T Damien Anyasi

150 new GTA 6 details from previews by media outlets and creators who visited Rockstar North: 1. The game has been in development for over a decade 2. It was supposed to have 4 playable characters at some point but that was scrapped, as they thought it would be hard to emotionally connect 3. The game features over 600,000 animations, which is 2x RDR2 and 10x GTAV, all human-crafted 4. No generative AI used in development 5. The story can take up to 80 hours to finish, and side content is huge 6. The playable map area is 2x GTAV and 3x RDR2 7. Vice City is 2x the size of Los Santos 8. Vice City and its surrounding suburbs are 11x bigger than Los Santos and its surrounding areas 9. The development team has more than doubled since RDR2 10. The game is something between RDR2 and GTAV, as Rockstar’s goal is to create a world of total immersion, which reacts more realistically than ever to what you choose to make of it 11. Sam Houser wants to make the experience as seamless as possible by removing the fades to black between gameplay and cutscenes 12. Journalists and creators went to Rockstar North in July 13. They watched the Extended Look there early, and also watched Rob Nelson (co-studio head who worked at Rockstar for over 23 years) hold a controller and play the game for 2.5 hours in free roam, getting insights and answering questions 14. The themes of the story are hopefulness, elements of sacrifice versus selfishness, and whether love can survive through the storm (Bonnie and Clyde theme) 15. You can rob stores, banks and jewelry stores in the free room, and plan the robberies 16. You can use special tools such as a snap gun to pick a lock and quietly enter 17. There are hundreds of accessible interiors you can explore, but don’t expect every single building to be enterable 18. Rob Nelson says the game is so big that he doesn’t know there’s anybody on the team that knows all of it 19. Rob says the decision not to release the game on a physical disc gives them more time to work, as they try to take advantage of every second before launch to deliver the highest quality possible 20. He also says there are thousands of outfits in the game that you’ll be able to obtain by completing missions or purchasing them from stores 21. The single-player doesn’t have microtransactions other than pre-order and Ultimate Edition bonuses 22. Rob refused to answer questions regarding the next GTA Online 23. Players will be in shock when they get in there and see the size of the world, the density of the traffic and population, and the fidelity of their responses 24. The story is about a couple on the run, being chased by various people after a easy score went wrong, working together for a taste of the good life, striving for the same goal, which gives the story an emotional hook 25. There’s a photo mode in the game, but no director mode 26. The game runs at smooth 30fps on base PS5, but there are no details on a performance mode yet 27. No details on the PS5 Pro enhancements yet, as they’re still refining 28. The game won’t have a full first-person mode at launch, as Rockstar decided to focus efforts on third-person animations, although it is possible to use a first-person perspective while aiming with certain weapons 29. A dynamic relationship system between Jason and Lucia that affects the story 30. Roaming, holding hands, checking in via text, shopping, holding the door open and robbing the world together as a couple strengthens the relationship 31. Rockstar doesn’t want their physical relationship to be exaggerated like many games do, so they’re still experimenting and refining how intimate scenes should work 32. They remain partners in crime instead of being romantic if you ignore the relationship mechanic, but the story will be affected 33. Each character has their own routine, such as Lucia’s kickboxer training she goes to when you’re playing as Jason, so it doesn’t feel like a character playing sidekick to another 34. Heat system: when you commit a crime, police will get a description of your appearance, your car, clothes, and whether or not you’re walking around as a couple or separately 35. Changing any of those things makes it easier to lose the wanted level 36. If the cops only have a description of your clothes/appearance, and no description of the car you’re driving, then you may be able to escape without being noticed if you drive carefully, but driving a motorcycle will allow to the police to easily recognize your appearance 37. If the couple icon appears, it means police has a description of Jason and Lucia doing a crime as a couple, so it would be better to split up to make losing the cops easier 38. The law won’t be alerted unless an alarm sets off or someone witnesses your crime and reports it 39. 6-star wanted level returns, and hot areas marked red on the map can remain like that for a period of time until it cools down and police stops searching 40. At 3 stars and higher, escaping the cops becomes harder 41. Cops recognize your clothes, and it won’t be enough to put on glasses or a new hat, so you should always put a fresh set of clothes in your car’s trunk to use them 42. Equipping masks during a crime, and then removing them as you escape, can prevent a description of your appearance even making its way to the police, even if you’re caught by CCTV 43. The white wanted stars will be displayed as hollow outlines if the police comes to the crime scene but they don’t know who the perpetrator is, meaning as long as you leave the area of the crime without drawing attention to yourself, you should be in the clear 44. If you get arrested, “Busted” appears and you simply respawn into the world 45. There’s a slow-mo cinematic camera/kill-cam that highlights impressive shots similar to RDR2 46. Fleeing on foot into alleys can sometimes be an easier way to lose the cops than driving a fast car due to the busy roads and narrow/realistic lanes 47. Weight, hair and gym mechanics return 48. You can store weapons and clothes in a car’s trunk 49. Some story missions will require the player to have a certain amount of money 50. Jason and Lucia share the slow-mo focus ability, similar to the Deadeye, and it reveals enemies’ weak points as red (lethal on head and heart) and yellow (non-lethal to incapacitate on knee, elbow or arm) 51. The focus ability also works while driving and shootouts, revealing a vehicle’s weak points 52. Enemies can’t shoot back when they’re incapacitated 53. You can shoot an enemy’s hand to drop their weapon 54. You can either drive to a destination or switch to the other character and use the in-game phone 55. Jason & Lucia will move to different safehouses as the story progresses, which is made up of chapters 56. You can’t buy safehouses, but you can buy garages 57. You can make money by selling cars, holding up businesses, robbing stores, and executing bank heists 58. Blowing up a safe can damage the loot inside so you should take a little longer to search around the business for the safe combination, and you’ll earn more money, but at the risk of law enforcement turning up mid-heist 59. Police presence can even build outside of a store or bank and wait for you to leave, but you can use a back door 60. Stolen goods or cars can be sold to a fence, but the car will be worth less if it gets damaged 61. A fence can even give you the code for a police impound, where you can steal cars and sell them 62. Cars need to be fueled and electric cars need to charged 63. The fuel/recharge system isn’t designed to annoy the player, as a full tank lasts a long time 64. Vehicle damage will have consequences. A damaged engine impairs drivability, and vehicles will have different behaviors depending on the model and terrain, and modifications may improve characteristics such as traction, off-road performance or capacity for street racing 65. The team that deals with vehicle handling is made up of literal race-car drivers 66. The game features deep car customization on the level of Forza, such as engine type, brake calipers, suspension, wheels, rims and more 67. There are prebuilt kits available to just buy if you’re not into customizations 68. The On-Demand option for the radio features shows and podcasts to listen to, and it doesn’t let you connect Spotify, as previously rumored 69. You can’t turn a car to its normal position when it’s flipped like previous titles 70. The story is designed to support repeat playthroughs 71. There’s more freedom in missions, with multiple escape routes or choosing between driving seat or shooting 72. Mission variety: some will be huge action sequences, or slow moments, while others will be strange and idiosyncratic slices of everyday life 73. Lucia’s ankle monitor will play a notable part in the story and is key to how she and Jason are brought together 74. The map in the pause menu is very detailed with satellite 3D imagery 75. Unexplored areas are hidden on the map until you visit them 76. The map shows many information, such as a gang base, how much cash and drugs are stored in the base 77. You can set the destination by pressing and holding a button instead of opening the map 78. Mini-map won’t show where the police is, and will only show the search area 79. Mini-map shows 3D buildings similar to Apple Maps 80. The mini-map disappears when you leave the vehicle, but it’s highly customizable, as you can make it 2D, keep it on all the time, or turn on a compass option similar to RDR2 81. The game doesn’t have auto-aim, but there’s aim assist 82. The pause menu also shows relationship status and criminal profile status 83. Some character stats include physical and muscle strength, aerobic exercise, and fitness 84. Objects in the world are highly interactive, you can pick hats or glasses that fell on ground and wear them, and you can even pick up dog feces and throw it at NPCs 85. You can read each magazine at the supermarket, they’re not simple decorations 86. You can steal the electric elderly scooter from NPCs 87. Fast traveling is confirmed using a taxi app called Ryde Me 88. If you’re in the car with another passenger/NPC, you can talk to them and have full conversations until your reach your destination 89. Other phone apps include: Buckme (banking app), Scooter Bros (to deliver your car), WhatUp (WhatsApp), Snapmatic (Instagram) and, a Fitness app 90. Jason and Lucia also have a scanning app called “Waink” that reveals whether a car you’re trying to steal has a tracker, locked, has an alarm, how much it’s worth, and how much it costs to register for yourself 91. The app also tells you what tool needs to be used to steal a car such as a slim jim or key cloner 92. Driving is more challenging and less arcadey, as the streets in the game are narrower and more realistic in terms of scale with densed traffic 93. You won’t be able to steal parked fancy cars when you’re early in the story, as they require more advanced tools to get into them such as key cloner 94. You can still carjack any driver you see, but some of them will resist or even pull out a gun 95. Early in the story, you can register only 3 vehicles as your own, to increase the number you have to buy garages around the map 96. An unregistered car you’re driving will appear as a gray icon on the mini-map and will disappear if you restart the game without registering it 97. You can still repaint a car to lose the cops 98. Pay n’ Spray is limited, repair or repaint the car, but deeper customizations require a tuning shop 99. You can sell the stolen car at Pay n’ Spray or a specialty car fence or register it for yourself at a cost 100. You can’t sell two cars in a row at the same Pay n’ Spray location, and you have to look for another location 101. There are protected areas you can’t steal cars from such as a the club of Jason’s friend (Drequan), you can’t steal a car in front on his club because it’s not good for business 102. If you steal a car with a GPS tracker, it forces you to drive fast, to avoid pinging the location by the cops, and you can remove the tracker at the safehouse 103. There’s a new mechanic called Criminal Profile, which is an upgraded version of RDR2’s honor system and it impacts how the world reacts to you and may affect the story 104. You can pin down enemies and avoid escalating a situation that can be walked away from without violence 105. If someone starts a fight and you fight back, that’s fine. But doing completely unnecessary stuff consistently will affect your criminal profile 106. You’re not the only one capable of violence or the only crazy person out there like previous titles, which makes the world far more unpredictable and interesting 107. Some NPCs won’t get scared and run when you pull out a weapon, and will choose to escalate, or retreat depending on their personality 108. Using L2 doesn't immediately aim your gun if it’s holstered. Instead, you can use it to talk to or taunt characters you meet 109. Greet and taunt or defuse and provoke options return 110. Players can no longer carry an infinite arsenal of weapons 111. Jason and Lucia will be able to take 2 short and 2 long weapons and they will be visible on the body 112. Rifles, long guns and RPGs are no longer treated as invisible things pulled out of nowhere, and they can be stored in your personal vehicle trunk or a locker 113. NPCs will react when you have a gun out 114. They have different reactions, such as having a gun on your back triggers distrust, while carrying it in hand triggers panic 115. A new suppression fire mechanic lets you deliberately miss and fire nearby enemies to scare or confuse them, buying yourself time to escape instead of killing them, which affects you criminal profile 116. Smaller actions such as throwing trash in a garbage or feeding animals also affect your criminal profile 117. Safehouses are highly interactive similar to RDR2’s camp. You can grab a drink, smoothie, an apple (temporarily boosts health and stamina) or get a new haircut or do couple things 118. You can doomscroll in the in-game social media, such as Snapmatic (Instagram) 119. You can follow and watch the rise of Real Dimez via in-game viral social media posts 120. Jason and Lucia can’t post pictures or create content on social media because they’re on the run and don’t want to leave a digital footprint, but you can lurk, follow other accounts, and browse general content on it 121. You’ll encounter many Florida man random events 122. When you encounter a random event of someone streaming, the livestream HUD will be displayed such as the chat and interactions 123. When you pull your phone out, the camera zooms in on the character’s hand instead of being a menu in the bottom right corner 124. Some open world activities include: playing pool, mini golf, kayaking, going to the zoo, scuba diving for treasure, races, monster truck racing, basketball, parachute jumping, and going to the gym 125. There’s no dedicated tennis mini-game but you can pick up a tennis racket and hit a ball 126. The game features collectibles such as magazines and comics spread around the world 127. Underwater exploration will feature diving equipment, shipwrecks and treasures 128. Role-playing elements are in the game, you can get up, have a cup of coffee, shower, get dressed, and go out for a little exercise at the gym 129. You can use most of the equipment in the gym, buy a membership, drink a protein shake or eat a protein bar to improve heath and stamina 130. Studying animals returns from RDR2 131. Dogs can be petted or even scolded 132. You can buy pet snacks from convenience stores and feed them 133. Wallet capacity is limited, and if you get wasted or busted before depositing money into bank, it will be gone 134. ATMs are functional, as they let you deposit the money 135. The money deposited in the bank will be shared between Jason and Lucia 136. During heists, Jason and Lucia will have duffel bags, which are limited and a car can only hold 2 bags 137. Jason & Lucia can spontaneously suggest nearby activities or jobs while in free roam 138. There’s a new focus system that highlights things of interest around you 139. Jason and Lucia won’t use extremely contemporary slang that can date fast, and the game won’t rely heavily on specific political issues or memes, as Rockstar tries to make the game feel timeless and stay relevant though a long development cycle 140. The game’s goal is to entertain people, before trying to make any kind of political statements 141. There won’t be a parody of major events in the last decade such as Trump’s rise to political power or coronavirus, as Rockstar wants to avoid the risk of the game getting dated 142. If you stand too close to a group of NPCs talking, they can notice that you’re eavesdropping, turn around and go: “Oh hey, can I help you?” 143. NPCs will also notice if you follow them for too long and too close 144. To make this world feel more believable, Rockstar built a new team of writers, directors and producers in the new LA studio that focused solely on creating more realized NPCs with different physiques, body shapes and heights. Rather than use procedural generation to algorithmically mix and match body parts and clothes 145. Rockstar hired an animation studio to produce dedicated episodes of TV shows and media for the game 146. Rockstar hired more than 50 real street artists to design murals in places like Vice City’s Stockyard (based on Wynwood, Miami) 147. The game rewards you the more you explore, and the game won’t necessarily direct you through objectives or blips or icons on a map 148. Rockstar had a dedicated research team embedded in Miami over the last decade, and they met with ex-criminals, law enforcement, club promoters, gun dealers and anyone notorious or influential to capture the feeling of the city 149. They also worked with a Miami-based stylist, Jillian Carr to design an in-game fashion ecosystem, which gives NPCs a distinct feel in every area 150. Rockstar approached Netflix first for the partnership m, as they thought it would the perfect way to show off the Extended Look This took a ton of time to compile, from reading every exclusive preview article to watching every creator who visited Rockstar North. (Sources: IGN, NY Times, Troiscouleurs, Famitsu, Flow Games, Die Zeit, El País, Dazed, Kinda Funny Games, TGG, Mike ShowSha, El Rubius, and Davy Jones)