GTA 3 has been given a facelift in a fan-made remake that reimagines some of Rockstar's famous open-world crime fest in the stunning visuals of Unreal Engine 5.
The release of the official GTA Remastered Trilogy last year was so disastrous that Rockstar finally offered free games to disappointed players as compensation. But this fan-made shot shows Liberty City in all its glory. The short video (opens in a new tab) is meant to be a trailer, imagining what GTA 3 would have looked like had it been remade in Epic's high-end gaming engine.
The clip skims over the city's skyline, showing the dirty basement of its subway system, before switching to protagonist Claude driving through its streets. Everything is rendered in stunning detail and with fidelity worthy of PS5 or Xbox Series X|S.
The new version certainly takes full advantage of Unreal Engine 5's capabilities, rendering textures at resolutions that seem to go beyond even last-gen GTA 5 ports. The lighting capabilities of the engine are also very important, with a moment in the video showing Claude almost cut off by reflections on the sidewalk. Add to that a mob voiceover, and it all becomes very atmospheric.
Check out the clip below to see for yourself.
The remaster that should have been(*3*)
While impressive, this version of GTA 3 will likely provide cold solace to fans of the classic Crime'em Up series. Gamers are still bitter after Rockstar's handling of GTA Trilogy Collection last year, in which GTA 3, Vice City, and San Andreas have been updated to run on modern hardware. Unfortunately, they were also updated with a number of technical bugs, performance issues, and an art style change, disappointing fans who had hoped to relive the series exactly as they remembered it.
However, Rockstar improved the remaster in the months after it was released. A series of content drops brought it in line with player expectations, while major performance updates finally made it worth playing. The most obvious technical bugs have been fixed, and the entire trilogy runs at a smoother, constant frame rate.
If you really like the look of this new version of GTA 3, check out the other works of the creator TeaserPlay. They also reimagined Resident Evil 4 Unreal Engine 5, which sparked our excitement for the official Resident Evil 4 remake announced earlier this month.