GTA 6’s Wildlife Gameplay Might Do Something Red Dead 2 Never Could

Published Sep 30, 2026, 1:48 PM EDT Jen Glennon is a New York-based journalist and editor with more than a decade of experience covering games and entertainment. She has previously worked at Kotaku, Inverse, and Newsweek. Jen joined Polygon in 2025 and has a relentless appetite for Final Fantasy, Yakuza, and Costco rotisserie chicken. If not friend, why friend-shaped? Image: Grant Walkup / Polygon After a few weeks of relative quiet following August’s gameplay debut, Rockstar Games is back on the press circuit with more details about Grand Theft Auto 6. This time around, the news comes via an exclusive 14-page cover story in Game Informer. Members of the development team shared new information about the game’s dynamic weather system, intricately detailed NPCs, Leonida’s six distinct regions, and all the recreational activities Jason and Lucia can enjoy in their downtime. One of the most surprising reveals was the intricacy and depth of GTA 6’s wildlife system. There will be upward of 170 creatures spread across Leonida, including monkeys, sharks, armadillos, bears, and alligators. (Yes, all of those animals actually exist in Florida.) Given that GTA 6 features a scuba-diving minigame, fans can also expect to see plenty of marine life, too. That even includes manatees. Previous GTA 6 footage had alluded to the lumbering sea beasts via NFL-inspired jerseys referencing Leonida’s local football team, but now we know you’ll be able to encounter them in the wild. “Florida has a diverse animal ecosystem that we wanted to faithfully include across all the different biomes in Leonida — urban and rural environs, aquatic life both inland and ocean, and the wetland habitats like the swamps and Everglades,” Rockstar’s vice president of dynamic art, Michael Kane, told Game Informer. Each animal will have its own distinct set of movement behaviors, and their appearances will feature a frankly absurd level of detail for a game that’s ostensibly about stealing cars and armed robbery. Some marine animals will even display iridescence and bioluminescence. The team has also put extensive effort into capturing the fine detail of coats and pelts, to the extent that fur is fully simulated for “human-to-animal interaction with dirt matting and clumping in environmental contexts, including getting wet, as well as color and coat variations,” according to Kane. Image: Rockstar Games via Game Informer / X All this focus on pelts, along with Game Informer’s new screenshot showing Jason with a rifle on his back while approaching some grazing deer, suggests that Red Dead Redemption 2’s hunting system will return for GTA 6 in some form. That’s cool, if you’re into it. That said, I’m very much hoping the game gives us some more friendly things to do with all these amazing animals. I would like to enjoy these creatures without pumping them full of hot lead. There are already some hints that this will be the case. First off, scuba diving isn’t exactly a blood sport. Second, the Game Informer piece noted that GTA 6 will feature many animals — presumably fewer than the full 170+ — that can be tracked by players. These will be categorized in three tiers: Rare, Discoverable, and Legendary. For now, Rockstar’s not sharing specifics on the elusive creatures waiting to be discovered in Leonida. In Red Dead 2, tracking was mostly for hunting, but GTA 6 takes place in the age of smartphones, so hopefully we’ll at least have the option to take some pictures rather than shooting our dinner. We know that Jason and Lucia will only lurk on social media due to the whole life of crime thing, but maybe one of them could have a side hustle selling rad nature photographs. Can I play GTA 6 like Pokémon Snap? Here’s hoping! Free sign-up Get Polygon’s Wishlister newsletter A weekly cheat sheet to what you’ll eventually love to play. No buying, no commitment — just saving for later. Sign up free Free. Unsubscribe anytime. While I realize the main draw of Grand Theft Auto is not grandmotherly side activities, the fact that Kane said there will be more than 60 types of birds in GTA 6 also feels like a pretty strong hint that there’s a birdwatching minigame coming our way. (Seriously! It’s all the rage right now.) One of the biggest takeaways from the Game Informer feature is the extent to which Rockstar is celebrating and diving deep into Florida’s unique ecology with GTA 6. Maybe Lucia can moonlight at a sea turtle rescue when she’s not robbing jewelry stores or parachuting off a skyscraper. Maybe Jason can foster an alligator beneath his stilt house in the Leonida Keys. Maybe we can pet a manatee. The possibilities are endless.