GTA 6's Map Opens Up Early, Allowing Free Exploration; Devs Still Finding New Areas

Rockstar has confirmed that GTA 6's world won't be locked behind story progression. In a new preview from Edge magazine (via the GTA VI O'Clock podcast), Rockstar Games revealed many new details about GTA 6, including that the map will open up relatively early. In some past GTA games, like GTA 4, players had to advance through the story to unlock the entire map—Liberty City used police blockades on bridges to restrict access until Niko progressed. That changed in GTA 5, where players could go anywhere once the tutorials were done. GTA 6 appears to follow suit: Edge's story confirms that the state of Leonida will open up relatively early. Of course, there will likely be initial story segments to introduce characters and mechanics before full freedom, but if you want to head north and see the top of the map right away, you can. The story will naturally take you to many places, but you won't be stuck in Vice City for the first 10 hours if you don't want to be. Red Dead Redemption 2 also largely allowed free exploration, except for one area—the entire map from the first Red Dead Redemption—which was inaccessible until the end of the game. Trying to go there early resulted in being shot by snipers. Similarly, the first Red Dead Redemption blocked players from visiting Mexico until John Marston's journey took him there. GTA 6 seems to offer players a lot of freedom from the start—though it may take a while to see everything. Rockstar North co-studio head Aaron Garbut also confirmed that he's still discovering new locations in Leonida. Part of that comes from the game's density: Garbut noted there are "an order of magnitude more interiors" compared to other Rockstar titles, all handcrafted with exceptional detail. GTA 6 will release on November 19 for Xbox Series X|S and PS5.