Hidden Areas You Completely Missed In GTA
The Grand Theft Auto franchise has its fair share of myths and legends, some of which have proven to be true. And while players have spent plenty of time plumbing the depths of Los Santos' hidden caves and haunted lighthouses looking for aliens and crypts, there is still plenty more to find within the series.
Not all of GTA's secrets are monsters or physics-defying bugs; some of them take the form of hidden locations. Some of these are spots with hard-to-reach or invisible entrances, while others are only accessible by way of glitches or mods. Some of them aren't immediately obvious, with their true natures being references to pop culture or inside jokes on the part of the developers.
Let's take a field trip to some of these tucked-away corners of the Grand Theft Auto universe and figure out where these odd spots are, as well as the hidden meanings behind some of them. It's a weird world that Rockstar Games have created, and we're just scratching the surface.
The literal Easter egg room - Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Subtlety has never been a virtue of the Grand Theft Auto series, which is fine. The franchise's willingness to go all-in is one of the reasons we love it so much. That's also why this hidden location, known as the Easter Egg Room, somehow feels completely right, given how ludicrously literal it is.
In Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, on the roof of the Vice City News Building, there is a certain portion of the wall by the building's helipad that players can jump right through. After passing through this mirage of a wall, you will find yourself in a rather simple, nondescript room. In the middle of this room is a giant chocolate egg that bears the words, "Happy Easter." In other words, this Easter egg location contains a literal Easter egg. The same room can be found in Vice City Stories, but this version appears to be under construction, referencing Vice City Stories' status as a prequel to the events of Vice City.
The heart of Liberty City - Grand Theft Auto 4
Otherwise known as "that one part of Grand Theft Auto 4 that feels like it came straight out of a Hellraiser movie," this is easily one of the more bizarre hidden locations in the GTA franchise. Off the coast of Liberty City, on Happiness Island, there stands the majestic Statue of Happiness. The statue's eerie smile and giant cup of coffee it holds aloft aren't even the weirdest things about it. No, to reach the true secret of the Statue of Happiness, you have to enter the structure.
If you can manage to land an aircraft on the statue's pedestal, you will find a door near its feet that bears a sign warning, "No Hidden Content This Way." Simply ignore the sign, walk through the door and take the ladder inside up to the center of the statue. There, you will find the Heart of Liberty City, a giant beating heart that appears to suspended by chains, with veins running from it into the walls of the statue. Players have tried to attack the heart, but it is indestructible, withstanding even rocket launcher blasts.
The deadly mine - Grand Theft Auto 5
In the area of Great Chaparral in Grand Theft Auto 5, there's an old, abandoned mine shaft all boarded up. The boards are pretty sturdy as well; in fact, when the game was first released, the only way to enter this mine was to glitch through the walls. In the next-gen releases of the game, however, the mine can be accessed through the use of explosives. Though the mine eventually leads to dead ends, you can see some old mining equipment and a grisly Easter egg at the first fork in the mine: a withered corpse in 1940s dress, identified as "Isaac."
Even spookier, some players have claimed to hear footsteps echoing in the mine, even when they're not moving. Others have reported loss of power in their flashlights when they're standing near Isaac's body, which seems to point to some kind of outside interference. So in case you were wondering: yeah, the mine is also probably haunted.
Maybe don't stay in there too long?
Howitzer's room - Grand Theft Auto 5
Jack Howitzer is a recurring character in the GTA universe, an actor who has starred in dozens of films, despite his apparent lack of talent and volatile personality. In Grand Theft Auto 5, he can be seen on television, starring in a reality show about his life. Howitzer has fallen on hard times and is living in a motel room and talking to a sock puppet that he wears on his hand at all times.
Though Howitzer is a disaster of a human being, fans of his work may be happy to know that there's a way to sneak into his motel room, which is otherwise only seen on the in-game televisions; all you have to do is abandon the laws of physics entirely. By glitching under the game's map in a certain area, you can actually parachute through the void beneath the city and into Howitzer's room at the Motor Motel. As to be expected, the room itself looks messy and kind of sad, just like Howitzer's career.
Secret hideaway at the airport - Grand Theft Auto 5
There's no shortage of places to hide out from the police in Los Santos, but few of them feel quite as much like you're a secret agent using a hidden exit than this one. It's easy to miss, but there's a secret hatch on top of one of the buildings in the Los Santos International Airport that leads into a hidden bunker. The hatch is open, but it's basically impossible to see unless you happen to be flying directly overhead, in which case it's time to land your vehicle on top of the building and investigate.
There's honestly not much to do inside, but a few of the vending machines and the water cooler inside are fully interactive, which suggests that this building may have been intended for a more functional use at some point. It might been involved in a mission that was removed during the game's development — perhaps the one where players were intended to hijack a Harrier jet from the airport. As it stands, it's still a curious little spot in the airport worth checking out, and it could provide some much-needed cover when the going gets tough.
The Lost hatch - Grand Theft Auto 5
The television series Lost was a massive hit, with fans spending years deciphering its many mysteries and clues. Even now, years after the show went off the air, folks are still trying to put together just what it all meant. Grand Theft Auto 5 adds a new wrinkle to the mystery with the presence of a mysterious hatch at the bottom of the ocean, one that very closely resembles a hatch on the island on Lost. While that hatch was a major plot point, the one in Los Santos is definitely just a goofy Easter egg on the part of Rockstar.
However, upon approaching the hard-to-find hatch, players will notice a number of odd occurrences. For one, the pressure surrounding the hatch is so great that it will destroy any submersibles that come close. Even players who are using invincibility cheats have found themselves killed by their proximity to the hatch. Moreover, players can hear Morse code coming from it. When translated, the code spells out, "Hey, you never call; how'd you fancy going bowling?" This is a reference to GTA 4 characters Roman Bellic. In other words, this hatch is just weird all around.
Entering Marco's Bistro - Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Marco's Bistro is a recurring location in the GTA series, serving throughout the years as a regular meeting place for some of Liberty City's crime families. During the events of Vice City, Marco's Bistro is another case of an interior location that appears only in cutscenes, but which some clever players have found ways to get inside.
Though some players have used mods to enter the Bistro, others have discovered a spot in the game where you can glitch your way into the restaurant by — get this — jumping through a wardrobe in the game's Ocean View Hotel. In other words, Marco's Bistro is like the GTA universe's messed-up answer to Narnia. Once inside, you'll find that the space is limited, but there are still some unsettling things to see in there. This place lives up to its reputation as a haven for the scum of the city, complete with a corpse hanging from a hook in the bistro's meat freezer. Then again, they also have a photo of Frank Sinatra on the wall, so maybe they're not all bad.
The coach's REAL house - Grand Theft Auto 5
Though there's plenty of action before this dummy butts his head into the story, the main plot of Grand Theft Auto 5 really kicks off thanks to the actions of a tennis coach named Kyle Chavis. When Michael De Santa catches his wife in bed with Chavis, he gives chase, following Chavis into the Vinewood Hills and literally destroying the house Chavis hides inside. It turns out that this wasn't Chavis' house after all, which gets Michael into a heap of trouble with a gangster named Martin Madrazo. Pretty much everything that happens from there on out, beginning with Michael's return to a life of crime, is a direct result of this confrontation. But that still leaves the lingering question: where is Kyle Chavis' actual house?
Well, it turns out that it's also in the Vinewood Hills, but you have to really keep an eye out for it. The first clue is a garage door that's opened just a crack, within which you can see a couple of tennis rackets. Around the side of this house, you can find another racket outside. Gotcha. While you can't use this information against Chavis, it's good to know where the jerk calls home.
Trevor's lab revisited - Grand Theft Auto Online
Need to make a quick getaway or hide somewhere you can't be followed? Look no further than Trevor Phillips' meth lab. While it's visited more than once during GTA 5's story mode, folks playing GTA Online may not know that there are ways to access this drug-cooking home away from home. Though the front entrance is inaccessible in GTA Online (Trevor's really big on home security, apparently), the upstairs windows are breakable by shooting at them or chucking something, after which you just need to be able to get up onto that windowsill.
This can either be done by parking a car next to the window and carefully using that as a stepping stool or, as some hilariously enterprising players have done, simply ramming your way in with a hoverbike or some other means of launching yourself into the air. After that, you're free to explore Trevor's pad to your heart's content. Just pray that he doesn't come home while you're still there.