A whole new Caribbean island has arrived in GTA Online with the launch of The Cayo Perico Heist today, inviting us to completely flush drug lord El Rubio. Yes, unfortunately his party island is just for the robbery, not a place we can visit at any time. It’s an intriguing heist, though, and one that we can actually complete solo once. And we get our own submarine. Dr. Dre also shows up for about 30 seconds.
The Cayo Perico Heist takes place on a private Caribbean island, home to a drug lord who thinks he’s a lot of fun and certainly not terrifying. We are sent to retrieve some sensitive data, but we certainly will not leave with that alone. Some people had hoped Rockstar would leave everyone on the island for regular open world antics, but no, we can go for the robbery alone. I never expected it to become part of free roam, but I hadn’t taken it as a surprise.
Lots of cutscenes in this one. I signed up when the update hit this morning to check out the setup. So! We work with Miguel Madrazo, son of Martin (for whom we worked a lot) and Patricia (with whom Trevor fell in love). He’s the hip, cool face of organized crime, the kind of bastard who talks about hydration and brand diversification. No, really, he tells his mom to start “hydrating”:
To get his data from El Rubio, we go to the island of Cayo Perico. Since Rockstar can’t add new crimes without letting us buy something expensive, we need a submarine. It costs $ 2.2 million, which pretty much set me free. The submarine is a small base in itself, but we can actually drive it around. It’s not fast, but it’s mobile. Also has torpedoes. And with the sonar upgrade, you can stroll around the sea in search of sunken suitcases with XP and cash (the one I found held a meager $ 7,500). But why do we really need a submarine? Because it will be our crime base for the robbery, with help from this guy:
We’re not taking the submarine to get there. We go undercover on the party island as a tour manager, then take the opportunity to get a good look at everything we want to take. So we hope to wait on a plane, that’s Dr. Dre. Dre just shows up in this GTA heist to say hello and then jumps away. What. How. Why. Okay!
The robbery sounds really interesting. Rockstar’s announcement explains that once again we will have many different approaches available depending on how many explorations we do. This can change the way we get on and off the island and also provide useful bonuses such as air support. And while we’re looking for a big score, there could be many other smaller steelables in random locations nearby. For once, we can do the whole host solo, if we want.
None of my criminals play anymore and pubbies are a nightmare so I’d like to try. I didn’t have time for a full robbery, but I got to the point where I sneaked out of the party and avoided guards around the island. I will definitely go back to finish it.
The update adds a lot more. New radio stations with new music! New music for some old stations (no non-stop pop unfortunately)! New missions for new DJs in a new nightclub! New clothes! New weapons! New boats! New plane! New cars! And a free go-kart if you log in this weekend. I have to go check out these new looks after the Cyberpunk 2077 fashion disasters.
Disclosure: I have friends who work at Rockstar, which is almost inevitable for Edinburgh residents.