GTA 6 City Of The Week: Sheboygan

GTA 6 City of the Week is a weekly article series here on GTA BOOM. Every week, we will evaluate a different city in the United States, gauging how well it would fit GTA 6 as a setting. First though, a recap of the week's GTA V news...

GTA V News Recap

Following several quiet weeks of sparse news, these past days have cranked things up to the maximum. The week was off to a controversial start after allegations were made that the highly anticipated GTA 5 Redux mod contained large amounts of stolen content which the author claimed as his own.

Several screenshots with proof of code having been copied circulated on the web, with many fans outraged at the blatant plagiarism. Josh Romito, the author of the mod, dug himself deeper in the hole by deleting all comments on his site accusing him of using other modders' work and selling it as his own. In fact, this isn't the first time Romito has been under fire for using stolen content in a GTA 5 mod.

However, soon after both this news and pretty much everything else related to GTA was overshadowed by Rockstar's most recent official announcement: GTA Online was finally getting a biker themed DLC. They revealed a few features that will be included in Bikers, however few concrete pieces of information were shared and we know of no release date.

Of course, this was more than enough already to light the community ablaze. With a biker themed update having been the most requested DLC in the history of GTA Online, fans were understandably ecstatic. After all, we're talking about an update that garnered a considerably popular petition some months back.

As such, we also posted an article collecting the largest questions, best suggestions and biggest concerns players have regarding this highly anticipated DLC. With some worried about the mechanics incentivizing players to stick to bikes in spite of other vehicles providing better protection, speculation as to incentives and limitations has been sparked.

We also posted the results of our survey, conducted over the course of two weeks, which sought to determine which possible Rockstar projects players want the most. With GTA 6, Red Dead 3 and story DLC for 5 being the most likely candidates for being under development, those were the three options.

No one will be surprised to learn that GTA 6 won by a long shot. Half of the total votes went to the next installment of Rockstar's flagship franchise, granting it a sweeping victory. However, you might be surprised as to which of the remaining two projects came in at second place. To see our analysis of the results, check out the article here.

And so we come to yet another City of the Week. Now, we've asked for fan recommendations in the past, and we're making good on that now. Ask, and ye shall receive. To be entirely honest, I've never heard of this city before looking into the comment section of last week's San Antonio article, so don't expect much in terms of recognition!

Sheboygan

Challenge accepted. Looking through some basic info on the city, I can say Anthony here gave us quite the hard nut to crack. Sheboygan, also known as the Bratwurst Capital of the World is located in Wisconsin, and serves as the seat of Sheboygan county. The city's population comes in just under the 50,000 mark.

The city sits on the west coast of Lake Michigan, and is built around the delta of the Sheboygan river as it enters the lake. The relatively small community is actually somewhat well known throughout the United States as a favored "lake getaway", providing a calm and friendly vacation spot away from the bustle of the big cities. Sheboygan is also known for the annual "Brat Days" festival. No, no, this is not celebrating obnoxious misbehaved children — brat is short for Bratwurst, a kind of sausage originally hailing from Germany.

However, the Sheboygan Brat is a unique version of the world-renowned sausage. Many, actually. In fact, the folks over in Sheboygan really know their sausages, and can be more particular in their customs than the French are with their wines. Do something with a brat while in Sheboygan that the locals consider, well, heresy, and you'll probably be lynched or something. Now, since sausages are so important in the town, let's talk a bit about them, shall we?

All Sheboygan brats are grilled on coal, with no parboiling. They are cooked for 20 minutes, relatively far away from red-white coal. Folks make sure not to puncture them, lest the juices and extravagant flavors be lost. Depending on budget, you'll find pure veal, veal mixed with pork, pure pork and pork mixed with beef in your sausages, which come in myriad flavorings.

A sure fire way to get the locals to turn on you is to order a single brat when getting them in a split roll — any self respecting human being orders a double. Brats may also be eaten on their own, accompanies by various side-dishes and sauces. The brat-rivalries in Sheboygan run deep, as many sausage-makers have been in the business for several generations. The brats, as they say, run in the family.

Besides a burgeoning meat industry, the economy of Sheboygan relies upon various finance related services, manufacturing, IT and tourism. As we said, in the warmer months, the city is a popular tourist destination due to its lakeside position, making it a nice vacation spot.

Sheboygan also happens to be located pretty close to Chicago. We looked at Chicago as a possible setting for GTA 6 as our very first City of the Week article, and gave it a glowing score. Now, keeping this in mind, we could consider Sheboygan for a secondary location on a GTA map, with Chicago stepping in as the main city. This would work due to Sheboygan's great geographical markers, and the fact that we game Chicago a glowing score back in the day. Milwaukee being in between the two is an additional boon.

This presents us with a very fruitful region that could be adapted to be a pretty large GTA map, mainly based around Lake Michigan. Now, slicing a large chunk out of the midwest an turning it into an island because "Hey, Great Lakes" is a bit of a stretch, but the results are worth it. The first concept for the game map takes a smaller, single-island approach to the situation.

It is a relatively atypical shape for a video game map, but hey, at least it's unique, right? However, if Rockstar would be willing to go further, the map could be made in a way that Lake Michigan acts as bay, making a shape somewhat like Voya Nui (forgive the obscure reference) or, for something more recognisable, a bit like the map of Vice City, but with a thin stretch of connecting land to the south.

Varied geography, a national forest, Chicago, several other settlements both big and small, lakes, plains, and a clear way to section off the map into at least two distinct regions. We're looking at a very strong contender for the Texas Triangle's throne here.

Crime

Every year, tourists are often reported for various indecency crimes committed against sausages. Among the most common felonies are ordering singles, asking whether they can get fries with that, asking for gluten free versions and saying that hot dogs are better.

On a more serious note, we'd like to point out that murders peaked in Sheboygan in 2012... when a total of four (4) people were killed. In 2014, there was a single homicide. We found no data about 2015/16, probably because there isn't any. In 2014, there were a total of 24 car thefts, a number the average GTA player tops within an hour of playtime on average.

All other forms of crime have accordingly low rates. We are, after all, speaking about a small peaceful town, the residents of which are united in their love of a well grilled sausage.

Recognition

While the Brat-Days and being on the coast of Lake Michigan might make Sheboygan known to some players in the USA due to its tourism value, I guarantee that 95% of foreign players would have no idea what this place is. No offense. That said, the Mead Public Library and the Blue Harbor Resort are probably two of the more notable landmarks of the city.

Potential Story

We mentioned that the city would work well as a secondary location on a GTA map, meaning that the majority of the storyline would take place elsewhere. However, we could imagine a few missions in GTA-ified Sheboygan wherein the protagonist must perform activities in the town during the Brat-Days. Knowing Rockstar's crude sense of humor, it would be called "Footlong-Days" or something.

Maybe one of the antagonists of the game was forced to escape the main location — Chicago — due to the activities of the protagonist. Players then track the target to Sheboygan, where he seeks to get lost in the crowd enjoying the Footlong-Days. The player must then find, track down and kill the target while navigating the festival grounds.

Some additional side-missions could be located here, and some collectibles could be hidden throughout the city — like in a sausage stand.

Final Verdict

On its own:
C-
Secondary location next to Chicago:
A-
Pros: geography, story potential

Cons: nonexistent crime, poor recognition

Sheboygan would be a boon to a larger GTA map centered around Chicago, however, on its own it just does not have what it takes to carry a main installment of the popular franchise.

Which city would you want us to check out next week?