I'm so, so glad I avoided the GTA 6 leaks. Grand Theft Auto has been one of my favorite franchises since GTA 3 convinced me to buy a PS2 with its paradigm-shifting open-world gameplay. That's continued with every major release since, most recently with 2013's Grand Theft Auto 5, which I personally regard as one of the ten greatest games ever made.

So to say I've been hyped up for GTA 6 – and for today’s Extended Look – would be putting it mildly. Thirteen years is a long time between entries (for context, the previous longest wait between mainline entries was the five years between 4 and 5), and though Rockstar made a generationally incredible game in the intervening years in the form of Red Dead Redemption 2, I've always been more of a GTA guy.

When the clock struck 12pm, I hit Play on Netflix. My jaw hit the floor very quickly, and I didn't pick it back up for 27 minutes. The first thing that jumped out at me was the lighting. The softness of the dynamic lighting added a layer of realism to what's on the screen in a way that is simultaneously both subtle and jarring with how much it adds to every scene. And I do mean every scene, from the grimy apartment building the demo starts out in to the rooftop bar under the golden glow of Vice City's afternoon sunshine, the lighting was the first "holy sh*t" moment for me.

The next thing that floored me – and again, it's kind of subtle – is the UI, or rather, the lack of it.

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