Age ratings for Grand Theft Auto 6 have begun rolling in, and unsurprisingly it’s a game built for grown-ups, receiving both a Mature rating in the US and an 18+ rating by the ESRB. PEGI went a little further than the other ratings boards when slapping GTA 6 with an 18 certificate, however, going into such specifics about the game’s adult content that it inadvertently revealed new mechanics and systems.
As spotted by GamesRadar+, PEGI’s rating (which has now been deleted from the organisation’s website) stated that Grand Theft Auto 6 “features strong graphic violence, strong sexual themes, and use of illegal drugs”. In and of itself, this isn’t revelatory—although Grand Theft Auto doesn’t tend to be especially sexual (unless you count Trevor’s startling re-introduction in Grand Theft Auto 5).
But it’s the details supplied by PEGI in each of these areas that are of greater interest. On the violence front, PEGI stated that “Violence is bloody with a high degree of realism, with certain weapons being able to cause greater damage such as detailed decapitation and dismemberment.” That’s a significant change from previous GTAs, where violence was mostly blood-pools, bullet-wound decals, and enemies flopping over in physics-driven animations.
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As for depictions of drug use, PEGI described it as “frequent and prominent” with players able to “use illegal drugs directly from their inventory”. PEGI then cited an example whereby “cocaine can be carried around by the player and snorted directly from their hand at any time”. That’s a wild level of detail, and I’m curious about what, if any, mechanical implications getting wired will have in GTA 6.
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Turning to those strong sexual themes, Grand Theft Auto 6 will apparently feature “scenes of intercourse and occasional scenes of sexual fetishes”. More specifically, GTA 6 also seemingly features a strip club minigame where players can “pay for private dances” and “the game allows the player to move their hands onto the dancers’ breasts and buttocks.”
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The latter of these sounds very GTA, but I am curious about how the sequel will handle the former. What most intrigued me about August’s gameplay reveal was how much effort Rockstar put into depicting the relationship between Jason and Lucia—which apparently doesn’t have to be romantic, but does support playing the pair as a couple in a long-term relationship.
Hence, it’ll be interesting to see whether sex is played for laughs or taken more seriously as part of that romance (the likely answer is ‘both’). Either way, it won’t be long until we find out. Grand Theft Auto 6 will be released on consoles on November 19, although when it will come to PC remains up in the air.