Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition

Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition bundles three reworked open-world classics: Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Each story is a standalone single-player adventure in a different city and era.

The remasters keep their respective characters and missions, but add a reworked control scheme, modernized lighting and numerous visual improvements.

Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition was released on November 11, 2021 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch. The joint digital launch covers all six native platform versions.

A later release also brought the three included games individually to iOS and Android. These mobile versions are not an additional native release of the console and PC collection as a shared product.

The collection was released natively for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch. The PS4 and PS5 versions, as well as Xbox One and Xbox Series, are each standalone platform versions, even though digital store offers may bundle several generations together.

The Nintendo Switch version uses motion controls for aiming and touch input for menu and camera actions. On PC, NVIDIA DLSS is planned, while PS5 and Xbox Series X support output at up to 4K and 60 frames per second.

In all three games you switch between story missions and free exploration. Vehicles, chases, shootouts and side activities shape the world. However, the order and design differ clearly between Liberty City, Vice City and the sprawling state of San Andreas.

Reworked aiming and vehicle controls, along with navigation using freely placeable waypoints, make it easier to find your way. Failed missions can be restarted directly.

GTA III is set in the gloomy Liberty City, Vice City in a coastal city shaped by the 1980s, and San Andreas in a state with several major cities and rural regions. The three stories share the open action game principle but are narratively independent of each other.

Each remaster can be selected individually within the collection. The campaigns should not be confused with a continuous story across all three games.

Grand Theft Auto III – The Definitive Edition takes you to Liberty City. After a betrayal, Claude gets drawn into the conflicts of several criminal groups. The compact urban game world relies on mission chains, vehicle theft and an open city where travel and missions overlap.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City – The Definitive Edition tells the story of Tommy Vercetti's path through the criminal underworld of a city shaped by music, neon lights and 1980s aesthetics. Businesses, villas, motorcycles and radio stations set the atmosphere clearly apart from the cooler Liberty City.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – The Definitive Edition follows Carl "CJ" Johnson, who returns to Los Santos and gets caught in a conflict between family, street gangs and corrupt police officers. Instead of just one city, the story covers several regions of the state, from residential neighbourhoods to deserts and further metropolises.

The reworked controls are based on Grand Theft Auto V. Weapon and radio station selection use modernised menus, aiming has been adjusted and the minimap navigator supports custom waypoints. In San Andreas, shooting from vehicles has also been reworked.

The option to instantly restart a failed mission saves extra trips back to the mission start.

Higher-resolution textures, longer draw distances and reworked vegetation change how all three worlds look. Shadows, reflections, water and weather have also been redesigned. The technology modernises the originals without turning the historical cities and missions into new games with a completely different structure.

Classic Lighting brings back the sky and colour look of the original games. Rockstar added the mode in November 2024 via an update for the console versions and PC.

This lets you combine the newer technical improvements with a lighting mood that is closer to the originals.

The PlayStation version uses English voice acting and offers German on-screen text, among others. English, French, Italian, Spanish, Polish and other languages are also available. The exact language selection may vary by platform and store version.

All three stories are designed as single-player campaigns. The PlayStation version supports offline play and Remote Play. The collection does not offer a shared online campaign that would connect the three cities into a multiplayer world.

GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas also came out in revised mobile versions for iOS and Android on Dec 14, 2023. Rockstar offered the three games individually and initially also published them via Netflix Games.

The mobile versions added, among other things, a classic lighting mode. They should be distinguished from the shared console and PC collection.

The original games were made at Rockstar. For The Definitive Edition, Grove Street Games adapted the three classics using Unreal Engine. Rockstar Games published the collection and later developed the technical remaster further with additional improvements.