The information torrent from Codemasters on November’s DIRT 5 continues, with the developer revealing more about the game’s online multiplayer.
As you’d expect, there’s a regular online offering, allowing you to take part in any of the DIRT 5’s various race types, in any of the game’s locations, with up to 12 players. The development team has put together a list of what it considers the best events from the single player game into a curated playlist for online.
In addition to that though, there’s a bunch of new “party” modes, which we’ve seen a little of over the last few months. These set new objectives for players to achieve, rather than just getting somewhere first, fastest, or with the highest score.
The one we’ve already seen is Vampire. This is a macabre game of tag, where one driver starts out as the vampire — indicated by their red headlights. They then have to hunt down and contact the other cars, within a Playgrounds arena. That turns them into vampires too, swelling the ranks of the vamps. The goal is to either turn all the other cars or remain unblooded until the timer runs out.
King mode turns players into targets. There’s two crowns in the arena, and they go to the players who pick them up first. Then they simply have to avoid contact to keep their thrones and earn points — but they also leave a trail of coins for everyone else to follow. If contact occurs, the crown transfers to the player who successfully performed the regicide.
One final party mode is Transporter. This is similar to the King mode, except there’s a defined destination. You need to pick up and carry an object, and take it to a drop-off point, but you gain more points the longer you hold onto it before delivery. Meanwhile, every other player will be trying to hit you to take the item for themselves. And remember: don’t open the package.
At launch, DIRT 5 won’t support private lobbies, but this is planned to arrive later. Codemasters says it will “assess the performance and feedback” on the other multiplayer modes in order to refine custom lobbies before implementing them.
All multiplayer modes will reward the player with in-game money and personalization items, for player profiles or on your car through the livery editor. DIRT 5 also supports cross-gen online play, so PlayStation 5 players can play with PlayStation 4 players, and Xbox Series with Xbox One. There’s no word just yet on cross-platform play however.
You’ll be able to pick up DIRT 5 on November 6 for current-gen consoles, with three days’ early access for players who pick up the Amplified Edition. It arrives as a launch day title on both Xbox Series on November 10, and PlayStation 5 on November 12, and there’s a free upgrade available from current-gen to next-gen too.
