Rockstar has given Grand Theft Auto Trilogy a big graphical update

Three years after its troubled launch, Rockstar has released a significant update for the current-gen console and PC versions of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – Definitive edition.

Released in 2021, GTA Trilogy DE – which is made up of GTA3, Vice City, and San Andreas – received significant criticism for its disappointing presentation and visuals. However, Tuesday’s surprise update seems to have made big improvements.

Patch notes simply note that a classic lighting mode – previously added to the mobile versions last year – has been added to consoles. By itself, this appears to have improved the Trilogy’s visuals significantly, but fans have noted there are more changes than Rockstar has mentioned.

X user Besk has extensively detailed improvements they’ve discovered so far in The Trilogy, most notably new fire, rain, fog, and glass-breaking effects, new and fixed animations, extra bloom and lighting effects, and more.

Players can also now run while aiming certain weapons, pause cutscenes, see date/time information on game saves, view their correct position on the world map, and more.

At launch the remasters were heavily criticised for a significant number of technical issues, as well as “unintended” documents found within game files such as unlicensed music and developer notes, resulting in the PC version being pulled temporarily.

Despite the launch issues, sales figures shared shortly after launch suggested the title had sold as many as 10 million copies following its release.

Take-Two hasn’t confirmed exact sales figures for GTA: The Trilogy – Definitive Edition, but CEO Strauss Zelnick claimed last year that the collection had performed “great” since its release.