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GTA 3 is one of the most influential games in the long-running series, as it introduced players to the 3D Universe. While there are many beloved characters in the game, there is one who got removed during the development: Darkel.
He was supposed to be the main character and be voiced by the late Bill Fiore. Such history makes one wonder why he was removed from the game.
With that being said, let’s learn everything about Darkel’s removal from GTA 3.
Everything to know about Darkel and his removal from GTA 3
Darkel was scheduled to be an American character, with Liberty City as his hometown in GTA 3. He was supposed to give five missions to players at a certain point in the story. The now-late actor Bill Fiore was going to voice the character.
Despite being removed from the main game, he still appeared in the manual credits of the game. Players can also find his textures in the game's data files.
He was supposed to be a bald man, with greyish-black facial hair, living underneath the city's Callahan Bridge. Although Rockstar stated that the character was intended to appear in five different missions, only one was named: I Scream, You Scream
The mission is the only one of the five that still exists in the game, however, Darkel was replaced with El Burro in the final release. Over the years, many speculated that the character was removed due to the 9/11 incident, with many believing that one of his missions was going to involve controversial explosions.
After years of silence, Rockstar Games finally broke their silence in 2011 and dispelled rumors regarding Darkel’s removal. In a newswire posted on December 15, 2011, the developers addressed the queries posed by the GTA community.
One such fan, BenDer, asked about Darkel, referring to his pictures being available on the official website and his name appearing in the game booklet. He asked about the character’s purpose and the reason for his removal.
Rockstar responded by simply stating that Darkel was a crazy character who was going to give players some outlandish missions. Four of them were cut from the final version. The developers also acknowledged the rumors of his removal due to the 9/11 incident by stating:
“They were removed a few months before the game was done and long before 9/11 because they just weren’t as good as the rest of the game, and tonally they were a little odd. He started with 5 missions and they were slowly all cut. When only one or 2 were left, they were all removed as the character just didn’t work alongside the other characters.”
Another user, Etoddgta, also questioned if fans can expect to see beta Darkel missions in the future. The developers simply stated:
“No. The guys at Rockstar North are far too busy working on future stuff to ever figure out how to fix these old unfinished missions and get them running.”
It’s not odd to see these types of omissions from a game if a certain character or mission doesn’t fit with the overall structure. With GTA 6 being the upcoming title in the series, fans can expect a new character to make a blockbuster debut.
For The Biggest GTA 6 Map Leaks, Click Here.
