Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City

Updated 29 October 2026 · Fan site. Not affiliated with Rockstar Games or Take-Two Interactive.

Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City is a 2009 compilation of GTA IV's two expansions, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony. It came out on Xbox 360 on 29 October 2009 and on PS3 and Windows on 13 April 2010 in North America. The disc runs on its own, so you do not need GTA IV to play it.

What is Episodes from Liberty City?

Episodes from Liberty City puts the two story expansions for Grand Theft Auto IV on a single disc. Both episodes were made by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. Each was first sold as a download for Xbox 360, and the compilation gave players a boxed version that does not need the original game, according to Wikipedia.

The two episodes are The Lost and Damned, starring biker Johnny Klebitz of The Lost MC, and The Ballad of Gay Tony, starring Luis Lopez, the bodyguard and business partner of nightclub owner Tony Prince. Both use the same city as GTA IV, including Alderney.

Do you need GTA IV to play Episodes from Liberty City?

No, not for the disc. The boxed compilation is standalone. gta.wiki notes that a few phone conversations are missing if the main game is not installed. The separate downloadable episodes were different: they did need the original GTA IV disc.

When was Episodes from Liberty City released?

The Xbox 360 came first because of a deal between Rockstar and Microsoft that gave the console timed exclusivity. The Lost and Damned went on sale as a download on 17 February 2009, and the disc and The Ballad of Gay Tony followed on 29 October 2009. The PlayStation 3 and Windows versions were announced in January 2010, initially for 30 March, and then slipped to April.

On PS3 the episodes could also be bought one at a time from the PlayStation Store, and on PC through the Games for Windows Live marketplace. In March 2020 the separate PC release was retired and folded into GTA IV: The Complete Edition, which includes both episodes but not their multiplayer modes.

What is in each episode?

The Lost and Damned is built around the biker gang. Fellow Lost members ride with Johnny in some missions and gain experience if they survive, and he can call friends Terry and Clay for backup. New side activities include Gang Wars and Bike Races, where riders can knock each other off with bats. Its new weapons include a sawn-off shotgun, an automatic pistol, a grenade launcher, pipe bombs and a pool cue. It also added mid-mission checkpoints, so a failed mission can be retried from the last stage reached.

The Ballad of Gay Tony is lighter and flashier. It adds a parachute and BASE jumping, an altimeter on the HUD, club management, drug wars, triathlons and an underground fight tournament, plus mission scoring borrowed from Chinatown Wars. Both came with online modes, such as Lone Wolf Biker and Club Business in The Lost and Damned, and gta.wiki lists three radio stations found only in the episodes.

How do the GTA IV stories overlap?

All three stories happen in Liberty City at the same time in 2008, and the main characters cross paths. Niko Bellic and Johnny work a heroin deal for Elizabeta Torres that turns out to be a police sting. Johnny's gang later steals a shipment of diamonds that Tony Prince bought for Ray Boccino, and Niko collects them from Johnny's hiding place. The follow-up exchange at the museum is ambushed, with each game showing the shootout from its own hero's side.

The Ballad of Gay Tony ties the diamond thread together. Luis is present at moments seen in the other games, such as the bank robbery in the GTA IV mission "Three Leaf Clover" and Niko's kidnapping of Gracie. In the end the diamonds fall into the hands of a homeless veteran, who sells them and leaves for Vice City, according to Wikipedia.

How were the episodes received?

Wikipedia does not list scores for the compilation itself, but both parts reviewed well. Metacritic has The Lost and Damned at 90 out of 100 on Xbox 360 and 88 on PS3, and The Ballad of Gay Tony at 89 and 87. The Ballad of Gay Tony won Best DLC at the 2009 Spike Video Game Awards.