ActionAdventure
Grand Theft Auto IV: The Complete Edition
The first 3 hours are a test
Gets good by 3h almost every game dips in hours 2–3
Reach the ending 17% of players who started
Started playing 56% of owners
Steam reviews 83% positive of 206,612
What the data shows
- In the first 2 hours 1 in 2 reviews are negative (50%); after 15h it's 1 in 8 (12%).
- The opening is criticised more than in 77% of games we track.
- 17% of players who start reach the ending.
- The biggest drop-off is between “Off The Boat” (Complete the first mission) and “Fed The Fish” (Complete the mission "Uncle Vlad"): from 100% to 61% of starters.
- Only 56% of owners have even the first achievement — the rest barely played.
When it gets good
Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.
before it gets good opening up fully opened up
Based on all 207,390 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 296 reviews: 29.2h for positive, 24.1h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.
Where players quit
Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (55.8% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.
- Started playing 100%
- Off The Boat Complete the first mission. 100%
- Fed The Fish Complete the mission "Uncle Vlad". Most players quit here 61% −39
- Lowest Point Complete mission "Roman's Sorrow". 49% −12
- Impossible Trinity Complete mission "Museum Piece". 28% −21
- Gracefully Taken Complete mission "I'll Take Her". 23% −5
- That Special Someone Complete mission "That Special Someone". 21% −2
- You Won! Complete the final mission. 17% −4
story milestone ending biggest drop-off
Story milestones were labeled by AI from achievement names and descriptions; mistakes are possible.
All achievements (55)
story milestone ending side
- Off The Boat Complete the first mission. 100%
- Fed The Fish Complete the mission "Uncle Vlad". 61%
- Lowest Point Complete mission "Roman's Sorrow". 49%
- Driving Mr. Bellic Unlock the special ability of taxi. 45%
- Warm Coffee Successfully date a girl to be invited into her house. 39%
- Full Exploration Unlock all the islands. 32%
- Impossible Trinity Complete mission "Museum Piece". 28%
- TLAD: One Percenter Help Billy get his bike back. (The Lost and Damned) 24%
- Walk Free Lose a 4 star wanted rating by outrunning the cops. 24%
- Gracefully Taken Complete mission "I'll Take Her". 23%
- Half Million Reach a balance of $500,000. 23%
- That Special Someone Complete mission "That Special Someone". 21%
- Pool Shark Beat a friend at pool. 19%
- You Won! Complete the final mission. 17%
- Liberty City Minute Complete the story missions in less than 30 hours. 14%
- Retail Therapy Unlock the special ability of buying guns from a friend. 14%
- Wheelie Rider Do a wheelie lasting at least 500 feet on a motorbike. 14%
- TLAD: The Lost Boy Become leader of The Lost. (The Lost and Damned) 12%
- One Hundred And Eighty In a darts game score 180 with 3 darts. 11%
- It'll Cost Ya Complete a taxi ride without skipping from one island to another. 10%
- Assassin's Greed Complete all 9 assassin missions. 10%
- TBoGT: Diamonds Forever Complete the Trinity. (The Ballad of Gay Tony) 10%
- TLAD: Easy Rider Finish the story. (The Lost and Damned) 9.9%
- One Man Army Survive 5 minutes on 6 star wanted level. 9.3%
- TBoGT: Maestro Finish the Ballad. (The Ballad of Gay Tony) 8.8%
- Gobble Gobble Score 3 strikes in a row, a turkey, in 10-pin bowling. 8.2%
- Order Fulfilled Complete all 10 Exotic Export orders. 6.8%
- Dial B For Bomb Unlock the special ability of phoning for a bomb to be placed. 5.7%
- Chain Reaction You must blow up 10 vehicles in 10 seconds. 5.6%
- Courier Service Complete all 10 package delivery jobs. 5.6%
- TBoGT: Adrenaline Junkie Freefall for the longest possible time. (The Ballad of Gay Tony) 5.6%
- That's How We Roll! Unlock the special ability of helicopter. 5.6%
- TLAD: Full Chat Build Terry and Clay's toughness to 100%. (The Lost and Damned) 5.2%
- Cleaned The Mean Streets Capture 20 criminals through the police computer. 5.2%
- Manhunt Complete the most wanted side missions from the police computer. 5.2%
- Rolled Over Do 5 car rolls in a row from one crash. 4.7%
- King of QUB3D Beat the High Score in QUB3D. 3.9%
- Key To The City Achieve 100% in "Game progress" statistic. 3.8%
- TBoGT: Snow Queen Complete 25 drug wars. (The Ballad of Gay Tony) 3.6%
- Under The Radar Fly underneath the main bridges in the game that cross water with a helicopter. 3.6%
- Finish Him Complete 10 melee counters in 4 minutes. 3.4%
- TBoGT: Bear Fight Win the L.C. Cage Fighters championship. (The Ballad of Gay Tony) 3.2%
- TBoGT: Four Play Hit a flag with a golf ball four times. (The Ballad of Gay Tony) 3.0%
- Liberty City (5) After meeting all possible friends, the ones left alive all like you above 90%. 3.0%
- No More Strangers Meet all random characters. 3.0%
- You Got The Message Deliver all 30 cars ordered through text message. 3.0%
- Sightseer Fly on all helicopter tours of Liberty City. 2.9%
- TBoGT: Gone Down Complete all base jumps. (The Ballad of Gay Tony) 2.7%
- Endangered Species Collect every hidden package in the game. 2.7%
- Genetically Superior Come first in 20 singleplayer street races. 2.7%
- Dare Devil Complete 100% of the unique stunt jumps. 2.7%
- TLAD: Get Good Wood In the bike races, whack off 69 bikers with a bat. (The Lost and Damned) 2.5%
- TBoGT: Catch the Bus Dance perfectly in both Tony's nightclubs. (The Ballad of Gay Tony) 2.3%
- TBoGT: Gold Star Score 100% in all missions. (The Ballad of Gay Tony) 2.0%
- TBoGT: Past the Velvet Rope Score 80% or above in all missions. (The Ballad of Gay Tony) 2.0%
Steam page Updated: 2026-10-22.