We’re nearly every week away from GTA 6 popping out, and it might have been completely regular for even GTA V or GTA IV to make the rounds within the information cycle. GTA 2, nevertheless, was not on my bingo card (or anybody’s) for receiving a rejuvenation in 2026, and but, right here we’re.
Nvidia’s RTX Remix software program provides new life to old games by introducing path tracing into their rendering pipelines. That is precisely what somebody used to almost remake Grand Theft Auto 2, which, at this level, is simply as previous as me. After making an attempt it out myself, it felt like enjoying a contemporary top-down sport that I swear may’ve come out simply yesterday.
GTA 2 simply obtained the RTX Remix remedy
From fundamental ray tracing to a full path-traced makeover
Earlier than somebody used Claude to provide GTA 2 the right path-tracing remedy, there was an earlier model of this mission, and it was already spectacular. GitHub consumer gebdag created the gta2-rtx-remix, taking a sport designed around ’90s-era hardware, and letting it understand the total potential of a modern-day RTX GPU.
Apparently, although, that wasn’t sufficient. The brand new mission — GTA2 RTX Upgraded — was taken a lot additional by consumer kirrm3la utilizing Claude Code, who improved the sport’s supplies, lighting, and total rendering in ways in which make the unique RTX Remix implementation look nearly primitive by comparability. The consequence, then, is not “GTA 2 with prettier lighting,” nevertheless. What you get (and what I simply performed) is a 27-year-old sport that appears like a totally totally different visible expertise.
That’s notably wild as a result of GTA 2 was the final mainline Grand Theft Auto game to make use of the top-down formulation earlier than GTA III dragged the series into 3D. Video games like Chinatown Wars later proved Rockstar hadn’t utterly deserted the formulation, however GTA 2 stays one among its most recognizable 2D experiments.
And now, by some means, this 27-year-old sport appears prefer it belongs on a contemporary PC. The Claude-assisted model provides bodily based mostly supplies, path-traced lighting and reflections that react to the world round them, turning what was as soon as a group of flat sprites and easy results into one thing surprisingly convincing.
GTA 2 appears nothing like I bear in mind
Even the smallest particulars now react to the world round them
Since an enormous a part of the GTA video games (particularly the sooner ones) is driving from payphone to payphone as quick as doable, the most important change is, in fact, the vehicles. The Claude-assisted model provides their metallic surfaces bodily based mostly rendering supplies, in order that they not seem like flat textures sitting on high of sprites. Paint catches mild correctly, glass behaves like glass, and reflections transfer with the setting as an alternative of being baked into the unique art work.
The identical remedy extends to the sport’s nastier particulars. Blood swimming pools throughout the highway now work together with the lighting, whereas the flashing purple and blue lights from police vehicles and ambulances spill onto close by surfaces. That features different automobiles and even the participant character, and collectively these additions make the world of Anyplace Metropolis really feel much more coherent than GTA 2 ever had any enterprise feeling.
Daytime gameplay is remarkably stunning, sure, however GTA 2 RTX Upgraded really shines at evening. Each time I drove underneath a streetlamp or beside a neon-lit constructing, my automobile instantly mirrored them. The reflections themselves whizzed previous each automobile in movement, and the brand new lighting system was notably spectacular once I noticed my automobile’s headlights dynamically mild up and mirror on civilians and buildings round me.
At this level, evening gameplay in GTA 2 with the RTX Remix Improve mod flexing its muscle mass appears like enjoying a distinct sport altogether, and it nearly appears like a incredible palette cleanser earlier than GTA 6 finally drops on November 19.
You may get GTA 2 operating like this your self
The setup is surprisingly painless
Getting GTA 2 itself might be the toughest half, just because Rockstar has utterly delisted it from its storefront. Happily, the mission’s GitHub repository factors you in direction of the recordsdata you want, so you will not should wander across the web on the lookout for a duplicate of a sport that is a quarter-century previous.
Upon getting GTA 2 put in, the precise modding course of is nearly laughably easy. Obtain the unique open-source RTX Remix files, extract them straight into your GTA 2 set up folder, then seize the Claude-assisted Remix recordsdata and put these into the identical listing. After that, simply click on the GTA2 executable to get going. Fortunately, there isn’t any elaborate mod supervisor, set up wizard or ritual sacrifice required.
It isn’t so simple as downloading an RTX Remix version of Portal or Half-Life 2 proper off the Steam storefront, nevertheless it’s the following neatest thing by way of being frictionless.
When GTA 2 RTX Remix launches, you may instantly begin experimenting with the brand new rendering pipeline, together with full path tracing and the varied graphical choices RTX Remix affords. In reality, you may even allow body era, which is especially amusing in a sport this previous. Watching GTA 2 run at a smooth 60fs with trendy GPU options might be the closest factor to overkill you are able to do to a top-down crime simulator from 1999.
Claude Code’s strangest legacy is likely to be sport modding
It has been splendidly absurd to see the modding group embrace Claude Code and different AI coding instruments to breathe new life into video games that predate the {hardware} we run it on by a long time. GTA 2 was by no means designed for any of this, which is exactly why seeing trendy rendering strategies work on it feels so satisfying.
The larger query is how lengthy this explicit period of AI-assisted modding can proceed. Anthropic has already began inserting tighter restrictions round reverse-engineering present software program, decompositions, and related workflows. Whether or not that finally slows down tasks like this or just pushes builders in direction of extra inventive methods of working stays to be seen. For now, although, I’m completely right here for the insanity.