Rockstar Games has a reputation not unlikeCyberpunk 2077developer CD Projekt Red—that is, both developers may take years between high-profile releases but consistently deliver a high quality experience. For that reason,Cyberpunk 2077is one of themost anticipated games of fall 2020, andGrand Theft Auto 6is a hotly anticipated game period, even if its release is still years away.
Living up toGrand Theft Auto 5, though, is a challenge for any game. Rockstar likely knows it needs to pull out all stops to make anotherGTA 5out ofGrand Theft Auto 6, and that means it needs to occasionally shock and awe fans. There’s one way it could do that, even if it seems unlikely: moving away from more defined characters for protagonists with a more defined character creation process.
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Grand Theft Auto 5’s Main Characters
InGrand Theft Auto 5, players could change hair and facial hair through a barber, as well as pick outfits for each character. At the end of the day, though, Michael is still Michael, Franklin is still Franklin, and Trevor is still Trevor. Each character is a “defined approach” because, in so many ways, this is what Rockstar Games excels at. Characters likeJohn Marston and Arthur Morganpull on the heartstrings of fans who find themselves in their struggle, while Michael’s mobster mentality and family responsibility is an interesting story as old as the genre itself. Franklin represents the gangster mentality of the franchise, and Trevor is a genuinely terrifying psychopath. It all works, and there’s nothing wrong with this approach.
But ifGTA 6wants to shock fans, it’s worth highlighting that Trevor could be more than Trevor, Franklin more than Franklin, and Michael more than Michael. For example, there’s no reason Trevor couldn’t have had a huge nose, red eyes, and been on the bigger side of the scale. Many want afemale character inGrand Theft Auto 6, and there’s genuinely no reason that Franklin couldn’t have been female. The bottom line is that, despite the characters Rockstar created, more in-depth player agency would be interesting. The story may need to be able to respond to this, but those limits are hardly as restrictive as they may initially seem. Each character could have maintained their qualifying traits, with significant player input.
Sure, designing Trevor to look like an overweight clown would be incredibly silly, but it’s not like theGrand Theft Autofranchise has ever taken itself too seriously. Watching Trevor take over a drug operation looking like a clown out ofITwould fit into the feel of the overall world quite easily and only add a whole new layer for fans to up the antics of the game.
Why Rockstar Games is Unlikely to Do This in GTA 6
As shocking as this would be for fans, Rockstar is unlikely to do this for a few reasons. Technical challenges, however small, are simply circumvented with more prescribed characters, and the story would need to adapt to respond to any significant changes. None of these are full stops, but they are barriers that would have to be considered in theGTA 6development process.
But perhaps the biggest point against this is Rockstar games itself. As aforementioned, these prescribed characters are Rockstar’s bread and butter. Even if theGTAfranchise is less serious thanRDR, fans likely think of Michael, Franklin, and Trevor when they think of Rockstar, the same if not more so than John Marston and Arthur Morgan. As such, fans shouldn’t be holding their breath for this change, but it would be interesting to see Rockstar expand its capabilities with nex-gen consoles (whatGTA 6is likely in development for).
Grand Theft Auto 6is reportedly in development.
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