Red Dead Online has a baker’s dozen different competitive online modes. It might be hard to find one to sink your teeth into, or maybe you tried a couple and didn’t really enjoy them. Like the Roles, some are definitely better than others. Some are frustrating to the point that they can make someone not want to ever play the game again. Before you have a go at these, maybe look at some general starting tips for the game.
Some are so fun you’ll find yourself spending hours just shooting other outlaws. Furthermore, these game modes are a great way to earn gold, money, and experience. There certainly is a lot on offer here, so take a look at our ranking of the competitive modes and see if there’s one for you.
10 Plunder
Plunder is a fun game mode that takes teamwork and cooperation to successfully win. Or a couple of absolute beasts who can somehow get in and out without ever being shot. Either tactic works well. This game mode is great, as defending your base while infiltrating the enemy’s is good fun.
Having only two teams makes this mode a lot more streamlined than the chaotic Spoils of War, which often feels luck-based due to the sheer number of enemy teams and players coming after your stuff.
9 Public Enemy
Public Enemy is a cool concept for a game mode. Each team has a designated public enemy which rotates regularly. Kill the opposing team’s public enemy to score points, and protect your public enemy as all of their kills rack up points too.
This, in theory, ensures some semblance of balance as each team should have some players who are very good who can earn points to carry the weaker members. In reality, it often feels like your turn as the public enemy is cut short.
8 Shootout
Just a standard free-for-all, what’s not to love? The use of your own weapons can make this a little harder for new players, but since every weapon can still kill pretty quickly if you aim for the head, this game mode never feels too unbalanced.
It also feels quite real, being an outlaw and having nothing but your trigger fingers and your wits to save you. Shootout is a scramble to the top, and boy does it feel good to be on top.
7 Make It Count
This is the battle royale experience stripped down to the bare essentials. You have nothing but some arrows and throwing knives to ensure your success as the play area gets smaller and smaller.
There’s no way for you to complain about someone finding a better weapon, the playing field is even. Still, it sucks to go down early, and sometimes the throwing knives just feel like they miss on purpose.
6 Name Your Weapon
Name Your Weapon is like the older brother of Make It Count. You aren’t as limited in what you use, but you do get rewarded for using the trickier weapons. The main issue with this game mode is that it’s just best to use the shotguns.
Although they’re only the middle ground in terms of points, they allow you to score consistently and with ease due to their high damage and ease of use.
5 Sport Of Kings
While the other races in Red Dead Online are okay, this one truly takes the crown. There’s just something so infinitely satisfying about blasting an opposing torchbearer off their steed with a well-placed dynamite arrow. Galloping around with sawn-off shotguns is great too.
It all feels very Roman somehow, even though it’s in the Wild West. It’s like the equivalent of chariot racing. This is definitely the most fun you’ll have racing on your horse, so don’t pass it up. Make sure you have the right horse for the job, too.
4 Most Wanted
If you love chasing down bounties but hate the hassle of bringing them in alive and the paperwork of pulling down a wanted poster, then Most Wanted is the game mode for you. In this game mode, the more kills you get and the longer you stay alive, the more points you’re worth.
This means the longer someone stays alive, the more everyone is gunning for them. Players can rack up some massive big scores in this mode if they go after the highest valued opponents. Even if you’re lagging behind, just find the MVP a few times and you’ll be back up the leaderboard with no problem.
3 Overrun
This is hectic gaming done right. Overrun has players fighting for control over as many tiny territories as they can lay their hands on. The gameplay here is frenetic and twitchy, punishing those who stop to breathe for even a second.
These best of three games are fast and fun, definitely best when you’re just charging in headfirst. It can be annoying when your team somehow loses at the very last moment, but the feeling is pure ecstasy when you’re the team that manages to pull off a clutch victory in the round’s final seconds.
2 Hostile Territory
Hostile Territory is just a yee-haw way of saying domination. This classic game mode sees players fighting to control different sectors of the map in order to get points. Control more sectors than your opponents and get more points, simple. The ebbs and flows of superiority in this game mode are what makes it so fun.
If one team gets too comfortable or spreads themselves too thin, a strong counterattack can quickly put them on the back foot. This game mode is definitely best played with friends to make the most of being able to talk to each other to secure a win.
1 Head For The Hills
Head For The Hills is as close to the thrill of playing Bulldog you can get. Known by other names, such as tree-to-tree, Bulldog is a game that sees you run from one side of a playground to the other without getting tagged (or tackled defending on how rough your school was) by the players in the middle.
Head For The Hills is just like that, except with guns. Run from your spawn to your safehouse, or use cover and get there sneakily, just don’t get caught. There’s no honor here, only victory or defeat.
