Rockstar has given us our first look at the GTA Trilogy Remaster. Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – Definitive Edition gives us the ultimate versions of GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas and they look far better than we had imagined they would.
After months of rumours, the studio revealed earlier this month that a remastered collection of the iconic GTA games would be releasing later this year. Details of a release date were vague. Plus, with no in-game screenshots to be seen, fans were sceptical about how big a remaster this was going to be. As it turns out, it seems that Rockstar has put some serious heavy lifting into making these games look more ‘2021’.
Today, Rockstar has released several screenshots from across the remastered versions of GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas. What becomes immediately apparent is the new lighting system that’s been applied to each game. Lighting and shadows are now much more realistic with reflections appearing in wet scenes. This has apparently been rebuilt from the ground up for these new games. High-resolution textures have been applied everywhere, including to the characters, weapons, and vehicles. Improvements have also been made to the water and weather effects, and the draw distance has been increased drastically.
A trailer for the new games shows just how much better these remasters look over their original counterparts. Give it a watch below!
That’s not what we expected!
The visual upgrades look especially good in motion. I particularly like how Rockstar has chosen to stick with the low-poly aesthetic of the original games, despite applying some new-gen makeup. It gives the games a distinctly nostaglic feel while making them look objectively prettier.
Alongside the visuals, Rockstar has also detailed some of the other quality of life features arriving with these remasters. Each of the three games has been updated to use a control style similar to GTA V. That should make these games much more accessible for a newer audience. Controls and UI have also been modernised in other areas of the game. Particularly with the drive-by controls in San Andreas.
On new-gen consoles we can expect gorgeous 4K 60fps visuals. PC players with an RTX enabled graphics card will also enjoy DLSS for that extra buttery smooth gameplay experience. On Nintendo Switch, players can choose to use the gyroscope to aim, if that’s something you’re interested in.
And we don’t have to wait that much longer to get our hands on this, either. Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition is set to release in less than a month on November 11th digitally. If you’d rather own it physically, then boxed copies will hit shelves on December 7th. Prepare to shell out quite the pretty penny for the collection, though. It’s retailing for a whopping £54.99.
But wait. there’s more!
In a surprising twist, the remaster of GTA San Andreas is coming to Xbox Game Pass on day one. Likewise, a standalone version of GTA III is coming to PlayStation Now on December 7th. There is no word yet about whether Vice City is going to get similar treatment.
Recently it was reported that Grand Theft Auto was close to outselling the Pokemon series. Maybe the GTA Trilogy remaster will help make that finally happen!
What are your thoughts on the remastered GTA Trilogy? Let us know on Twitter.
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[Featured Image Credit: Rockstar]