Three of the best open world games ever from the classic PS2 era of gaming could be making a comeback in 2021. GTA 3, GTA Vice City, and GTA San Andreas could be remastered this year, bringing back those all important entries in the franchise, and gaming as a whole.
All three games used the same engine but were released many years apart. GTA 3 kicked off the 3D open world genre of gaming in a big way in 2001, not only revolutionising what a GTA game could look and play like, but creating an expansive open world where you weren't bound by quests or levels. You could go anywhere and do anything you wanted. It lead to such emergent play, that it's no surprise Rockstar followed it up with a sequel.
Vice City was more of the same, but quite an imtimate game by modern standards. Embracing the '80s age, sound, and aesthetic way before that now-tired trope and the growth of synthwave, it was way ahead of its time and a great entry in the GTA franchise. San Andreas broke ground with its black main character and introducing of RPG-lite mechanics, as well as massively increasing the size of the open world.
And now we might get to revisit all of them in gorgeous higher definition. According to the latest report, the remasters for PC and mobile have been pushed back until 2022, in order to get the console versions out this year.
Although Rockstar has yet to confirm any of this, or even the existence of the remaster, the fact that it's been aggressively taking down mods that use the older games' assets, suggests that this news is more than likely true.