An Even Bigger World With Even More to See & Do
Let’s just get the obvious entry out of the way. With each new GTA game that’s released, Rockstar treats us to an even larger open world than the last.
The varied terrain and stunning sights bring the world to life like few other games can even dream of rivaling, and the eclectic selection of activities that Rockstar makes available for players to check out within these worlds help to build the immersion even further.
While GTA V brought the likes of skydiving, going to the movies, hunting, playing golf and tennis, or even dabbling in a spot of real estate to the table, GTA VI needs to go even further.
Let us go and watch sports games in enormous stadiums, have our protagonist(s) learn new skills that enable them to take on different side missions, or even just go and take a break and enjoy some downtime at a local spa resort. Oh, and don’t forget some zany mission where you’re tripping balls or you get abducted by aliens. It’s a key ingredient to any GTA title.
A Change of Setting
The renditions of real-life cities in GTA games thus far have been fantastic, with Miami, New York and LA having been given the zany, virtualized treatment to name just a few. The problem is, they’re always set in the modern-day.
While we’d certainly not complain about another modern-day setting for GTA VI, we’d also be pretty intrigued to see Rockstar’s social commentary on an ’80s or even make some predictions on a near future setting instead.
Going back to the ’80s or some other iconic decade long-gone would allow Rockstar to whimsically send us back to simpler times, where things weren’t so politically and socially volatile. Meanwhile, GTA VI providing a near future-take on the GTA formula would allow them to be a bit more experimental and zany, without losing its poignancy.
More Complex & Varied NPC Routines
Over both the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead series, Rockstar has continued to evolve its AI. We’re now at the point where NPCs in Red Dead Redemption 2 have their own routines they’ll go on. They’ll wake up, go to work, go to the local bar, maybe have a brawl in the street and then stagger their way home back to bed. Some might even venture out of their hometown.
If we had our own way, GTA VI would once again take this even further. More complex routines would be a great start. Imagine hundreds of NPCs dropping kids off at the local school before going to the store, having to get cash out of an ATM, buying their groceries, and then stopping for coffee with a friend, playing a game of tennis, before returning home.
But not every person is the same, and so should be the case for NPCs. Some may have kids, others may laze around at home while on vacation. Others might go to the office.
Toss into this mix more spontaneous events where NPCs can have car crashes, get mugged, win the lottery (or a scratch card), or get married that players can witness or otherwise interact with and you’ve got the makings of the most immersive world Rockstar has ever created.
A man can dream.
Improved Quest Integration
This is going to sound a bit of a strange one, but hear us out. Side quests and quests in general really have always felt a bit disconnected from the world they’re in. An NPC stands in one place, often almost entirely motionless, just waiting day and night for you to arrive to tell you to go and get some random item and bring it to them.
With Red Dead Redemption 2, Rockstar started to make quests feel more integrated into the experience. Proximity-based conversations made NPCs feel less like objects waiting to be interacted with, and more like real-life people. Even so, it was still largely go to X icon, speak with NPC, get Y item, return.
GTA VI should continue the work Rockstar made with quest integration and NPC interactions in Red Dead Redemption 2, making side quests feel like more natural parts of conversations with characters you’ve already met, and their whereabouts changing from day-to-day to fit in with their schedule. It’s a little tweak, but one that’d make the whole experience feel that little bit more immersive and coherent.
VR
If there’s one thing that would bring this immersive world to life, it’s VR compatibility. No, no, we’re not talking about the whole game only being playable in VR, but the option to dive in and out of it whenever you want sure would be fun.
Granted, there’s likely going to be some complications regarding how you integrate VR and what happens in some of GTA VI’s (likely) more risque moments and locales when it comes to age rating classification, but I’m sure it’s nothing that Rockstar can’t sort out.
To be completely honest, we just want to break into a military base, steal a stealth fighter jet, and skydive out of it into the sea in VR. Yes… yes we did get very specific there. But you can’t deny that it sounds fun.
GTA Online… Expanded
GTA Online has been a massive success for Rockstar and there’s no two ways about it. With Online Heists allowing players to work together to complete elaborate, multi-mission ‘get money fast’ schemes, more refined online modes, and the recent introduction of the Diamond Casino, GTA V’s online world has well and truly flourished since its turbulent released back in October 2013.
With GTA VI’s online, we’d love to see Rockstar take the blueprint for the Diamond Casino content and bring it to other leisure activities and locations that players could interact with. How about being able to buy a stake in a local sports team, or take to the surrounding waters with some nautical-themed content.
The main thing here though is to flesh it out as much as Diamond Casino was. The location quickly became a gathering spot for those players still logging into GTA V’s online servers over six years since its release, and the purchasable apartments, wheel of fortune, and casino-specific missions helped cement it as a noteworthy location in Los Santos.
Though we don’t expect a bunch of these fleshed-out locations available at launch, a few, with more to open in the years that follow would be more than enough to keep GTA VI’s location of choice a frequent excursion for many players long after finishing the story.
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