Grand Theft Auto V

I am very, very late in getting this post up, but you’ll have to forgive me and trust me that it’s worth the wait – unlike many video game franchises, a new Grand Theft Auto game doesn’t come along every year, after all.

Above you’ll see the fifth game in the (in)famous series, detailing the new stylings, new environments, new city, and new characters of the franchise. As a longtime gamer, the GTA series has been admittedly hit and miss for me, but one thing I can’t deny is sheer guts behind the development team. You see, unlike many other series (Final Fantasy aside) GTA has been willing to reinvent itself at nearly every iteration, making each entry play similarly, but feel entirely different from the last. That’s a hallmark of Rockstar though – a willingness to challenge their audience’s expectations. From gameplay to character to story, Rockstar has always pushed back at the “just for kids” reputation of video games, preferring to make games unapologetically aimed at a more adult audience. If reputation serves, this will be yet another indelibly adult entry to your games catalogue.

And let’s be clear here, I don’t mean “adult” as in “sex,” though there’ll likely be some of that too. But if Rockstar does one thing better than anything else, it’s create entertainment that can only be understood by those who have lived their lives past a certain age. Like many great films, your own life and experiences are required to understand the motivations of the characters and the entire world seems richer for it. The last GTA explored the concepts of family, immigration, “The American Dream,” and the very grey area of personal morality in a way that few games have ever attempted. If this trailer is any indication, there’s much more of that on the horizon.

I can’t wait.