Rockstar (and the big leakster) has given us a taste of what to expect from one of gaming’s biggest launches. We’ve seen the beautiful beaches and packed nightclubs in GTA 6. But aside from the shiny big things, the smaller details are also worth your attention. In a new deep dive from Dazed, Rockstar has explained some of the systems underpinning Jason and Lucia’s lives in Leonida. What you eat can alter their weight, while exercise can visibly build and tone muscle. Spend too long away from bed while running from the police or partying for days, and the resulting exhaustion can show up in their faces.
While this might seem quite immersive, a few of these have already been seen in older GTA titles. Though what’s changed is Rockstar’s obsession with the details. Red Dead Redemption was infamous for the tiny details it offered all across the world. So this deep dive hints at this obsession coming to Vice City; only this time around, it’s in a next-gen title based around modern-day criminals.
Your body remembers what you did
If you can already feel a little familiar with this, GTA San Andreas let CJ gain fat and muscle depending on his diet and exercise, while Red Dead Redemption 2 had Arthur Morgan gain and lose weight, grow hair, accumulate bruises, get dirty, and visibly suffer when neglected. So this might be an expansion of these mechanics and ideas. Jason and Lucia aren’t supposed to be blank avatars. Rockstar wants players to shape them without erasing who they are, and their relationship forms part of that.
Dazed describes being able to operate as a couple or separately. During one example, you can drive as Jason while Lucia sits beside you scrolling through GTA 6’s functioning social feeds. When things inevitably turn into a chase, the system can move you between driving and firing at pursuers from the passenger seat.
Vice City is watching you
A big part of immersion is how the world reacts to your actions. Casually walking down the street carrying a rifle can provoke a response from the city. NPCs aren’t background filler present to fill in the big game map, with Rockstar building its most varied character population yet across different neighborhoods. These could range in lifestyles, ages, body types, clothing styles, and much more.
To achieve this level of realism in NPCs, Rockstar’s team has apparently spent years researching Miami and the surrounding area. They’ve spoken with ex-criminals, law enforcement, club promoters, and other locals to build characters from something deeper than the usual Florida Man punchline. Red Dead Redemption 2 already demonstrated how powerful hundreds of seemingly inconsequential systems can become when they all point in the same direction.