Grand Theft Auto 6 will feature NPCs who react to players openly carrying weapons, marking a shift from previous entries in the series where such displays often went unnoticed by non-player characters and law enforcement until an act of aggression occurred. This detail emerges from an interview with Rob Nelson, head of development and co-studio head at Rockstar North, published by Dazed.
Nelson explained that GTA 6 aims to occupy a space between the satirical tone and high-octane action of Grand Theft Auto 5 and the more realistic, immersive approach of Red Dead Redemption 2. While the game will still include "all the weapons and supercars you'd expect," it will feature a more "grounded and reactive world." This means that "walk[ing] down the street with a rifle, and the city will have something to say about it," a departure from GTA 5's depiction where players could traverse the environment with weapons drawn without significant NPC repercussions.
Previous Grand Theft Auto titles generally allowed protagonists to carry large weapons without drawing much attention from pedestrians or police unless directly provoked. GTA 6 appears poised to incorporate more realistic NPC reactions to the open display of firearms, a behavior hinted at in past leaks where civilians reacted to the presence of a knife. Nelson stated that Rockstar critically examines its past games to identify areas for evolution, driven by factors such as time, resources, technological capabilities, or simply a desire to explore ideas more fully.
"A lot of what we do is very iterative – we adjust a lot of things by feel based on what is working and what isn't," Nelson remarked. The specific mechanics of how this open-carry policy will function in-game remain unclear. It is not yet known if players will face arrest for carrying certain weapons or if the primary reaction will be NPCs fleeing or vocalizing their alarm. The implications for player inventory management, such as whether guns can be openly carried or must be concealed, are also undetermined. This change suggests that players may need to adopt different approaches to navigating the game world depending on their desired level of interaction or discretion.