We’ve known for a good little while that Grand Theft Auto 6 is happening, thanks to the sneaky schemings of hackers who leaked a substantial chunk of super-early game footage a little over a year ago, but now it looks like we have some form of timeline. Rockstar have now officially confirmed that they’ll be releasing a GTA 6 trailer next month.
So all aboard the hype train for one of the biggest games in gaming? Well, sure, sort of, but a bit like with Bethesda, I’m a little wary of Rockstar starting to stagnate in its ways. I thought Red Dead Redemption 2 was a magnificent game, but there were already signs there (let alone in GTA V) that certain aspects of that distinctively Rockstar open-world model were starting to get a little stale.
So I’ve decided to compile a little list of things that GTA 6 should do to refresh the template a bit, and the likelihood that they’ll happen (‘based on what,’ you ask? The guessing capabilities of my mind!).
Drop-in, Drop-Out Co-op
For the most part, Rockstar has been pretty firm about keeping the single-player and multiplayer aspect of its games strictly separate. There’s the single-player, then there’s the lucrative multiplayer, and never the twain did meet (unless you remember that weirdly hidden same-screen co-op mode in San Andreas back in the day?).
With the GTA 6 story supposedly revolving around a pair of Bonnie and Clyde-style protagonists, it seems like some form of drop-in co-op could nicely integrate into that, or at least for side-missions like heists, roadside diner robberies (which we saw in that leaked footage), and other misadventures inspired by crime road movies. It’d be great to see co-op play outside the whole messy GTA Online sphere for people who just want to play with a buddy.
Probability Rating: 7/10
I kind of see this one happening. Rockstar needs to have some standout features in there, beyond just ‘look how cool and detailed our map is,’ and this is a logical bet. The dual-protagonist story lends itself well to this.
More Freedom In Missions
I’ve talked in depth about how outmoded Rockstar’s approach to missions felt in Red Dead 2 (and I’m not the only one). Quite often there’s just one way into an outpost, one way to complete your mission, and obnoxious fail-states when, for example, you get spotted by someone when you’re on a stealth mission. There are some exceptions to this, and actually GTA V felt better in this regard than Red Dead 2, but overall, my message on this is ‘Let us off the leash, Rockstar!’
Everything feels so incredibly scripted in Rockstar’s single-player missions, with the notable exception of heists. I’d like to see some of that more open-ended heist philosophy applied to all missions. Scrap fail-states (unless you die), let the player figure out their own way to, say, kill a target or rob a location, and stop using high-viz lines on the minimap to hold our hands. Players have evolved, and Rockstar’s mission design needs to too.
Probably Rating: 7/10
Cautiously optimistic about this one. Rockstar has dabbled in more open mission structures in the past, and in more recent times there are of course the Heist missions, which stand far above other missions, and could have some of their better ideas ‘ported’ onto other mission types.
Alternate Story Paths
Yes, Rockstar has been giving its last few GTA games alternate endings largely based around late-game decisions, but it’d be great to see this stuff woven throughout the whole narrative, with choices you make opening and closing up different missions, characters, and avenues to explore.
I’m not just talking about different ways to complete a mission, or something akin to Red Dead 2’s Honor System that ultimately doesn’t have much impact, but picking your criminal allegiances—having choices about whether to kill one underworld boss or another, having the option to betray (or not) people you work for—and giving those things knock-on narrative effects throughout the game that mean you can swap stories about your individual, unique paths through the game. GTA’s always presented as something of an ‘underworld sim,’ but really it could use a lot more reactivity and simulation.
Probability rating: 3/10
Rockstar’s always been pretty rigid storywise, barring some obligatory alternate endings, but it’s rarely shown much interest in truly reactive and choice-based narratives. It would be incredible if it happened, but I suspect Rockstar’s going to stick to the book on this one.
Single-Player DLC
Is it me, or does single-player story DLC feel like a 2010s thing in triple-A gaming (though indie games still do it plenty)? A few games still do it—Horizon: Forbidden West and Ghost of Tsushima spring to mind—but it doesn’t feel nearly as prevalent as it used to. Which is a shame, because Rockstar’s expansions for GTA 4, The Ballad of Gay Tony and The Lost and the Damned, were fantastic alternate stories in the game’s world (while Red Dead’s Undead Nightmare was a good bit of silly fun).
I’d love to see Rockstar tell more stories in the worlds it creates. Can you imagine how joyous it would’ve been to have Red Dead 2 DLCs casting you as different members of Dutch’s gang after it fell apart? I already pitched that Sadie should’ve had one, but getting to play as Marston again would’ve been novel, or as Charles, or even getting permission to go full psycho as Micah.
Rockstar creates some great characters, and have a history of creating great DLCs for them that provide new angles on old stories (or generate new stories altogether).
Probability rating: 4/10
After the main game is released, Rockstar’s priorities over their last couple of releases have been online content. That’s where the long-term money is, and that’s likely what they’ll focus on again. It’d be a dramatic (though welcome) shift in their recent strategy, and a great bit of fan service, to release single-player DLC, but it’s hard to see it happening.