5 things I want from GTA 6

GTA 6 is coming and here are some things we want to see

GTA 6 is finally getting a trailer in early December (Microsoft thinks the next GTA is coming in 2024), stealing the thunder from The Game Awards like Kanye West snatching a mic and saying “I’mma let you finish in a minute.”

It’s been five whole years since Rockstar’s last game, the brilliant Red Dead Redemption 2, and ten years since the last Grand Theft Auto. Goddamn.

Ten years is a long time. I had hair ten years ago, and there was still a light in my eyes. People and companies change a lot in a decade – Dan Houser doesn’t even work at Rockstar anymore.

Before we see the game in action, I wanted to put together a list of some things I want from GTA 6. These wishlist ideas will be based on what I know about how Rockstar operates, as well as how its games have evolved over the years. 

More grounded protagonists

Rockstar Games

According to the leaks, GTA 6 will have dual protagonists this time around – a man and a woman. In GTA 5 we got Trevor, Michael, and Franklin – each a caricature of a different criminal underworld archetype. I think GTA 6’s characters will be far more human, akin to what we saw in Red Dead Redemption 2. It’ll still have some weirdos, but the main story based around the two main characters will likely be deeply personal and try to make you cry. As a GTA 4 liker, the further Rockstar goes with this, the better. 

The best lighting and physics ever made

Rockstar

Rockstar has always been at the forefront of lighting and physics tech, and I’m expecting GTA 6 to give us a real glimpse into the future. I replayed Red Dead Redemption 2 recently and that game still looks better than almost everything that’s been released since. The way morning light hits the fog in the bayou and makes the air thick. The way a lantern makes the fabric of a tent glow orange. The way a man falls dead in the mud and sticks in the mire. It might just seem decadent, but it’s these details that make Rockstar’s worlds feel more alive than any others. 

A more personal armory

Rockstar

Rockstar’s dedication to realism was expanded upon in Red Dead Redemption 2, which required you to stow most of your arsenal on your horse. I imagine GTA 6 will feature a similar mechanic, forcing you to keep large guns in the trunk of your car. Why do I want this? Because it means you’ll have to improvise and adapt on the fly, picking up guns and discarding them as needed. You’ll also have to plan out your missions more carefully, deciding when it’s time to bring a sniper rifle versus a pump action shotgun. John Wick shows how cool it is to switch up guns mid-fight. If they add a little animation akin to Hitman’s Agent 47, where he tucks a pistol into the small of his back to hide it while approaching a target, I will lose my mind. 

Role-playing

Rockstar

Rockstar recently acquired the teams behind FiveM and RedM, two of the largest roleplaying servers for GTA Online. Red Dead Online featured “roles” which encouraged players to specialize in different areas of the game. Put these two things together and it’s pretty obvious GTA 6 will have some kind of roleplaying element online. It’d be cool if this was all baked into the online mode, allowing players to be anything from police to criminals, taxi drivers, and emergency service workers. Perhaps it’d be enough to stop kids from griefing everyone with a rocket-mounted hoverbike. 

Make more use of the world

Rockstar games always have an incredible world, and GTA 6’s map will probably be the largest the developer has ever made. Perhaps too large for just one story. At one point, Rockstar planned to do more with GTA 5 in a series of DLC stories, but that all changed when GTA Online’s popularity shot up. If Rockstar goes into GTA 6 with a different mindset, this could all change. Look back at GTA 4 for an idea of what I mean: both of that game’s expansions were side stories that interweaved with the main narrative in smart ways, building out the world. GTA 6 could become a platform from which all GTA games are born – a series of anthology games. We could see different viewpoints of Vice City, from crooked cops to slimy hucksters. Once Rockstar feels like it’s told as many stories as it can in the city, we only need to head to the airport and take a flight to a new destination, which the developer has already done with GTA Online.