The most anticipated game of the last decade,Grand Theft Auto 6is finally a real, tangible thing that fans can see with their own eyes. After years of scrutinizing every singleGTA Onlineitem, weapon, and vehicle for clues, furiously scouringevery Rockstar Tweetin the hopes of a hidden message, and dissecting every word Take-Two’s higher-ups have said, Rockstar has finally given fans what they’ve always wanted. And it did not disappoint.
While an unfortunate leak forced the long-awaited trailer to drop a day early, it’s done little to impact the fervor surroundingGrand Theft Auto 6’s official first reveal. Coming in at just a minute and a half long, theGTA 6trailer gives fans an amazing first look at the sequel’s setting and characters, and it pretty closely follows in the footsteps of all the best past Rockstar Games trailers.
Comparing Grand Theft Auto 6’s Reveal Trailer to Past Rockstar Titles
How GTA 6’s Reveal Trailer Compares to GTA 5’s
Coming in at around a minute and a half as well,Grand Theft Auto 5’s trailer shares some major similarities withGTA 6’s recent reveal. The biggest similarity is the two trailers' overall structure.GTA 5’s trailer begins with a voiceover from main character Michael, and then a sudden cut to a picturesque Los Santos beach at sunset. As Michael continues his voiceover, the trailer continues to give fans an overview ofGTA 5’s setting, showing its bustling city streets, its quiet mountain trails, its copious number of highways, and its overbearing skyscrapers, all of which set the game’s tone immediately.
Grand Theft Auto 6essentially follows the same basic structure, opening on a gorgeous establishing shot that looks as though it’s been ripped right off the front cover of a synth wave album. Fans are then introduced to main character Lucia, before being shown a montage of scenic locations, all of which, again, set the game’s tone from the get-go. But there’s one big addition toGTA 6’s trailer structure, and that’s its focus on social media.
After the montage of settings,GTA 6’s trailer then cuts toa montage of TikTok-like clips, most of which are parodying absurd real-world events of the last few years. It’s currently unclear just how much of a role social media will play inGrand Theft Auto 6, but its lengthy representation in this first reveal trailer may hint at it being fairly important in the finished product.
Of course, the other massively noticeable difference betweenGTA 5andGTA 6’s trailers is the visuals.GTA 5’s first trailer came out 12 years ago, and while it doesn’t look bad by any means, it’s certainly starting to show its age, with foliage and character models looking a little fuzzy around the edges, and the draw distance being a bit worse than fans might remember.Grand Theft Auto 6, on the other hand, is still blowing fans awaywith just how beautiful and cutting-edge the game looks, from lighting to character models to motion capture. It’s clear that Rockstar has come a long way in the last decade.
Released seven years ago, there’s not nearly as much of a stark difference betweenRed Dead Redemption 2’s first trailer andGrand Theft Auto 6’s. Coming in at a shorter one-minute runtime,Red Dead Redemption 2’s trailer follows a near-identical structure toGTA 5andGTA 6’s trailers, with fans being shown a montage of scenic shots, before hearing some dialogue from main character Arthur Morgan, and then finally being shown the whole gang riding together before it cuts to the title screen. Despite being seven years old at this point,Red Dead Redemption 2’s first trailer still looks drop-dead gorgeous, but even then, it still doesn’t hold a candle toGTA 6’s graphics.
Grand Theft Auto 6
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Grand Theft Auto VI heads to the state of Leonida, home to the neon-soaked streets of Vice City and beyond in the biggest, most immersive evolution of the Grand Theft Auto series yet.Jason and Lucia have always known the deck is stacked against them. But when an easy score goes wrong, they find themselves on the darkest side of the sunniest place in America, in the middle of a criminal conspiracy stretching across the state of Leonida — forced to rely on each other more than ever if they want to make it out alive.
