Chances are you’ve already heard people either praise Rockstar Games for finally introducing a playable female lead in Grand Theft Auto 6 or complain about the series ‘going woke’ because one of the main characters is not a man for a change. However, others have been eager to inform everyone else that GTA 6 is not the first entry to feature a female lead.
Long-time GTA fans will already know this, but there were playable women in the very first GTA game from 1997. Unlike the later 3D entries, the first game featured a silent protagonist and you had the option to choose from one of eight options; half of which were women.
The key difference between them and GTA 6‘s Lucia is that, as silent protagonists, the GTA 1 characters were interchangeable and followed the same storyline. Whether you played as a man or a woman didn’t matter whereas Lucia will obviously have a defined personality. Depending on how Rockstar is approaching it, her being a woman may also invite some commentary on gender roles and the like, especially within the criminal underworld. Story details remain sparse for the time being but what is known is that Lucia is part of a bank robbing duo, believed to be inspired by Bonnie and Clyde.
While GTA 6 may not necessarily be breaking new ground with a woman in the lead role, the series has admittedly been dominated by male protagonists throughout most of its history; GTA 5 had no less than three of them. This effort to diversify makes for a welcome change of pace, opens up interesting story potential, and could convince more people to check out GTA 6 who might not have been interested if it was just another male-led story.
At the very least, anyone who is bothered by GTA 6 having a woman as one of its main characters is in the minority. The reveal trailer broke Mr. Beast’s record for the most viewed non-music video on YouTube in 24 hours and has, at the time of writing, over seven million likes compared to 217,000 dislikes.
