The GTA 6 extended look live reveal made a point of emphasizing how dual protagonists Jason and Lucia can engage with NPCs in a range of ways, both verbally and physically. Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson says NPC interactions have evolved considerably, with GTA 6 standing on the shoulders of Red Dead Redemption 2 in many ways.
Speaking with IGN, Nelson says “we pushed interaction with NPCs as far as we could for Red Dead Redemption 2” but GTA 6s “taking it much further.”
“The team has done an incredible job to create all of this crazy dialogue, and you can stand there and listen to them, but we’ve tried to find a balance where if you stand too close to a group, they should notice that you’re eavesdropping,” he says.
This type of reactivity was seeded in Red Dead Redemption 2, Nelson explains, tracing Rockstar Games’ history. If you get too close to NPCs or linger for too long, they may notice you, “be aggressive,” or simply “want to get away from you.”
“When we first started these ideas back on Red Dead Redemption 2, we thought if we could get it working there in a more sparsely populated world, we imagined what it might feel like at scale in a modern world,” Nelson says.
We see examples of NPC interaction and reaction throughout the big GTA 6 reveal. Jason can praise, scold, pet, or study a dog found in what looks like a drug house – a useful demonstration of a left trigger-based system for referencing interact options. Later, after Lucia puts on a mask and pulls a gun while heading into a story, two nearby NPCs nervously but quietly walk away from the scene of the impending crime.
“In Red Dead Redemption 1 and GTA 5 there were basic systems for interacting, but the interactions were very simple,” adds Nelson. “But with Red Dead Redemption 2, we were finally able to incorporate the ability to interact with NPCs as a more fleshed-out system.”