9 Ways Rockstar Could Easily Ruin GTA VI

8. Forced Controversy

GTA V's torture scene was hollow; a scene emblematic of a company that had the world's attention and could've delivered a message to stand the test of time, yet chose to go down the most 'controversial' route possible. Trevor remarks after the fact that "torture's for the torturer" and that it's "useless as a means to extract information", but considering how the character is set up - a potential cannibal who slaughters his friend's friends at will - it doesn't even remotely make an impact.

Think about it. Across the 2000s, Rockstar went from being the scrappy underdogs with one idea that managed to take hold and go stratospheric. They'd then roll out Manhunt - a game implicated in a murder, before being acquitted - and Bully, the title that riled up parent groups and Fox News mouthpieces no end. They were the industry's bad boys, but underneath it all, they were the studio that had the mentality to challenge stereotypes and provide really solid meanings to games that had controversial face values.

Then they became millionaires off the back of it, and that worldview changed forever. It's hard to produce edgy and impactful material when you've got nothing left to say, which is precisely the reason bands like Metallica or Guns n' Roses will never be truly great again, and why sequels to out-of-nowhere landmark success movies never work in the long run.

GTA can never hit home in the same way as III, Vice City and San Andreas did back in the day, and shoehorning in the likes of the above will only reinforce that fact.