ENDS is being called 'GTA in London' but the studio says it won't glorify crime
Caught a piece on Insider Gaming about a game called ENDS, set in London, that's been getting the 'GTA in London' label. The devs at Concrete Realm actually addressed it, and they're pretty clear: they won't glorify crime. That's the whole hook.
GTA's always walked a weird line with satire, but let's be real, the power fantasy of being a criminal kingpin is baked into the DNA. This studio seems to want something more grounded, maybe a raw look at London's ends without the flashy chaos. I'm trying to picture what that even looks like. No rampages? No five-star chases? It's almost like they're stripping away the part that makes GTA, well, GTA.
Rockstar did a London expansion way back, but that was still arcadey mayhem. This feels different. I'm not saying it's a bad idea, just curious how they'll keep it engaging without the glorification. Maybe it'll lean heavy on story and atmosphere, like a gritty drama. But then, does it still deserve the comparison?
What do you think? Would you play a GTA-style game that refuses to glorify crime, or does that miss the point entirely?
Source: Insider Gaming · Curated content.
If I wanted a grim look at London I'd watch the news. Let me have my car chase after bedtime.
If I wanted a grim look at London I'd watch the news.
big facts. remove the crime and its just a walking sim with british weather.
I don't think stripping the glorification automatically kills the fun, but it does pile pressure onto mission design. Rockstar already tested this in GTA IV with sequences like the hungover crawl in The Master and the Molotov or the ambush in The Snow Storm. Those weren't power fantasies. They were deliberately miserable.
But those worked because they were pacing breaks inside a larger criminal escalation. If ENDS commits to that tone for a 100 percent playthrough, the stakes need to come from somewhere else. Surveillance evasion, debt pressure, reputation decay. That's a legitimate design space, just not one I'd compare to Vice City.
remove the crime and its just a walking sim
That's missing the mark. You're still doing crime. You're just removing the usual payoff. Much harder to sustain over thirty-plus hours.
ok so — MissionRunner's point about IV is spot on. Rockstar already knows how to make crime feel awful but stretching that across a whole map and thirty hours? that's brutal! ENDS might end up closer to a survival game with council flats than anything near Vice City. good luck to them.
Concrete Realm can call it whatever they want, but the comparison's doing them no favors. Rockstar's May 2025 trailer for GTA 6 is still selling that exact power fantasy. Lucia and Jason tearing through Leonida. It's the studio's whole formula.
survival game with council flats
That's basically the design problem. If you strip the glorification, you're left with surveillance, debt, scarce resources, and no cathartic payoff. Legitimate mechanics, but not ones I'd stack against Vice City.
GTA London was a top-down expansion. ENDS is fighting thirty years of player expectation, and Concrete Realm hasn't shown how they replace the feedback loop.