GTA 6 Leonida Keys: the islands, the bars and the dangerous waters, explained
The Leonida Keys are GTA 6's tropical island chain, where Jason works for local drug runners. Here's everything Rockstar has said and shown of the Keys: its description, six screenshots, the people and the places.
The Leonida Keys are Grand Theft Auto VI's tropical island chain, one of the six regions Rockstar Games has named in the state of Leonida. It's where the story finds Jason Duval, working for local drug runners. Here's everything Rockstar has said and shown of the Keys, from its own description to the six official screenshots, the people and the places.
What Rockstar says
Rockstar heads its page for the region "Gateway to Paradise," with the line "The dress code is casual, the bars are loaded." Its description: "Life in this tropical archipelago isn't flashy but it's easy. Get your buzz on and pull up a deck chair but look out," it warns, "you are right on the doorstep of some of the most beautiful and dangerous waters in all of America."
The Launch Trailer opens here, on a painted roadside sign reading "Welcome to The Keys," with a heron, a shark and tropical fish, at 0:04. A line along the bottom credits the Key Lento Development Council; Rockstar hasn't said where Key Lento is.
What the six screenshots show
Rockstar released six screenshots of the Keys. In order:
- A seaplane flying low over the water, with a bridge full of cars linking two islands behind it.
- An iguana walking in front of a woman on a mobility scooter, as people pass by.
- The Rusty Anchor, a beach bar, with a man passed out at a picnic table among empty bottles, a couple kissing and a crowd on the porch.
- Two scuba divers among coral, fish, an eel and a sea turtle.
- A party on boats, with a man on a flamingo float, people sunbathing on deck and jet skis racing behind them. One boat has Lurepredator printed on its hull.
- An iguana on a rock above the water, with a small island of palm trees behind it.
Jason's Keys
Rockstar's profile of Jason Duval says that after a stint in the Army, he "found himself in the Keys doing what he knows best, working for local drug runners." Rockstar's profiles name the people around him:
- Brian Heder, "a classic drug runner from the golden age of smuggling in the Keys," who is still moving product through his boat yard. Brian lets Jason live rent-free at one of his properties, Rockstar says, "so long as he helps with local shakedowns." One of Rockstar's screenshots shows Brian holding a package while pointing at a man in a plane.
- Lori, Brian's third wife, who moves product through the boat yard with him. She has no profile of her own, but Jason's deal with Brian includes stopping by for "Lori's sangria once in a while."
- Cal Hampton, Jason's friend and a fellow associate of Brian's, who "feels safest hanging at home, snooping on Coast Guard comms." Rockstar's screenshots show Jason fishing from a boat while Cal looks through binoculars, and the two of them drinking beer and playing pool in bars.
Rockstar hasn't named Brian's boat yard. A sign for Brian's Boat Works & Marina stands behind Jason and Cal in one of Rockstar's screenshots and turns up in Trailer 2 at 1:25, and at 0:05 the Launch Trailer shows a boat storage building in the Keys with "Brian's Marina" in large letters on its roof. Rockstar hasn't said whether either is Brian Heder's. Our guide to Jason's life in the Keys has the rest.
Things to do
Rockstar hasn't listed activities for the Keys in text, but its screenshots lean on the water: scuba diving, a boat party, jet skis and a seaplane, plus a beach bar. Game Informer's cover story lists scuba diving and jet skiing among GTA 6's side activities, according to IGN, though Rockstar hasn't said where you can do either.
Wildlife
A sea turtle swims over the reef in the diving screenshot, and iguanas turn up in two more. Green iguanas are among the more than 170 species Game Informer reports across Leonida, and VICE's report on the cover story says the state's sea life includes several types of sharks, whales, rays and jellyfish. Rockstar hasn't said which of them live in the Keys. Our animals guide has every species named so far.
What we don't know
- Exactly where the Keys sit. Rockstar hasn't released the in-game map.
- How much of the story happens here. Rockstar's synopsis has an easy score go wrong and pull Jason and Lucia into a criminal conspiracy that stretches across Leonida.
- Which bars and shops you can go into. Our guide to going inside buildings has what Rockstar has said about interiors.
The rest of Leonida is in our map guide, and its big city in our Vice City guide.
Questions readers ask
- What are the Leonida Keys in GTA 6?
- A chain of tropical islands, one of the six regions of Leonida. Rockstar calls it an archipelago where life "isn't flashy but it's easy," on the doorstep of some of the most beautiful and dangerous waters in America.
- Who lives in the Leonida Keys in GTA 6?
- Jason Duval, who works for local drug runners there, according to Rockstar, and Brian Heder, an old-school smuggler who still moves product through his boat yard with his third wife, Lori, and lets Jason live rent-free at one of his properties.
- What can you do in the Leonida Keys?
- Rockstar's screenshots show scuba diving among coral and a sea turtle, a party on boats with jet skis, a beach bar called The Rusty Anchor and a seaplane over the water. Rockstar hasn't listed activities for the Keys in text.
- Are the Leonida Keys based on the Florida Keys?
- Rockstar doesn't say, and its own pages never use the word Florida. Game Informer calls Leonida a "Florida parody."
What did you think?
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