Grand Theft Auto VI will be the best-selling game of whatever year it’s released. Without a firm release date set, other publishers are still opting to push back releases from the intended release window so that their potential sales don’t get vacuumed up by this colossal upcoming release.
While the open world, the potential to do just about anything, and the superb stories are all big selling points of a GTA game, since GTA V, heists have become all the more coveted. It took a while for the excellent heist in the story to be brought to GTA Online, but now that it’s there, there’s Rockstar can’t put it back in the bottle.
Expanded activities, improved police responses, and an interactive world are all coming to the new GTA VI release, but with heists having been done so well in GTA V and beyond, the developers will need to pay special attention to them in the new game. So, what does GTA VI need to tap into, and where have heists been done the best before?
Why We Want a Great Heist
Heists are a core part of the crime genre across entertainment. The stakes combined with the character dramas and the well-known potential rewards all combine to create a gripping storyline. First of all, they present a problem for the savvy would-be bandits to solve, be it getting in undetected or making it to the big prize.
The setup of a heist is a huge part of the potential payoff. It’s all about waiting to see if the setup is done well. It’s because of this desire to wait and see if it all pans out that heists can work in almost any form of entertainment. This is even the case in online slot gaming, as shown by the Action Bank slot.
Here, the build-up comes by way of needing to find the bonus symbols. These Golden Vault Scatters need to be aligned on the reels to get the 30 free spins in the Big Bank Bonus. Once in the bonus, players then need to spin to try to get a piece, or even the whole piece, of the 500x score.
In stories that run through a heist, this phase of build-up and execution will revolve, ideally, around well-formed characters. We know their personalities and skills, see where the tension could be, and wait to see if they can be cohesive for this common goal. It’s a big piece of the puzzle, as this Writer’s Digest piece details.
What GTA VI Needs to Emulate or Exceed
GTA VI already has the in-house blueprint for an excellent heist. There’s a lot of setup and several steps to get it done, but The Big Score mission in GTA V is easily among the best heists ever put to gaming. Packed with tension, a ticking clock, potential peril, and ways for your choices to matter, The Big Score is what GTA VI needs to meet.
Arguably, though, you’d have to look to the Payday series for the outright best gaming heists. There are plenty to choose form in the much-loved series, but The Big Bank in Payday 2 stands out for the sheer volume of ways that you can tackle the task. With multiple levels to the bank and the chance for chaos, the DLC heist is excellent.
Similarly, because of how multi-faceted the approach and execution can be, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided’s The Heist is also worth noting. Another good spin came in Fallout: New Vegas’ Heist of the Centuries, where, having unveiled a lot about the characters you’re robbing, there’s then simply too much in the vault to carry away.
The expectations for GTA VI are rightly rather high, and bundled into the many things that gamers want is a tense, skillful heist. We’ll have to wait a few more months to see if Rockstar can meet or even exceed the bar.
