GTA 6 aims to offer you plenty of freedom in getting up to various criminal shenanigans, but it’s also built to tell a grounded story about two – presumably – sympathetic figures in Jason and Lucia. It seems Rockstar plans to address that the same way it did in Red Dead Redemption 2, as that game’s honor system has evolved into GTA 6’s criminal profile.

“This is a story about a couple on the run. We have tried to make the systems and the design support our narrative when and wherever possible,” Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson tells IGN. “Meaning, if you hit and run, commit a crime and run, get into trouble and move on before the cops get there, and you don’t start shooting people, don’t start escalating – which you absolutely can do if you want to – but if you don’t, you’re generally going to be fine.”

In Red Dead Redemption 2, the honor system tracks all kinds of minor actions, from doing chores around camp to killing animals without skinning them, and those actions slowly add up to a score that determines your overall moral alignment. The honor score affects things like shop discounts, but it can also give you different cutscenes and bits of dialog in key parts of the story.

Rockstar hasn’t spelled out what the consequences will be for managing your criminal profile in GTA 6 one way or another – I imagine it’s trying to preserve that as a surprise for when the game actually launches. But it sounds like, if you choose to constantly escalate the violence, the game will start pushing back.

“If you’re doing things on mission that you are required to do – or you’re robbing places, or somebody comes and messes with you and you have to deal with them by smacking them down or whatever – that’s all fair game,” Nelson says. “It’s when you go beyond what is necessary on a consistent basis, or you do completely unnecessary stuff consistently, that you may start to sway your criminal profile in a certain direction.”

That plays into an effort to ensure you’re not as “overpowered” in GTA 6 as in previous games. “You are still powerful and capable,” Nelson says, “but you are not the only one capable of violence or the only one with weapons or the only crazy person out there. It makes the world far more unpredictable and interesting.”

Check out everything you might’ve missed from the GTA 6 extended look.