Ex-Dishonored Dev: GTA Is a 'Stab in the Heart' but Still Amazing

Raphaël Colantonio, former Arkane dev, calls GTA games both a 'stab in the heart' and amazing, praising their surface simulation but criticizing the lack of lasting consequences.

Ever finished a GTA mission, blown up half the city, and then the next day everyone's acting like nothing happened? If you're a fan of immersive sims like Dishonored, that might feel like a missed opportunity. Raphaël Colantonio, who worked on Dishonored at Arkane before founding WolfEye Studios, has some mixed feelings about Rockstar's open-world giant. He calls GTA games "the biggest tease" and "the biggest disappointment" for immersive sim lovers—but he's quick to clarify he's not hating on Rockstar.

"I don't mean that in an offensive way because of course who am I and who are they? They make games that sell I don't know how many thousands times more than mine and they are so incredible at doing surface simulation," he told Press Box PR. But here's the rub: "That’s such a stab in the heart for me when they don’t go more than surface level where there’s no long-term consequences to anything you do."

Instead, Colantonio sees GTA as a "fantastic sandbox with incredible execution, incredible cinematography, [and] great gameplay." He gets why Rockstar sticks to a formula—"I understand why they do it"—but it's just not his cup of tea. Give him Skyrim any day. In Bethesda's RPG, he says, "You really own your consequences as a player. Everything is playable and you have to deal with your choices for the rest of the game." That's the kind of reactivity that makes his immersive sim heart sing.

So why doesn't Rockstar go deeper? Colantonio theorizes they think too many meaningful choices might confuse players. "What Rockstar basically say is, you know what? That part sucks. It’s too hard to do. It confuses players and most players won’t care at all anyway," he said. Instead, they opt for a structure where you pick up a mission from a guy with a question mark, and the world becomes a contained instance. That allows for those jaw-dropping set pieces and action sequences, but it comes at a cost: "People are going to be thrilled but none of it matters. That's the thing. We don't have to deal with the consequences."

He also takes issue with the fail-and-retry loop. "If you fail the mission, you find yourself back out on the street and there’s the same guy with the same question mark over his head who you click on and you’re ready to restart the mission. There’s nothing immersive to me in that," he explained. But he stresses he says all this "with the greatest respect" for Rockstar. "They do things that are amazing," he added, though he expects some flak for his comments. "But no, I respect them a lot. It's just that it's not my bike."

When asked if Rockstar should make GTA 7 an immersive sim, he joked they'd sell fewer copies. He compared the difference to Steven Spielberg versus David Lynch—one sells gazillions, the other is more indirect and obscure. But despite his critiques, Colantonio is genuinely excited for GTA 6. "I'm really, really looking forward" to seeing how far they push the surface simulation, because "they do all that so incredibly well, and it's inspiring, and I love that."

GTA 6 hits PS5 and Xbox Series X|S on November 19. Rockstar is also planning to show off the game in an official extended trailer on Netflix on August 27. As for Colantonio, he's now running WolfEye Studios, which made Weird West in 2022 and is working on an unannounced new project. What do you think—are GTA's surface-level consequences a dealbreaker for you, or is the sandbox fun enough to make up for it?