GTA 6 Missions Will Give You Multiple Routes, Says Rockstar

Ever played a GTA mission and thought, "What if I just did this my own way?" Well, Rockstar Games is making that a reality in GTA 6. According to Rockstar North co-studio lead Rob Nelson, the team has made a "very conscious effort to open things up where possible" in missions, giving you multiple routes and ways to tackle objectives—without sacrificing the quality of the experience.

In an interview with IGN that's now been published in full, Nelson discussed the "balance between freedom and storytelling." He admitted it's a challenge: sometimes the narrative needs to take precedence to hit those crucial beats in a believable way. But for GTA 6, Rockstar has tried to open things up whenever possible. "To move the narrative forward in a believable way, you have to hit these beats, and so in those cases we have to kind of guide the experience," Nelson explains. "But with this game we have made a very conscious effort to open things up where possible, without compromising the quality of the experience."

He points to the first mission shown in the GTA 6 Extended Look that premiered on Netflix. In the tower block escape, there are multiple routes out. Another example: the mission where you meet Raul and he gets in the back of the car. The first bit is on rails—you're shooting as Jason while Lucia drives—but then you switch and you're driving. There's an optimal route you're told to take, but if you don't follow it, you can still get out. "The mission is essentially a police chase," Nelson says.

And those are just two examples. Nelson explains that Rockstar didn't want any mission that uses the game's systems—like the wanted system—to feel inconsistent with how those mechanics work when you're just exploring Leonida. "Anything where a mission can become systemic and it's a wanted level or robbery system—we try to make it so that it doesn't feel inconsistent with how the game works in the open world," he says.

If this goes as deep as it sounds, we're going to see all sorts of weird and wonderful ways to progress through GTA 6's story. And considering Nelson also says that, like Red Dead Redemption 2, he believes GTA 6 is "built for" fans replaying the game multiple times, it sounds like Rockstar expects this story to keep us entertained for a long time to come.

So, what do you think? Are you excited to tackle missions your own way, or do you prefer a more guided experience? Let us know in the comments!