A modder has managed to fit the entire PlayStation 2 era Grand Theft Auto trilogy inside a single running game, creating one of the more remarkable projects seen in the modding community for the long running series. The achievement comes even as Rockstar Games continues development on Grand Theft Auto 6, which is expected to release on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S later this year. While the official remastered collection released by Grove Street Games faced criticism from fans in the past, this independent effort by a single developer has drawn attention for its technical ambition and execution.
The modder, known online as Dryxio, used the open source reverse engineered engines known as re3 and reVC to get Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City running live inside the process of Grand Theft Auto San Andreas on personal computer. The result is effectively a layered experience where all three games can be played simultaneously, with each one running inside the world of another. A video shared over the past weekend demonstrated the project in action, showing how players can toggle control seamlessly between the three protagonists, CJ, Claude, and Tommy, switching between them as if moving through different chapters of a connected universe.
Each game in this setup maintains its own separate engine instance, complete with independent game logic, mission progress, settings, and save files, all while the host world belonging to San Andreas continues to simulate in real time around the other two titles. Some members of the community have suggested in video comments that the modder might attempt to get even earlier entries in the series running using a similar method, which would further cement the project as one of the most notable modding achievements in gaming history. The concept has drawn comparisons to mechanics seen in the Shenmue and Like a Dragon series, formerly known as Yakuza, where players can access classic arcade games by interacting with objects found within the game world itself.
Given that Grand Theft Auto 6 is expected to be one of the most advanced open world titles ever released, there is speculation that Rockstar Games could eventually implement similar features, allowing players to access earlier entries in the franchise through in game elements. However, considering the scale of monetization expected for the upcoming title, such a feature seems unlikely to be offered without cost if it is included at all. Should the game prove to be friendly toward modding once it eventually arrives on personal computer, independent developers may take up the challenge themselves in the absence of official support from Rockstar Games.
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