GTA VI in Edge: pedestrians with personalities, a rebuilt police system

Edge has published its Grand Theft Auto VI cover story, written by Simon Parkin and readable here. The piece is based on an exclusive 90-minute gameplay demo at Rockstar North's Edinburgh HQ, played on a PlayStation 5 by Rob Nelson, with Aaron Garbut and Phil Hooker, Rockstar's heads of development, also quoted.

The pedestrians get the most attention. According to the preview, their reactions depend on their personality (temperament, aggression), plus where they are, what they have seen and how you have treated them. Districts have their own demographic and professional textures too. Rockstar art-directed every NPC and made around 600,000 animations. A Los Angeles-based team of writers, directors and producers is working on making Leonida's NPCs more individual, rather than leaning mainly on procedural systems to assemble interchangeable crowds.

In the demo, a man with a dog takes Jason's stare as a test, squares up and unclips the dog's leash. Nelson's explanation of the system:

Who's going to be aggressive? How many people are going to go for a weapon? How many are going to test me?

The same demo had Nelson take a shotgun from the boot of an unattended police car during an arrest, and only three minutes of watching had passed by then.

The police system has been redesigned. A heat system tracks what the cops know about Jason and Lucia (appearance, clothing, CCTV footage and weapons) and whether they're looking for one suspect or two. These show up as icons on screen, and you can split up, change clothes or drop a weapon to become harder to identify. If a costume change really shakes the cops, that's something I've wanted since the Vice City days.

The demo also showed:

• police stinger strips and K9 dogs that catch suspects;
• expensive stolen cars that may carry trackers, with owners able to report thefts;
• some drivers panicking and fleeing during carjackings, while others fight back;
• spontaneous street race encounters;
• pedestrians reacting to visible weapons, though carrying one doesn't automatically give you a wanted level;
• consumables: coffee boosts stamina, a protein shake gives a health buff.

Jason and Lucia's closeness is measured on a four-point relationship scale. It can grow through beach walks, cycling, the gym and driving. You can't abandon the partnership or stop being criminals, and during chases you can switch between the two while the character you're not controlling drives. Asked whether the pair can marry, Nelson declined to confirm or deny it, so that stays open.

There's also a new Criminal Profile, which rates the protagonists from Professional to Irredeemable, with angel and devil icons. It reflects how you handle situations, for example incapacitating or intimidating people instead of killing them. Rockstar confirms it influences the story, but the preview doesn't say which outcomes change.

On the world itself, the preview puts Leonida's map at roughly twice the size of GTA V's. The total landmass is nearly as large as the playable maps of GTA IV, GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2 combined, and the number of interiors is described as an order of magnitude greater than in earlier Rockstar games. It also describes:

• working buses and trains;
• roads narrower than in GTA V;
• a substantially longer day-and-night cycle, though the exact length of an in-game day isn't given.

Garbut told Edge that "every back alley is as densely detailed and interesting as the others", and that even after years of development there are still parts of the map he hasn't explored. On living up to the expectations, he put it this way: "I feel like we've built a pyramid on Everest."

Nelson also says he travelled to Miami with a small team in 2015 to explore a return to Vice City. Rockstar held off committing to the Bonnie-and-Clyde-inspired story until Red Dead Redemption 2 was finished.

PC players get nothing new here: no launch date for a PC version has been announced. A rumor suggests the wait won't be long, but that is unconfirmed.