Wanted System.

GTA 6’s wanted system works through reporting, identification and search, rather than as a wanted level that simply rises and falls with distance. Police can work from a description of the suspect, and the interface shows wanted stars alongside recognition icons.

In an interview, Rockstar’s Rob Nelson said the system was rebuilt around the idea that a crime needs to be observed, rather than police automatically knowing about it wherever it happens. Witnesses and alarms can both report a crime. What officers know about the suspect is a separate matter: an alert can start before police have every identifying detail.

Clothing, appearance, weapons and vehicles all help police identify a suspect. The recognition icons also cover camera footage and whether the two protagonists have been seen together.

Six wanted stars return. Rockstar has not shown which forces respond at each level.

Nelson describes police searching a heat area. Changing the clothing police know about, or abandoning a weapon they have recognized, can make the description less useful, and leaving the area is another way to end the immediate search. Each choice deals with a different clue: switching vehicles does not erase the others.

A vehicle can remain a liability after the area seems quieter. Nelson warns that returning to a known vehicle can still get the player recognized. Breaking contact with the police now is not the same as cutting a vehicle’s or an item’s link to the crime. Exact search durations and recognition distances have not been given.

Nelson also describes a Criminal Profile that assesses how the player behaves as a criminal, including whether they act professionally or with excessive violence. It affects how the world responds. It is not a simple good-or-evil score, nor a copy of the shop-discount effects in Red Dead Redemption 2, and it is separate from the current number of wanted stars.