5 greatest video game heists of all time 

Ever since the GTA franchise introduced the Van Heist mission in GTA Liberty City, heist missions have gone on a roll in the video gaming landscape. Some of the most prominent franchises, including the likes of Payday, Red Dead Redemption, and even Borderlands, have re-created some of their own unique versions of such missions.

These missions can keep players on their toes the whole time, while some of the best heist missions take players on a roller-coaster ride.

So let’s take a breather and honor some of the best robberies in video game history.

Note: This article reflects the author’s opinions.

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5 memorable heists in video game history

1) The Paleto Score - GTA V

The Paleto Score comes off as the fourth heist in GTA V’s main storyline. This was the first mission in GTA’s storyline when the trio Trevor, Michael Di Santa, and Franklin joined hands together to conduct a heist.

In this heist, players are required to hire a gunman to loot the bank located in Paleto Bay. Before the actual mission commences, players are required to collect the necessary gear in a separate build-up mission which involves hijacking a military convoy in the Grand Senora Desert and stealing two crates of military hardware. There is one more easy build-up mission involving scanning the Paleto Bay bank.

Once both the build-up missions are done, players can then proceed to the Paleto Bay bank. There’s basically only one way to approach the mission - a full-frontal assault on the bank. The mission then transforms into one of the most frantic heists in video gaming history, where Michael and Franklin are required to clear the initial police assault that ends with Michael needing to shoot down an entire chopper.

This is followed up by an equally steadfast chase where Michael and Franklin need to escape with Trevor with a few Rhinos behind them. Players are required to constantly shoot the police convoy in the tail with a machine gun. The mission ends with a carefully executed maneuver where the trio jumps off on a moving train near the Clukin’Bell Chicken factory, after taking down the heavy security deployed there as well.

Rewards:

After the Paleto Score is completed, Michael, Trevor and Franklin each receive a hefty reward of $464,000 each. This amount of money sets the players up to buy a couple of commercial establishments and properties. This alone generates enough revenue flow for the characters to not scurry around for cash in the open-world.

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2) The Bank Heist – Mafia 3

Mafia 3 perfectly depicts the racially charged atmosphere of 1968 New Orleans, USA, and is by far the best open-world title of the Mafia series. The game’s storyline kicks-off with a high-intensity bank robbery. This particular mission, although the very first mission of the game, ended up becoming one of the most memorable in the entire Mafia series.

Mafia 3’s bank heist offers everything right from a good disguise to an armored truck escape followed by a speedboat getaway and police on the chase throughout. This particular opening mission is one of the most well orchestrated heists in video gaming history.

Rewards:

Prologue mission.

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3) Breaking the Bank at Caligula’s - GTA San Andreas

Breaking the Bank at Caligula is a mission that has acquired legendary status in GTA history. The final heist mission in San Andreas is given to CJ by the leader of the Chinese Triad gang head-quartered in San Fierro Wu Zi Mu, also the owner of the Four Dragons Casino in Las Venturas.

Breaking the Bank at Caligula's is an optional heist in GTA’s storyline, and the entire build-up to the mission has two side-quests. One of which involves a covert mission to obtain the blueprint of the Caligula’s Casino from an official department. This particular mission takes a wrong-turn in the end, and players should expect a frantic escape from the building.

The second side-quest involves impressing a character named Millie Perkins to obtain a swipe card for the interior of the Caligula’s Casino, in the famous Key to the Heart mission. Once CJ wins over Millie, she ends up giving the card to the casino's vault room, allowing players to move in for the heist.

The actual Breaking the Bank at Caligula is quite memorable, where CJ leads an entire team and covertly invades the Caligula’s Casino’s vault room. After stealthily turning off the main power lines of the casino, the mission ends up being a close combat encounter with the security guards involving smoke grenades and night vision, as CJ carefully needs to lead his team towards the van waiting for the escape.

The mission doesn’t end there as after ensuring everybody’s safety, CJ needs to fight his way back to the top of the building and use a parachute to precisely land on a waiting chopper to escape.

Rewards:

After completing Breaking the Bank at Caligula’s Casino, CJ is rewarded with $100,000 in cash and a ton of respect.

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4) Breaking the Bank – Borderlands 2

Borderlands 2 is a terrifically well-made open-world shooter-looter title that has a heist mission of its own as well. In Borderlands 2‘s Breaking the Bank mission, Vault Hunters are tasked with breaking a bank in the rusty-looking town of Lynchwood.

Made with an extremely formidable alloy, players must secure a particular corrosive material called alien bile. To obtain the corrosive bile, Vault Hunters must first defeat the explosive laden Bandit Boss of Lynchwood called Mad Dog and take some dynamite.

Once dynamite is obtained by killing the Bandit Boss, Vault Hunters must feed the bomb to one of the local alien quadrupeds. When the poor creature inevitably vomits it back, the bile-coated bomb must be taken back to the vault of the bank and then fight off waves of sheriff’s while waiting for the timer to go off. Once the vaults are open, players must hide evidence and bury the loot in a pre-designated location.

Rewards:

After completing the Breaking the Bank mission, Vault hunters are awarded with one of the most sought-after materials on the planet of Pandora called the Purple Alien Bricks.

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5) Who the Hell is Levitious Cornwall? – Red Dead Redemption 2

Rockstar Games had perfected the art of incorporating heist missions into their GTA titles, and it did spill over to Red Dead Redemption as well. The 50-hour storyline of Red Dead Redemption 2 has some of the best ever action-packed train hijacks ever created in video gaming history.

Who the Hell is Levitious Cornwall? Arguably stands out as the best heist mission in the game. The mission is about looting a train in exchange for some Bonds. The storyline asks the protagonist Arthur Morgan to execute a robbery from a literal death trap, and this particular mission manages to take players to one hell of a shooting contest.

Rewards:

Arthur Morgan receives Bonds in exchange.

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Although the list may not contain the most rewarding heists in video game history, they are highly rewarding nonetheless, and chosen based on their relevance in the overall development of the story, instead of being the last mission that tends to give the highest rewards.