With barely two months to go before Grand Theft Auto VI comes out and hopefully overdelivers on the hopes of thousands, there has been a great deal of interest on what the world of Leonida could be like, beyond what the trailers tell us.
The recent Game Informer exclusive feature on Rockstar Games is a great place to look, with the gaming giant giving fans a good look at not just screenshots from GTA 6, but also important stuff about the weather, NPC design, and new ways to interact with Leonida.
Here are five new reveals from the report that will get you waiting to explore what Leonida has to offer:
Hurricanes
There's a reason that Florida is known as the 'Hurricane Capital' of the US, and it is the same reason that GTA 6 will feature one of the most complicated visuals to render apart from hair: hurricanes.
Rockstar told Game Informer that fans can expect “heavy clouds, strong winds, dense atmospherics, and a lot of rain" when the tropical storms hit, though they did not say how often these would hit, or how they could impact the story.
In general, Owen Shepherd, VP of art and lighting at Rockstar, noted that the studios have re-engineered the game's weather systems to allow you to experience localised, dynamic weather that changes how every place in the game greets you, and to give some aspects of the weather more impact, such as the wind and the rain.
Ride sharing
Taxi journeys in Grand Theft Auto are typically a 30-second experience, because with them, you could fast-travel to any point on the map you wanted to go.
However, GTA 6 takes a different approach, giving you a chance to zip around town alongside other passengers in shared taxis and striking some Tarantino-esque conversations along the way.
NPC variety
Rockstar has gone all out with worldbuilding for Grand Theft Auto VI, so expect an insane variety of NPCs of all shapes and sizes, they told Game Informer.
In fact, since the game also incorporates a wide variety of character choices to bring you closer to an authentic Florida, Jason, Lucia, and the NPCs can get tans, tattoos, piercings, and almost any other body modification you can think of.
Clothes galore
One way clothing in the game will be made realistic is by the NPCs being dressed differently based on where they are in Leonida.
But the bigger, more important way is the sheer range of garments you get based on where you are in the world, as well as the accessories that go with them, such as shoes, sneakers, bling chains, shades, rings, and everything you'd need to customise your looks or pratice being a master of disguise.
Hunting
On the topic of choices, hunting animals is back and apparently better than it was in GTA 5, though Rockstar hasn't said much about it, and all we have to go by are one of the screenshots from the Game Informer report that shows Jason approaching a deer in the wild, armed with a rifle.
In fact, the game hosts as many as 170 different species of animals across biomes, which includes over 60 birds, over 30 land mammals, and a variety of aquatic creatures, with attempts made to faithfully replicate Florida's animal ecosystem.
