Jason & Lucia

GTA 6 is built around two playable leads who are also a couple. That is new for the series, and almost every other system in the game bends around it.

Who they are

Lucia Caminos is the first female playable protagonist in a mainline Grand Theft Auto. She was born in Liberty City, learned to fight from her father early, and ended up in the state of Leonida, and then in the Leonida Penitentiary. The game begins with her out of prison and wearing an ankle monitor, which Rockstar has confirmed is central to the campaign rather than a throwaway detail.

Jason Duval is an Army veteran who grew up around grifters and crooks and now works for local drug runners in the Leonida Keys. He wants an easy life. The premise of the game is that he is not going to get one.

Switching between them

• Confirmed You can switch between Jason and Lucia through most of the game
• Confirmed Switching uses a bird's-eye cutscene transition, as in GTA 5
• Confirmed When the two are close together, transitions are seamless and near-instant
• Confirmed You can phone your partner to invite them to activities
• Confirmed You can move between vehicle seats and hand driving to your partner
• Rumour Whether any missions lock switching off is not confirmed

The seat-swapping detail is more significant than it sounds. In missions you can choose whether to drive or to shoot while your partner drives, the same scene plays differently depending on which role you take.

The relationship system

This is the genuinely new thing. Jason and Lucia's bond is a system, not a fixed story. You can build it or ignore it, and it affects story moments.

• You decide whether the relationship becomes romantic or stays a straight criminal partnership.
• Spending time together builds the bond: working out, shopping, sightseeing, visiting salons, and committing crimes together.
• Your partner will text you. Repeatedly dismissing those texts can damage the connection between them.
• Appearance customisation can be done individually or as a pair at barbers and salons.

Their bodies change

Both protagonists physically respond to how you play them. They gain weight from high-calorie food, build muscle through exercise, and lose condition through disrupted sleep. Bench pressing changes their physique; eating at fast-food restaurants changes it the other way.