GTA: The Trilogy – The Definitive Version’s launch in 2021, three years in the past, was infamously tough. From badly upscaled textures, to shoddy character fashions, to damaged animations (and many extra), the three video games that outlined trendy open worlds had been butchered. Now, Rockstar Video games has wowed everybody by pulling off an entire 180.

The November 12, 2024, replace to the Definitive Version assortment throughout PC and consoles (with the previous gen and Change getting it a day later) would not simply repair loads of what was damaged. It additionally brings again the basic lighting (now enabled by default) that tied your entire visible presentation collectively within the unique console releases.

I promptly jumped into GTA: San Andreas, the one installment I would been which means to shortly revisit for some time, to examine what was new, and located myself shortly absorbed by its world for a few magical hours throughout which, because it was again in my highschool days, I barely made any story progress. Simply driving round and having fun with the refreshed vistas was a blast from the previous.

I’ve truly performed numerous San Andreas through the years, however totally on PC by the unique launch from 2005. That model was all the time thought to be essentially the most stable one (plus it nurtured a vibrant modding neighborhood), but it all the time missed the colourful shade hues from the OG console variations, and thus felt far flatter visually, or at the least extra ‘practical’ in a method that felt bizarre for anybody who’d performed the 2004 launch on PS2 (or afterward Xbox).

For some bizarre motive, regardless of all of the ports and re-releases the basic GTA trilogy has loved through the years, Rockstar has all the time managed to not ship an ‘final’ strategy to get pleasure from these video games. The unique console releases has a framerate which was tough and will solely be ‘mounted’ by superior emulation. The aforementioned PC port wasn’t precisely the identical, one thing and that additionally utilized to GTA 3 and Vice Metropolis. Later ports in trendy consoles all the time screwed one thing up, with the 360 one being the only real exception. And you understand how the Definitive Version initially went.

Now, with unique developer Grove Avenue Video games faraway from the gathering’s credit and Video Video games Deluxe taking on, the Definitive Version feels a number of steps nearer to definitive. The vibes are restored, and even when you might argue the trendy lighting seems higher at occasions (particularly at evening), restoring the fog and giving every metropolis its personal distinctive climate and set of skies, alongside much-needed shade grading, has really made a world of distinction.

After so a few years enjoying the PC model of San Andreas, I would merely forgotten how nice the true unique launch appeared. Generally (far too typically, I am afraid), within the pursuit of a clearer picture and realism with remasters and remakes, a great chunk of the unique inventive imaginative and prescient is erased, and the Definitive Version assortment was a major instance of that. Even when it had felt okay-ish for some time now – as in not completely damaged – this large rework and visible refresh is a reminder of every little thing that was misplaced.

Los Santos merely ‘pops’ in a method {that a} brutish method to extra trendy graphics could not obtain, and it was only a matter of getting the colours proper and that moody fog again within the sport. Maybe youthful gamers who by no means performed the unique releases might be turned off with the extremely saturated look that San Andreas sported again within the day, but it surely’s exhausting to again to a sauceless visible presentation after realizing the older GTAs had been by no means meant to look clear or practical. After this patch, wanting on the upscaled textures and UE4-rendered fashions that also stay rusty as hell by the very de-saturated trendy filter is hilarious, and I can not imagine we have been caught with these bangers wanting like that for thus lengthy.

Thoughts you, I would already warmed as much as at the least Vice Metropolis Definitive in latest occasions, as that sport and GTA 3 all the time felt far much less post-processed, but this patch additionally made me understand they had been lacking an additional ‘otherworldly’ spark. Now, the trendy lighting additionally seems method too clear on them, with the shortage of a misty horizon making their admittedly small maps really feel even smaller. I do not need the complete factor rendered on my display directly, it was by no means meant to seem like that!

Different small however welcome enhancements embody strolling round whereas aiming heavier weapons than pistols and submachine weapons in GTA 3 and Vice Metropolis, which primarily makes lots of their missions simpler, but it surely’s all within the service of constructing the precise upgrades the place wanted, which needs to be the primary driving power behind each remaster. Protect the previous whereas getting ready the video games for the longer term…with out diluting their identities.

I would say this Definitive Version continues to be a few smaller patches away from reaching perfection, and it is exhausting to foretell whether or not Video Video games Deluxe will stick with engaged on it for for much longer, but it surely’s immediately change into a straightforward advice for previous and new gamers alike. So long as you overlook some leftover jank and some plasticky, too UE-ish textures, this seems like the very best, most painless strategy to expertise these video games twenty years after their unique launches.

Essentially the most hilarious factor about this entire story is that we’ve got to thank the latest Netflix port (sure, actually) of the Definitive Version for these updates to the console and PC releases, as a lot of the new enhancements have been introduced over from that model. Gaming is so freakin’ bizarre proper now, man.