10 Wild Locations for GTA 6 That Would Have Been Better Than Vice City

GTA 6 is undeniably headed to Vice City, and honestly, I understand the choice. Across decades of releases, we have only visited Vice City a handful of times—never quite enough for it to forge the indelible, gritty identity that Liberty City ultimately achieved. The upcoming installment is poised to finally rectify that. Even so, I cannot help pondering how radically GTA 6, and the franchise as a whole, might evolve by abandoning the traditional mega-city formula in favor of an entirely unexpected backdrop. Here are 10 unconventional settings that deserve serious consideration.

1

The Moon

Image: Rockstar Games

Within a speculative future where lunar colonization is a reality, naturally—not today, which would merely amount to aimless jogging across a barren, lifeless rock.

Picture something akin to The Expanse filtered entirely through Rockstar’s signature satirical lens: two interstellar outcasts plotting an ambitious new beginning after being exiled from Earth. Rockstar’s sharp socio-political commentary would translate seamlessly into a futuristic sci-fi ecosystem, arguably thriving even more when liberated from earthly constraints. At the very least, it provides a brilliant excuse to ditch mundane weaponry and automobiles for breathtaking futuristic hardware. Piloting a helicopter to beachside clubs in Miami feels pedestrian by comparison; hijacking a sleek, corvette-class spacecraft to execute off-planet heists? Absolutely sign me up. Perhaps the upcoming The Expanse: Osiris Reborn will manage to capture a fraction of that intoxicating atmosphere.

2

A Rural Heartland

Image: Ubisoft

Sprawling metropolises hold no monopoly on corruption and wrongdoing. All the underlying catalysts that turn metropolitan hubs—pardon me, “Vice City” and “Liberty City”—into prime arenas for gritty criminal sagas apply just as intensely to small-town America. After all, Ubisoft proved this concept can flourish with Far Cry 5.

Tight-knit communities amplify social pressures, casting a harsh, unyielding spotlight on the widening chasm between the privileged few and the forgotten masses. The slow, agonizing decay of local industry paired with the Sisyphean struggle to revitalize fading townships leaves residents with precious few avenues to escape their circumstances, watching the promise of upward mobility evaporate day by day. Granted, Main Street lacks the neon-drenched decadence of typical GTA playgrounds, but the dramatic potential remains immense.

3

London

Image: Ubisoft

Surely a massive collective of British development studios—known for having plenty of sharp observations regarding American culture—might eventually turn their satirical gaze toward home, even briefly? Or do they intend to let Watch Dogs: Legion reign over British soil completely uncontested?

4

An L.A. Noire-Inspired Underworld

Image: Rockstar Games

Or alternatively, channel the vibe of L.A. Noire. Traditional GTA entries cast you firmly as the ascending criminal, but imagine exploring the aftermath of success—the fall. You have already reached the pinnacle, only to find yourself cornered and finally apprehended. However, a way out presents itself: turn informant, leveraging your underworld connections to assist law enforcement with their heavy lifting in exchange for clemency. There is a reason fans eagerly speculate that Lucia or Jason might navigate a similar dynamic in GTA 6. Not only would it inject a refreshing narrative twist into the series’ character arcs, but the framework fits the crime-thriller genre like a glove. Plus, integrating one of L.A. Noire’s discarded gameplay mechanics would fit right into a modern GTA title.

5

Baldur’s Gate

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Image: Larian Studios

What would a high-fantasy Grand Theft Auto look like? Plunging the formula directly into one of Dungeons & Dragons’ most legendary urban hubs is the ultimate way to find out. While grand fantasy epics are experiencing a massive renaissance thanks to the monumental success of Baldur’s Gate 3, the Forgotten Realms—teeming with rogues, cutpurses, and sprawling cities swimming in corruption—feel practically tailor-made for a criminal sandbox.

Though, given the absence of automobiles in D&D lore, one has to wonder what the title would become. Grand Theft Dragon?

6

First-Century Rome

Image: Wikimedia Commons

While we are already speculating about leaping away from modern times, let’s embrace a truly historical paradigm shift. Picture the dawn of the Roman Empire, an era wracked by rampant political graft and volatile societal shifts. Imagine Lucia and Jason reimagined as captive Britons, Germanic tribespeople, or Carthaginians imprisoned in Rome, eventually unleashed to carve out a living in a world inherently hostile to their existence. By weaponizing Roman societal values and turning them directly against the elite who subjugated them, the narrative parallels remain striking. Centuries may pass, but the core themes of human history rarely change.

7

The 1980s

Image: Rockstar Games/Take-Two Interactive

Culturally, socially, economically, politically, and chemically, the 1980s were an absolute, unmitigated circus. Name virtually any systemic crisis plaguing modern civilization, and you can readily trace its genesis or a critical inflection point straight back to that decade—and not merely within the United States, but on a global scale. It remains genuinely puzzling that Ryu Ga Gotoku’s Yakuza 0 stands almost entirely alone in genuinely exploiting the rich texture of this era.

8

Washington, D.C.

Image: Joshua Santos/Pexels

Transport the action to GTA’s narrative equivalent of Washington, D.C. Picture a reckless politician letting a classified secret slip during a visit to one of their habitual after-hours haunts—a nightclub owned by your protagonist. That single, incriminating slip drags you headfirst into a web infinitely more lethal than any local street syndicate you have ever conquered. Despite the overwhelming popularity of political thrillers across other entertainment mediums, video games have rarely scratched this specific itch. If any developer possesses the satirical bite to pull it off, it is Rockstar.

9

Suburban Indiana

Image: Wikimedia Commons

GTA undoubtedly features its own version of those pristine, master-planned communities frequently topping lists for safety, cleanliness, and idyllic living. In the real world, that crown currently belongs to Carmel, Indiana. Granted, it sounds entirely devoid of cinematic sex appeal on paper—however, if you truly want to generate chaos, turn players loose inside a hyper-sanitized utopia like that. Rockstar has spent decades capitalizing on the low-hanging fruit of traditional crime environments, but acting as a standard-issue cog in a metropolitan underworld has grown stale. Becoming the chaotic force that shatters a pristine, picket-fence community and drags it down into the mud? Now that is true villainy.

10

Liberty City

Image: Rockstar Games

Fine, I acknowledge we have tread Liberty City’s pavement many times before, but it only truly crystallized into a masterpiece of environmental storytelling in GTA 4. Within those rain-slicked streets, it serves as the ultimate indictment of American culture and the hollow promises underwriting it—themes that form the very beating heart of the franchise. Vice City, by contrast, is essentially just… Florida. It captures obscene wealth colliding with grinding poverty, extreme hedonism, and a pervasive, Las Vegas-style detachment where standard moral anchors simply dissolve into the humid air. At least, that was my takeaway living in Florida for twenty years. Between the two, Liberty City undeniably offers richer soil for profound narrative exploration.