Five Things GTA 6 Should Leave Behind

Every GTA release introduces new mechanics, leaves others behind, and the response to those decisions is always mixed. You can’t please everyone; that’s just the nature of design innovation. Some things have stuck, though, and certain decisions made during the GTA 5 and Online era have made me a bit cautious.

Here are five things from previous GTA titles that GTA 6 should leave behind for good, if possible.

Returning Characters

Look, as much as I’d like to see CJ or Niko show up in GTA 6, I don’t think cameos tend to be as narratively impactful as some people think. Hearing about a certain character who fits the description of a previous protagonist or main character works, and Rockstar has done that several times as an easter egg or direct reference. That’s the kind of deep-cut mention I can appreciate, but seeing a character from a previous title pop up on screen just so I can point at them and go “wow” for a few minutes feels a bit tacky and doesn’t always make for a memorable moment.

Rockstar has already, distastefully, I might add, done this with GTA 5, bringing back Johnny Klebitz only to use him as fodder for Trevor’s insane introduction. Sure, it cemented Trevor as an awful person, but seeing a largely liked character killed off for cheap thrills wasn’t exactly great. So, let’s not do this, Rockstar. Just stick to new characters.

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Story Content Relegated to Online

GTA 5 had a planned single-player DLC featuring Trevor that was ultimately canceled, a fact that has since been acknowledged by Trevor’s actor Steven Ogg, former Rockstar developer Joseph Rubino, and Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser. Ogg revealed that Rockstar had even filmed some material for the expansion, while Rubino suggested that the success of GTA Online made it difficult for Rockstar to justify continuing with a standalone expansion. Houser later confirmed that the DLC was about halfway finished when Rockstar abandoned it.

Rockstar also continued bringing GTA 5’s main characters into GTA Online. Trevor appeared in the game’s early post-launch content, Franklin returned as part of The Contract, and Michael eventually returned in the A Safehouse in the Hills update. While these updates weren’t as fleshed out as traditional single-player expansions, they still gave you a glimpse into what happened to these characters after the events of GTA 5. The problem is, you need to be actively playing GTA Online to experience any of that. If you’re someone who doesn’t enjoy that aspect of GTA, you’re missing out on story content that, ideally, should have been available to everyone.

GTA 4 got The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, while Red Dead Redemption got Undead Nightmare, and those were absolutely worth playing. Whatever shape the online component for GTA 6 takes, I really hope Rockstar doesn’t relegate actual story content to it.

Enough With the Crane Missions

You know exactly which mission I’m talking about. Trevor and Floyd at the docks, moving around containers with a crane? It was fine when I first played it, but on replays, it’s some of the most tedious filler content in any GTA game. What about the mission where Franklin has to tow a vehicle from a parking lot and use those imprecise, needlessly complex controls to operate the truck? I understand downtime, but not like this, Rockstar.

This isn’t something unique to GTA, either. Rockstar has a habit of adding missions and sections like this to its games, and I really hope they either remove them, make them more engaging, or give players the option to skip certain activities altogether, especially on repeat playthroughs. Remember how, in Marvel’s Spider-Man, Insomniac was so aware that players might find the circuit puzzles tedious that they gave you a “skip” option? Maybe Rockstar should look into that if they’re going to make me load cargo with a magnetic crane again.

The Same Old Mission Structure

Ever notice how missions in most GTA games are essentially just driving to a location, shooting up some people, and then dropping someone off? Sure, the dialogue, locations, and set pieces change, but by and large, the mission design can feel pretty monotonous. That’s not entirely a bad thing; it makes for a carefully curated campaign that Rockstar can fully control. Still, these limitations stand out, especially as the games grow bigger, more technically advanced, and more ambitious, offering players far more to do in the open world than in their missions.

Rockstar has an opportunity to move beyond its A-to-B mission design and introduce more dynamic variety. Not everything needs to feel overly scripted, either, especially when the game is only giving you the illusion of choice. Sometimes, simply giving players an objective and trusting them to figure out how to accomplish it could be enough. Add some genuine variety to the missions, and GTA 6 could do something really special.

Anything Resembling an Oppressor Mk II

Okay, I’m cheating a bit here, but I’ll take any opportunity to bring up the Oppressor Mk II from GTA Online. The ultimate griefing vehicle, it became a necessity for practically every GTA Online player because you couldn’t walk 50 meters without someone blasting you at impossible speeds. This flying atrocity, along with Rockstar’s increasing indulgence in futuristic vehicles and weaponry in GTA Online, clashes heavily with the grounded tone of the campaign and the early years of GTA Online.

There’s nothing wrong with wacky, over-the-top ideas, especially in GTA Online, but Rockstar leaned a little too hard into this aspect and made things considerably worse for anyone who enjoyed the criminal enterprise side of the game. Nothing quite ruins an important mission like a kid on an Oppressor Mk II deciding that blowing you up is the funniest thing in the world. Whatever plans Rockstar has for GTA 6’s online component, I don’t want to see a flying bike ever again.

Of course, these are just my personal picks, and I’m sure some of them will be controversial. GTA 6 is shaping up to be Rockstar’s biggest and most ambitious game yet, and hopefully, it can take the best parts of what came before while leaving some of the baggage behind.