GTA 3 has been spruced up in a fan-made remake that reimagines a portion of Rockstar’s acclaimed open-world crime fest in the dazzling visuals of Unreal Engine 5.
Last year’s launch of the official remastered GTA Trilogy was so disastrous Rockstar eventually offered disappointed players free games as compensation. But this fan-made take shows Liberty City in all its glory. The short video is styled as a trailer, imagining what GTA 3 could have looked like if it was remade in Epic’s top-of-the-line game engine.
The clip pans across the city’s skyline, shows the grubby underground of its subway network, before cutting to protagonist Claude driving along its streets. It’s all rendered in exceptional detail and to a fidelity worthy of the PS5 or Xbox Series X|S.
The remake certainly makes the most of Unreal Engine 5’s capabilities, rendering textures at resolutions that seem to go beyond even the recent GTA 5 next-gen ports. A lot is made of the engine’s lighting capabilities too, with one moment of the video showing Claude almost silhouetted by reflections off the sidewalk. Add to that a mafioso voiceover, and it all becomes very atmospheric.
Watch the clip below to see for yourself.
The remaster that should have been
Although impressive, this take on GTA 3 will likely provide cold comfort to fans of the classic crime ‘em up series. Players are still bitter after Rockstar’s handling of the GTA Trilogy collection last year, in which GTA 3, Vice City, and San Andreas were updated to run on modern hardware. Unfortunately, they were also updated with a slew of technical bugs, performance problems, and a change of art style, disappointing fans who hoped to relive the series exactly as they remembered it.
Rockstar has improved the remaster in the months since its release, however. A swathe of content drops has brought it in line with player expectations, while major performance updates have finally made it worth playing. The most egregious technical bugs have been ironed out, and the whole trilogy runs at a consistent, smoother framerate.
If you really like the look of this fresh take on GTA 3, check out creator TeaserPlay’s other works. They’ve also reimagined Resident Evil 4 Unreal Engine 5, which has piqued our excitement for the official Resident Evil 4 remake announced earlier this month.