Edge watched 90 unscripted minutes of GTA 6, and Leonida is bigger (and smellier) than you think

Edge's big GTA 6 feature is out: the magazine watched Rockstar North studio head Rob Nelson play for 90 minutes with no script, and came back with a map "almost as big" as GTA IV, GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2 combined, "an order of magnitude more interiors" and a Jason who pulls a face when something stinks. It's the cover story of issue 430, on sale today, 29 October, and the full piece is free to read on GamesRadar+. Here are the juiciest bits: the size of Leonida, the houses, the pedestrians, the police and the line Rockstar uses to sum up the last ten years.

What exactly did Edge see?

Something Rockstar rarely does. Previous GTA demos meant a player on the pad and a PR person reading from a script. This time, in Rob Nelson's office at Rockstar North in Edinburgh, there was no script: the studio co-head picked up the current build and played whatever he felt like for an hour and a half.

It starts in the apartment Jason and Lucia share. Jason drinks a coffee, which boosts stamina, and a protein shake, which gives a health bonus, then heads outside. A guy with a dog catches him staring a bit too long, squares up, lets the dog loose and Jason legs it. Three minutes later, Nelson has already nicked a shotgun from the boot of a police car while the cops were busy cuffing someone across the street.

The cover is a talking point too: it's a double-sided gatefold with Jason and Lucia, and GamesRadar+, Edge's publisher, revealed it two days before the issue went on sale.

GamesRadar+@GamesRadar

Grand Theft Auto VI is the cover star of Edge #430 Inside: A 16-page report featuring exclusive @RockstarGames interviews and screenshots from the most ambitious game in the studio’s history. This special print issue features a double-sided gatefold cover design showcasing GTAVI… Read more on X

How big is the Leonida map?

According to Edge, the map is roughly twice the size of GTA V's, and Rockstar goes further: its total area, including Vice City and its surroundings, is "almost as big" as the playable maps of GTA IV, GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2 combined. PC Gamer picked up on that too.

Can you go everywhere from the start? According to IGN, citing the print magazine, Leonida opens up relatively early: if you want to head north straight away, you can, without the barriers of GTA IV. The story will still have natural breaks, though: sometimes Jason and Lucia will need to raise cash before the next score.

Why do the interiors matter so much?

Because they surprised Edge even more than the size. Aaron Garbut, the studio's other co-head, says the game has "an order of magnitude more interiors" than previous ones, in other words around ten times as many. "Every alleyway is as detailed and as interesting as any other," he says. And he admits that, after years of playing it, he still finds places he'd never seen.

The houses aren't empty boxes: there are photos on the walls, clutter on the tables and the mess of whoever lives there. Garbut found that out that very morning. He walked into a house full of loving photos of a dog and, in the next room, discovered what the dog had been up to while home alone: everything trashed and poop in the corners.

What's this about Jason pulling a face?

A system born for a single scene. Rockstar built a reaction to bad smells for one specific piece of content and then made it general: now other places trigger different levels of disgust too. When Jason walked into the dog's house, with nobody having scripted anything for that moment, he started grimacing and backing away. Two systems colliding and, as a bonus, a small improvised performance.

How do pedestrians behave?

A long way from GTA V's pedestrian, who only ran if you pointed a gun at them. Rockstar set up a whole team in Los Angeles, with writers, directors and producers, to bring the NPCs to life: around 600,000 animations, as PC Gamer reports, and personality traits such as temperament, aggression, what they've witnessed or how you've treated them. Every neighbourhood has its own.

Walking around with a shotgun in your hand already makes people nervous; slung on your back, less so. Some step aside and others stand up to you. There are surprises too: the person you mug might fight back, a customer might play the hero at the petrol station, and a group of kids in a 4x4 with purple lights might goad you until you agree to race.

What else is changing?

• Narrower streets. GTA V's wide roads have been narrowed to a "more believable" size, according to Nelson.
• Longer days. The day-night cycle lasts quite a bit longer: at GTA V's pace, "everything felt like it was moving too fast".
• Layered weather. You can watch a storm roll in from afar, streets get wet and dry slowly, and the wind buffets boats and light aircraft.
• The police work from clues. The heat system notes your description, whether you were alone or with your partner, your clothes, whether a camera caught you and your weapon. Changing clothes or splitting up from your partner makes you harder to recognise. There are police dogs, and some expensive cars have trackers.
• Criminal profile. It tracks whether you're a "professional" or "irredeemable", with angel and devil icons, and Rockstar says it changes how the story unfolds. The relationship between Jason and Lucia also has four levels, as we covered in what happens if you ignore Lucia.
• Apps and transport. Scooter Bros brings your car to you in seconds, guns in the boot; WAINK tells you which cars the fences are after, and there are real buses and trains. Phil Hooker, the third head of development, says he knows every route by heart.

What does Rockstar say about expectations?

That they haven't settled. "We can't put something out that's what people expect, or the easy thing," says Garbut, who feels better about this game than any other he's worked on. Then comes the line of the feature: "I feel like we've built a pyramid on top of Everest," as PC Gamer also reports.

Nelson, for his part, knows there's no turning back: "It's ready. It stops being ours and becomes everyone's." We'll find out on 19 November.