I can't lie, the GTA 6 trailer was my favorite thing about video games in 2023

Dec. 20, 2023

Grand Theft Advent | From Baldur’s Gate 3 to Alan Wake 2 and Dead Space, it’s been a blockbuster year for games… but the GTA 6 trailer stole the show for me

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Worth the wait

Welcome to Grand Theft Advent – a month-long celebration of Rockstar’s enduring crime sim series. Be sure to check in on ourGTA 6 coverage hubfor more every day throughout December.

And the longer-than-expected wait definitely became easier to process when reflecting on theGTA 6trailer as a whole. Between its busy beaches, fancy cars, bustling night clubs, inexplicable hair physics, and a seemingly Bonnie and Clyde-inspired love story, just abouteverythinglooked amazing. The trailer’s tongue-in-cheek pops at real-world USA were a slow burn too, with eagle-eyed viewers picking up on each reference in turn hours, and even days, after that first airing.

I totally understand why people were disappointed with the nature of the trailer reveal – a leak forced Rockstar’s hand to make it live 15 hours early – not least the devs themselves working ever-so-hard behind the scenes. Being robbed of putting the trailer out together in-person is a rotten outcome for all of those involved, but from a very selfish perspective, the drama of that late-night drop (it landed at around 11.30pm during UK hours) that saw us scrambling to push out coverage, only intensified my desire to play what is easily my most-anticipated video game in well over 10 years.

This year, I reviewed some truly brilliant video games for GamesRadar+ – from the Dead Space remake to Viewfinder, Blasphemous 2, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and The Talos Principle 2. I was fortunate enough to visit Nintendo’s headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany to preview my personal Game of the Year, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom; I played and previewed a host of top games atSummer Game Festin Los Angeles; and I interviewed a number of actors and community figures across a wide range of games and genres – including Baldur’s Gate 3’s Neil Newbon, Final Fantasy 16’s Ben Starr, and Spider-Man 2’s Yuri Lowenthall.

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