While Vice City has been gaining traction as a fan-requested setting for the next Grand Theft Auto game, one Redditor has suggested a less popular location: Liberty City. The New York-inspired metropolis was the backdrop for a handful of other entries in the series, and served as the setting of GTA 3 and GTA 4.
The Grand Theft Auto games have visited a number of fictional, satirical United States cities over the years. The most recent release in the franchise, GTA 5, dropped players in San Andreas, which is based upon the state of California and includes areas like Los Santos, a clear parody of real-world Los Angeles. In comparison, GTA Vice City took place in the titular oceanside community of Vice City - Rockstar's take on Miami. Since GTA 5 revisited and modernized locations that were featured in 2004's GTA San Andreas, many fans have speculated that the next release in the series, the as-of-yet unannounced GTA 6, could do the same for Vice City.
As the debate continues regarding whether or not Rockstar will take players back to Vice City when GTA 6 finally comes out, Redditor absentia123 has proposed Liberty City as a prime candidate for the series' next urban playground. While absentia123 acknowledges that Vice City is the most in-demand setting at the moment, they note that it is similar to Los Santos due to its tropical climate and drug scene, and would thus be less interesting to rediscover. They then go on to present a list of reasons why Liberty City would be a better choice, which mentions compelling points such as the city's cultural diversity, seasonal changes, and density.
This user may be on to something; Vice City is a fan-favorite GTA setting, but it's true that the colorful, sunny-but-shallow cultural backdrop featured prevalently in GTA 5, so a different sort of city would be a breath of fresh air. GTA 4, while still a beloved game, is visually outdated and not quite as robust and interactive as other modern open-world games, so getting that chance to dive back into a spruced-up version of Liberty City, with higher graphical fidelity and more areas to explore, is surely an exciting prospect for many players.
Of course, there has still been no indication from Rockstar as to where and when the next GTA game will be set. The next entry in the crime franchise might decide to satirize a new US city like Chicago or Detroit, or it might take on an overseas location like London or Amsterdam. Plus, after seeing Red Dead Redemption 2's sprawling and varied map, it's conceivable that the developers might not be limiting themselves to just one city. Either way, Grand Theft Auto fans are going to be hotly anticipating that next game for a while still, and speculation surrounding the game's setting is unlikely to slow down any time soon.
Source: absentia123/Reddit