Leslie Benzies On MindsEye Comparisons With GTA VI

Leslie Benzies, former Rockstar North president and overseer of Grand Theft Auto & RDR discusses GTA comparisons with his new game MindsEye.

Since officially leaving Rockstar Games in 2016 following the successful launch of his final projects GTA V and GTA Online, Leslie Benzies started a new studio called Build A Rocket Boy, and their first new game is scheduled to launch later this year.

"MindsEye is a single-player, action-adventure thriller set in the fictional near future city of Redrock – an intense, super-heated, desert metropolis where technology is king. 

Robots carry out manual tasks and an algorithm connects all-seeing devices to make Redrock 'The Safest City in the World'. It's a living experiment in the existential potential of man and machine. As is the protagonist, Jacob Diaz, a former special-ops soldier haunted by fragmented memories from his MindsEye neural implant. 

You'll play as Jacob as he fights to uncover his truth in a world where AI, hi-tech experimentation and unchecked military power shapes every encounter. What starts as a personal quest quickly becomes a mission that’s critical to all of humanity’s survival as sentient robots rise, propelled by human greed."

The game is described by some as a crossover between Cyberpunk 2077 and GTA, and although it's wildly different, the fact it's a third-person action game has left Benzies to comment on the comparisons with his previous work.

"There's always comparisons. The first question that gets asked is always about the old game, but I think that’s human nature." Leslie said.

"You know, it's what happened to Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters, [people] were more interested in Nirvana. It'll take a bit of time for us to find our own identity."

Despite leaving Rockstar almost 10 years ago, he's still looking forward to seeing what his former colleagues can produce. When asked if he was excited to see what's being crafted at Rockstar North following his departure, he said "Absolutely. [There's a] great amount of geniuses there always creating something new, unique and of a scale that very few others can actually pull off."

MindsEye is due to launch on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox series X/S on 10 June this year, giving gamers something new to enjoy as we countdown to Grand Theft Auto VI's release which is still scheduled for later in 2025.