The single-player story, set in 1998, follows mobster Toni Cipriani, a character first introduced in Grand Theft Auto III, and his efforts to rise through the ranks of the Leone crime family, while slowly becoming involved in a power struggle among the city's various Mafia organisations.

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories is an action-adventure game set in an open world environment and played from a third-person perspective.

[19] Like previous Grand Theft Auto games, Liberty City Stories features an array of notable actors in its cast.

[21][23] In 1998, Leone mobster Antonio "Toni" Cipriani (Danny Mastrogiorgio), forced to live abroad for four years following his murder of a made man, returns home to Liberty City.

During this time, Toni finds that his mother (Sondra James) disapproves of his low rank in the Leone family and attempts to impress her, but is eventually forced to stay away after she calls a hit on him.

Following JD's death, Salvatore begins to personally assign work to Toni, including looking after his trophy wife Maria (Fiona Gallagher).

Toni later uncovers evidence that Sicilian Mafia underboss Massimo Torini (Duccio Faggella) is orchestrating plans for minor gangs to take control of the Leones' territory, while they're engaged in a war with the Sindacco and Forelli families.

After helping to escort Salvatore downtown as problems arise, Toni earns his trust and becomes a made man within the Leone family, causing his mother to call off the hit on him.

Toni soon finds himself entrusted with killing the city's mayor, controlled by the Forellis, and assisting business tycoon Donald Love (Will Janowitz) into becoming his replacement.

However, Donald goes bankrupt after his ties to the Leones are discovered and loses to his rival Miles O'Donovan (John Braden), who promptly has Salvatore arrested on several charges soon after his election.

With the Leones now the most powerful Mafia family in Liberty City following their victory over the Sindaccos and Forellis, Salvatore finds himself targeted by his rivals, forcing Toni to protect him before his trial.

After killing Torini and rescuing O'Donovan with Toni's help, Salvatore coerces the mayor into granting his family immunity from the law.

As stated in an IGN preview, "Rockstar dropped Renderware in favor of a brand new in-house engine to best utilize the resolution, texture density and particle effects of the PSP".

[25] An enhanced port of the game, with touchscreen controls, real-time lighting, high-definition textures and draw distance, was released in December 2015 for iOS, February 2016 for Android and March 2016 for Fire OS.