The fidelity of Grand Theft Auto 6's world makes random violence look considerably less silly than it did when the characters had boxy claws for hands, but Rockstar isn't stopping players from doing what they want in Vice City and its environs.
We know that because we've seen the GTA 6 leaker shoot up a nudist party, murder the residents of a homeless encampment, and beat a delivery driver to death—quite a contrast with the mission-focused gameplay in the official reveal.
A little devil icon in one of the leaked videos did lead us to wonder if GTA 6 would judge us for antisocial behavior, a la Red Dead Redemption 2's Honor system, but the details that have come out since the reveal suggest that 'Criminal Profiles' aren't quite like that.
According to a preview from TGG on YouTube (embedded above), Rockstar doesn't want to punish players for how they play, or create a situation where they have to grind their reputation up to a 'better' level in order to progress.
Here's the short version of what TGG learned on his trip to Rockstar North:
- There are four main Criminal Profile states: Professional, Aggressive, Violent, and Psycho
- There's also a fifth 'shattered' state where the meter cracks and can't be changed; TGG got the impression that this is for players who clearly don't want to engage with the system
- You can turn off Criminal Profile notifications
- Jason and Lucia can have different Criminal Profile states
- Staying in the Professional state is about "restraint and control" and "not killing or injuring anyone unless you have to"
This all aligns with IGN's learnings, but adds a few new specifics. What neither source came away with are specifics about how or how much Criminal Profiles will affect the story—will it lead to different endings, or just slightly change how NPCs interact with us?—but a comment from GTA 6 co-studio head Rob Nelson suggests that we will notice the effects of our actions.
Asked what he's most proud of in GTA 6, Nelson told TGG that it's "the way the whole thing works together."
"We've got a lot of very complicated systems working in an interconnected way," said Nelson. "You can forget it's a game that has been designed to try and work this way. I think it allows you to sort of roleplay as heavily or as lightly as you want to.
"The idea that you have a fair amount of choice now in terms of the way you can approach situations. You can still cause as much carnage as you can imagine. How does that make you feel if it has an impact on certain things? Do you still want to do it? Do you want to do it more? Do you want to do it less? Do you care at all? It's up to you and what matters to you."
