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How GTA San Andreas Broke My Heart 22 Years After Its Release
I grew up playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. I played when I was super young and I loved the game. However, I was never able to finish the storyline, because I was too young to understand what to do. The game was a free-roam sandbox to me back then. As I grew up, I started playing San Andreas Multiplayer in my teenage years and got quite involved with modding and scripting. This diverted my attention away from the storyline. I wrote a different post about how GTA SA got me into coding here.
Time to relive
On the 13th of July 2025, I picked up a copy of the “Definitive Edition” on the Nintendo Switch. The original game was refactored, optimized and released to modern devices. Ignoring all the backlash this version of the game got, I decided I wanted to dedicate to a playthrough. This game has always had a special place in my life, and I wanted to do it justice by finally finishing the story. 
GTA San Andreas running on the Nintendo Switch.
After many hours of playtime I can safely say I was fully immersed in the story. I had seen some spoilers before, but most of it was new to me, and that was a great feeling. I went into it (almost) blindly, being surprised by the crazy characters and many plot twists in the storyline. It felt like experiencing a long, turbulent TV show that I got to play a part in.
End of the Line
On a regular evening of playing, I walked up to Sweet’s house to start a new mission - “End of the Line”. Call me stupid, but I did not expect this to be the end of the game for some reason. The game stats only read 50% progress, so I figured there must be so much more of the story left to complete. I grew increasingly suspicious as all the main characters of the game seemed to turn up in this mission.
When I finished the mission and the end credits rolled up, my heart broke a little. I can’t lie, after years of playing this game and growing up with it, I shed a tear or two, knowing I finally completed it. It was an unexpected but very fitting and beautiful ending.
I love this game, and I’m happy to finally have finished what my younger self once started. 