This indie game might just shake up the genre and could ENDS end GTA?
ENDS is shaping up to be one of the most GTA-like games we’ve seen in years, but a brand-new reveal about its map has completely turned the tables on its head. The streets of London won’t be the only playground for you “mandem”, because the developers have confirmed the addition of a massive, explorable mountain range. It’s a bold move for an indie studio daring to step out of the shadow of Grand Theft Auto.
Concrete Realm Games recently shared a deep dive in their developer blog, confirming that ENDS will feature a huge playable region outside London’s M25 ring road. This isn’t your typical urban London. This is less EastEnders and more Red Dead Redemption. The hints point to a landscape inspired by the Welsh Valleys or the Scottish Highlands.
The devs specifically referred to “a range of mountains to climb,” which indicates a level of exploration that nobody saw coming, and it hit us like a tracer bullet. The mountains are accessible via the train network (a feature we had assumed was just for city fast travel), and they’re set to host “secluded operations, hideouts, and high-stakes escapes.”
A London-based crime game with mountains? London is famously flat. This single piece of information makes it clear that ENDS isn’t just another GTA: London clone.
To really understand the stakes here, it helps to look at the history of GTA-like games that have tried and failed. The genre’s graveyard is full of high-profile failures. MindsEye is the most recent example. Leslie Benzies, former Rockstar North president, was at the helm, and the hype was massive. But when it launched in 2025, it was one of the worst-reviewed releases in recent memory. Because it tried to copy GTA’s formula instead of understanding it.
MindsEye was technically impressive but completely soulless. It wasn’t just the bugs; it was the emptiness of the world. A sandbox with no purpose. A mind with no eyes, I should say. MindsEye tried to be a GTA Online competitor without even having a good single-player world, and the result was just an utter mess.
The Saints Row reboot suffered a similar fate, failing to understand what its fans wanted.
When you try to attack the king in this industry, you’d better bring something exceptional, or you end up going down six feet under. ENDS is walking a tightrope here. Its competition isn’t just GTA; it’s also Watch Dogs: Legion, a game that’s already set in London.
Legion was technically impressive—a 1:1-scale London with functioning public transport, buildings, and lively streets. But in practice, the “play as anyone” system resulted in zero character investment. Everyone is the protagonist, so no one really is. You didn’t get to know anyone; you were just choosing skills. It was essentially a spreadsheet with dialogue pasted on top. This is the very ghost ENDS needs to “end” for this genre.
According to the Steam page, ENDS is tackling this problem head-on.
The focus is on a single, deeply personal story: a coming-of-age tale exploring brotherhood and family. This isn’t about saving London or generic crime narratives; it’s character-driven. You are meant to care about one main character rather than dozens; they can swap in and out.
So that makes the mountain range not just a map addition; it’s a masterstroke. London, particularly in a game about crime and social classes, has been done before, tried and tested. It’s the “challenges and choices of urban life.” The mountains, by contrast, are freedom. They represent isolation, a place where city rules don’t apply. They are literally a way to rise above the chaos.
The contrast between the city and the wilderness then becomes a visual metaphor for the class divide. The urban poor are trapped in the concrete jungle, while the mountains offer a dangerous but freeing alternative. This opens up new narrative options. Imagine a betrayal in the city forcing the brotherhood to flee to the mountains.
In a way, this could be the UK’s Red Dead Redemption 2. London acts as Saint Denis, and the mountains cover the rest of the map. But from a gameplay perspective, it’s terrifying. Concrete Realm Games is essentially building two games in one. Game One is the London street-crime simulator. As I said, we have seen that before.
Game Two is the wilderness exploration experience. How does that even work? Your moped is useless on mountain trails. Combat shifts from alley brawls to challenges that may be survival-, stealth-, or environmental-based. The climbing mechanic is still unclear; an Assassin’s Creed-style “climb anything” system seems unlikely given the indie budget. More likely, it will resemble Uncharted-style climbing at set points. And the train is the lynchpin, the connection between these two worlds.
It must feel seamless. This is the point where ENDS could meet its end (I am sorry for making that joke a third time; it will happen again). ENDS is promising two fully realized worlds. If the mountain range ends up as a procedurally generated, empty expanse with nothing to do, it could break the pacing and reveal the indie budget limitations. The 2026 beta is no longer a simple test; it is a trial, and ENDS better win this case.
ENDS is daring to take risks and is unlike anything we’ve seen in the GTA-like genre in years.
London and its concrete streets promise the familiar tension of urban crime, while the mountains offer a fresh perspective on the genre. Whether this gamble pays off remains to be seen, but the ambition alone is enough to make ENDS one of the most exciting games on the horizon.
There is very little difference between success and failure. ENDS has the potential to redefine what a GTA-inspired game can be if Concrete Realm Games can make both worlds feel heartfelt. If not, it risks becoming a warning to anyone not to try to imitate GTA. As they push the limits of what players might anticipate from an independent GTA-like, all eyes are currently on the mountains and the streets of London.
