GTA 6 is on the way and naturally I'm enthusiastic about the return of both Vice City and Rockstar's open-world crime saga, but one of the best Grand Theft Auto games – arguably the best – is, and always will be, GTA 4. Compared to San Andreas (and GTA 5), Grand Theft Auto 4 is somber, moody, mature, and atmospheric. Niko Bellic's bleak revenge tragedy combined with the reimagined Liberty City, still one of the best settings in videogame history, make GTA 4 better than almost all of its genre contemporaries. Released 16 years ago, it appears now that the spirit of Grand Theft Auto 4 lives on. Liquid Swords, the studio founded by Just Cause creator and former Avalanche developer Christofer Sundberg, just teased its first project, an open-world game with a recognizable aesthetic.
Described as a "narrative-driven, Grand Theft Auto 4.
"When the rest of the world was grinding to a halt in 2020, Christofer Sundberg was gearing up," Liquid Swords says. "Having co-founded and managed Avalanche Studios for more than a decade, he had experienced the entire life cycle of a videogame several times over. He watched as an abstract idea grew into a studio and then a game. And another game. And an even bigger studio. Everything was growing and getting louder, drowning out the craft. Meaningless buzzwords. Insatiable stakeholders. Over-complicated processes.
"Instead of turning his back on an industry that had been close to his heart for so many years, Christofer rallied. 'Gör om, gör rätt,' as they say in Swedish. Do it again, do it right. Do it in the way we used to, when game development was still fun and creative. This is how Liquid Swords was born."
Sandbox games like Grand Theft Auto 5 and No Man's Sky are often bright and colorful, and every mechanic is designed around playfulness and freedom. I prefer something nastier, more grounded – Mafia 3, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Cyberpunk 2077. Let's see what Liquid Swords has in mind.
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