GTA 6's Criminal Profile System Will Let You Shape Jason and Lucia's Lives

GTA 6 is bringing over one of the more interesting ideas from Red Dead Redemption 2, although it is not quite the same as the Honor system. If you were paying close attention during the extended look at the game, you may have noticed notifications appearing on the side of the screen. Those notifications are tied to something called Criminal Profile, a new system that Rockstar says can give you more freedom in how you approach the game.

During a preview of GTA 6 last month, co-head of development Rob Nelson explained what Rockstar learned from Red Dead Redemption 2 and why the studio believes a system like this works in GTA. He also explained how Criminal Profile differs from Honor and how it can potentially influence the way you play through the game.

When you first see the system, it is easy to assume Rockstar has simply brought the Honor mechanic from Red Dead Redemption 2 into GTA 6. However, that is not really what is happening. Criminal Profile is designed around the type of criminal you are rather than judging whether you are simply good or bad.

That distinction is important because GTA is still a game built around criminal activity and giving you the freedom to cause chaos.

Rob explained that Criminal Profile may have some effect on the story depending on how you play, but there is no specific right or wrong way to experience the game. Instead, it gives you another choice in how you approach different situations.

You can still cause as much chaos as you want. Rockstar is not trying to change what GTA fundamentally is. The idea is that you still have the same freedom you had before, but now there are more ways to approach situations and potentially see their consequences.

Criminal Profile also does not work like the sliding Honor bar from Red Dead Redemption 2. Instead of constantly moving up and down, there are different states that you can occupy. You can check your current state in the bottom-right corner of the screen, and Jason and Lucia can have completely different profiles.

During the preview, the menu had dedicated Jason and Lucia tabs. Alongside their physical character models, the menu showed information about their Criminal Profile and relationship status, along with other details.

There are currently four known Criminal Profile states. Rockstar could still change the system before launch, but the states Rob discussed were Professional, Aggressive, Violent, and Psycho. Professional sits at the top, while Aggressive, Violent, and Psycho represent increasingly chaotic approaches to criminal activity.

Another state beyond Psycho works very differently. If you do enough particularly bad things, the Criminal Profile logo can begin to shatter until it eventually cracks completely. Once you reach that point, your profile is essentially finished for that particular playthrough and cannot be changed.

The purpose of these states is not to tell you whether you are playing GTA 6 correctly.

Instead, they show what kind of criminal you are choosing to be. That also gives you another reason to approach multiple playthroughs differently. You could play through the game as a Professional criminal, then start another run as a Psycho and experience situations from a completely different perspective.

The shattered state is supposed to be considerably harder to reach, and Rockstar does not seem to be treating it as a punishment. If you don't want to engage with the Criminal Profile system at all, you can ignore it and keep playing GTA 6 however you want.

Rockstar also appears to be giving you control over the notifications themselves.

The studio is expected to let you turn off Criminal Profile notifications and customize what you want to see. That fits with Rockstar's wider approach to GTA 6, where new systems are being introduced without forcing everyone to use them.

The studio understands that some players may not want a morality-style mechanic in their GTA game. If you just want to cause chaos without paying attention to Criminal Profile, you can. The system is for players who want another layer to their playthrough, not something that completely changes the GTA formula.

The shattered state also comes from something Rockstar learned from Red Dead Redemption 2. Without getting into the ending of that game, the Honor system could create a strange situation where a player spent much of the game behaving terribly and then suddenly tried to raise their Honor as quickly as possible later on.

You could murder countless people and then improve your standing by greeting people, petting dogs, and generally behaving well. While that worked mechanically, it did not always make much sense from a role-playing perspective. Rockstar appears to have wanted to avoid that with Criminal Profile.

If you want to maintain a Professional profile, restraint and control are important. Rob explained that this means handling a robbery without unnecessarily killing or injuring people and controlling the situation rather than immediately escalating everything.

Essentially, you do what you need to do and avoid going overboard. If someone crosses you and you have to deal with them, you handle the situation, but you do not necessarily turn every encounter into a massacre.

The extended look also revealed that Jason and Lucia are tracked separately.

That means their Criminal Profile states do not have to match. You could complete one playthrough with both characters as Professionals, another where they are both Psychos, or even have Jason remain a Professional while Lucia becomes a Psycho.

This gives the system another purpose beyond simply tracking your behavior. Your choices can potentially affect how the story unfolds, while the differences between Jason and Lucia can also create more reasons to replay the game.

Rockstar is clearly trying to connect several of these systems rather than having them exist separately. Rob explained that the team built a lot of complicated systems that work together, letting you roleplay as heavily or lightly as you want.

You can still create as much carnage as you want, but the game can also respond to the way you approach different situations. The choice is ultimately about how much importance you want to give those systems during your playthrough.

That same philosophy applies to Jason and Lucia's relationship.

The extended look showed their relationship status in the bottom-right corner, with a heart appearing when things are going well between them. Like Criminal Profile, however, the relationship is not represented by a traditional meter that constantly goes up or down.

Rockstar confirmed to IGN that Jason and Lucia do not necessarily have to be lovers. They can remain partners in crime if that is how you want to play them. Rob described the romantic side of the relationship as something you can engage with if you like the idea, but you don't have to bother if you don't.

You can develop the relationship by spending time together, and this is where GTA 6's dynamic approach gets particularly interesting. Rather than giving you a list of fixed dates to complete, Rockstar wants you to create those moments naturally.

You could take Jason and Lucia to the zoo, go kayaking, walk along the beach, go diving, take a scooter ride, visit a bar, or get something to eat.

You can decide how you want them to spend their time together. If you want something more formal, you can dress them up and take them somewhere that feels like an actual date. If you prefer something casual, you can simply have them hang out and participate in one of the game's many activities. This means the relationship system isn't limited to traditional dating missions. Instead, it is connected to the wider world and the activities you can already do while playing GTA 6.

There are still some limits to what you can do with the relationship. You can nurture Jason and Lucia as lovers, keep them close as friends who happen to rob banks together, or let the relationship drift by ignoring it. However, you cannot simply break them apart and remove one of them from the campaign.

Playing exclusively as one character also will not separate them.

Rob told IGN that Jason and Lucia will remain partners in crime and keep working together, no matter how romantically close they become. So, if you completely ignore their relationship, neither character is going anywhere. They remain central to the campaign, and the romantic side is simply another optional layer.

Rockstar also doesn't want this to turn into a constant, nagging relationship. Rob told Kind of Funny Games that the last thing the studio wants is to put you in a relationship where Jason and Lucia are constantly complaining about each other.

If you choose not to spend time together and their relationship starts to drift, you will not be bombarded with arguments or forced into relationship management. Like Criminal Profile, the system is meant to give you more freedom rather than take it away.

Ultimately, Criminal Profile and the relationship system seem to follow the same philosophy. GTA 6 still allows you to play like a traditional GTA game, but it gives you additional systems if you want to approach the experience differently.

You can be a controlled and professional criminal, or you can become increasingly violent until you eventually reach the shattered state. Jason and Lucia can share the same criminal identity, or they can end up on completely different paths.

Their relationship works in much the same way. You can develop them into a romantic couple, keep them as close partners in crime, or simply let their relationship drift while they continue working together.

The potential for different story outcomes and opportunities based on your Criminal Profile and relationship status could also make multiple playthroughs more interesting.

Rockstar hasn't revealed exactly how far those consequences will go yet. Still, the interconnected nature of these systems suggests your approach could matter beyond simply changing a few notifications on the screen.

Most importantly, none of this appears designed to take away the freedom that has always been central to GTA. You can still ignore the deeper systems and cause chaos whenever you want. If you want to pay attention to how Jason and Lucia behave, how they develop as criminals, and how their relationship changes over time, GTA 6 gives you the option to do that as well.