Grand Theft Auto is a series famous for racking up a kill count. Often it’s done completely accidentally--you just happen to get into a fender bender, shoot the driver of the other car in front of a police cruiser, which requires you to then shoot the cop who calls in for backup before he dies, and now you’re on the run from the law after taking out a dozen cop cars, three police choppers, and one tank.

But what if the point of GTA wasn’t to tumble down an unfortunate series of events that inevitably lead to a murder spree? What if instead, you tried very hard to kill as few people as possible?

That’s what YouTuber Matthew "DarkViperAU" Judge has been doing in GTA 5 for more than three years. His pacifist run began on May 26, 2019, and recently ended with his 27th video in the series.



GTA fans will know that it is strictly impossible to avoid killing everyone in GTA 5 as there are some characters that just need to be offed in order to progress the story. So DarkViper's "pacifist" run is more like determining the fewest number of NPCs you can kill and still make it to the end of the game.

That number turned out to be 96. A breakdown at the end of the series confirmed Trevor got the most kills (naturally) followed by Michael and then Franklin. No cheats or mods were used, so every hour of the 1000-plus hours of footage you can find on DarkViper's YouTube page are legit.

Avoiding kills in GTA 5 involved a lot of stealth, patience, and taking advantage of some quirky AI behaviors. Most of DarkViper's battles were fought by friendly NPCs, while some enemies actually killed themselves accidentally. The final moments of DarkViper's run involved tricking some hired goods into falling off a balcony, for example.

Still, 96 is quite the body count for a pacifist. DarkViper hinted that he might revisit some GTA 5 missions to see if he can bring that number down a tad with some new strategies.

Meanwhile, a GTA Online role player is stuck taking the bus after failing their San Andreas driving test. That means waiting for public transportation after every heist, which can be a risky proposition for a bank robber.

Posted: Oct 07, 2022 8:38 pm
Related Forum: Grand Theft Auto Forum

Source: https://www.thegamer.com/gta-5-pacifist-run-3-years/