After a successful launch in 2018, it appears Rockstar Games has plans to introduce many of the mechanics from Red Dead Redemption 2 into its next major release, Grand Theft Auto 6.
Both the Red Dead Redemption and GTA franchises have been major sellers for Rockstar, and anticipation for GTA 6 is astronomically high as its potential 2025 release date approaches.
As for what fans can expect from the game, GTA 6 will follow two new criminal protagonists, Jason and Lucia, as they thieve their way through the state of Leonida.
GTA 6 Will Borrow These Gameplay Features From Red Dead Redemption 2
Eagle Eye
Eagle Eye is an ability players came to rely on in Red Dead Redemption 2. Similar to the listening mode from The Last of Us or Detective Vision in the Batman Arkham franchise, Eagle Eye was a visually distinct filter that helped players identify scent trails and tracks from the animals they were hunting.
While it is unclear whether players will hunt animals in GTA 6, Eagle Eye is expected to return in the game to serve a different purpose.
A leaked gameplay clip from GTA 6 (via @GTASixInfo) allegedly shows Jason entering a pawn shop and activating an Eagle Eye-like ability that allows the player to identify loot, safes, cameras, and other points of interest in the room.
Hair Growth
A subtle but impactful system in Red Dead Redemption 2 was the change in a character's hair growth. As days passed in the game, players could watch Arthur Morgan's hair length and facial hair growth change, and then choose to style or change it using a barber or tonics.
Hair growth sometimes came at an advantage to the player as they could radically change their appearance, making them harder to identify by any suspicious parties.
Based on screenshots showing Jason with various facial hair lengths and hairstyles, it appears this system will be making a comeback in GTA 6, potentially also helping players disguise themselves from the law.
Improved Hand-to-Hand Combat
GTA V offered close-quarters melee combat, but the systems were not as dynamic as those seen in other GTA games. Rockstar expanded on this system with more realistic grappling and hand-to-hand combat in Red Dead Redemption 2 and there's reason to believe this will come into play in the next GTA as well.
Footage from the leaks reportedly reveals a clip of Jason using similar grappling and melee moves to Arthur from Red Dead Redemption 2, hinting that this system will carry over into Rockstar's newest game.
Improved NPC Interactions
One thing that Red Dead Redemption 2 was particularly praised for was its immersive open world, which felt close to reality thanks to the variety and detail in the non-playable characters that filled its settings.
Rumors suggest that a similar living-breathing open-world system will be implemented in GTA 6.
Former Rockstar Games designer Ben Hinchcliff told IGN in 2023 that there's no reason Red Dead Redemption 2's NPC interactions couldn't be implemented in a game with the budget and team size - both of which GTA 6 has.
"From a theoretical standpoint, and what you might be able to do if you had the budget and the team size, I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t have that ['Red Dead Redemption 2'] level of NPC interaction in a much larger scale game."
On top of that, Rockstar Games was known to be hiring writers for "Pedestrian & Ambient Dialogue" in a job posting last year (via Reddit). While not confirmed to be for GTA 6, this is a hint that the studio's upcoming open-world game intends to be as immersive as its others.
It is worth noting that many of these gameplay features are assumed to be included based on the leaks Rockstar Games experienced in 2022, which resulted in large amounts of unfinished gameplay and stills from GTA 6 appearing online.
The game may have evolved in the years since so none of these features should be taken as confirmed until addressed by Rockstar directly, which will likely happen as soon as a gameplay trailer for GTA 6 is released.
GTA 6 is likely to release in late 2025 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.
