Even though we’re still more than a year off from GTA 6’s release, Rockstar Games may surprise all players with a remaster of GTA 4 sometimes this year, if the recent leaks are true. According to tipster Tez2, who wrote on the GTA forums that a port of GTA 4 for current gen consoles could be at works and might be released sometimes in 2025, which would be huge for everyone who has loved the original game which came out back in 2008.
Tez2 has stated (via ben on Twitter/X) that “Someone at Rockstar hinted at the IV port”, also adding that the game might arrive as early as this year. Also, he added that Rockstar’s schedule suggests a Max Payne 3 port as well, which might arrive after the launch of the remastered version of GTA 4 which is probably near the end of this year. A remastered version of Max Payne 3 would be great if not a bit unnecessary cause the original is still one of the, if not the greatest third person shooter ever made and there’s practically nothing to improve upon in the original in terms of gameplay mechanics at least.
Released more than a decade ago, Grand Theft Auto 4 or GTA 4 is still lauded as one of the greatest GTA titles of all time with possibly the best character in the form of Nico Bellic along with the best narrative which is gritty, darker and a lot more character-driven than GTA 5. And while the original was every bit a technical marvel at the time of it’s release, it was also notoriously unoptimized for the PC and even after more than 10 patches so far, still doesn’t run as well as it should.
So while a remastered version of GTA 4 designed to take full advantage of the newer-gen hardware would be exciting and welcome, Rockstar should also evolve and improve some of the gameplay elements such as the cover and the shooting mechanics plus the animations as well which were pretty janky in the original. And if they manage to make it all happen and release a version of the game that not only looks and runs better but also plays better, it’d be a treat.
