You have to promise to pretend to be a little surprised when I tell you that Grand Theft Auto 4's Liberty City was based on real-life New York. I'm not asking for a full send, just gasp a little or something. Awesome, thanks.
Despite being nearly twenty years old, it's a testament to Rockstar's timeless game design that it's still getting picked apart. Then again, YouTuber Any Austin, perhaps best known for evaluating the accuracy of every single river in The Witcher 3, doesn't need much of an excuse to dig into the intricacies of level design. After becoming a certified architectural historian to examine the fake history of GTA 5's Los Santos, revisiting its immediate predecessor seemed like a given.
What follows is a lengthy but fascinating dive into the real New York's own architectural history and GTA 4's in-universe lore, all in pursuit of finding the supposed oldest building in the game. I absolutely love these videos and the way they break world design down to its building blocks (no pun intended), and if you're as much of a nerd as I am I'm sure you will too.
