The biggest obstacle for newer players to enjoy the classics of past generations is usually the graphics.
Veteran gamers might think the original GTA IV doesn’t look too bad – but when you’ve grown up with GTA V, The Witcher 3, God of War, and Horizon: Zero Dawn, Niko’s adventure looks like a 16-bit game.
Luckily for anyone looking to share or re-experience one of the best action-adventure crime simulators, modders have been active for years crafting mods that bring this 2008 game to current times.
Clean up your glasses and put some moisturizing drops on those dry eyes, because it’s time to dive into the world of GTA IV graphic enhancements.
Not all graphic enhancements for Niko Bellic’s adventure in Liberty City involve injecting new visual effects or filters into the game. Sometimes, a little more contrast will do the trick.
The GTA IV Enhanced Reshade mod gives your game a facelift by doing just that: increasing contrast and clearing up the game’s “washed out” look.
Initially, the somewhat hazy aesthetic of GTA IV was perfect for a game about tearing down the American Dream and shining a light on its traps, but after playing GTA V, it just feels dated.
This mod makes GTA IV feel more focused and palatable for modern audiences.
The ENBseries post-processing suite allows modders to inject all sorts of extra visual effects into their favorite games, including better lighting and shaders.
ENB stands for Enhanced Natural Beauty – and that’s exactly what you’ll get from ENBLite for GTA IV.
This specific graphic enhancement shines for how much it manages to improve GTA IV’s visual fidelity without tanking your frames per second.
You’ll get more realistic lighting, intense colors, and more without taking your rig to the limit.
I always hear from GTA IV fans how playing the game feels similar to watching publicly-acclaimed movies like Scarface, Taxi Driver, and the 1997 Russian film Brother.
If you want to make Niko’s adventure feel even more like an action flick, you’ll love the Cinematic IVisuals mod.
This add-on uses ReShade to inject advanced post-processing enhancements to GTA IV. These include much better surface reflections, a cinematic Depth of Field effect, and Anti-Aliasing to smooth out the traditionally jagged edges of several in-game objects and shadows.
The result is a game that looks more natural and realistic. You’ll find several options to choose from depending on what your rig can handle – so give it a shot!
Most visual enhancement mods try to make the game more photorealistic and immersive – but not Art Style Graphics IV.
This mod is for those of you who like flashy, over-the-top visuals that evoke intense feelings instead of futile attempts at convincing your brain that what you’re looking at is, in fact, not a game.
This mod was inspired by GTA’s long history of appealing, graphic novel-styled covers, loading screens, and official wallpapers.
Thanks to cel-shading and highly vivid colors, playing GTA IV with this mod feels like a surreal fever dream – and I’m living for it!
For something much more traditional, check out Simple ENB.
Once installed, you’ll immediately notice a beautiful glossy finish and more detailed reflections on many vehicles.
The colors are also much more vivid, and every element on the screen pops out and tries to grab your attention.
This is one of my favorite mods for weather in Liberty City. It offers a distinctive look depending on whether it’s sunny, windy, foggy, or raining – and it’s all beautiful.
Increasing texture resolution is one of the most basic ways to improve the looks of an older game – and Allagga Graphics is the best option for GTA IV.
While the mod is still a work in progress, the author has updated various building surfaces, floors, and character outfits to 4K and 2K, so you can choose what works best for your rig.
The best part about it is that you can pair it with most ENB and ReShade mods for a truly spectacular result or cover untouched textures with other mods.
CryENB is one of the most well-known GTA IV beautifying tools, and it just keeps getting better with each release.
The new V3 build brings improvements like better weather, redesigned clouds, fine-tuned contrast settings, and much better shadows from buildings, vehicles, and pedestrians.
Some of the most appealing effects introduced by this mod involve lighting and reflections.
Just like taking a selfie at the right time before sunset can make you look ten times more attractive, so can the proper moody lighting make GTA IV look absolutely breathtaking.
Creator AP84 has been working on his own all-encompassing ENB enhancement for GTA IV for a while – and people are starting to notice.
The fifth version of this excellent visual upgrade features everything you’d expect, from improved lighting to more vivid colors.
What sets it apart is achieving a delicate balance between the different new visual effects, so the game shines as a whole package rather than giving it a distinct “moody,” “cinematic,” or “dramatic” appeal.
Something else I love is that the nights aren’t too dark, which other ENBs tend to fail at. I appreciate the immersion as much as the next guy, but I’d rather be able to see what I’m doing.
Hayssam Keilany’s iCEnhancer has been the gold standard for GTA IV visual enhancements for over eight years. Until he finishes iCEnhancer 4.0, it’ll remain the best option for most of us.
One of the first things you’ll notice right off the bat are more vivid and natural colors. No more gray-skinned Niko and downright depressing surroundings.
Shadows are also on a whole other level, as are the game’s reflections, which look slightly warped instead of picture-perfect like in the original game.
The game’s “video-gamey” look is also massively reduced by bringing things closer to the player’s perspective into focus like a real camera.
While waiting for the new iCEnhancer update, check out this “Natural” custom version by modder DayL.
This take on the original iCEnhancer 3.0 focuses on making the game look as photorealistic as possible.
It keeps all of the upgrades introduced by the original but tweaks color correction and lighting to tone down excessive vividness.
This way, it looks less like GTA V and more like its own thing – which is appropriate considering the game takes place in Liberty City, not some tropical paradise like Los Santos.
The best part about the previous two mods is that they’ll work fine on any mid-level rig. You’re set as long as you have a decent processor and a dedicated graphics card.
Nelson Chitty is a Venezuelan expat living in Argentina. He’s a writer and translator passionate about history and foreign cultures. His ideal weekend is spent between leisurely playing games of Civilization VI and looking for the next seinen anime to marathon.
