In spite of the strip clubs and sex workers that are spread across all entries in the GTA series, the concept of love as a feature is rather scarce. Every now and again, Rockstar Games has peppered romance into the mix, but never truly committed to it. Recent GTA 6 rumors suggest that it will be a core element of the gameplay.
Since a very early build of GTA 6 leaked online, it revealed a lot about the game. It has been mostly erased from the Internet, but details from the leak continue to trickle out as curious fans and dataminers sift through all the footage and the files for anything that was missed when it originally went down.
According to a post on Reddit, there are scripts pointing toward a type of romance system in the game between Jason and Lucia, the two alleged protagonists, that players can partake in which will affect other parts of the experience.
“The event scripts in the leaks suggest that you can have either a passive or romantic relationship with each other. Jason and Lucia likely won’t have to be together if you don’t want them to be…In the events list certain missions will be completed with a either cool, pragmatic, or romantic relationship with the two characters. This heavily implies that a romance between the two isn’t required if you don’t want it for whatever reason.”
GTA 4 (2008) offered more romance than any other entry in the series to date, with the ability for Niko Bellic to go on random dates. But it seems with GTA 6 that romance will serve as a core mechanic that greatly impacts the story and its conclusion.