Red Dead Online surprises players with a new update and missions

Fans of Red Dead Online consider the game dead and buried, even holding a funeral for it, after Rockstar Games admitted that it would no longer release major updates. However, that didn’t mean support has ended just yet.

While it’s most certainly become less of a priority at the studio (especially with Grand Theft Auto VI in development), Rockstar said in July that it would add some new content and address player complaints with bug fixes and the like. Today, without any sort of announcement, Red Dead Online received a new update to do just that.

There’s no mention of the new update on the Red Dead Online website, but Rockstar’s support website does lay out what’s included. In terms of new content, three new Hardcore Telegram missions have been added, which can be done solo or with up to four players. They involve stealing supplies and capturing members, including the leader, of the Seventh Generation cult. It’s also now possible to launch Telegrams from both the player menu and camp.

Three other Telegrams have been updated to include a new location each, with two Showdown Modes — Hostile Territory and Sport of Kings — receiving four new locations each. The main focus of the update, though, is clearly to fix a number of problems players have been experiencing. For example, several scenarios would cause the game to crash, but the update should rectify those.

It’s worth remembering that this isn’t the last hurrah for Red Dead Online either. In July, Rockstar said that there will be multiple updates for the game even beyond summer. They probably won’t be frequent, but players can expect further minor content additions and fixes until Rockstar definitively ends support for it.

Still, the future of the Red Dead series is rather vague. There’s no sign of a new game being in development and a remaster of the first game was reportedly shelved. Considering Rockstar’s main priority is now Grand Theft Auto VI, we probably shouldn’t expect to hear anything substantial about the Red Dead series for a very long time.