Grand Theft Auto 6 (GTA 6) is in the pipeline, and gamer anticipation is already at a fever pitch. Rockstar has indicated that the game will hit shelves sometime in 2025. However, it’s never too soon to speculate about what shape the game will take.
GTA 5 pushed the boundaries in some areas, such as online play. However, longtime fans of the franchise were left frustrated with the launch of GTA Online and storylines that went nowhere (Franklin, for instance.)
So what do gamers want from GTA 6? Here’s a non-exhaustive list.
Fewer God Modes
Gamers love assists and backdoors. After all, who doesn’t enjoy an unscramble letters assist when Scrabble or Wordle become especially challenging? However, GTA isn’t a simple game. It’s meant to be immersive, and there’s a lot of joy to be had fighting the game’s innate difficulty.
The God Modes in GTA 5 and Online help gamers wreak havoc on the competition, but how valuable is such success anyway? GTA disables all trophies and collectibles during God Mode, and ultimately, this cheat only serves the casual gamer who doesn’t appreciate GTA’s complexity.
To be fully immersive, Rockstar must disable God Modes or hide them as an Easter Egg somewhere only the most dedicated gamers can find them. A God Mode as a reward makes sense. Pressing Right, X, Right, Left, Right, R1, Right, Left, X, Triangle doesn’t require any skill, after all.
Immersive storyline
GTA 5 was notorious for its cutscene-heavy narrative. While these scenes establish tension and offer context, surely there are better ways of building them into the gaming narrative? Cutscenes disrupt the game’s flow.Â
They tend to work for games that rely on advanced graphics to tell a story, but an open-world RPG like GTA doesn’t benefit from this approach. Weaving narratives through character interactions and NPC dialogue is the right way forward.
A great soundtrack
Vice City and San Andreas are 2 of the most beloved titles in the GTA franchise for many reasons. “Out of Touch” (Vice City) and “Nuthin’ but a G thang” (San Andreas) contributed to those titles’ popularity and continuing fame. Despite both titles being PS2-era releases, modern-day GTA faithful swear by them.
GTA has always had great soundtracks, but it’s been a while since a release had a truly iconic track. A track that immerses gamers deeply into the GTA world is sorely needed, and one hopes Rockstar is taking this demand seriously.
Return to Vice City
Vice City’s soundtrack made it a fan favorite. However, the title had so much more going for it. From insane missions to great characters, Vice City had it all. The game’s greatest achievement was perhaps turning Vice City into a living, breathing character by itself.
It’s been a while since Rockstar led gamers back into Vice City. A revisit on a 6th gen console would be a great way to pay homage to one of GTA’s greatest hits. Most gamers would love a throwback visit to the 80s as in the original game, but a fast-forward to modern times would work well too.
Better hand-to-hand combat
San Andreas and GTA 4 featured great combat skills that gave gamers a way to customize their characters. However, future releases minimized this aspect in favor of other in-game characteristics. This choice was disappointing since combat is a central feature of GTA.
Minimizing moves such as ax-kicks reduces in-game enjoyment quite a bit. No matter how many fancy weapons Rockstar adds to the player’s arsenal, there’s nothing quite as satisfying as practicing and mastering a hand-to-hand move.
International locales
GTA rarely leaves US shores. Gamers got a glimpse of 1960’s London previously, but that only left them wanting more. Recreating the virtues (and vices) of Miami is great, but GTA sorely needs some international flavor. In fact, this is a feature that most games sorely lack.
Europe tends to feature in historically-oriented games such as Assassin’s Creed but never in modern-day games. Even the ones like Modern Warfare that visit Europe tend to do it in a cloak and dagger fashion, leaving gamers dissatisfied.
Bringing Vice City’s flavor of crazy to European shores will undoubtedly be a welcome move.
Contested territories
One of San Andreas’ best features was Contested Territories. At any moment, a player’s territory could come under attack prompting them to drop everything and fight back. This feature added a degree of randomness to the game that titles since then have lacked.
Contested territories also introduce the possibility of bounties and rival gangs, features that make traveling more challenging.Â
Many features in store
Rockstar has satisfied gamers’ appetites by releasing frequent game updates. However, the gaming community, especially GTA diehards, hopes the studio listens to their wants and makes GTA 6 as memorable as possible.
