No longer will fans have to speculate, plead, or pray to a picture of the Houser brothers: Red Dead Redemption 2 is indeed real, and it’s arriving next year.
Developer Rockstar Games made the announcement official on its website this morning, dating the game for a fall 2017 release on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
“Developed by the creators of Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption, Red Dead Redemption 2 is an epic tale of life in America’s unforgiving heartland. The game’s vast and atmospheric world will also provide the foundation for a brand new online multiplayer experience,” reads the official announcement.
A third image, following the two we’ve seen in the last two days, was also released alongside the news, showing seven outlaws, each holding weapons that appear to line up with the equipment we’ve seen in previous games — this won’t be a “modern” Western like Call of Juarez: The Cartel attempted in 2011.
Just a few hours before the announcement, fans became aware that Rockstar parent company Take-Two had registered “RedDeadOnline.com,” which is likely what the “brand new online multiplayer experience” mentioned in the announcement is referring to.
This branding would also line up nicely with the company’s other major property, Grand Theft Auto, which bundled the multiplayer components of Grand Theft Auto V into Grand Theft Auto Online shortly after the game released in 2013.
The multiplayer component of the original Red Dead Redemption — itself a successor to the earlier Red Dead Revolver — was praised in its own right, with Vice’s Jake Tucker calling it “the best part of the game” and “the best emergent mode that Rockstar has ever realized.”
As the announcement does not make mention of a PC version of the game, it’s unclear if Red Dead Redemption will be coming to the platform at all. The game’s first trailer will release on Thursday, October 20, at 11 a.m. ET.
