GTA VI Just Got its Official Gameplay Reveal on Netflix

Netflix just aired the much-anticipated GTA VI: An Extended Look video before it gets uploaded to Rockstar Games’ YouTube Channel later today at 9 PM ET. Even though a lot of gameplay footage has leaked over the past week, what Rockstar Games showed today was a carefully crafted presentation of the game running on a PlayStation 5 console, and it looks just as good as I expected.

Overall, I’d say that GTA VI looks much more “mature” and dramatic than the previous episode, even though the series’ trademark satirization of modern American society is still there. Still, GTA VI will be coming six years after the critically-acclaimed Cyberpunk 2077, and I’m sure the developers at Rockstar Games, and in many ways, I feel like GTA VI is going to rival the storytelling and world-building qualities of CD Projekt Red’s dystopian masterpiece.

The gameplay reveal starts with a scene where protagonists Jason and Lucia need to escape a drug factory assaulted by cops, and the gameplay mechanics reminded me a lot of Max Payne 3, with a similar cover system, “bullet time-like feature, and kill cams. Other things reminded me of Red Dead Redemption 2, such as Jason and Lucia covering up their faces with bandanas before starting a heist.

Just like in GTA VI, it seems like players will be able to switch between Jason and Lucia almost any time, except maybe during scripted sequences. To my knowledge, Lucia will be the first playable female protagonist ever in a GTA game, and she seems quite skilled with guns: one gameplay sequence showed her shooting and reloading a shotgun with just one hand while holding a bag with the other one.

The relationship between Jason and Lucia, who are lovers and shown holding hands during a mission, seems to be at the core of GTA VI’s story. The two characters seem to have great chemistry and complement each other really well. One sequence that seemed really inspired by the Die Hard movie showed Jason and Lucia assisting each other by radio during a hostage situation at a business party, and the gameplay footage really left me wanting to see more.

This first gameplay reveal also showed various side activities including car and motorbike races, scuba diving and kayaking sessions, a strip club trip, and more. Overall, the world and character design look top-notch, and performance seemed solid, too. Rockstar Games mentioned that the gameplay was captured on a PS5 console, with no explicit mention of the PlayStation 5 Pro. If this was indeed recorded on a base PS5, I think we’re looking at a well-optimized game.

If you don’t have a Netflix subscription, you’ll be able to watch this first gameplay reveal at 9 PM ET on Rockstar Games’ YouTube channel. If you’ve already watched the video, let me know your thoughts about it in the comments below. I will add the video to my post when it’s online.