In GTA 6, Rockstar Games has made a "very conscious effort to open things up where possible" in its missions, giving players multiple routes and ways to tackle the tasks laid out in front of them "without compromising the quality of the experience."
That's according to Rockstar North co-studio lead Rob Nelson, who spoke to IGN earlier this year about the "balance between freedom and storytelling" in an interview that's now been published in full.
"It is a challenge and sometimes when you are trying to create a specific or hopefully compelling narrative, the narrative aspect does need to take precedence at times – at least for us it does," Nelson explains.
"To move the narrative forward in a believable way, you have to hit these beats, and so in those cases we have to kind of guide the experience. But with this game we have made a very conscious effort to open things up where possible, without compromising the quality of the experience," he continues.
Nelson refers to the first mission seen in the GTA 6 Extended Look which premiered on Netflix, noting: "Where they're in the tower block trying to get out – there are multiple routes out of that tower block." Similarly, he adds, "the mission where they meet Raul and he gets in the back of the car – the first bit is on rails because you, the player as Jason, are shooting and Lucia's driving, but then you switch and you're driving. There is an optimal route that you're told to get out, but if you don't follow it, you can still get out – the mission is essentially a police chase."
And those missions are just examples. Nelson explains that Rockstar ultimately didn't want any mission that uses the game's systems, like the wanted system, to feel at odds with how those mechanics work when you're simply exploring Leonida. "Anything where a mission can become systemic and it's a wanted level or robbery system – we try to make it so that it doesn't feel inconsistent with how the game works in the open world," he says.
If this goes as deep as it sounds, there's no doubt we're going to be seeing all sorts of weird ways to progress through GTA 6's story next month. Considering that Nelson also says that, like Red Dead Redemption 2, he believes GTA 6 is also "built for" fans replaying the game multiple times, it sounds like Rockstar expects this story to keep us entertained for a long time to come.
