The controversialGrand Theft Auto: The Trilogy — The Definitive Editiongot a surprise update on Tuesday that brought some welcome and much-needed changes to the game — and it only took three years.
As reported byRockstar Intel, the “definitive” versions ofGrand Theft Auto 3,Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, andGrand Theft Auto: San Andreason PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One got a slew of fixes and updates, including one that fixes a huge sticking point with the release: lighting.
Much of the criticism surrounding the PC and console versions involved the lighting when they launched in 2021. Each game had a distinctive look, a lot of which came down to some broad hues. For example,GTA: San Andreasfamously has an orange tint. However, each of these hues was removed for theDefinitive Edition, leaving the games looking more bland. Lighting across the board was lackluster, either looking too bright or being removed altogether.This Reddit threadshows how a lot of the environmental lighting had been either toned down or removed. The games just generally felt like a downgrade in terms of graphics, with strange-looking character models, and no clouds in the sky. That’s not even taking into account all the technical issues users reported at launch, like crashes and other bugs.
It was so bad that Rockstar Games had toissue an apologyand release the classic PC versions of those three games back to the Rockstar Store, offering them up for free for users who bought theDefinitive Edition.
A lot of these issues were fixed whenNetflix released the trilogyon its platform in late 2023. It featured a classic lighting option that brought back the games’ respective classic tints, fixes to water and clothing, and more general lighting fixes to things like streetlights. It appears that a lot of these have now been brought to PC and console in the new update.
Looks like mentions of Grove Street Games and their logos have been removed from the splash screen and main menu of the#GTADefinitive Editions as well.pic.twitter.com/ZmXpccyiyS
— TJGM (@TJGM_)July 21, 2025
However, as Grand Theft Auto YouTuber TJGMnoted on X, mentions of Grove Street Games, the studio behind the original Definitive Edition, have been removed in the new update. TheGTA Trilogywasn’t well received, but it seems like an odd choice regardless of the reasoning.
