Should GTA 6 Keep Multiple Protagonists?

GTA 6 could be years away, it might not be.  It’s hard to tell when Rockstar will get around to releasing the next big installment in the Grand Theft Auto series.  The franchise has made big strides with each release.  If you look at the massive changes that the game saw from GTA III to GTA San Andreas, and then GTA 4 to GTA 5 they were massive.   One of the biggest changes that fans saw was the ability to change between three different characters in the Grand Theft Auto story mode.

The ability to play as multiple characters was a great feature in GTA

The dust has probably settled by this point on whether the mechanic was a welcome or not, but it’s fairly safe to assume that most people loved the ability to swap between three different and unique characters in Grand Theft Auto.  It made the game feel continually fresh and allowed you to identify with at least one of the three characters if not all of them.   While the mechanic worked for GTA 5, should GTA 6 keep multiple protagonists when it finally comes out?

Having three protagonists in Grand Theft Auto was definitely a high note for the campaign.  The amount of variety it provided and the flexibility it gave Rockstar in the storytelling and world building department gave players three distinct experiences within the game.  Plus the switching mechanic was really cool to be able to zoom out of the map and hop into the a new characters while they were going about their business.  I mean, how cool was it to pop into Trevor’s world while interrupting him during his shenanigan’s.

With the experience from GTA 5, GTA 6 could have an even better version of this fantastic mechanic.

If they go with one character, they better be as good as Niko

There are reasons why you wouldn’t ant to have multiple protagonists.  Sure, if you are trying to tell a more intimate story in Grand Theft Auto 6, perhaps one character is the way to go.  We haven’t seen a one-character title since Niko Bellic in GTA IV, but he’s one of the most memorable characters of all time because you became very familiar with him and making his way in the United States as an ex-military from Serbia.

While Niko worked, it does take a lot to build the game around this one solitary character.  Can you imagine playing in GTA 5 as any one of the three main characters?  Franklin, Trevor, or Michael?

At the end of the day, the developers will be the ones who make the call on whether there will be multiple protagonists in GTA 6.