Is Red Dead Online Worth Playing In 2025?

Red Dead Online should have been another enormous success for Rockstar in the same way that GTA Online was. After all, it had a huge fan base who wanted nothing more than to head back into the wonderfully realized Wild West of Red Dead Redemption 2 and experience new content, as well as the backing of a talented developer with a lot of resources. To many, it felt like there was no way that Red Dead Online could fail, and yet, in 2025, its player counts are dwindling.

Red Dead Online never saw the same success as GTA Online, and that is a shame. However, it has led many to wonder whether RDO is worth saving in 2025, or indeed, whether it's worth playing for newcomers. After a fairly lengthy run - Red Dead Online launched in 2019 - there is a lot to experience for both dedicated fans and those who are completely new to both Red Dead Redemption and its online counterpart. Of course, lots of content doesn't always translate to a completely enjoyable experience.

Why People Are Unhappy With Red Dead Online

Rockstar Has Abandoned It

Red Dead Online's current player base - which sits at just over 1,000 daily players on Steam, according to Steam Charts - is not happy with the state of the game. Ever since Rockstar stopped updating the game back in 2022, fans have been left with what often feels like an unfinished experience, one with a lot of undelivered potential that's more tantalizing than fun. This has even led several players to start a petition to save RDO in the hopes that it will get Rockstar's attention.

Rockstar had always struggled with balancing the game's microtransactions with its level of enjoyable content, releasing numerous updates that added more interesting roles but cost too much to unlock and ended up not delivering the intended experience. This was made worse by the rate at which players would unlock the premium currency in-game, which Rockstar constantly made harder and harder to get. Players had to grind activity after activity for hours on end just to scrape together enough money to unlock the latest role.

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These new roles often weren't particularly fun either. This is best seen in the maligned Blood Money update, which introduced heists and other criminal activities, something the community had been asking for, but offered far too few of them, and did little to make their set-ups interesting. All of this culminated in a disappointing online experience, albeit one with plenty of amazing features as well.

What's Good About Red Dead Online?

It Fulfills That Cowboy Sandbox Itch

A character overlooks a lake at sunset in Red Dead Online.

There's a reason whyRDO has a dedicated fanbase. While Red Dead Online's potential was largely squandered, the foundations of its cowboy sandbox are still immensely enjoyable. Roaming the Wild West with a friend never gets old, especially in a world as detailed and enormous as Red Dead Online's, and the handful of activities that are fun, as few and far between as they can be, can be invigorating to experience.

Red Dead Online allows players to keep existing within RDR2's world, if only a bit longer, and there's something undeniably special about that.

It is also the only real way of continuing one's adventure after completing Red Dead Redemption 2. Despite the finality of RDR2's narrative, that desire to be completely immersed in its breathtaking world remains unceasing. Players will always feel the draw of that sprawling landscape with its mesmerizing nature and calming serenity and want more reasons to keep exploring it. Red Dead Online allows players to keep existing within RDR2's world, if only a bit longer, and there's something undeniably special about that.

Is Red Dead Online Still Worth Your Time In 2025?

It Might Be Worth Saying Goodbye

A player riding on a horse through the desert in Red Dead Online.

Red Dead Online is worth playing, but only for a very specific group of people, and likely not for very long. Thanks to the discontinued updates and the general lack of quality that GTA Online is blessed with, Red Dead Online is hard to recommend to people who don't have a pre-existing attachment to its world and setting. It is a perfectly functional, yet often unenjoyable and grindy experience that's not particularly beginner-friendly, and evidentially doesn't respect its loyal players who've stuck around since 2019.

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However, for those who have just wrapped Red Dead Redemption 2, wiped the tears from their eyes, and are setting their sights on the next best cowboy game, then Red Dead Online might be the perfect fit. It isn't an amazing game, but the foundations that make RDR2's exploration so enjoyable are there. Having more time in its incredibly immersive world is a genuine delight and one that fans who are eager for more should enjoy. Red Dead Online isn't for everyone in 2025, but it is for those who appreciate the beauty of Red Dead Redemption 2's world.

Source: SteamCharts