No Unlimited Arsenal in GTA 6, and I’m Mixed About It

We’ve always had to suspend our disbelief in gaming for certain things, and I don’t expect GTA 6 to be any different. We’re in for big action sequences that would probably never happen in real life, crazy stunts maybe, all sorts of out-there shenanigans reminiscent of an old Transporter movie.

But even Jason Statham couldn’t keep an arsenal of invisible weapons on his person, and GTA 6 is finally pulling the plug on the very suspicious way GTA protagonists used to carry their guns.

No More Butt Rocket Launchers

Trevor walking away from a fire with a can of gasoline in his hand. — Uh, Trevor? Where’d you get that gas can? Image via Rockstar Games

Yup, you can no longer keep an entire arsenal of weapons up your bum, which is presumably where Michael, Niko, and even CJ used to store them. The other option, pulling them out of thin air through some game magic, is a lot less funny, don’t you think?

Ever since RDR 2, I’ve wondered whether Rockstar would implement some of those systems in a GTA game in the future. Now that we’ve seen the Extended Look and the previews, there’s even more carryover than I would have thought, or even liked.

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Fuelling your cars? That’s just feeding your horses in RDR 2, but please don’t try to shove carrots down your gas tank. The NPC Greet/Antagonize system is coming to GTA 6, though there was a very rudimentary version of this in GTA 5, too. And people will actually be wary of you now when you stroll down the street holding an assault rifle, just like in RDR 2… minus the assault rifle, of course.

I liked this change initially, but upon reflection, it feels… less GTA, somehow, right? It’s been such a reliable staple of GTA for so long that we’ve all just accepted it. That said, I would sometimes roleplay in GTA San Andreas and get busted purposely so I’d lose all my weapons. Then I’d only get a rifle and a pistol, for realism.

Yeah, I was a weird kid.

So while I’ve been dreaming of a GTA doing this since I was a teenager, it’s weird to see it actually happen. To have the option of carrying the whole arsenal around with us stripped away. I kind of feel the same about the fuel system. It’s fun for a while, when you want to do a little RP, but when you get back into causing chaos and flying through missions, do you really want to worry about how much fuel your car has?

Respecting Player Choice is the Best Kind of Cool

I feel like Rockstar is one developer that has always respected player choice during the biggest moments in GTA. The unavoidable RDR endings are arguments against that point, but GTA 4 and 5 both gave us options as to who dies in the end. It was more subtle in GTA 4, but GTA 5 just slaps the choice right in our face. Kill one of two, or don’t kill anyone.

I’m sure that trend will continue in GTA 6, giving us some control over the ending of the game, but why not extend that to other aspects of the game as well? Don’t like the criminal profile system? Toggle it off. Same with fuel, same with limited weapons. I like that it’ll make everything more strategic, so I mostly feel positive about it, but I know many don’t want these systems at all and just want to be psychotic maniacs that sow destruction wherever they go, without consequences.

Once GTA 6 comes to PC, modders will probably give us that option the same day the game launches, but in the short term we’ll be stuck with these features.

I’m a huge fan of player choice in games. I love moldable characters and features that you can imprint on and make the game your own unique experience, and the fact that we’ve lost a little something there in a GTA game is disappointing. But every game has had its issues. Why on earth, if Michael had so much money, were we forced to use that awful Declasse Premier for such a big chunk of the story? And don’t even get me started on Trevor’s truck.

All of this said, I still have absolute faith in Rockstar, and I’m sure that even with the more realistic limitations, we’ll all have a grand time in GTA 6, likely for one last time. I just don’t know if they’ve got another GTA in them, and even if they do, will I still be here in 25 years to enjoy it?

I exaggerate a little, perhaps, but given how long we waited for 6, I’m not sure my exaggeration is all that far from what might play out.

I’m curious how you feel about all this. Do we have an amazing, realistic experience awaiting us here, or is it going to be a slow slog that would have been better to keep for the next RDR?