Grand Theft Auto Trilogy Release Date Set, Watch The Trailer And Pre-Order

Trying to go back and play the original versions of these games—even the PC versions—is pretty painful in the modern age. They were among the first big video games to have a fully-contiguous, fully-3D open world, and they were created for hardware with less than a hundred megabytes of RAM. Because of that, you end up having to make certain concessions, like the fact that pedestrians in GTA III are made up of about fifteen polygons.

All too often, in these re-released games, developers simply slap a greasy coat of post-processing on a classic game and call it a day. (We're looking at you, Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning.) Rockstar, instead, is going the extra mile to update what looks like every single asset. More impressively, the new resources don't look out of place at all. Rockstar's developers seem to have treated the original material with the respect it deserves, and the new content looks surprisingly authentic, retaining the original caricature-like art style while updating the technology to more modern expectations.

According to the company's Twitter, the updates go further than the graphics, though. The company says it's adding "GTA V-inspired modern controls," too. For those who haven't actually played the originals (or simply don't remember how they controlled), early 3D GTA controls were a little awkward, particularly for shooting. It will be interesting to see how the new games play, as GTA V's much more realistic presentation lent itself to a slower and more tactical style of gameplay, while these three older games are almost arcade-like in their chaotic silliness.

If you're down to revisit Liberty City, Vice City, and San Andreas, you don't have long to wait. Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy — The Definitive Edition is coming to PS4, PS5, all current Xbox machines, Nintendo Switch, and the Rockstar Games Launcher on PC on November 11^th. You can pre-order it now if you're the type to do such things.