye. Predictably, it’s this pistol’s snappy rate of fire that makes it the most deadly handgun in Red Dead Online. Great for tackling enemy gangs in story missions or taking down foes in hectic games of Team Shootout, the Semi-Auto Pistol is pleasingly accurate and quick to reload. It may be the third most expensive gun in the game, and you’re going to have to be patient until you hit rank 22 when Red Dead Online finally lets you buy this lethal weapon, but the wait is definitely worth it.

Bolt-Action Rifle

Price: $216
Rank unlocked: 7

Slow to fire but packing deadly power, the Bolt-Action Rifle is the most powerful weapon you can buy within your first few hours with Red Dead Online. Super accurate and lethal at range, this gun is perfect for those who like to dish out death from a distance. In PvP, the Bolt-Action is best reserved for larger maps, as its unwieldy reload action makes it too plodding for close-range encounters. Attach a scope to this formidable gun, and you’ve got a good (much cheaper) substitute for the Carcano Rifle.

Litchfield Repeater

Price: $348
Rank unlocked: 18

With well-rounded stats and large ammo capacity, this is the beast repeater you’ll find in Red Dead Online. It’s high rate of fire and impressive accuracy make it the ideal gun for clearing out gangs from a safe distance. Online outlaws who favour a more cautious approach will appreciate it’s meaty damage stats, which make this weapon one of the most formidable mid-range guns in the game. It’s not the easiest weapon to aim while on the move, but if you’re willing to go slow or choose your shots carefully from behind cover, there are few more reliable cowboy killing tools.

Springfield Rifle

Price: $156
Rank unlocked: 38

It may be a single-shot weapon, but when the shots are this powerful, whatever is facing the wrong end of your barrel most likely won’t need a second. The Springfield is one of the most powerful rifles in Red Dead Online, and it’s great at both mid and long-range distances. Its reticle also has a usefully quick cooldown, meaning you can line up multiple kill shots surprisingly swiftly. This beast’s rounds are so powerful, anything around or above the chest should be an instant kill in PvP. If you’re short on funds and need to collect some pelts to raise cash, the Springfield Rifle is also a great option for hunting.

Schofield Revolver

Price: $192
Rank unlocked: 9

This hard-hitting pistol should be available to you after your first couple of hours with Red Dead Online. Though its firing rate is kinda cumbersome and other revolvers reload more quickly, few handguns out punch the Schofield for impact. Highly accurate and capable of dealing serious damage, if your aim is true, this revolver can be one of the deadliest weapons in Rockstar’s online Western. The fact the gun is so stable also makes it ideal for pulling off reliable headshots.

Tomahawk

Rank unlocked: 36

When you enter into Showdown Series events, occasionally certain matches will see you start with this lethal throwing tool. Though it doesn’t exactly fly through the air at a brisk pace, once you hurl a tomahawk, any enemy unlucky enough to get caught in its path will immediately crumple in a very dead heap. Its sheer stopping power makes its cumbersome handling understandable, but if you see an opposing player wielding this weapon, get to cover fast. Chances are, they know how to use it, and they’ll happily put you down with a single throw if you’re too slow getting out of Deadwood dodge.

Red Dead Online Weapon unlock levels

As part of the Red Dead Online rank unlocks, you’ll get access to these weapons at the following levels:

• Rank 5 – Pump Action Shotgun 
• Rank 7 – Bolt Action Rifle 
• Rank 8 – Throwing Knife and Varmint Rifle 
• Rank 9 – Schofield Revolver 
• Rank 10 – Bow 
• Rank 11 – Repeating Shotgun 
• Rank 12 – Lancaster Repeater 
• Rank 13 – Rolling Block Rifle 
• Rank 15 – Cleaver 
• Rank 16 – Dynamite 
• Rank 17 – Double Action Revolver 
• Rank 18 – Litchfield Repeater 
• Rank 19 – Sawed-Off Shotgun 
• Rank 21 – Volcanic Pistol 
• Rank 22 – Semi-Automatic Pistol 
• Rank 24 – Fire Bottle 
• Rank 28 – Hatchet 
• Rank 30 – Double-Barreled Shotgun
• Rank 32 – Machete 
• Rank 34 – Mauser Pistol 
• Rank 36 – Tomahawk 
• Rank 38 – Springfield Rifle 
• Rank 42 – Semi-Auto Shotgun 
• Rank 50 – Carcano Rifle

Red Dead Online Weapon prices

If you’ve followed our pointers for how to make money fast in Red Dead Online, then this is what you can spend some of the proceeds on:

• Cattleman Revolver – $50 
• Varmint Rifle – $72 
• Carbine Repeater – $90 
• Sawed-Off Shotgun – $111 
• Bow – $124
• Double-Action Revolver – $127
• Springfield Rifle – $156
• Double-Barreled Shotgun – $185
• Schofield Revolver – $192
• Bolt-Action Rifle – $216
• Lancaster Repeater – $243
• Volcanic Pistol – $270
• Litchfield Repeater – $348
• Rolling Block Rifle – $411
• Repeating Shotgun – $434 
• Pump-Action Shotgun – $444 
• Carcano Rifle – $456 
• Semi-Automatic Pistol – $537
• Semi-Auto Shotgun – $540
• Mauser Pistol – $600

Pre-order guns and other free weapons

If you own one of Red Dead Redemption 2’s special editions or if you pre-ordered the Old West epic, you’ll have some free guns waiting for you once you get past Red Dead Online’s intro. Clear the tutorial, and when you visit your first gunsmith and get your hands on the Handheld Catalogue, you’ll see certain weapons retailing for the grand price of $0. These are your gratis pre-order or special edition guns, and if you bought the Ultimate edition of RDR2 then you can also choose three guns for free.

Playing on PS4? Then you can pick up the High Roller Double Action Revolver for the grand price of nothing. Head to a Fence to collect this powerful handgun, which boasts the highest firing rate of any revolver in Red Dead Online. Sorry, Xbox outlaws.

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By launching the #SaveRedDeadOnline campaign, however, these passionate players aim to catch the eye of the powers that be, and steer their beloved western crime simulator away from the sunset. “The #SaveRedDeadOnline campaign is something that has probably been brewing for a while,” explains GTAForums admin and prominent community member Kirsty (opens in new tab). “It’s a culmination of frustration from a very dedicated fanbase.”

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How Red Dead Online role-players turned an out-of-bounds prison into a working Wild West criminal justice system

Since the arrival of Red Dead Online in late 2018, Rockstar has given its sister game GTA Online seven hefty updates, including the Diamond Casino Heist, which gave players an entirely new location and the means to rob the place blind; the Cayo Perico Heist, which gave players an entirely new island ripe for plundering; and The Contract, which gave players rap legend and business mogul Dr Dre. Between times, GTA Online has run its signature weekly events which offer savings on specific property acquisitions, new vehicles and weapons, and double money on pre-set missions, each determined at the start of each weekly cycle. 

Red Dead Online, on the other hand, has received six so-called “major updates” in that time, which have introduced new weapons, roles within the online world, and new story missions and cosmetics. Until late last year, Rockstar had also extended similar weekly events to Red Dead Online akin to GTA, but upset a sizable chunk of its playerbase when it switched those weekly initiatives to a monthly basis. Moreover, the game did not receive a major December update as many expected. 

“The last content update the game received was back in July, and on par with the previous two years, there were high hopes for a winter update in December. Unfortunately, no update arrived, though this was half-expected given the huge spotlight on GTA Online’s new story featuring Dr Dre, and players set their sights on a delayed new year update instead,” Kirsty continues. “When Rockstar returned from the holidays and announced a month-long event of in-game bonuses for the second time in a row, it was here that the community erupted as it essentially confirmed there would be no update in January either. The hashtag started the same morning and it quickly spread through the community.”

With Rockstar announcing this week’s update will run for the entire month of February too, the Red Dead Online community appears as unhappy now as ever.

In a blog post of her own on fan site GTA.net, Kirsty describes Rockstar’s apparent lack of interest in Red Dead Online as like “rubbing salt into the wounds of an already frustrated community”, and tells GamesRadar+ that many players today view Red Dead Online as the “neglected child of Rockstar”. Kirsty is quick to admit she doesn’t believe anyone in the Red Dead community expects the western crime sim to take precedence over the juggernaut that is GTA, but does call for parity in the depth and frequency of updates rolled out for both games. 

“We’re not privy to the numbers, but it seems to us from the outside that it just isn’t afforded the same kind of resources for large updates because it doesn’t turn out as much profit as its older brother – it has four in-game currencies, through only one is a microtransaction, so on one side you have new players who face an excessive grind due to nerfed earnings, and on the other you have very wealthy hardcore players who have no content to buy,” Kirsty adds. “Many have rallied the community with the hashtag to try and make their wish for content and communication known to the powers that be, and the campaign has been reported on several media outlets so far.”

“From what I’ve seen, aside from actual content, the main hope is that Rockstar will just re-affirm that Red Dead Online will continue to receive updates into the future, and some are asking for the campaign to be addressed with an apology. In a lot of eyes, the game is already a lost cause, dead, and not worth campaigning for, but there have been thousands of voices sharing their love for the game and the hours they have put into championing it. Those in support have vowed to continue sharing the hashtag on everything Rockstar posts on social media until it is addressed, which is causing a lot of additional division in an already tense community. In my opinion, there isn’t going to be a direct address, and we’re more likely to see a Newswire post (Rockstar’s official news outlet) in the near future with hints about what is to come in their online games in 2022, much like they did last year.”

Sad clowns 

This isn’t the first time Red Dead Online players have felt let down by Rockstar’s perceived lack of support either. At the beginning of July in 2020, dozens of players flooded servers dressed as clowns as a means of protesting a lack of updates. Having launched at the end of the previous year, Moonshiners marked the game’s then most recent complimentary add-on, before Rockstar introduced The Naturalists on July 28, and protests quickly subsided.  

Some 18 months on, and the #SaveRedDeadOnline campaign, launched by another prominent community member Ben T earlier this month, has generated similar traction. At the time of writing, a cursory glance on Twitter shows that hundreds of users and fans of the game are adding their voice to the cause by the hour, with some calling for specific in-game improvements – including allowing players to steal wagons and horses, adding sophisticated train robbery missions a la GTA’s multistage bank heists, and the simple ability to take your dog for a walk in the wilderness.  

As is sadly all too commonplace in online movements of this stature though, some rogue agents have taken to spamming individual Rockstar employees with abuse. Naturally, Kirsty is dead against this type of behaviour. She adds: “We find this abhorrent. Many of us in the community have tried our best to encourage people to report this and continue only with decency. Toxicity gets us nowhere and only pushes Rockstar further from wanting to interact with the community at all, which is the last thing anyone should aim for given they keep their cards very close to their chest as it is.”

As for what future updates might entail, Kirsty herself would love to see new roles or expansions to existing roles introduced to Red Dead Online. She’d like to see character properties, or community areas akin to the Diamond Casino in GTA Online; the conclusion of Jessica LeClerk’s storyline with new ‘A Land of Opportunities’ missions; as well as visual upgrades for new-gen platforms such as PS5 and Xbox Series X, and the Rockstar Editor. 

And, similar to the timing of clown-themed protests of 2020, if a substantial Red Dead Online update is, in fact, just around the corner? She and the wider community will happily eat their words. 

“Rockstar’s developers have been working from home since the beginning of the pandemic and likely have most of the studios focused on their next project,” she says. “So as a community, we also need to take into consideration that developing any kind of updates at the scale people are expecting in the current conditions of the world is a big undertaking.”

New in town, partner? Check this out – Red Dead Online guide: Everything you need to know to succeed in Rockstar’s online Wild West

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Red Dead Online change appearance option explained

The Red Dead Online change appearance option is actually available to any player at any time, assuming you can pay for it. Those who want to simply need to press left on the D-Pad to open the Player Menu, then select Online Options at the bottom. This will open a new menu, and at the very bottom of that will be the option to “Change Appearance”. Select that, and you’ll be sent to the character creation system that you first used when starting Red Dead Online. Change your gunslinger accordingly, and when you’re done, you’ll be sent back into the world as you were before, but with your features adjusted to meet the new criteria.

How to change appearance for free

To change appearance in Red Dead Online is itself free… for the first time. After that, any alterations will cost you ten Gold Bars, so make sure that you’re happy with the changes you made the first time! There’s no way to reduce the price normally, but Rockstar have occasionally released discounts or given out free appearance changes according to events or Season Passes. Unfortunately, if neither of these is happening, you’ll have to pay the gold if it’s your third time or more in character creation.

Of course, you still have a lot of power to alter your character outside of the change appearance option. Haircuts, facial hair, hats, clothes, masks, dentistry and more can all serve to vastly change a character’s appearance without having to pay the Gold Bars necessary to get into the character creation engine. If you’re really dissatisfied with how you look, try the salons and stores of Saint Denis or Blackwater to make sure that you can’t redefine yourself into something better.

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Being able to switch your morality in Red Dead Online is particularly useful, because the story is different depending on your current moral state. If you’ve been a law abiding citizen, then you can take on the Gunslinger set of missions, while the Outlaw missions are there if you prefer to be a rascal. To switch your morality in Red Dead Online at the press of a button – literally – you need to visit Old Man Jones. Ol’ Jonesy is a special vendor that absolves you of your sins and will let you try out the other story missions, and here is how to find him.

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Where to find Old Man Jones

Jones is always a feature on your map in Red Dead Online, regardless of what server you’re in. We found him south of Armadillo, but his placement is totally random. We’ve seen him near Riggs Station and in the Lemoyne area before, so simply navigate to your map screen and hit Square/X to bring up the index. You should see the prompt for ‘Old Man Jones’ in the list designated by a red and white honor icon, the one you’re used to seeing along the bottom bar when you hit down on the D-Pad.

How to switch your morality via Old Man Jones

This crusty, mysterious old man has a suite of interesting wares adorning his camp, including the mysterious green mask that kicked off the ‘Undead Nightmare’ in the first Red Dead Redemption. Spooky. 

To switch morality, all you have to do is simply walk up and hold L2/LT to initiate the conversation. You will see the prompt in the lower right corner, asking you to hold the Triangle/Y button to switch your morality from honorable to dishonorable and vice versa.

The catch is that this service offered by Old Man Jones costs three Red Dead Online Gold Bars. Now, Gold Bars are the in-game premium currency, the resource you can purchase with Red Dead Online microtransactions for real money. If you’d rather not spend any cash, you can collect Gold Bars over time by receiving fractions of them, known as Gold Nuggets, via treasure chests or completing online missions and activities.

Alternative ways to switch your morality

If you’d rather keep your hard-earned Gold Bars, there are other options to switch up your morality. If you’re bad trying to be good, make honorable choices in missions and spare gang leaders at hideouts. Act with decency and invade free roam events to tip the tides against a dishonorable posse, as and when you’re prompted.

It’s far easier when the shoes on the other foot. If you want to lower your honor, just follow the same criteria as the story mode. Trample and murder NPCs and other players. Kill defenceless animals and livestock. Shoot some horses, raze a cosy town, basically give the Old West a baptism of fire and you’ll be a menace to society in no time.

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Looking for more help? Then check out our essential Red Dead Redemption 2 tips in the video below:

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Fortunately, if you follow this easiest Red Dead Online gold buckles guide then you’ll be able to kick-start your collection and rack up some handy XP without too many issues. Note that when you’ve unlocked a gold buckle, you can equip it via your wardrobe at your camp from the Buckles menu.

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Diversify your cash flow

You can manage this one in less than five minutes, so make it your starting point. You’ve probably sold pelts to the Butcher and traded in stolen items at the Fence, but you most likely haven’t been to the Doctor to turn in herbs. Fortunately, there’s a very easy award available for selling items to each merchant type in the game. There is one of each in Saint Denis within walking distance of each other, so pick up a herb, head to the big city and get trading to claim your rewards.

Catch a falling bird

This one is a walk in the park. In the Hunting section of the Awards categories, you’ll find a symbol of a bird with an arrow lodged in its wings. This award only has one medal (instead of the more difficult tiered structure of other awards) and it’s incredibly easy to complete. Simply pick up a bow and some arrows (Rockstar’s gift of $250 and 15 gold bars should help you there) and when you see a bird in the sky during your explorations, pull out your weapon and take it down. You can even use Dead Eye to make this a sure shot.

Go hell for leather

You may remember some of the horseback awards from the campaign that require you to race to designated spots on the map in a certain time window. This carries over to online and there are three awards (around 1500 XP!) that are very easy to complete as long as you know what you’re doing. All you have to do is make sure you’re stocked up on provisions like stimulants and carrots, and then pick up the horse care package from the stable and sprint between Valentine and Strawberry, Emerald Ranch and Braithwaite Manor, and Colter and Adler’s Ranch. The horse we used wasn’t even that good, which goes to show that as long as you have the required kit this should be manageable early.

Honor amongst thieves

Throughout Red Dead Online’s story mode you will be forced to make honor-bound decisions that will push your character into Outlaw or Gunslinger territory depending on your choices. Make sure to be consistent and focus on one strand all the way through the proceedings, being careful not to be evil. Your honor will be at maximum capacity by the end, depending on the path you walk. The associated award will then afford you a healthy bump in XP for your trouble.

Horsin’ around

This is an easy award but also a general tip to bolster your online efficiency. Bonding with your horse is something you should spend time on, even though it will most likely happen naturally without you thinking. Click in L3/LS to calm your horse to give it a little stamina boost when you’re riding. Hold L2/LT when you’ve hopped off to brush and feed it with herbs and other provisions to aid your relationship, and be sure to give it a nice belly pat when you’re feeling kind. You’ll be at maximum horse bonding in no time, and the XP & belt buckle will be yours.

Green Fingers (and Lips)

Another single-tiered award is earned by simply eating herbs that you find in the wild, specifically 20 of them. Every herb has to be different, but seeing as there are over 40 herbs to find in the game, this shouldn’t take too much time as long as you know how to look for them. Click in the left and right sticks on your respective controller to activate Eagle Eye and you should see the plumes of particles surrounding herbs in the wild. It’s not too annoying to pick these up whilst you’re busy with other activities, so make it a habit and get your levels!

Proceed as normal

There are a lot of other easy awards that you don’t necessarily need a guide for, but it’s best to point them out so that you can work towards them in regular play. For example, you want to make a habit of headshots with every weapon, as awards are based on the weapon, the kill and the manner in which you dispatch of an enemy – so, for example, a headshot with a rifle keeps you in the running for three separate awards. Especially, make sure you’re headshotting with the bow (again, use Dead Eye to make this easier) as you only need 100 bow headshots for a gold award rather than the usual 1000. Aside from that, look through your awards and see what you’re close to and what you need to work on. By making a habit of checking, you can ensure you’re receiving massive chunks of XP at random intervals during your play sessions.

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Looking for more help? Then check out our essential Red Dead Redemption 2 tips in the video below:

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If you’re not keen on helping Harriet Davenport catalogue the natural world, then her nemesis Red Dead Online Gus MacMillan could be just the character you’re looking for. We’ve got all the details on how to find MacMillan and complete his requests in Red Dead Online, as well as examining the items you can expect to receive for assisting him over Davenport, and the consequences of taking those actions.

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Who is Red Dead Online Gus MacMillan?

Gus MacMillan is a super trapper and a moustache-twirling capitalist who would love nothing more than to receive pelts a plenty from the player. We’re introduced to him in the opening cutscene of the Naturalist update, which you can trigger by heading to the hotel, or Welcome Center, in Strawberry, which is just at the back of the town along the main road.

He’ll let you know that instead of sedating animal’s with Harriet Davenport’s Sample Kit (which you have to purchase for 25 gold bars to kick off the Naturalist role,) you should bring the pelts and parts to him so you can make some sweet profit and unlock unique items, such as trinkets and garment sets that only he sells.

If you work with Gus, you’ll run the risk of alienating Harriet, and she’ll eventually spray you with a hallucinogen if you kill too many animals in the wild. After being sprayed, you’ll wake up in the wild and be unable to trade in samples or work with Harriet for a short while.

Beyond that, the wider ramifications of annoying Harriet are unknown, so go wild and work for both, that’s what everyone appears to be doing anyway!

Where to find Gus MacMillan in Red Dead Online

If you’ve played Red Dead Redemption 2’s campaign, you shouldn’t have any trouble finding Gus on the map. He has many locations available to the player, and each one will be marked with a paw with a dollar symbol inside of it on the overworld map. To make it easier you can even bring up the index and select the Gus tag to find your closest location.

How to hunt and kill animals for Gus in Red Dead Online

Gus doesn’t have any specific missions tied to him, and he won’t be able to give you any quests if you talk to him. He’s more of a trader than your typical quest-giver with some extra features tacked on. Regardless, here’s how to get the most out of your business with Gus MacMillan.

As well as providing a basic hunting and trading loop, his influence does feature across some of the missions available in the Naturalist update, mostly during Harriet’s Legendary Animal Missions, instanced expeditions to take out unique creatures. After you follow the steps, wipe out the poachers and track down the special animal, you’ll get a prompt in the top left telling you that you can either sedate and sample the legendary animal or hunt it for Gus.

You can also use the Legendary Animals Map given to you by Harriet once you reach Level 5 in the Naturalist role to find legendary animals in the wild – just be aware that the spawns are unreliable and will depend on the actions of the other players in your server.

Keep in mind that you won’t get any Naturalist XP for either of these legendary animal hunting methods. However, if you want special garments and trinkets, follow the steps below to hunt animals so you can take them back to Gus to trade the pelt for profit or unique equipment.

• Activate Eagle Eye (L3 + R3, LS + RS, or Middle Mouse Button on PC) to find and track animal trails.
• From afar, you can also study and track animals by focusing on them and selecting the prompts that appear in the bottom right corner.
• Once studied, you should see what gun and ammunition is required for a perfect kill.
• Equip these weapons and aim for the animal’s vitals, they should glow red but mostly aim for the head or the heart to preserve the pelt’s quality.
• After dealing a killing blow, skin and carry the animal on your horse, then travel to one of MacMillan’s stalls to trade in your haul.

How to unlock Gus MacMillan’s unique Garment Sets and Trinkets in Red Dead Online

The main reason you’d want to skirt sedating an animal in favour of Gus’ methods is to unlock the unique Garment Sets and Trinkets that he has on display at his many stalls.

To take advantage of this system, don’t sedate Legendary Animals but follow the steps in the above section to take them down and skin them. The good part about the Legendary Animal missions is that you won’t ruin the pelt even if you shoot the animal multiple times – all you have to do is kill it to get the top quality pelt. This is why it might be a good idea to purchase the Elephant Rifle, the new weapon added with the Naturalist update that deals incredible damage to even the tankiest animals, such as bears and elks.

Once you’ve skinned a legendary animal, return to Gus to trade it in. Note that this won’t give you the associated garment or trinket outright – it will only unlock the item for purchase in his store. So you may notice that you can see the new garment set tied to the legendary animal you killed in his shop, but you’ll still have to spend a chunk of RDO$ to put it into your wardrobe. This tracks for the trinkets too, which are listed below. Unlike the purely cosmetic garments, Gus’s trinkets have statistical effects on the player.

Beaver Tooth Trinket
Cost: $795
Ingredients: 2 x Beaver Tooth, 1 x Calumet Turquoise Earrings
Effect: Permanently slows degradation for all weapons by 10%

Buck Antler Trinket
Cost: $775
Ingredients: 1 x Buck Antlers, 1 x Dane Topaz Necklace
Effect: Player has a higher chance of receiving better quality pelts and skins from animals in perfect condition.

Javelina Tusk Trinket
Cost: $500
Ingredients: 1 x Javelina Tusk, 1 x Elliston Carved Bracelet
Effect: Permanently increases the player’s horse bonding rate by 10%

Ram Horn Trinket
Cost: $550
Ingredients: 1 x Bighorn Horn, 1 x Aubrey Onyx Ring
Effect: Picking Creeping Thyme, Oregano, and Wild Mint yields 2x more herbs

Snowy Egret Trinket
Cost: $800
Ingredients: 3 x Snowy Egret Plume, 1 x Braxton Amethyst Necklace
Effect: Permanently decreases the speed that horse Health and Stamina Cores drain by 10%

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Looking for more help? Then check out our essential Red Dead Redemption 2 tips in the video below:

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“We really want you to embody your character,” says Scott Butchard, world and content design director at Rockstar North. “To feel like you’re a part of this living, breathing world. When I play I really feel like I’m in the West. I trot into town on my horse, hitch up, slowly walk into a saloon and grab a drink, just soaking that feeling up.”

This is what makes Red Dead Online so compelling. You don’t just play it to run around shooting people; you play it to exist in its world, and it’s remarkable how many players treat it as such. You’ll often see other gunslingers moseying through town, drinking at the saloon, riding in a posse, hunting and fishing together, and treating the game like a serious role-playing game; not just another violent, chaotic online playground. It’s an antidote to the Fortnites and PUBGs of the world. A place to get away from it all.

Know your role

“Supporting emergent, player-made moments is at the core of everything we do,” says Butchard. “In a lot of ways, we provide the players the means and tools to engage with the world. But some of the best moments are when players use these tools to have fun in their own creative ways. Red Dead Online is still a sandbox world for folk to have fun in, and we always bear that in mind when we’re designing it.”

For Tarek Hamad, director of design production at Rockstar North, the creativity of the Red Dead Online community is both surprising and hugely rewarding as a designer. “From player-organised fight clubs, collaborative fashion shows, or the community using our social features to host business meetings around the campfire as an alternative to video conferencing, it’s always surprising to see the impressive ways players create ways to engage and reinterpret what the game and world offer.”

To further support the role-playing aspects of the game, which come more to the forefront with every update, Rockstar introduced the role system. This lets players focus on something they enjoy – whether it’s trading animal pelts, collecting flowers and herbs, or hunting dangerous criminals – and progress within that chosen field, earning appropriate rewards for their efforts. But you can engage with these roles as fully or sporadically as you like, thanks to the game’s laid-back, freeform structure. You’re rarely tied down to an activity, which suits Red Dead’s open, freewheeling Western vibe.

“When we first introduced the roles system with the Frontier Pursuits update, we wanted to bring a sense of inhabiting your character, which was such a powerful part of playing through the story of Red Dead Redemption 2,” says Katie Pica, world and progression design director at Rockstar North. “We knew that we would want to continue building out the roles in various ways, by adding new kinds of roles that would focus on different aspects of gameplay, and by extending each role in new ways over time.”

“The Bounty Hunter role brought high action gunslinging, the Trader and Moonshiners focus on commerce, and the Collector encourages exploration,” Pica continues. “The Naturalist was another, more pacifistic role that allowed us to go deeper into the natural world, adding new animals and highlighting the diversity of wildlife in the game.”

“We’re all big fans of the legendary hunter gameplay we’ve done in both Redemption games and it really felt like this role could bring that feeling of tracking down legendary animals to Red Dead Online,” says Butchard. “It’s also a role that players can dive right into or move fluently in and out of while navigating the world and other roles.” 

Rockstar also wanted this role to offer a substantial amount of stuff to do outside of hunting. If you don’t want to kill the animals you encounter, you can track and study them to learn new skills instead. Of course, hunting them means you can use their pelts to make new clothing. The important thing is that you have a choice, which is another example of Red Dead Online feeling almost like a lightweight MMO – and giving players the opportunity to exist in this simulated Wild West in a way that suits them.

Keep it real

While Grand Theft Auto Online is a hotbed of outlandish modes, wild weapons, and absurd vehicles, Red Dead Redemption 2 – and by extension Red Dead Online – is a game steeped in realism. I ask the designers if this limits them creatively. “We aim to start off with a grounded foundation,” says Pica. “But we feel we can add some experiences that bend reality or challenge perspectives over time. The Naturalist role’s Vitalism Studies, which let players turn into animals, are a good example of this.”

“The grounded nature is a fundamental part of what makes Red Dead Online so special,” says Butchard. “We’ve made updates to the game to account for a world that is full of real players, not just AI, and a slightly faster pace. But it still speaks to us that this game is about the grittiness and realism of the Wild West in its final days. However, we still want to allow room in the game for slightly offbeat or more creative experiences—moments where the players can lose themselves and have fun, in competitive modes, or with a story aspect that starts in a grounded way and takes some unusual turns.”

“Halloween is always a good opportunity for us to explore some of our more supernatural ideas for Red Dead Online,” says Hamad. “Red Dead Redemption 2 already had its share of mysterious, esoteric phenomena hidden throughout the world, so we want to echo that where we can in Online, but in a way that makes sense. Themed events allow us to do that and the community has responded really well to them.”

Second life

But for the most part, players are content just to be cowboys. There is, inevitably, violence in Red Dead Online, but the game is not defined by it. If it’s a shootout you want, find another player, pull your gun, and it’s very unlikely they’ll back down. These contained firefights often start spreading like wildfire, until the whole town is full of people shooting at each other. But you can avoid it easily, thanks to the sheer volume of open space in the world. This idea of forging your own path is, of course, in the spirit of the Wild West, but it also makes Red Dead Online a rewarding and customisable RPG. You can even enter a passive mode that makes you harder to kill – deterring aggressive players, should you want to immerse yourself in the world without being hassled by troublemaking gunslingers.

“With Red Dead Online, we’re trying to deliver every aspect of what it might be like to live in frontier America in the late 1800s, so it offers a huge variety of options for players to create the experience they want within that world,” says Hamad. “By designing it in this way, there’s room for players of all kinds. Naturally enough, the classic cowboy shootout elements are extremely popular, so if a player wants to create and step into the shoes of a notorious, feared, and lawless scoundrel – on their own or running just as fearsome a posse – they can have that experience, they can be that person.”

“At the same time, we do see a large portion of the community enjoy some of the more solitary and calm pursuits on offer. We’ve made sure to provide just as much freedom for players who want to live a peaceful life as a hunter, or tending to their camp, or a burgeoning business owner – or even become a deadly bounty hunter that can protect the peaceful players of the world from the scoundrels. How all these different players interact really paints a picture of what it would be like to live and breathe in that era.”

New frontiers

As for the future of Red Dead Redemption 2, Rockstar tells me that Red Dead Online is the best place to be told new stories in that world. “Right now the team is focused on building on top of and into the world of Read Dead Online,” says Hamad. “This world, that era, provides so much scope for storytelling and introducing a wide spectrum of different characters, all of which can be experienced on your own or with a full posse. It’s really important for us that we make sure every type of player can experience the stories we have to tell, and can control the way they experience all of this in Read Dead Online.”

Red Dead Online is certainly Rockstar’s most ambitious multiplayer game yet. While Grand Theft Auto Online, which is seemingly immortal and continues to draw a large audience, doubles down on a winning formula, Red Dead Online has become fertile ground for experimentation. Reflecting the slow, thoughtful pace of the single-player, it’s a game that doesn’t demand too much, offering a huge variety of things to do at your own pace. If you want to explore this world, but with the added thrill of bumping into other players out in the wilderness, it’s a more interesting experience than the story mode. Your online character still can’t do everything Arthur Morgan can, but it’s getting closer with each update.

But as a result of this languid pace, Red Dead Online requires a fairly substantial time investment. It’s not a game you just dive into for half an hour; you really have to sit down for a good chunk of time and give yourself to it. Sometimes, as a consequence of this, it can feel like a little grindy – especially when trying to unlock some of the more desirable clothing and upgrades. 

This is being tweaked constantly, and compared to the early days, rewards are now more attainable for players other than the absolutely hardcore. I’m not sure where Rockstar will take their lavish cowboy RPG next, but I know that, whatever they do, it’ll certainly be interesting – and some great stories will emerge from it as a result.

Red Dead Online remains one of the greatest experiences of the generation. For more great games to play right now, check out our best PS4 games and best Xbox One games recommendations. 

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“A vicious serial killer is roaming the countryside, carrying out bloody murders with an antique Navy Revolver. Scour Blaine County for clues and bring this wicked killer to justice to claim their unique weapon for your own collection,” reads Rockstar (opens in new tab)’s official mission description.

The Serial Killer Mystery mission was added as part of GTA Online’s Diamond Casino Heist update, tasking you with tracking down a serial killer who’s been making their way through Blaine County with the Navy Revolver. Track down the elusive murderer and nab the weapon to unlock the Navy Revolver Challenge.

Completing the Navy Revolver Challenge means getting 50 kills with the Navy Revolver, and doing so nets you $250,000 in GTA money and unlocks Lowry’s Revolver in Red Dead Online. To note, you need to be a Social Club member to access the gun in Red Dead Online.

Rockstar gives you clues as to where to find the revolver in Red Dead Online once you’ve unlocked it, but doesn’t outright reveal its location. But if you’re not much for treasure hunts, feel free to read on for the location.

According to Reddit (opens in new tab), Lowry’s Revolver can be found in the cellar of a building southwest of Valentine, south of and in-between the A and L of “Valentine” on the map. Reddit user Quahox (opens in new tab) was kind enough to mark its location on this map (opens in new tab). According to some comments, you might need to save and restart your game for the lockbox to unlock.

Here’s our quick start guide to GTA Online (opens in new tab) for getting rich quick.

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Speak to Madam Nazar, and there’s a chance she’ll respond (opens in new tab) with the numbers “123 7645112”, which also happen to be the same sequence of digits (opens in new tab) spouted by the woman trapped in the bog at the Brathwaites Manor in Red Dead Redemption 2 (opens in new tab). 

Read more

Becoming a ghostbuster in Red Dead Redemption 2 is far harder than you’d think it would be (opens in new tab)

What’s more, GTA Online players have discovered that ringing that number in-game (opens in new tab) takes you back through to Madam Nazar herself, who responds in equally vague fashion by teasing that “the future is open to me.” Some have also stated that calling this number from Mount Chiliad will summon a ghost, with Nazar’s dialogue on the phone slightly modified in addition. 

Madam Nazar, as it happens, is also a real NPC in Red Dead Online (opens in new tab), and the person to talk to if you want to begin your Wild West adventure as a Collector; one of several new Red Dead Online Roles (opens in new tab) available in Rockstar’s online open world.

But the numbers (Mason (opens in new tab)), what do they mean? Some believe (opens in new tab) that Madam Nazar’s prophetic riddles could be teasing a big new Rockstar announcement, either for the long promised story DLC (opens in new tab) in GTA 5 (opens in new tab) or the reveal of GTA 6 (opens in new tab) itself. Recent job listings (opens in new tab) have suggested the famed developer is working hard on its next big project, but nothing official has been announced of yet. 

Alternatively, this could just be Rockstar having some fun with its own universe, but that isn’t stopping players from analyzing every newly discovered number and phrase as another potential clue. It’s all still very confusing at the moment, but we’ll be sure to keep you informed if and when we hear anything else of note. 

For more, check out these Red Dead Redemption 2 cheats (opens in new tab), or watch the video below for our latest episode of Dialogue Options. 

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In a new blog post (opens in new tab) announcing Gun Rush, Rockstar also discussed other additions and changes coming to the ongoing Red Dead Online beta (opens in new tab), chief among them new races and showdowns. Rockstar’s to-do list also includes daily challenges which will encourage players to log in each day, as well as a broader overhaul of the law and bounty systems which will – in an ideal world – discourage griefing.

“Soon, players will get a bounty for committing crimes and will be incentivized to pay them off within an allotted time,” Rockstar explained. “Wait too long and bounty hunters from each of the states will track the player forcing them either pay up or escape.” 

The Parley system, which gives attacked players a 10-minute immunity window to get away from or talk down their attacker, is also going to trigger more easily in the future “so that you can avoid aggressive players more quickly,” Rockstar said. In the same vein, starting Feuds, wherein both parties agree to kill the crap out of each other for three minutes, is also going to be easier – and that includes Posse Feuds and Leader Feuds. 

Finally, Rockstar is reducing the distance at which players appear on the map, making it tougher for would-be griefers to pursue you. “Down the line, we’re also looking to introduce the ability to identify players who grief and kill indiscriminately with a progressively darkening blip that becomes more visible and at a longer range,” Rockstar said, “so everyone in a session can identify potentially dangerous opponents at a glance and from a safe distance.”

It’s ironic that today’s update, which is explicitly about killing people – in a battle royale, no less – was paired with patch notes about minimizing senseless violence, but everything here sounds promising. Make It Count proved Red Dead Redemption 2 (opens in new tab) is as good a home for battle royale as any other game, and lord knows Red Dead Online can always use more behavioral incentives. 

Here are 26 Red Dead Online tips (opens in new tab) to help you survive the Wild West of an online mode. 

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