Grand Theft Auto VI will judge what kind of criminal you are, and that judgment will change the story. That is the biggest reveal in Edge magazine’s issue 430 cover feature, published online by GamesRadar on October 28. Writer Simon Parkin watched Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson play an unscripted 90 minute session of the current build, and the piece adds details Rockstar had not shared in Nelson’s IGN interview earlier this month.
Criminal Profile: Professional to Irredeemable
A new Criminal Profile system tracks Jason and Lucia’s behavior on a scale from Professional to Irredeemable, shown with angel and devil icons. Players can knock enemies out, threaten or intimidate instead of killing, while trigger happy players build a violent profile. Rockstar told Edge the profile will influence how Jason and Lucia’s story unfolds.
Their relationship is also partly yours to shape. Closeness sits on a four point scale that rises with time spent together, like beach walks, cycling or the gym. Nelson would not confirm or deny whether the couple can marry.
Police work from a description, not just stars
The heat system shows what police know as icons at the top of the screen: your description, whether you had a partner, your clothes, CCTV footage and your weapon. Splitting up, changing outfits or ditching the gun strips those clues away. Cops also lay stinger strips, and in the demo a K9 unit ran Jason down after a crash.
Cars are riskier, and so is stealing them
- Some carjacking victims are armed and fight back, and newer cars can carry trackers.
- Every vehicle has a fuel gauge and an engine health readout.
- The Scooter Bros app delivers one of your cars within seconds for a modest fee, with your whole arsenal in the trunk.
- The WAINK app lists models wanted by fences. High end cars ping police, and payment depends on the car’s condition.
A slower, denser Leonida
Edge reports the map is roughly twice the size of GTA V’s, with “an order of magnitude more interiors” according to co-studio head Aaron Garbut, around 600,000 animations, working buses and trains, more granular weather and a much longer day and night cycle. Roads were narrowed to feel “a more believable size.” Story missions also have natural gating, so the couple will sometimes need to raise cash before the next job.
Why it matters
Most of this cuts against the old GTA power fantasy. Combined with the 210 GB PS5 download news, it paints a game built to be lived in rather than rushed. Our take: the Criminal Profile is the system to watch. If it shapes the story as Rockstar describes, it is the biggest change to how GTA tells a story since GTA V gave us three protagonists. The game launches November 19 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
