# Grand Theft Auto IV

9 Hacker News commenters recommended Grand Theft Auto IV and 7 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 7 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Praised as an enjoyable, well-liked open-world game by its fans. The most common caveat is that it is hard to get running on modern PCs.

## Why people recommend it

- Enjoyable and well liked (3 comments): "I thought that aspect of the game was kind of fun." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49218717)) "I'm a really big fan of Grand Theft Auto IV" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50329876)) "I ended up really liking it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46938879))

## What people warn about

- Difficult to install on PC (2 comments): "Years ago I had tried to install GTA4 on a PC and it basically didn't work." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48798521)) "GTA IV even on regular old Windows is a shitshow to get working" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48815497))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Helldivers 2](https://hackerapproved.com/p/helldivers-2.md): 50 recommend
- [Triple-A Minesweeper](https://hackerapproved.com/p/triple-a-minesweeper.md): 40 recommend
- [Quake II](https://hackerapproved.com/p/quake-2.md): 33 recommend
- [Red Dead Redemption 2](https://hackerapproved.com/p/red-dead-redemption-2.md): 28 recommend
- [Grand Theft Auto (1997)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/grand-theft-auto.md): 28 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Grand Theft Auto IV", https://hackerapproved.com/p/grand-theft-auto-iv/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).