Issue No. 1 · 5 min read
Twenty-Seven Days to Leonida
The launch trailer lands and the game starts keeping a file on you. Plus a field guide to the cast and the Grassrivers swamp. Every line checked.
Welcome to the first Leonida Letter. Each Friday we pick the week's most interesting GTA VI news, check every line against Rockstar's own words or footage, and tell you what we make of it. Rumours stay out.
27days to GTA VIThursday, November 19 · PS5 & Xbox Series X|S
The week in Leonida
The big one
The launch trailer is here
Rockstar's 90-second launch trailer landed on October 15, and Rockstar says it was captured entirely in-game on PlayStation 5. It's built on mood rather than new reveals, which is exactly what a launch trailer should do five weeks out.
It also debuts "Flower in a Hurricane" from the game's original score composers, the French duo Justice, featuring Tame Impala, SZA and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. The song is on Grand Theft Auto VI: The Album, a record of 34 original tracks. Nobody would have guessed that line-up, which feels about right for Vice City.
Gameplay
The game keeps a file on you
Rockstar North's Rob Nelson told IGN that your Criminal Profile tracks how you commit crimes, not whether you're good or evil. Pointless chaos goes on your record and gives the police more context on who you are. Of everything shown so far, this is the idea we most want to test.
Crime takes real work, too. A safe means finding the combination or blowing it open, which wrecks some of the loot, and the goods only turn into money once you sell them to the right fence. Modern cars need a key cloner, and an app on your phone shows whether a car has a tracker before you take it.
Life in Leonida
Your body and your partner keep score
Eat too much and Jason and Lucia put on weight; train at the gym for muscle and stat bonuses that fade if you stop. Ignore your partner's check-in texts, and the relationship can take a hit.
A health app on the phone tracks sleep, diet and weight. Each lead keeps a separate routine, and Rockstar names the zoo, scuba diving and parachuting as time you can spend together. San Andreas fans will know the gym idea; the phone makes it feel current.
Know your Leonida
Not news this week, but worth knowing before November 19: the ten characters Rockstar has shown so far, and two corners of the map.
Meet the crew
Playable lead
Jason Duval
An Army vet who grew up around grifters and crooks, now working for drug runners in the Keys. Rockstar says he wants an easy life; Leonida has other ideas.
Watch our episode →
Playable lead
Lucia Caminos
Her father taught her to fight as soon as she could walk, and fighting for her family landed her in the Leonida Penitentiary. Sheer luck got her out, and Rockstar says she's learned her lesson: "only smart moves from here."
Watch our episode →
Jason's landlord
Brian Heder
"A classic drug runner from the golden age of smuggling in the Keys," in Rockstar's words. Jason lives rent-free in one of his properties, as long as he helps with local shakedowns.
Watch our episode →
Jason's friend
Cal Hampton
His bio opens with a question, "what if everything on the internet was true?", and Rockstar says he's "at the low tide of America and happy there," listening in on Coast Guard radio with a few beers.
Watch our episode →
Bank robber
Raul Bautista
Confidence, charm and cunning: a seasoned bank robber "always on the hunt for talent ready to take the risks that bring the biggest rewards." Rockstar warns his recklessness raises the stakes with every score.
Watch our episode →
Vice City legend
Boobie Ike
Rockstar calls him "a local Vice City legend" who turned his street years into a legitimate empire: real estate, a club and a recording studio. All smiles, until it's time to talk business.
Only Raw Records
Dre'Quan Priest
"More of a hustler than a gangster," says Rockstar. Breaking into music was always the goal, and signing the Real Dimez to Only Raw Records, the label he runs with Boobie, is his shot at the Vice City scene.
Bae-Luxe & Roxy
The Real Dimez
They turned shaking down local dealers into "cold, hard cash via spicy rap tracks and a relentless social media presence." An early hit made their name; now signed to Only Raw Records, they're "hoping lightning can strike twice."
From GTA Online
Valentina
In Rockstar's Extended Look, "Val" hires Jason and Lucia as a security detail for a Megamundo party and introduces them to the company's COO, Petra Navarro. Press recaps identify her as Valentina from GTA Online.
Images: Rockstar Games
The map
Grassrivers, Leonida's swamp
Rockstar calls it "the untamable jewel of Leonida's crown," and its screenshots put the Vice City skyline right over the trees. The gators are famous, but Rockstar warns worse predators hide in the mangroves.
Rockstar's own Grassrivers screenshots show airboats, a town on stilts over the water, and a police chase through the swamp with a helicopter overhead.
The map
Port Gellhorn, the forgotten coast
Rockstar calls it "Leonida's forgotten coast": a one-time vacation spot whose tourists are gone, leaving cheap motels and abandoned roadside attractions. Its advice for visitors: "jump on a dirt bike and hold onto your wallet."
Where Vice City sells glamour, Port Gellhorn sells whatever's left, and that contrast is half the fun of a GTA map.
Watch this week
Mark your calendar
- November 12: pre-loading opens. Physical copies come with a download code instead of a disc, and it works for pre-loading too.
- November 19: launch day on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. Standard Edition $79.99, Ultimate Edition $99.99.
- Before November 20: every pre-order or purchase includes the free Vintage Vice City Pack. Digital pre-orders also get a month of GTA+.
From the desk
When the Criminal Profile opens your file, what will it say: clean professional, or total chaos? Reply below. See you next Friday, twenty days out.
Sources: Rockstar's launch trailer and its YouTube description, October 15, 2026, as reported by God is a Geek, VGC and Prima Games (90 seconds, captured entirely in-game on PlayStation 5, "Flower in a Hurricane" from original score composers Justice featuring Tame Impala, SZA and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard); NME and Vice on Grand Theft Auto VI: The Album (34 original tracks). Rockstar's pre-order announcement, June 24, 2026, via Business Wire and Game Developer (launch date, platforms, prices, pre-loading from November 12, the download code in physical boxes, the Vintage Vice City Pack before November 20, a month of GTA+ with digital pre-orders). Rob Nelson of Rockstar North to IGN, as reported by GTAVice.net, KeenGamer, Kotaku, TweakTown and Game Rant (Criminal Profile, safes and fences, car theft, weight and the gym, the health app, relationships and texts). Rockstar's own character and place descriptions on its GTA VI website (the nine character bios, Grassrivers, Port Gellhorn); Valentina from Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look (August 27, 2026), identified as GTA Online's Valentina by GTABase and LevelUp. Images: official Rockstar Games screenshots. Vice After Dark is a fan channel, not affiliated with Rockstar Games or Take-Two Interactive.
The Leonida Letter is written by Vice After Dark, a fan channel. Not affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by Rockstar Games or Take-Two Interactive. Every fact is checked against Rockstar's own words or official footage.