Grand Theft Auto 6recently won the Golden Joystick Award for Most Wanted Game—something that shouldn’t exactly come as a surprise to anyone familiar with the gaming landscape of the past few decades. During the acceptance speech for the award, another unsurprising thing happened: theRockstar representative described the game as “mind-blowing.”
Normally, this wouldn’t be taken too seriously, and for good reason—developers from every corner of the industry, but especially in the AAA market, are always hyping up their games with hyperbolic language like “amazing,” “revolutionary,” and “mind-blowing,” but the final product rarely lives up to such lofty claims. One only needs to look at the likes ofSkull and Bones, which Ubisoft’s CEO described as the first-ever “AAAA” game, suggesting that it would somehow surpass even the most detailed, expansive, and high-fidelity games ever. Naturally, this was not the case when the game actually launched, and these dramatic statements were written off as little more than marketing speak. That could be precisely what is happening withGrand Theft Auto 6now, and indeed, marketing and optics certainly play a role in any official statement about the game, but there’s plenty of reason to take these assertions of “mind-blowing” quality at face value.
It’s no great secret thatRed Dead Redemption 2is a bafflingly detailed game. Rockstar truly pulled out all the stops when designing its sprawling open world, weather effects, character animations, and so much more. In the gaming community, there are frequently design choices, ingenious features, and art design that land well with audiences, butRed Dead Redemption 2stands as one of the few games that just about anyone, regardless of their experience with the gaming medium, can stand in awe of.
Characters move, talk, and emote like real people, putting even the most expensive and graphically complex AAA games to shame during cinematics; NPCs follow strict schedules that help make each in-game city feel plausible; even some ofRed Dead Redemption 2’s more ridiculous or less glamorous details, like the inclusion of various equine bodily functions, help to paint a more comprehensive and reactive virtual world. With this same work ethic, creativity, and ambition, but in a game with a modern, urban setting, there’s no telling what Rockstar may accomplish withGTA 6.
Grand Theft Auto 6 Can Take RDR2’s Attention to Detail to the Next Level
Some of the aforementionedRDR2details may not make it intoGTA 6. For instance, every NPC following a bespoke schedule could be difficult to implement, at least in the same way, in a game set within a densely populated metropolis.But the scope ofGTA 6, which is both larger and denser thanRDR2, could open the door to innumerable new possibilities.
Maybe NPCs won’t each have their own schedule, but crowds could be programmed to react realistically to the player-character’s actions, perhaps to the point where they could play into some emergent gameplay opportunities. Additionally, while there probably won’t be major differences in temperature, given Vice City’s climate, there could be tropical storms or even hurricanes simulated in-game, which would be a unique chance to offer believable and novel weather effects. And while horses likely won’t make their way intoGTA 6, automobiles could be deeply customizable and realistic, taking a page out of the racing simulation playbook.
Of course, these are all just theories; the reality ofGTA 6will probably be vastly different from what most players would guess. But nevertheless, theprecedent set byRed Dead Redemption 2means that hopes should be high for the “mind-blowing” aspects ofGTA 6. Only time will tell what these aspects actually are.
Grand Theft Auto 6
WHERE TO PLAY
Grand Theft Auto VI heads to the state of Leonida, home to the neon-soaked streets of Vice City and beyond in the biggest, most immersive evolution of the Grand Theft Auto series yet.Jason and Lucia have always known the deck is stacked against them. But when an easy score goes wrong, they find themselves on the darkest side of the sunniest place in America, in the middle of a criminal conspiracy stretching across the state of Leonida — forced to rely on each other more than ever if they want to make it out alive.
