After so many years of telling our loved ones how annoying it is that there isn’t one, it feels weird to say that all of us are going to be playing a new GTA game next month. It was only the subject of rumors for a long time, after all, or perhaps wishful thinking on a list of games we’d have loved to see.
Of course, that changed a while ago, and there was the long wait for its 2025 release date. There was that subsequent delay to this year, but with gameplay reveals, detailed interviews, and so much about the game now floating around, all that remains is to sit down and play it when it comes out, with perhaps a little more information in the interim.
But it still feels weird to say it. The pessimists in us cooking up a last-minute delay in our heads aside, we’ve got reasons why we feel that way. Let’s begin!
A Long Wait For A New Rockstar World
It’s a testament to GTA’s massive influence on modern gaming that GTA 6 comes with thirteen years of waiting after Los Santos entertained us all back in the day. It has continued to be a place that a GTA fan keeps coming back to thanks to GTA Online, and has probably seen its fair share of young miscreants grow into adults offline.
The buddy on whose PlayStation we rolled the credits on the whole thing when we were in our early twenties now owns a business and is the proud father of twins! Some of you might be experiencing your first GTA launch, something that’s definitely an interesting thing to see as a gamer.
You’re basically looking at something that’s been a part of people’s lives for a long time, often being a source of fond memories spent in front of their consoles. But with thirteen years between two instalments, with a lot of them spent not knowing if there was even going to be a new one, it’s now sort of hard to believe that we’re finally getting to play what once felt like a pipe dream so long ago.
Of course, there’s a reason for that hope that we’d get to explore a new Rockstar-designed world in the franchise after so long. The franchise has come a long way from its humble origins, and its worlds are a showcase of its success. Leonidas City stands to be the culmination of years of hard work and experience designing cutting-edge open worlds. As such, it’s among the main reasons GTA 6 feels unreal to us, if we’re being honest.
Just look at those cars, for instance. They’re sleek, shiny, so painstakingly designed, and they’re also coming with all of the current-gen goodness that features like ray tracing can offer. There are the new radio channels and a very impressive cast list that’s going to be chatting to us between tunes, and we can’t wait to see what they bring to the table, and perhaps even continue listening to them on our phones once we leave the car.
Leonidas seems built to encourage you to drive around its streets, and we’re certainly quite excited to do that, allowing any distractions to take us in circles all around its streets. Of course, any of those distractions could be the next thing the lot of us are laughing or marvelling at once enough of us stumble across it.
The excitement of having a world where the possibilities truly feel endless is all there, and with each world Rockstar brings us outdoing the last, it’s hard to believe that there’s a new contender for the open world crown. Of course, the expectations it must shoulder to get there are another part of the excitement.
Wonders Of The Imagination
All of us have had a long time to think about what could be new, what should be new, and things that we believe might matter to us but not to the community at large that we’d like to see brought to the game. Obviously, the longer we’re made to wait, the longer that list grows and changes, sometimes influenced by other games you play or check out in the meantime.
Modern gaming is a place where innovations often sneak up on a community, while others boldly announce their arrival and come ready to impress. We’ve all got our own ideas about what a new GTA should try to do differently and a long time to shape those opinions into strong arguments.
Better police systems are sure to make each crime you commit feel like a weighted decision to some of us. Improved building interiors and interactions that don’t feel superficial are opinions we’ve heard from time to time in conversations about what the next GTA could do differently. We know that getting all those wishes fulfilled by a single GTA-sized genie might seem possible given the franchise’s reputation, but it’s also not a realistic dream to have.
But it is an enlightening way to think about how this is a title that’s going to have to be thought of from a variety of angles to please a wide palate of tastes when it comes out next month. And there are so many things to do to test out whether what we want to see has made it to the game.
There are things that curated footage of the game can’t really communicate to us. We want to know what handling one of those sweet cars feels like, for instance. We want to know what it’s like to get behind the wheel and hit the streets, our engine pushed to the limit as we speed through traffic on the way to whatever’s caught our attention for the moment.
We want to see how events and interesting things unfold organically as we explore the streets, and how good the game is at pulling us in different directions. We can’t wait to see if its mission and level design are as immersive as it all looks, and whether the things we get up to in those missions are worthy enough to have us locking in and focusing on the storylines they’re presenting.
We can’t wait to see how Jason and Lucia manage to sustain a partnership that seems rock-solid, but is about to be tested by whatever’s waiting for the duo in Leonidas. We’re here for it all, and that we’re finally getting answers to all of it is certainly something we’ve been looking forward to with a tinge of obsession.
A Good Opening Act
We’re guessing the adventure opens up with a bang, but that’s not really what we mean by a good opening act. There’s something about our first time in an open world as dense as the one we’re expecting to get in Leonidas. There’s the joy of going in fully blind to all its possibilities, every one of them a new memory or moment to remember in a game that seems to be full of them.
There’s the sense of discovery and the community that builds around a new game like this one, where there’s information flying around and so much to keep track of as more players begin to uncover the world they’re exploring alongside us. There are going to be some of you who might even be reading this long after the game has launched, the very possibility of a spoiler keeping you away from conversations about the game until you’ve seen it for yourself.
To all of us who waited to play GTA 5 all those years ago, this isn’t new, but it’s certainly bigger than ever. That one didn’t have a gameplay showcase premiering on Netflix, after all. But those five years spent waiting for the game now feel as exciting as playing it in retrospect. Can GTA 6 be magical enough to justify a number that’s nearly thrice that time?
If things go according to plan, it’s hard to see why not. Leonidas seems brimming with opportunities to grow, and ones that let you enjoy the moment and stay right where you are. It also seems like a place where your destiny is truly yours to mold, just as it’s always been when you pick up a controller and take on whatever the franchise has hidden away.
All of it, and potentially more, is now merely a month away, and the long wait is finally on its last legs. It was hard to believe this day was coming at some point in the past, but we’re sure glad it’s now here, and that we get to see what a new GTA looks like when Rockstar’s had time to cook with new generations of hardware, and new software to let it achieve things it once dreamed of, just as we dreamed of engaging with whatever the results of those efforts were.
Well, it looks like Leonidas is where those dreams and hopes are going to be, and you can bet that we’re going to be chasing them right alongside you next month. See you there!
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.
