In Grand Theft Auto Vwe have all already rushed onto a sidewalk, shot at random or hit a passerby for fun. The NPCs, these non-player characters who populate Los Santos, often end up as collateral damage in the large sandbox designed by Rockstar Games.
A viral video, however, puts the spotlight back on what these extras experience. In January 2026, on X, the user JOLLY J (@DynamoSuperX) posted a montage writing that “GTA seen from the NPC’s perspective is terrifying…we are real monsters.” The clip has now exceeded 5.4 million views and 120,000 likes. Behind these numbers, a simple idea: stick the camera to the eyes of an NPC and watch how we really play.
GTA 5: how does an NPC’s point of view transform gameplay into a nightmare?
The montage, relayed by Meristation and Gamingbible, follows different anonymous inhabitants of Los Santos in subjective view. Technically, it’s just a camera change, obtained with the Rockstar Editor or “NPC POV” style mods, not a new official mode. But seen in the first person, GTA 5 shifts into something that resembles a psychological horror game.
You can Michael De Santa or Franklin Clinton appear in the field, take out a weapon and execute the passerby that you play, sometimes while he was in the toilet. Other sequences show NPCs driving carefully before a crazy car hits them, or helplessly watching a body fall from a building.
Seen from the sidewalks of Los Santos, what are players really doing to NPCs?
One scene sums it all up: you walk, the weather is nice, you look at the windows… A stranger approaches, takes out a pistol and shoots you dead without a word. For the player, it is a harmless gesture. For the NPC, it’s the brutal end of an ordinary day. As Sportsdunia points out, the player’s car looks like a “miniature natural disaster”, launched at inhuman speed.
The reactions under the tweet are spot on. “We are literally God, they are normal people,” sums up one comment. Others cite the film Free Guywhere an NPC becomes aware of his world in a way GTA Online. By seeing the scene through their eyes, the distance that made the NPCs mere plot points collapses, and our usual dark humor becomes significantly more annoying.
GTA 5, NPC mods and GTA 6: how far will the discomfort go?
If you want to test this look, mods like “NPC POV” on PC allow you to experience a day as an average citizen, stuck between shootouts and chases triggered by other players. Some creators even impose pacifist challenges on themselves where they try not to kill any NPC in GTA 5.
According to information compiled by Millenium, the NPCs of GTA 6 should react more to context, weather or recent events. The more credible these virtual inhabitants seem, the more likely an NPC point of view will make those who like to sow chaos uncomfortable. The next time you launch Los Santos, ask yourself if, seen by an NPC, you would still be the hero or the final boss of the city.
