Game Informer's GTA 6 issue lands today, and the two systems it covers are the ones Rockstar has barely shown
Fourteen pages, twelve new screenshots and lead designer interviews on weather and wildlife. Here's what Rockstar has actually shown of both so far, so you can tell new from repeated.
By Wes Calloway
Game Informer's issue 382 goes live digitally today, with Grand Theft Auto 6 on the cover. It's a 14 page feature with 12 new screenshots and interviews with several lead designers at Rockstar, written by Marcus Stewart. Print copies follow in the weeks after.
Rockstar's own description of what's in it names three things: advanced weather systems built to simulate Florida's less sunny weather, a large amount of wildlife across Leonida on land, in the air and in the sea, and how the studio researched Miami and Florida.
That's an unusual pick of subjects, and it helps to know why before the write-ups start.
These are the two systems Rockstar has shown least
Almost everything Rockstar has put out so far has been about people and places. There are eight characters with biographies, six regions, a vehicle list, a wanted system and a criminal profile.
Weather and wildlife have only turned up as scenery. There's no official description of either system, no named mechanic, and nothing on Rockstar's site that explains how either one works.
Rain in the trailers, alligators on an airboat
So you can tell a new detail from a repeated one when the coverage lands, this is everything that's public right now.
| What Rockstar has shown | |
|---|---|
| Weather | rain and heavy skies over Vice City in both trailers, wet roads and reflections, and a storm sequence in the Extended Look |
| Wildlife | alligators on an airboat deck in Grassrivers, birds over the Keys, and marine life in the diving and fishing footage |
| Described by Rockstar | neither, as a system. Both have only ever appeared as background |
The phrase to hang on to from Rockstar's own teaser is less sunny. Vice City's been sold for three years on neon and sunshine, and now the studio's leading a preview with storms. Florida is the wettest state in the continental United States by rainfall, and the marketing has shown almost none of it.
Weather changes how a Rockstar game plays
In a Rockstar game, weather's about systems as much as lighting. Red Dead Redemption 2 changed how far you could see, how horses behaved on wet ground and how mud built up on a coat. Grand Theft Auto 5 changed handling on wet roads and did very little else with it.
Vice City is a driving city built on a coastline, so rain is the cheapest way to make the same streets play differently twice. If the weather system is what Rockstar picked to lead a preview with, six weeks out, that's a hint about how much of the game it touches.
It also sets up something the marketing has stayed away from. Florida is among the wettest states in the United States, and its hurricane season runs from 1 June to 30 November. The game arrives on 19 November, inside that window, in a state known for its storms, after three years of being sold almost entirely on sunshine.
Two things to watch once it's out
First, a magazine feature is a preview, and it won't be a spec sheet. Nobody outside Rockstar has played this game, and a lead designer describing a weather system is describing what they're aiming for.
Second, expect the screenshots to get re-cropped and re-posted within hours, with claims attached that the article never made. That's happened with every drop so far, and it's why several of this month's leak discoveries turned out to be things Rockstar had already published itself.
We'll cover what the issue actually says once we've read it properly, and not off somebody else's summary.
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