After months of waiting for actual Grand Theft Auto 6 gameplay, Rockstar finally delivered a nearly-30-minute GTA 6 trailer, first on Netflix and then available to view elsewhere a few hours later. Leaks over the past week already showed quite a lot about what to expect, from panic at the nudist colony to a realistic-seeming beach scene that seemingly matched early teases in quality. This is all the official stuff, though, which means you can see it for more than five minutes before Rockstar rips it off the internet. And Rockstar let magazine Dazed in on a few features that moseyed into Leonida from Red Dead Redemption 2, like Jason’s and Lucia’s appearances altering based on how they eat and exercise.
Admittedly, Rockstar didn’t show all that much. The trailer was a mix of cinematics and gameplay, and it looked a lot like, well… Grand Theft Auto. There were a few standout points, though, including just how much Red Dead Redemption DNA seems to be in GTA 6.
Rockstar’s apparently avoiding overt political satire in GTA 6’s marketing
GTA 6 has been in development for the better part of a decade or so, and while a series of political events that make old GTA seem tame have happened in the last 10 years of real, it looks like Rockstar is steering clear of current events. Or perhaps just not frontloading them ahead of launch. Anyway, the GTA 6 trailer pokes fun at marketing and consumer culture, as is the series’ tradition, but the only “new” kind of satire seemed to be a not-so-gentle jab at influencer culture. Lucia ended up stuck with a young man filming her getaway after a job, and she made it very clear how dumb she thought he was.
GTA 5’s character switching returns
A handful of segments followed Jason and Lucia as they roamed around the city without any pressing concerns hanging over them, and Rockstar briefly swapped between them. It apparently works regardless of what you’re doing, as one segment changed from Lucia to Jason while the former was in midair and the latter was driving a car.
There seem to be some exceptions, though.
Scripted events force you to play as Jason or Lucia
Most of what looked like GTA 6‘s main story missions have you playing as either Jason or Lucia, without the option to change between them. The opening mission had Jason taking the lead in conversation and action, for example. But the extended protection mission segment at the end included an interlude after Jason’s segment where Lucia was the central focus again, before swapping back to him.
The big takeaway is that it’s still not clear whose story this is — his or hers.
Jason and Lucia don’t know each other very well
The trailer’s early part shows a cute little banter-filled exchange between the couple, and it seems pretty clear they aren’t all that familiar with each other. She’s reminding him to communicate openly; he’s explaining parts of his background so she understands why he’s uncomfortable at times. Both of them seem to be working around their previous lives and, in Lucia’s case, convictions, though how much they know about the other’s past is still unclear.
That’s by design. Rockstar wants you to have to work to make Jason and Lucia fall in love, or you can keep them in the friend zone.
You can chill at home
There’s still no sign of a traditional GTA base, but Lucia and Jason can, at least on occasion, spend time in their shared home. It’s stuffed with decorations and clothing (Lucia even gently pushes Jason to dress better), and before you head out, you can watch TV or grab a snack from the fridge.
You can hug the dog
Or a dog, at least. In the trailer’s opening few minutes, Jason chooses to engage with a dog on guard duty, and the big furry guy (not Jason) jumps up and gives a hug like a good boy. Maybe you can hug other animals too, but Rockstar didn’t show any others. I’m hoping we can hug a gator.
There’s a lot of Red Dead Redemption in GTA 6
We already knew about Red Dead 2‘s fitness system showing up here, but there’s a handful of other rather familiar things from Rockstar’s cowboy drama as well, like:
- A wanted system where covering your tracks or altering your appearance throws police off your trail
- Dead Eye-style critical hits
- Large and visible animal genitalia
GTA 6 civilians have an attitude problem
Civilians have fought back in previous GTA games, or they’ll call the police, but one brief sequence as Lucia tried robbing a jewelry store showed a customer getting more aggressive than law enforcement. He attacked her and tried to stop the crime, though naturally, as a protagonist armed with video game magic and guns, Lucia beat him back.
There’s a slick new dialogue interface
GTA 6 does not present players with a dialogue wheel, nor does it plaster the screen with signals to whom the player can speak. Instead, as we explain in our GTA 6 dialogue UI breakdown, there’s a contextual option that appears when the player is near a character they can speak to. Once a conversation begins, response options populate near the bottom right of the screen. These options barely take up any real estate, which helps conversations feel natural. As someone who hates taking screenshots that get cluttered with text or UI, I welcome Rockstar’s implementation of dialogue.
There’s an impressive level of detail, even by Rockstar standards
Modern Rockstar games always pay close attention to physical detail, but GTA 6 is outdoing even Red Dead 2. There’s the environmental detail, of course, and the lighting when you blow up cars. But we also noticed things like club patrons showing visible sweat and the way clothing wrinkles and moves along with its wearer in a way that makes The Last of Us 2‘s shirt ripple almost seem archaic.
Grand Theft Auto 6 will be released on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X on Nov. 19.