New GTA 6 previews confirm affinity mechanic, Red Dead honour system and more

A ton of extra GTA 6 info has been shared via new US previews, such as how the game builds upon Red Dead Redemption 2 and that you can influence Jason and Lucia’s romance.

Even in just 26 minutes, the GTA 6 gameplay preview on Netflix showed off a lot of new details that somehow weren’t already spoiled by the frequent leaks, while also re-emphasising the game’s very impressive graphics.

British culture magazine Dazed did indicate that it and a few others got to preview the game personally behind closed doors, but it was unclear if anyone was allowed to play GTA 6 themselves or if they simply saw the Netflix preview early.

Turns out the answer is no, no one went hands-on with GTA 6 (well, some influencers might have but they haven’t posted any videos yet). But some were given a completely different gameplay demonstration, which means further details not shown in the Netflix preview have been unearthed.

So far, it seems Rockstar only invited a limited number of US press and influencers, and as of time of writing we could find only two previews, not including Dazed’s.

The first is from IGN, which describes a slice of gameplay demoed by Rockstar’s co-studio head Rob Nelson, so they definitely didn’t get to play it themselves.

What IGN can confirm is that there’s an affinity mechanic between Jason and Lucia, where the two can strengthen their relationship as they work together to rob people and do crimes.

While this doesn’t have any gameplay benefits, it sounds like it will have an impact on the story or at least certain cut scenes, which could point towards multiple endings depending on whether you push Jason and Lucia into a more romantic relationship or keep them strictly as work partners.

‘They will remain partners in crime. You will always have the benefit of working together and having each other’s back – whether they’re romantically close or not doesn’t change that,’ explains Nelson.

‘They will still work together. It’s really about what you want for them, their story, and how it plays out. Whether you’ve nurtured the relationship or not will definitely have a bearing on how their story plays out.’

There’s also a deliberate effort to not let you feel as overpowered as you could in previous GTA games, where you could freely gun down civilians if you wanted to, so long as the cops don’t catch you.

In GTA 6, the regular citizens may fight back if you throw the first punch. As such, the game borrows from Red Dead Redemption 2 and makes it so you can taunt or threaten people with your gun by pressing the aim button while your weapon is holstered.

‘I think in previous GTA games you were a bit all-powerful. You were the only one with an invisible arsenal hidden away. Apart from the police, everyone would run in terror from you if you started acting out. This world in GTA 6 is not like that,’ explains Nelson.

It was previously suggested, by Dazed, that GTA 6 will be far more grounded than previous entries, so returning fans could be in for a shock to learn they can’t get away with rampant violence so easily.

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Another aspect that’s being brought over from Red Dead Redemption 2 is that game’s Honour system or rather a reworked version of it called Criminal Profile.

In Red Dead Redemption 2 you could gradually rebuild your reputation through acts of kindness, even after going on a killing spree. GTA 6’s Criminal Profile system is described as more nuanced, as your reputation changes depending on how you interact with the world.

It’s not entirely clear what sort of impact your Criminal Profile will have on gameplay, but even small criminal acts like littering can affect it. What’s more, if you shoot at someone in self defence, that won’t affect your profile as much as you doing so without cause.

There’s also talk of carjacking requiring a bit more effort than a simple button press. Depending on the model, some cars demand certain tools, such as a key cloner for bypassing certain locks, meaning you’ll come across plenty of vehicles you won’t be able to access until you progress further into the game.

The New York Times has posted their own preview, but they received the same experience of watching Nelson play the game. They confirm that GTA 6’s map will be three times larger than that of Red Dead Redemption 2.

As suspected, there’s also a very clear effort to appeal to those who enjoy role-playing sessions in GTA Online; something which required unofficial modding but has since been officially supported by Rockstar. You can see this in the Netflix preview as you can check a fridge for a drink or sit down and watch some TV.

‘I hope that there will be people that want to get up, have a cup of coffee, shower, get dressed, go out for a little exercise,’ says Nelson, adding that his own playthrough of the game exceeded 80 hours, which covered the main story and some optional side activities.

He also goes into how the non-playable inhabitants of GTA 6’s world were built, boasting about how each and every one of them was made without procedural generation and that there are over 600,000 unique animations in the game. That’s double the amount in Red Dead Redemption 2, so it’s no wonder the game’s taken so long to come out.

YouTuber TGG has a preview of his own too, but he has plans to make multiple deep dive videos to share what he has learned. As such, he’s only briefly summed up what he intends to cover on X, such as how the aforementioned Criminal Profile system works, the new Wanted level mechanics, and how the driving fares compared to GTA 5.

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