Should *GTA6* Really Learn from LEGO? IGN Got It Right This Time

This take isn’t unreasonable at all, and it hits right at the heart of GTA6. Rockstar’s greatest strength lies in urban atmosphere and storytelling, not in systemic interplay within its open worlds.

IGN recently published an article arguing that GTA6 could learn something from LEGO City Undercover. It sounds like a joke at first, but on closer inspection, it really isn’t. What it focuses on is not tone or subject matter, but three specific areas: character abilities, exploration-driven design, and collectible structure. These just happen to be the parts where the GTA series has never particularly stood out over the long term.

Although LEGO City Undercover is aimed at all ages and features simpler missions and combat, its systems are more solidly built. It includes more than 300 playable characters, each with unique abilities, and those abilities are directly tied to puzzles, collectibles, and unlocking new areas. Switching characters isn’t just for show—it’s a real gameplay gateway.

By contrast, the protagonists’ special abilities in GTA feel more like seasoning, not something deeply integrated into map exploration. Players are mostly getting reskinned versions of the same core behaviors, rather than changing routes and objectives because of meaningful ability differences. That’s also one reason so many open worlds tend to become tiring in the later stages: the maps are huge, but the reasons to explore them aren’t compelling enough.

IGN also pointed out that LEGO City Undercover has a more complete collectible system, with content tightly tied to puzzle design, which makes players more willing to actively search the map. That point is crucial. The worst thing an open world can do is turn collecting into checklist labor—tons of icons, very little meaning. Only when collectibles, abilities, areas, and puzzles form a closed loop does exploration stop feeling like routine box-ticking and start feeling like real progression.

Of course, the LEGO formula is not a universal answer either. IGN itself admits that it can’t match Rockstar’s cinematic storytelling, and that designs like step-by-step map unlocking already feel somewhat outdated today. What it can offer GTA6 is not a full template, but a systems-level reminder.

If GTA6’s dual protagonists really do have unique skills deeply tied to gameplay, and if it even goes a step further with some kind of co-op mode, then the playability of this world would rise noticeably. A dual-protagonist structure shouldn’t serve only narrative switching—it should also serve mission-solving and free exploration. Otherwise, no matter how eye-catching the concept is, it may end up being nothing more than a trailer selling point.

The player community has actually been voicing similar thoughts for a long time. People aren’t worried that Rockstar can’t tell a good story—they’re worried about whether its open-world design can evolve to the next level. And the industry trend over the past few years has made this very clear: for top-tier blockbusters, borrowing from one another is no longer embarrassing, but normal. Clever ideas from smaller games, as long as they work, are more valuable than the inertia of bigger ones.

So my view is very simple. If GTA6 only makes its world bigger, it will still sell insanely well; but if it deepens character abilities and the structure of exploration, then it will feel much more like a true upgrade.