Hidden Packages GTA

Hidden Packages are worth collecting in every GTA game where they're available.

So far, they've only appeared in five games:

GTA 3
GTA Vice City
GTA Advance
GTA Liberty City Stories
GTA 5

Although the name is the same between the games, Hidden Packages look different between its iterations. For example, it's been a white bag in one game but a tiki statue in another. It's inconsistent in its design, but the rewards are worth it in all five GTA titles.

Not every collectible can achieve similar fame. For example, pigeons in GTA 4 are not worth collecting, and being forced to collect all 200 of anything for a non-unique reward is asinine.

Why Hidden Packages are worth collecting in the GTA series over other collectibles

Some of the low-tier rewards players can get in GTA Vice City (Image via Rockstar Games)

Hidden Packages operate similarly in all appearances except for GTA 5 (which will get its own section below). Generally, the player can collect up to 100 of them, with incremental rewards for every ten collected. These rewards tend to spawn at a player's safehouse for whatever game the player is playing.

Typically, they start off small (such as awarding a Pistol at 10 Packages) before escalating to some of the strongest weaponry down the line. It seems minor at first, but it will be important for comparisons later in this article.

GTA 5's Hidden Packages

It should be noted that GTA 5's variation differs from the previous four. That said, it's worthwhile for a different reason. Usually, the player would get some money from it, and that would be it. However, players can take advantage of one infinite money trick in GTA 5 to get as much money as possible using a particular Hidden Package.

That alone makes it more worthwhile than other collectibles in the series. However, it's still worth looking at the competition.

What other collectibles do wrong

200 of any item is a bit excessive to collect (Image via Steam Community)

One of the main advantages that Hidden Packages offer over its contemporaries is incremental rewards. Take the earlier GTA 4 pigeon example:

Players have to collect a whopping 200 to get a prize.
Collecting 199 or less doesn't give the player anything meaningful.

Even games with fewer items to collect can suffer something similar. For instance, GTA San Andreas has several collectibles ranging from 50 to 100 units. Their rewards are substantially better than what 200 pigeons offer the player in GTA 4, but it's still an all-or-nothing mentality.

The mission and implications for collecting all Letter Scraps are interesting, but it's too minor of a reward otherwise (Image via Rockstar Games)

Speaking of rewards, some other collectibles don't offer many incentives. Letter scraps from GTA 5 are a good example, as collecting them all rewards the player with a mission. Finding 50 of any item to simply do a quick mission isn't a worthwhile investment in most cases.

Future GTA games can borrow from what makes Hidden Packages work, as those types of collectibles better incentivize players. Primarily, a good collectible should have: