GTA 6: Why the series needs a great villain

The GTA franchise has evolved by leaps and bounds since the days of GTA III. The franchise has gone on to become one of the most valued properties in entertainment, and the games are a technical powerhouse.

The GTA series has been extremely influential in the open-world genre and set the benchmark for other games to be compared to. There is also very little room for complaint when it comes to the writing of these games.

The satire and humour that the GTA franchise is known for have remained sharp, and rarely have the writers been blamed for being dated in their humour and satire.

However, there is one key aspect of the writing in GTA games that feels undercooked as compared to the rest of the game: the villains.

GTA 6: The series needs an iconic and menacing villain

GTA Villains (image credits: San Andreas tr, youtube)

For a series that has seen such a high level of critical and commercial success, the GTA franchise, which is renowned for its writing, has a dearth of great villains.

While it is true the games have provided great villains such as Ricardo Diaz and Dimitri Rascalov as well as Frank Tenpenny, they are the exception and not the rule.

Multiple Villains and Sporadic appearances

The GTA games will introduce a villain right at the start and forget about them for the entire duration of the game until the very end. The nature of the open-world game is such that players can spend potentially weeks before they even progress in the story.

However, the presence of the antagonists should be a primary concern. The GTA games tend to feature not one, but several villains, all of which obviously cannot receive the required screen-time.

However, this can be easily solved by focusing on building one great villain, so that their presence will be felt throughout the game.

An example of a series that does this really well is the Far Cry franchise, a series that has excelled by providing great villains who are menacing and engaging.

How are villains important to the story?

A great villain goes very far in setting up the motivation for the player to progress in the game. A villain in a GTA series should provide players with the necessary motivation to progress in the story so that they can see the antagonist get their comeuppance.

The villain also adds more emotional weight to the protagonist as it will help players relate to the character better and be more connected to their story.

The GTA franchise tends to build very interesting characters, but villains often end up getting the short end of the stick- a mistake that is easily solvable in the next game.