GTA 6 is headed back to Vice City, a logical choice for a location that has appeared less often than Liberty City and never developed quite the same long-form identity. Still, a new setting could have pushed the series into very different territory. Here are 10 alternative worlds that might have made an intriguing crime sandbox.
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1. A settled Moon
This would need to be a future in which the Moon has permanent settlements; setting a crime game there today would amount to little more than running across an enormous barren rock.
Picture a story with the hard-edged science fiction atmosphere of The Expanse: two interstellar criminals are sent away from Earth and forced to establish new lives in an off-world colony. The series’ social commentary could work especially well in a society unconstrained by present-day reality. Spacecraft, futuristic weapons and orbital heists would also offer a welcome alternative to helicopters, sports cars and Miami nightclubs. The upcoming The Expanse: Osiris Reborn may explore some of the same territory.
2. Rural America
Crime, exploitation and social pressure do not require a skyline. A small-town American setting could offer many of the same tensions as the series’ fictional versions of Miami and New York, as Far Cry 5 demonstrated.
Close communities can make social judgement more intense, while the divide between wealthy residents and struggling families may be impossible to ignore. Failing industries, shrinking towns and the lack of realistic paths to a better life would provide plenty of material for a darker story. Main Street may lack the spectacle of a major city’s criminal underworld, but its problems could be just as compelling.
3. London
A London-set entry would let a major British studio turn its attention towards the culture and contradictions of the United Kingdom rather than repeatedly satirising the United States. It would also give the series an opportunity to establish a fresh urban identity.
Watch Dogs: Legion currently offers the most obvious modern open-world comparison, but a British crime sandbox built around Rockstar’s particular style of satire would still be a very different proposition.
4. A post-crime thriller in the world of L.A. Noire
What if the protagonist began as a successful criminal, only to be arrested after the story’s opening phase? A deal to become an informant could then place them between their old associates and the detectives who need their help.
That role reversal would move the series towards a crime thriller while preserving its interest in corruption, loyalty and compromised institutions. It would also provide a fresh direction for characters such as Lucia or Jason if either were given a comparable relationship with law enforcement. One of the cancelled mechanics from L.A. Noire could have suited this kind of investigation-focused design particularly well.
5. Baldur’s Gate and the Forgotten Realms
A fantasy version of the series could be placed directly in one of Dungeons & Dragons’ most recognisable settings. The success of Baldur’s Gate 3 has renewed interest in epic fantasy, but the Forgotten Realms already contain the ingredients for a crime story: thieves, schemers, crowded cities and institutional injustice.
The main obstacle is transport. With no cars in D&D, the title might need a new name—perhaps Grand Theft Dragon.
6. Rome in the first century
Moving into the past could place the action in Rome during the empire’s early years, when political corruption was widespread and society was unstable. Lucia and Jason might be Britons, Germanic people or Carthaginians imprisoned in Rome before being released into a culture hostile to their very existence.
They could survive by turning Roman values against the people who had subjugated them. The technology and institutions would be different, but the central themes—power, inequality, corruption and people trying to remake their lives—would remain recognisably relevant.
7. The 1980s
The 1980s were marked by major cultural, economic, political and social upheaval, with many modern problems either taking shape or changing direction during that decade. The period was globally significant, not only in the United States.
Despite its potential, the setting has been used comparatively rarely in major games. Yakuza 0 remains one of the clearest examples of a title making the most of the era. A new crime sandbox could examine its competing ambitions, excesses and anxieties from a much broader perspective.
8. Washington, D.C.
The fictional equivalent of Washington, D.C. would suit a political thriller. The story could begin when a careless politician reveals a damaging secret during a visit to one of the protagonist’s clubs, drawing them into a conspiracy far more dangerous than ordinary organised crime.
Games have explored political conflict, but a full political thriller remains an underused direction for the medium. The combination of influential institutions, private vice and public deception would give Rockstar a strong foundation for one.
9. Suburban Indiana
Instead of dropping players into a city already packed with corruption, the series could begin in an apparently safe and prosperous suburb. In the real world in 2026, that’s Carmel, Ind.
A pristine setting would turn the usual fantasy of being bad inside a deeply broken society on its head. Rather than becoming another disposable criminal in an existing underworld, the player could be the force that introduces disorder to a wholesome community and drags it down to their level. That contrast could make the consequences of crime feel sharper.
10. Liberty City again
Liberty City has appeared repeatedly, but it only acquired a truly distinctive personality in GTA 4. That version presented a bleak portrait of American culture and the false promises built into it—an idea closely tied to the series’ identity.
Vice City, by comparison, represents Florida’s extremes: enormous wealth beside severe poverty, a Las Vegas-style sense of excess and a feeling that ordinary rules no longer matter. Liberty City offers a different kind of tension and, potentially, more room for grounded storytelling. After all, a familiar setting can still feel new when its social meaning changes.
Whether the next game explores Vice City in a new way or eventually returns to one of these alternatives, setting remains one of the series’ most powerful design choices. For players inspired to create their own home arcade, RETROCADE’s arcade machine buying guide can help with the planning, while racing simulators bring the driving side of arcade gaming into the room.
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