GTA Dhanmondi before GTA VI?: How three students are bringing Dhaka to the open-world

Cruising through Vice City on a PCJ-600 in Vice City while Michael Jackson's 'Billie Jean' blasted through the speakers over the humming engine, was a core childhood memory that I am yet to experience in any other video game since.

Sure, there have been countless breathtaking open-world games since, like 'Red Dead Redemption 2', 'GTA V' or 'Sleeping Dogs', but there was an undeniable magic to that low-poly world that felt more tangible to us as kids than any modern AAA title. And now, that nostalgia is finally colliding with our own reality. 

For years, the closest we ever got to local representation was the legendary Vice City Bangla mod, but we are now on the precipice of something far more ambitious: a meticulously crafted, 1:1 open-world simulation of Dhanmondi. 

This untitled project, currently available as demo footage, offers a pioneering open-world simulation of Dhanmondi where players can drive through and explore a near-exact recreation of the area. While it remains a working simulation with assets being continuously refined to mirror real-world buildings as closely as possible, the project has already gained a bit of traction for finally bringing our own streets and landmarks into a playable digital space for the first time.

So yes, one could actually say that we are on the verge of having a "GTA Dhanmondi" before GTA VI!

The project is powered by three young students: Rafid Ahmed, currently sitting for his A Levels, Md Nabil Islam from the HSC 2025 batch, and Tanzim Abrar, a freshman at North South University. Together, they are developing a game that feels distinctly local—something made by us, for us. 

Built from home, for home

The inspiration behind the idea was surprisingly simple. Rafid had been deeply engaged with GeoGuessr, an online game that drops players into random locations via Google Street View and challenges them to identify where they are. Skilled players often practise by exploring different regions, learning to recognise roads, landscapes, and environmental details.

However, Rafid envisioned something more immersive. He wondered why not create a simulation that offered greater interactivity and movement. This sparked the trio's decision to design a game where players could actively drive through cities—experiencing them beyond static images. And naturally, they chose to begin with a place closest to home.

When I first saw clips of the game, I was ready to be impressed even if it only vaguely resembled Dhanmondi. But spotting 11A recreated in a simulation—after spending most of my life there—felt entirely different. 

It brought back a kind of excitement I rarely feel with games anymore: a genuine urge to jump in and explore. This is the kind of project I wouldn't have expected for another 15 or 20 years—certainly not at this level of quality.

You can visit real-life locations like Robindro Sorobor, Shimanto Shambhar, or Road no 7. While the visuals for these locations are still in their beta phase, and how much you can interact with them is still unknown, the development plans for this project do foreshadow playable missions in areas we know so dearly.

And the cars that you can drive around will be cars that already flood our streets. From your Toyota Allion to the Prius, the vision is to make the game close to our daily life. However, it is still unconfirmed what mechanics the developers are planning to introduce, so driving around might be the core experience in this game for a while.

Just basing it off the footage we have seen and received, the driving physics look smooth, but right now, there are no other cars or obstructions on the road. So, seeing how the game performs when all of these elements are present will be interesting. Unlike other open-world games, making driving actually fun in a full-scale replica of Dhanmondi, where there are too many narrow streets and alleys, will be a challenge.

Through using a complex AI-dependent pipeline that was able to push the game into a level of realism that would take hundreds of people to develop over years. 

"If you wanted to even make a bad model from scratch in 'Blender', it would take you 6 to 7 hours at minimum. But with AI, it is just a few clicks away," explained Rafid.

What lies ahead

Currently, the team has already finished writing the storyline and is planning to execute this very script without any interventions from investors. Obviously, there are a lot of other gameplay elements that would need to be developed alongside this, like character models, mechanics, voice acting, and others, but the team is already working to make it a game that people can enjoy and be proud of.

But with an abundance of video game studios failing to deliver the experience they promised, there is some valid scepticism from people who are genuinely rooting for the project to succeed. 

"We are working very hard to make sure we are able to deliver the best possible experience. And I promise I will make sure it does not become AI slop. We do not want to disappoint anyone; we want to go all the way," Rafid responded.

There are obvious other pit-stops in the development process even when you are using an AI-based pipeline. The biggest one is obviously procuring financing as an indie studio in a country where game development is extremely niche. 

"Relying on just venture capitalism leads to a lot of conflict of interest, and with the vision we have for the project, we are trying to find ways to self-finance it as well."

The game's core vision is accessibility—something anyone can pick up and enjoy, not just dedicated gamers. The team has consistently highlighted their ambition to create a project that could help push Bangladesh's gaming industry forward. With enough success, they hope to expand into a larger team of creative talent who share that same goal.

Their immediate focus is on releasing a playable public demo. Right now, they are ironing out bugs and optimisation issues, including ensuring the game can run smoothly on lower-spec PCs so more people can experience it. The demo will also receive regular updates and patches shaped by community feedback.

If everything goes to plan, the demo should be ready within the next few months.