Summary
- The Grand Theft Auto franchise redefined open-world games, leading the charge in immersive, crime-filled virtual cities for players to explore.
- Ludendorff may be dull, but it's a rare glimpse of the Mid-West in GTA, while Las Venturas is a vibrant parody of crime-ridden Las Vegas.
- Liberty City is a gloomy and crime-filled metropolis akin to New York, offering challenges beyond cost with a dense population and constant threat.
One of the best franchises in the history of gaming, the Grand Theft Auto games have helped clear the way for gaming to become what it is today. The series, about to enter a new decade with the upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto 6, seems set to return to the wondrous Vice City for what is likely to be an incredible new open-world map.
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The Grand Theft Auto franchise helped lead the charge and define open-world games. The cities the series has visited aren’t numerous, but they are generally crime-filled and terrifying. Though players love exploring these worlds, actually having to live in many of them would be a horrific experience.
6 Ludendorff
The Town Where Nothing Happens
- In The State Of North Yankton
- Appears In Grand Theft Auto 5
While not technically a city, Ludendorff appears significantly in Grand Theft Auto 5, and it seems incredibly boring from the start. That’s not the worst crime for a place to live, but Ludendorff seems to be a dull place to spend any significant time. While there isn’t much to explore in general, players aren’t likely to spend a lot of time here anyway in the game, since it is only the setting for the prologue mission and a quick return later in the game.
Home to the Midwest’s biggest beaver, Ludendorff is a rare occasion when the GTA franchise takes to that part of America. Most of the cities that appear in the franchise are based on cities in either New York, Florida, or California, so the Mid-West has been mostly untouched by the satire of the series. Ludendorff may not be a terrible place to live, but it certainly doesn’t seem exciting, although some players have taken it upon themselves to find a way back into Ludendorff in GTA: Online.
5 Las Venturas
A City Filled With Crime & Gambling
- In The State Of San Andreas
- Appears In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
San Andreas was a fascinating and sweeping game, which became one of the best-loved video games of all time. Part of this was down to the wide exploration players managed across the state of San Andreas, including the final of the three unlockable cities, Las Venturas, which featured many hidden areas for players who loved secrets.
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Known as the gambling city, there hasn’t been a clearer parody of a real American city in the franchise than Las Venturas is of Las Vegas. This city, while a lot of fun to be in for a short time, would get tiring very quickly for most people if they actually tried to live there. Additionally, it is one of the cities in the GTA franchise that is truly rampant with crime, making it less than ideal for a living situation.
4 Liberty City
An Enormous & Terrifyingly Gloomy Metropolis
- In The State Of Liberty
- Appears In Grand Theft Auto 3, Grand Theft Auto 4
Making several appearances throughout the series, Liberty City is the Grand Theft Auto version of New York City, and it features at least as much crime as the actual New York. Depicted as a truly desolate place in GTA 4, it is filled with crime and is spoken of as being diseased by corrupt officials and living constantly under the threat of terrorism in a city that could look even better modern-day.
The challenges of living in Liberty City would go well beyond the cost. Avoiding the criminal underworld and the huge population being squashed into such a small area would also be challenging. This last problem is even more significant than in real New York, since Liberty City has a comparable population to that city, but can be seen to be much smaller. The squashed size means if someone was actually living there, they would be tripping over other people, traffic jams and even just foot traffic on the street would be extremely claustrophobic.
3 Blaine County
A Desert Filled With Dangerous Residents & Animals
- In The State Of San Andreas
- Appears In Grand Theft Auto 5
Another area that can’t really be described as a city, but is instead the largest rural area seen in any Grand Theft Auto game, Blaine County, makes up the entire northern section of the GTA 5 map. Players can reach it by driving along the highway out of Los Santos. Blaine County contains several towns and small settlements but is in general quite an inhospitable area with some fascinating things going on.
Aside from people like Trevor Phillips, who cause individual mayhem to a ridiculous degree, and the biker gangs that roam freely, seemingly with no law enforcement watching over them, Blaine County is also in the desert. This wild piece of country is a terrible place to try and live for any number of simple reasons, and since there isn’t even any peace or quiet to be found in this less-populated area, there is no real reason for anyone to live here instead of going to Los Santos itself.
2 Carcer City
A City Of Murder
- In The Rust Belt Of The United States
- Mentioned In Multiple Grand Theft Auto Games, Appears In Manhunt
Rockstar is known for having Easter Eggs from their other games popping up in the Grand Theft Auto franchise, and one notable example of this is Carcer City. Never before seen in a GTA game but mentioned many times in GTA 3, GTA: San Andreas, and other games, this city is the primary setting for Manhunt, another of their infamous games, and was rumored at one point to be the setting for GTA 6.
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Manhunt is a disturbing and strange game, but Carcer City itself is described as being in the US Rust Belt, and being a run-down place where nobody cares and nothing interesting is left. People are only looking for cheap thrills, and crime seems fairly rampant here, as in many other cities within the universe. Carcer City seems like a truly broken place, one in which nobody would want to live.
1 Anywhere City
On The Verge Of Collapse
- In Some Part Of The United States
- Appears In Grand Theft Auto 2
A forgotten part of the franchise, Anywhere City, was created before the format of the GTA games turned to open-world, and they had no problem with the setting being an unrealistically broken place. Though not seen in as much detail as some of the cities from later in the franchise, Anywhere City is described by in-game text as being on the verge of collapse.
Law and order seem to be wavering in many places throughout the franchise, but it is truly on the brink of collapse in Anywhere City. This makes it sound about as bad a place to live as anywhere can be. It is also described as “everything is polluted, dirty, unpleasant”, which doesn’t lend any credence to the idea of living there being anything less than hell on Earth.
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