A decade after the release of the last entry of the series, Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto has returned. Initially planned for the trailer to debut on the morning of December 5th, 2023, Rockstar put it out after it leaked online yesterday evening. The trailer re-introduces us to Vice City, the Miami analog in the world of Grand Theft Auto’s last scene in GTA: Vice City and Vice City Stories. Much like GTA: IV and GTA: V, this game takes place in the current era of our society instead of the past. First, we see our new female lead character along with her love interest and partner later in the trailer. We see many shots that bring about our ideas of Florida, alligators, nightlife, beaches, wild folks, and, of course, crime. Check out the trailer below.
Here are some quick thoughts I have about the trailer:
Even though it looks like a duo for our main characters, Lucia has more of the protagonist feel like Michael did in the first trailer for GTA: V. Also, going by the cover art, she’s on probation, so it’s completely different from going to therapy.
City Girls reference. I was happy to see JT and Caresha’s influence even make it into what will be the biggest media event of 2025 (unless Avatar 3 comes out, but then it’ll probably still be bigger). These two women on social media getting celebrated have that same feel as the fictional rappers in Max’s Rap Sh!t do. It gives me hope that there will be more Miami Rap scene references in this game.
Social Media seems to be a significant part of this game. I bet there will be an in-game app for sharing clips or watching what’s going on around the world of the game. With so many scenes inspired by real-life clips, I look forward to how they fold into the world. It looks like there will be a TikTok analog and an Instagram one. How will they skew the current state of social media in the tens of years since the last game and even what they do with GTA: Online?
Real Florida shyt, it seems. Leonida is what the state is called in GTA, much like how GTA: San Andreas attempted PlayStation 2 and XBOX to have you travel around a state after two games focused on cities. I guess we’re getting more than city vibes in this one with, I guess, some of that Florida/Alabama border action.
Here are some more screenshots from the trailer. Lucia and her partner in crime give big time Bonnie & Clyde vibes. Yet one thing I haven’t seen said online is that it also reminds me of Catalina and Claude, the duo that started GTA: III from 22 years ago. In that one, Claude, our silent protagonist, was betrayed by Catalina and ended up being the big bad of the whole game. They expanded on that in San Andreas and showed how they ended up together. Now, I do not think this couple will end up like that one at all, but I have noticed that after each game since after the PS2/XBX, the newer games have little echoes of those games as they aren’t in the same world. So, with the anniversary of the company and the games coming up, I can see them wanting to echo back to the one game that changed all of gaming and the company. One last thing to note is that this game was just announced for PlayStation 5 and XBOX Series consoles. No PC yet, and I know that hurts that player base. Join us in Console land, folks. Grand Theft Auto VI comes out in 2025.
