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Rockstar Games

How Red Dead Redemption 2′s map can prepare us for GTA 6

We take a look at Rockstar’s past to understand how their version of the Wild West can give us clues as to what to expect in the next Grand Theft Auto.

The map of each Grand Theft Auto has always been a case study in the adaptation of our world to virtual form. Although GTA III’s map now looks like a very small setting, it was a huge revolution that sought to bring New York City into this stunning digital playground. As the capabilities of technology have grown, Rockstar’s open worlds have always set the standard for what you can expect in the world of video games.

The arrival of Grand Theft Auto VI is still a long way off. For now, Rockstar has planned that it will be until Fall 2025 that we will have a glimpse of this new evolution of Vice City, Miami in our real world, and how this world will no longer just cover the metropolitan area, but the entire area surrounding it. For now, we only have a few clues as to what this world could be, and a team of fans working hard to develop it, taking clues and imagining what this map could be. Still, we have to consider what previous Rockstar Games can tell us about it… especially Red Dead Redemption 2.

Red Dead Redemption 2 future contributions to GTA

Rockstar Games’ latest title was an ode to the cowboy era. The story, a prequel to the first installment, tells the remarkable tale of Arthur Morgan and Dutch Van Der Linde’s gang as they try to survive in the Wild West as it begins its decline toward the end of the 19th century.

One of the pillars that makes this story so impressive is the world in which it takes place. Although Red Dead Redemption 2 is an expansion of the map from the first game, it is an expansion that is done in a big way. Throughout its 5 states, the game has numerous biomes, from snowy mountains, through deserts, forests, swamps, marshes, rivers, lakes, and even beaches, the world has a great variety of places, animals, and a great verticality. The changing climates and biomes are a key part of what makes this the most ambitious map Rockstar has ever worked on, both in size and variety.

So what does this have to do with GTA 6? If you look at the map of Florida in real life, it doesn’t really have many of the elements that the world of Red Dead Redemption 2 contains. There are no high mountains, no desert forests, and the climate is mostly tropical to subtropical. Undoubtedly, the beaches and jungles of Guarma, as well as the area of Lemoyne, which contains swamps, humid subtropical wetlands and warm subtropical meadows, will be part of the many geographical elements that we will see throughout the game.

This work of convincingly changing different areas and biomes will also come in handy when we take the road and enter a city, or simply get lost in its vegetation. It is worth remembering that Florida as such is not a state that stands out for its high mountains, and its topography begins to increase until its upper area. Depending on how far Rockstar wants to extend its simulation of Leonida to the north, we may see more of what we learned in Red Dead Redemption 2.