5 reasons why GTA 3 protagonist Claude is so underrated

Claude, the GTA 3 protagonist, is a fairly underrated Grand Theft Auto hero. There are many reasons for this, with the most prominent one being that the game he appeared in is quite old, and very few people have played it. There's also the question of his personality, which most fans found lacking in comparison to the later protagonists.

It's important to note, however, that the reason why the GTA 3 protagonist was made this way is because he was the first one in the series to be actually considered as a character. The previous heroes were just blank slates with no history whatsoever.

This article delves into some of the major reasons why Claude, the GTA 3 protagonist, is so overlooked.

Note: The article is subjective and solely reflects the writer's opinion.

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5 reasons why fans overlook GTA 3 protagonist Claude

1) He's silent

A major reason why Claude is hardly compared to most other heroes is because the GTA 3 protagonist doesn't speak. It's not that he's mute, as he could've communicated in sign language if that were the case. It's just that he simply doesn't respond to anyone, as Rockstar Games intentionally made him this way.

They wanted Claude to be somewhat of a blank slate so that players could see the world of Liberty City in GTA 3 through his eyes. However, Grand Theft Auto 3 isn't the most immersive of games, and as such, he appears to be a boring character.

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2) No goals or motivation

Much of what Claude does as the GTA 3 protagonist makes little sense. His initial goal seems to be revenge on Catalina, his ex-girlfriend, who shoots and leaves him for dead, leading to his arrest. However, he ends up running errands for almost every criminal in the city without question.

At one point, when he was working with the Yakuza, Claude ended up betraying them just because Donald Love told him to. This felt much more treacherous because the Yakuza were helping him in finding Catalina. Throughout the course of the game, Claude commits many other violent actions without any remorse.

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3) GTA 3 hasn't aged well

GTA 3 was way ahead of its time when it came out, as there was no other game like it. However, with so many Grand Theft Auto titles having been released since then, it feels a lot more outdated than the rest of the games in the series. Most new players have never played the game, and as such, they don't know much about the GTA 3 protagonist.

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4) No backstory

Claude, unlike most other heroes from the series, doesn't have a proper backstory. He is only revealed as the GTA 3 protagonist, but we're never told who he was before the game's events. The only thing you get to know is that he tried to rob the Bank of Liberty with his girlfriend Catalina, who betrayed him and left him for dead.

Later, Rockstar added him as one of the characters in GTA San Andreas, but even there, not much is known about him. His criminal history, if any, is not revealed at any point in any of these games.

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5) No narrative focus

The story in Grand Theft Auto 3 is fairly rough, as it doesn't follow a consistent narrative and is more focused on showing off the different gameplay elements that Rockstar added to the game. The GTA 3 protagonist goes on a rampage throughout the course of the story in what's seemingly a quest for revenge, and that's about it.

He runs errands for various characters, as mentioned, and some of these don't even fit in with the main plot. In comparison, Grand Theft Auto 6 is expected to have the most engaging story yet, and a new GTA 6 leak has apparently revealed the story length.