Finally, the long wait is over. After ten years of back and forth with both Rockstar and impatient fans, GTA VI is, in fact, natural, and lots of people have been happy with the first trailer. The shocking part came about when the trailer was released earlier than usual; a simple check on the Rockstar’s Twitter account revealed why. Someone leaked the video, and Rockstar had no option but to release the trailer early for the masses. It gathered millions of views in its first hours, and everyone was happy with what they had seen.

Although the trailer is one and a half minutes, it tells us much about what to expect from GTA VI. There are, however, some parts we might have missed or still could speculate about the further plans for the title. While most are basic, understandable themes around the setting, some can be deemed as new and more diverse than what previous titles tried to employ.

Now, I’d like to side with no comparison with other titles in GTA VI’s first cinematic trailer, as it is just the tip of the iceberg, but while taking a good look back on V, or even IV’s first appearance, GTA VI’s trailer tries to pull itself the opposite side in terms of showcasing what people are about to witness in the southern part of the USA. We have to keep in mind that the game will take place in the current year, so the advancement of technology or daily usage of practical tools will be widely available, one of them obviously being social media usage.

Back in 2012, social media did exist, but not to an extent where most people were likely to see social media as a fad. Starting from GTA IV, the idea of social media was only to be used to keep up with characters’ daily lives or follow the story throughout their narratives. However, in GTA VI’s showcase, we can easily see the power of social media and how it is heavily used, thanks to Rockstar’s attempts to fit the stones into their places while creating a vast world that feels real.

In certain places of the trailer, we could see user tags, captions, and even news accounts airing live footage, so there is no doubt that social media’s presence will be utilized to a point where it might just get a bit repetitive. But that does not necessarily mean it is a bad thing. GTA is known for its charming take on anything popular so that we might see something entertaining rather than outright annoying.

One thing that sticks to the eye is the graphics showcased very well, with open spaces, nightlife, and cutscenes that are almost lifelike rather than what they used to be. The improvement in texture details, character models, and the beautiful Florida skyline shows that it is the new era of Rockstar. We are certain that life in Vice City will be more detailed than what we have experienced in Los Santos for the past ten years.

The ever-first appearance of a playable female character will be interesting, as we have been trying to come through the effects of a male-dominant game. Looking at the protagonists’ situations and trying to understand their motives will be an exciting take on the whole personality of the Grand Theft Auto series. From bike gang members to henchmen, from professional heisters to straight lunatics, the series offered very bizarre and reasonable characters and their stories. Playing as a woman who is an ex-prisoner will be a unique experience on its own.

Since our character has a bond with a male character, the steady usage of a character changing will be transported over to GTA VI, albeit this time, we can only see two characters being switchable. It is not mentioned yet, but thanks to the leaks, we know the couple is going to be based on one of the notorious heist couple Bonnie and Clyde; however, one can guess that their nationality and background will be exceptionally different from the story Rockstar is trying to take the reference from.

There are a few new additions, such as cars and contemporary interiors being more accessible than ever. Florida, known for its luxurious nightlife, will play a considerable part in the story; we can easily see that in the trailer. But we have to remember that a small portion of South Florida, which is Miami, is filled with people. The rest are swampy and murky areas, opening up a massive area for wandering around. What caught our attention was the flat areas of South Florida.

Since GTA V had varying degrees of altitudes due to the geographical structure of California State, Florida is just flat, which might give developers some problems in coming up with good plans to cover those areas. Some people might think Liberty City had the same problem in GTA IV, but compared to other games, Liberty City was very condensed and was evenly constructed around the player; having three flat islands wasn’t much of an issue- also, skyscrapers made the area well-designed and made it look busy.

Don’t get me wrong; the trailer tends to steer toward people’s favor as it has already amassed millions of views, opinions, and rundowns on what awaits us. But while watching the trailer, I felt something was missing. To some degree, it did not feel like a Grand Theft Auto game after all. This is mostly due to key people who gave heart and soul to the company and silently left their seats. Dan Houser, one who was behind the 3D era of games, has perfect character and story-building skills, and without his input on the matter, GTA VI might end up just a soulless mess.

This is just a speculation, but Rockstar portrayed the Florida lifestyle on many levels. So far, GTA VI’s trailer seems to be the wildest one for the series. There is no doubt that the second trailer will give us better details on what to expect from Grand Theft Auto VI, and then we can start speculating once again.

Atilla Turan (@burningarrow)
Editor, NoobFeed