The remastered Grand Theft Auto trilogy arrives November 11th
Today is the 20th anniversary of the groundbreaking Grand Theft Auto III. Although Rockstar Games didn’t mark the occasion with a sudden surprise release of , it when you’ll be able to get your hands on the upgraded versions of GTA III, GTA: Vice City and GTA: San Andreas.
The bundle arrives digitally on November 11th (the for the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions of ) on PC, PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch. Physical editions will be available for consoles on December 7th.
Rockstar is charging $60 for the trilogy, which might be hard to swallow for some given that the original versions were often available for a few bucks each before the publisher pulled them from digital storefronts this month. It’s worth noting that the remastered hits Xbox Game Pass on November 11th and the upgraded GTA III will arrive on PlayStation Now on December 7th.
The most obvious changes to the games are upgraded, richer visuals. Rockstar has added higher resolution textures, enhanced the weather effects, improved character and vehicle models, overhauled the lighting system and increased draw distances — all while trying to hang onto each game’s original aesthetic. Vice City, for one thing, looks far more vibrant than the original, but it’s clearly still Vice City.
There are some platform-specific enhancements. PS5 and Xbox Series X players will be able to run the games in 4K at up to 60 frames per second. On PC, there’s support for NVIDIA’s upscaling tech. Switch players, meanwhile, will have gyro controls and can use the touchscreen to to navigate menus and to zoom and pan the camera.
Rockstar has tweaked the gameplay in other ways. The controller layout now matches that of GTA V, and there are changes to gunplay and targeting, the weapon and radio station selection wheels and minimaps (such as the ability to set waypoints). You’ll also be able to immediately restart a mission after failing too, which is a great quality of life update.
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