TONE POLICE
Could GTA VI be when the series finally grows up?
Despite Rockstar’s Dan Houser claiming Grand Theft Auto isn’t about violence but freedom during an interview to celebrate the third game’s 20th anniversary, you can’t really ignore the fact that busting taboos and all semblance of good taste has been a mainstay of the series since the original top-down classic let you mow down processions of Hare Krishna devotees, while Trevor was made to facilitate players’ worst impulses.
That penchant for extremes extends to the way the series has typically presented a very satirical take on America, from capitalist culture to shock jock radio hosts. But that gleeful irreverence is becoming less relevant, and feels very ‘last decade’ given every other game developer spent the past ten years vying to be edgy, and our response to it isn’t shock but an eyeroll. And over the last few years, real-life headlines have been stranger than any kind of satire that can be concocted too.
GROW HOME
GTA VI, then, could be a chance for the openworld game to grow up – not in the ‘sex, drugs, violence, and swearing is grown up’ way kids think, but with a more mature, grounded vibe, which would match the simulated world we’ll get on PS5, which will undoubtedly lean towards being realistic rather than the cartoonish caricatures of its predecessors.
I don’t mean that it needs to be a sombre gloomfest, which has been something of a tonal trend on PlayStation, from The Last Of Us to God Of War. Nonetheless, I can see the potential in Rockstar taking inspiration from Red Dead Redemption and having GTA VI be a period piece recounting the last days of the mob. It could be epic in the same way The Godfather was not just another gangster movie.
Whatever the story turns out to be, however, the devs can afford to exercise restraint for GTA VI (even the makers of Saints Row look set to be dialling down the zaniness). As much as fans love the games for all the potential chaos, including sometimes unpredictable behaviour from GTA V’s NPCs, it will make a change if the world GTA VI presents us is one that we don’t have the instinctive urge to set fire to but actually want to live in. Just think how Yakuza shows attention to detail in its virtual tourism, and delights in moments of surreal comedy, but wisely refrains from giving you the freedom to behave like an ass.
Diehards may argue that the freedom to be as awful as you like, and your skill at avoiding the law in consequence, is part of the fun, and the Wanted system surely isn’t going anywhere. But criminals needn’t be uncontrolled psychopaths – if anything the successful ones can probably be charming, so for instance, Rockstar could use RDR’s dialogue system to give you a more meaningful way of interacting with people. At the very least, we can surely agree that the series’ treatment of sex workers is best left in the past. Alan Wen
“A bit of restraint from Rockstar would make me sit up and take notice. And while we’re on the subject of cues to borrow from Yakuza, add ‘more involved fisticuffs’ to the list.” Jess Kinghorn