We’re just a handful of days on from what is easily the biggest Grand Theft Auto 6 leak yet and Rockstar Games has been hit hard by it. While the developer is undoubtedly “disappointed” with the leak, studio leads believe it won’t impact the ongoing development of the title. While this statement has stolen the spotlight in the last 24 hours, we still need to talk about the actual gameplay footage because it makes GTA 6 look more like Red Dead Redemption 2 than GTA 5 – and that’s not a bad thing.
It goes without saying that we know that the next GTA game is going to be quite a bit different from Rockstar Games’ 1899-set Red Dead Redemption sequel. However, if you look past the unfinished environments and the unpolished graphics (after all, this is still a game in active development) it looks like GTA 6 is going to play much more like the slower open-world western than it does the Los Santos-based sandbox shooter we know and love, and that’s because of a thing called RAGE.
RAGE is the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine – something that Rockstar Games has been updating and adapting for well over a decade now, and the game engine that both GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2 are built on.
There were rumours ahead of the leaks that claimed GTA 6 was going to use a version of RAGE improved upon since Red Dead Redemption 2 – rather than one built specifically off the back of the most-recent Grand Theft Auto game – and now, even in footage as early in development as this, it’s clear to see that this is indeed the case.
From the way the characters move and interact with the world around them, even in a world as incomplete as the one we got to see in the latest GTA 6 leaks, it’s evident that the gameplay on offer is going to feel much more grounded than it does in GTA V and GTA Online – and instead a lot more like it does in Red Dead Redemption 2 – provided development continues along the same lines.
We’ve also seen footage of a player with an assault rifle strapped to their back, an NPC rambling about LifeInvader, and a player carrying an NPC over their shoulder. While we’re not expecting every unique gameplay feature from Red Dead Redemption 2 to make its way into the next Grand Theft Auto game, it’s clear that quite a few could show up.
It’s worth noting, though, that while these leaks can be exciting for us fans, they can actually have a hugely negative impact on a game’s development – and it’s really not something you can imagine the developers themselves want to see. We can’t be certain which aspects of the gameplay footage we’ve seen are concrete and will be included in the final build of the game. It’s also clear that Rockstar Games isn’t ready to show anyone anything yet. We know a lot of fans are quite excited about what they saw, us included, but the opinions from the public could have huge ramifications on the development of the game.
Still, all of this leads us to believe that this game is going to be quite a bit slower than the gameplay experience die-hard Grand Theft Auto V fans are used to, but that’s far from a bad thing. GTA 6 could offer us a much more weighted experience with improved ragdoll physics, a richer world, and satisfying gunplay – everything that makes Red Dead Redemption 2 stand out as one of the best games of the last generation. We don’t know about you, but we can’t wait to see more GTA 6 – preferably from Rockstar, though, this time.