• GTA Online: Cayo Perico Heist DLC is scheduled to release on 15th December.

• The DLC brings a new playable location, weapons, cars and an all-new approach to Heist.

GTA Online is scheduled for a massive update this winter, and fans are absolutely stoked to try out everything the upcoming DLC has to offer. The game has maintained a very strong player base that has actively been tuning in to GTA Online and has kept the game alive nearly 7 years after its release.

Rockstar Games’ approach to updates or DLCs has been quite puzzling as the game doesn’t have a definite roadmap for new content and instead received updates seemingly on the company’s whim.

However, the Cayo Perico Heist DLC was announced ahead of time earlier this year. It was touted as being the “biggest ever update” for GTA Online, and early signs indicate that it is living up to the marketing hyperbole.

GTA Online’s Cayo Perico Heist DLC is set to drop on the 15th of December, and players will be able to enjoy all sorts of new content in the game. Here are all the new features that have been announced for GTA Online so far in the upcoming DLC:

1 New music and radio stations

While this isn’t a total game-changer for a lot of players, the fanbase certainly appreciates that GTA Online continues to receive new music.

Rockstar have announced that approximately 100 new songs will be added to the game, which is great news all around.

2 Solo mode is available for the Heist.

This is arguably what really draws the player when it comes to the new update as they will no longer have to be stuck in matchmaking if their crew or friends are offline.

This is definitely one of the biggest changes ever to GTA Online’s Heist formula and is a welcome change.

3  A New location

As was announced by Rockstar, the DLC was meant to introduce the heist in an “entirely new location”, and it seems like the developers have lived up to it. The location isn’t simply an extension of previously known locations but is an entirely new island built from scratch.

The newest location in the game, Cayo Perico, an island which has essentially been turned into a drug lord’s private compound, will serve as the location for the newest heist in-game.

As to where this island could be on the map, Rockstar is still to reveal it, though some theories are popping up on the Internet (of course there are).

This is definitely the biggest change in the upcoming DLC and fans can only hope that the location can be visited even in Freemode.

4 New weapons

Rockstar also announced that GTA Online’s already-impressive collection of weapons would be getting some more love with the addition of more firepower.

There are already plenty of guns in Los Santos but it seems like Rockstar are not satisfied with the amount of chaos in the game.

5 Submarine HQ

It is time for players to start saving their money as the Submarine HQ will serve as the base for the Cayo Perico Heist. This means that players will need to shell out a lot of money to get themselves one in order to carry out the Heist.

The price of the Submarine hasn’t been revealed yet but players are speculating that it will definitely be around the $5-10 million mark.

6 New vehicles and social spaces

Players can acquire new vehicles and tactical weapons, experience new social spaces to party in, and witness new world-class guest DJs.

This is interesting as Rockstar teased the DLC with construction taking place in the Diamond Casino, which could be the location for the new “social space” akin to Nightclubs.

New vehicles are definitely appreciated by GTA Online fans as one cannot have enough cars in their garage.

Background

Set within the fictional state of San Andreas (based on Southern California), Grand Theft Auto Online allows up to 30 players[a] to explore the open world and engage in cooperative or competitive game matches.

The open-world design lets players freely roam San Andreas, which includes an open countryside and the fictional city of Los Santos (based on Los Angeles). Players control a silent protagonist who arrives in Los Santos and aims to become the city’s ultimate crime lord. Set weeks prior to the events of the single-player game (although subsequent updates changed the time setting to a few years after the story mode), Grand Theft Auto Online comprises cooperative missions where multiple players complete tasks to advance the narrative. The game also features numerous side missions and events, bigger multi-part missions called “Heists”, and a wide range of purchasable assets and businesses to build up criminal empires.

Developed in tandem with the single-player mode, Grand Theft Auto Online was conceived as a separate experience to be played in a continually evolving world. At launch, it suffered widespread technical issues resulting in the inability to play missions and loss of character data. It initially polarised reviewers, being criticised for its lack of direction and repetitive missions, with praise particularly directed at the scope and open-ended gameplay. It won divided year-end accolades, ranging from Biggest Disappointment to Best Multiplayer, from several gaming publications. The game receives frequent free updates that further expand on the game modes and content, which has improved critical reception. The 2015 Heists update had been especially well received by the critics.

The game’s narrative begins in 2013, several weeks before Grand Theft Auto V. Players take on the role of a silent protagonist who moves to Los Santos in search for new pursuits. Upon arrival, they meet with Lamar Davis (Slink Johnson), whom they befriended on Lifeinvader. After a street race against the player character, Lamar introduces them to drug dealer Gerald (Douglas Powell Ward) and corrupt Armenian car salesman Simeon Yetarian (Demosthenes Chrysan) for work. As the player character slowly builds up their reputation, they attract the attention of individuals like Trevor Philips (Steven Ogg), hacker Lester Crest (Jay Klaitz), and Mexican drug lord Martin Madrazo (Alfredo Huereca), who also employ them.

Eventually, the player character is offered bigger job opportunities by Lester, who recruits them for several bank robberies; a shady government agent known only as Agent 14 (Ryan Farrell), who has them break a convicted spy out of prison and raid a government-run lab; and Trevor, who enlists their help in a highly profitable drug deal.

Later, Lamar also hires the player character for a few jobs, which mostly consist of sabotaging rival gangs to set the stage for his eventual rise to power. However, this only leads to Lamar falling out with his own gang, so he attempts to win back their trust, once again aided by the player character. During this time, the player character forms their own organization alongside other players, which they run through the SecuroServ network, and subsequently work to expand it by purchasing an office and several warehouses to aid them in the theft and sale of various goods. Later down the line, the player character also starts a motorcycle club and purchases various illicit businesses to generate profit.

In 2017, the player character continues to expand their criminal empire by purchasing a bunker, from where they conduct a gunrunning operation alongside Agent 14, and a hangar, from where they run a smuggling operation alongside Trevor’s former associate Ron Jakowski (David Mogentale). In December, the player character purchases an ex-government underground facility and is introduced by Lester to billionaire Avon Hertz (Sean McGrath) and his AI network Clifford, who recruit them to help prevent an undisclosed upcoming catastrophic event.

During their mission, the group are joined by the International Affairs Agency (IAA), including Agent 14, and clash with a rogue Russian special ops unit led by a man named Bogdan (Vyto Ruginis). However, upon eliminating them, Avon and Clifford turn on the group, revealing their true plot to trigger a nuclear armageddon and that they have been using everyone to gain access to the state’s defence system. Reluctantly joining forces with Bogdan, the sole survivor of his unit, the group works to thwart Avon and Clifford’s plot, which they ultimately succeed in doing, after the player character kills them both while raiding their facility.

In July 2018, the player character opens a new nightclub in Los Santos alongside former Liberty City nightclub entrepreneur “Gay” Tony Prince (D.B. Cooper), which doubles as a storage for their previously-purchased businesses, and conducts various jobs to increase its popularity.

In December, the player character becomes a competitor in Arena War, a new demolition derby-like TV series taking place at the city’s Maze Bank Arena. In July 2019, the player character becomes a VIP member at the recently-opened Diamond Casino & Resort, and begins assisting the staff with the various problems they are facing, primarily Texan businessman Avery Duggan, who plans a hostile takeover. They eventually deal with Duggan, allowing his nephew Thornton to buy the casino after promising not to make any major changes. In December, the player character and a retired Lester plan a robbery of the casino alongside Georgina Cheng (Christina Liang), sister of former casino owner Tao (Richard Hsu), who wants retribution against Thornton for tricking her brother into selling him the casino. The heist is carried out successfully, humiliating Thornton, while Lester enters a relationship with Georgina.

In 2020, the player character conducts several new jobs for Gerald, and enters a brief conflict with the Kkangpae after they raid their personal yacht, which ends with the player character killing their leader, severely weakening the gang.