What Do You Look for in a Partner?

Trust, affection, complicity — or someone who would help you pick up a bag of drugs, cover you during a robbery, be your accomplice in a shootout, and drive while you fire out the window? Those are the questions posed by the new trailer for 'Grand Theft Auto VI', which casts its two protagonists, Jason and Lucía, as the couple of the year. On August 27, Netflix premiered exclusively 'Grand Theft Auto VI: A Look Forward', a 26-minute trailer that gave platform users a preview of the most anticipated video game — and possibly cultural event — of the last decade, hours before its release on YouTube.

The extended look offers a deeper view of how Rockstar has portrayed the state of Leonida and, most importantly, its inhabitants. Imagine 'Grand Theft Auto VI' as the Land of Toys from 'Pinocchio' — a dream without dreams. While the saga has built its brand around free will, Rockstar's challenge may be to exaggerate chaos in each installment and, by extension, in its protagonists.

Jason picks Lucía's clothes and she picks his. They have magnets, photos and post-its on the fridge. They live in a small, humble, camouflaged apartment.

Jason waits for Lucía with a beer, and when she appears in a pink dress, he rejoices saying "the wait was worth it"; they also rob, steal, traffic, shoot, kill and watch the latest episode of their series cuddled up on the couch at night. Couple life. What the protagonists (and the game) manage to do in the trailer is far more than any player could have expected.

While the company has already proven what its graphics engine can do, the commitment and expectation placed on the game is that its narrative and gameplay demonstrate it deserves the blind faith placed in it. Neither shies away from risk: Lucía steals a stranger's car and finds a twenty-something live-streaming on Twitch in the trunk. Neither is surprised by the other's presence, so he continues his stream while she drives the stolen car as police chase them — but calm down, that's not enough to get six stars.

Jason, however, shows hesitation at this chaos at one point in the trailer, wondering if being cautious is what they need to do to survive. As a challenge, all edges of contemporary American society seem to converge in Leonida: precarity disguised as the American dream, police surveillance that responds differently depending on who holds the gun, the 80s nostalgia of Vice City turned into a Miami of heat, humidity and inequality. Rockstar has explained that its team worked with former criminals, police officers and local residents to build an urban ecosystem that goes beyond mere scenery and becomes a place where someone could truly live or die.

Still, the most ambitious gesture of all is that this GTA builds GTA itself. Rockstar offers a life to inhabit at the player's pleasure. The physical system that San Andreas introduced over twenty years ago returns, expanded: eating without control makes Jason and Lucía gain weight, the gym builds their muscle, and pushing the machine (not sleeping, fleeing police for days, partying without rest) leaves visible marks on the face and body, even altering how other characters perceive them. The trailer suggests that the couple's dynamic — a dance around chaos — will be the emotional core of a game that promises to be as much about relationships as about destruction.