# The 15 Best Open-World Games to Play While Waiting for GTA VI.
Geminvo – The air in the gaming world is thick with anticipation. Every trailer drop, every rumor, every supposed leak for Grand Theft Auto VI sends shockwaves across the internet. The wait for the next chapter in Rockstar’s magnum opus is a monumental, shared experience for millions of players. But let’s be honest: it’s a long wait. And that void, the one shaped like a sprawling, chaotic, and endlessly entertaining city, needs filling.
As veteran critics who have collectively spent thousands of hours exploring digital sandboxes, we see this waiting period not as a problem, but as a golden opportunity. It’s a chance to dive into the incredible open-world games that have been inspired by, or have innovated alongside, the Grand Theft Auto series. This isn’t just another list of popular games. This is a definitive, expertly curated guide designed specifically for the GTA fan. We’ve meticulously selected and ranked these titles based on the core DNA that makes the GTA experience so special.
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Our Selection Criteria
To ensure every game on this list truly resonates with fans of Los Santos and Vice City, we established a clear set of criteria. This is how we separated the merely good from the truly great GTA alternatives:
World Interactivity & Density: How alive does the world feel? We’re looking for games with dynamic NPC routines, unpredictable random events, and a palpable sense of place that makes you feel like you’re in a living, breathing world.
Player Freedom & Emergent Gameplay: How much can you do outside the main story? The best sandboxes give you the tools to create your own fun, your own stories, and your own chaos—a cornerstone of the GTA experience.
Quality of Traversal: Is getting from A to B an adventure in itself? Whether you’re behind the wheel of a car, on horseback, or swinging between skyscrapers, the simple act of moving through the world has to be engaging and fun.
Compelling Side Content: Are the distractions as good as the main plot? We prioritized games where side quests and activities are meaningful, well-written, and rewarding, not just icons to be checked off a map. With that, grab your controller. Your next great open-world adventure awaits.
The Ultimate Countdown: 15 GTA Alternatives to Play Right Now
15. Mad Max (2015, Avalanche Studios)
In a desolate, post-apocalyptic wasteland, you step into the dusty boots of Max Rockatansky. After a brutal run-in with a gang led by the warlord Scabrous Scrotus leaves you without your iconic Interceptor, you team up with a strange, hunchbacked mechanic named Chumbucket. Together, you must build the ultimate survival vehicle, the “Magnum Opus,” and carve a path of revenge across the unforgiving desert.
The heart and soul of this game is its spectacular vehicular combat. The loop of scavenging for parts, upgrading your Magnum Opus with battering rams, side-mounted flamethrowers, and the iconic explosive-tipped “thunderpoon,” and then using it to tear apart enemy convoys is pure, adrenaline-fueled joy. It feels like a more focused and brutal evolution of the car-based mayhem from GTA. The system of systematically dismantling enemy influence in different territories will also feel comfortably familiar to anyone who has methodically taken over the districts of Los Santos.
Mad Max elevates the vehicle from a disposable tool, as it often is in GTA, to the central character of the game. Your progression is tied not just to Max’s abilities, but to the Magnum Opus itself. This deep, meaningful customization creates a powerful bond with your car that is entirely different from GTA’s automotive buffet. The hauntingly beautiful and desolate wasteland also provides a unique atmosphere of survival, where finding a can of food or a source of water feels like a major victory.
While the car combat is phenomenal, the on-foot combat is a fairly standard, if brutal, take on the Batman: Arkham-style free-flow system and can become repetitive over time. The world, while incredibly atmospheric, is intentionally sparse and empty, which might feel slow for players accustomed to the non-stop action of a dense, modern city.
14. Saints Row: The Third Remastered (2020, Volition/Sperasoft)
The 3rd Street Saints are no longer just a street gang; they’re a global media empire with their own energy drink and celebrity endorsements. This high-profile status attracts the attention of the Syndicate, a legendary criminal organization that ambushes the Saints and strands them in the new city of Steelport. Stripped of their power and resources, the Saints must start from scratch and conquer the city in the most outlandish, chaotic, and ridiculous ways imaginable.
This is the open-world crime genre with the absurdity dial cranked to maximum. If you love the satirical edge of GTA, Saints Row: The Third takes that concept and runs with it into a neon-drenched fever dream. It provides a fantastic urban sandbox, a huge variety of vehicles and weapons, and the familiar gameplay loop of taking over city districts from rival gangs. The sheer, unadulterated fun of causing mayhem with weapons like a giant purple dildo bat or calling in a satellite-targeted airstrike on a luchador wrestling gang is simply undeniable.
While early Saints Row games were often labeled “GTA clones,” this entry deliberately carved its own identity by completely abandoning any pretense of realism. It’s a game where you can skydive out of a tank, participate in a deadly Japanese-style game show, and drive around with a tiger in your passenger seat. It leans into being a pure power fantasy playground, offering incredibly deep character customization and a full co-op campaign for shared, unscripted chaos.
The humor is extremely juvenile and unapologetically “over-the-top,” which may not land with everyone. It’s more crass and silly than the sharp, witty social commentary found in Rockstar’s titles. The core gameplay, while a blast, is mechanically simpler than modern GTA entries.
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13. Days Gone (2019, Bend Studio)
Set in the beautiful but treacherous landscape of post-apocalyptic Oregon, two years after a global pandemic turned millions into zombie-like “Freakers,” you play as Deacon St. John. A former outlaw biker and current drifter, Deacon survives as a bounty hunter while mourning his wife, Sarah, whom he believes died in the initial chaos. When a clue suggests she might still be alive, he embarks on a desperate quest across a hostile, broken world.
The feeling of freedom and danger while cruising on your motorcycle through a vast, unpredictable open world is a massive draw. Your bike isn’t just a vehicle; it’s your lifeline. It requires constant refueling and repairs, creating a tense and engaging traversal loop where every journey is a calculated risk. The third-person gunplay is solid, and the loop of clearing out enemy encampments—both human and Freaker—to make the roads safer has a satisfying, territory-control feel.
The “Horde” mechanic is the game’s crown jewel and a truly unique spectacle in gaming. Facing a terrifying, flowing tidal wave of hundreds of Freakers at once is an experience unlike any other. It’s not a simple gunfight; it’s a desperate, strategic puzzle that requires clever use of traps, explosives, choke points, and the environment itself to survive. The focus on survival and resource management is also much deeper than in GTA.
The game has a notoriously slow start. It takes a good 5-10 hours for the story, characters, and world to really open up and hit their stride. Deacon’s perpetually gruff and shouty personality can be grating for some players, and the mission design can occasionally fall into repetitive fetch-quest territory.
12. Far Cry 6 (2021, Ubisoft Toronto)
You are Dani Rojas, a reluctant guerrilla fighter swept up in a revolution on the fictional Caribbean island of Yara. Ruled by the iron-fisted dictator Antón Castillo (brilliantly portrayed by Giancarlo Esposito), Yara is a tropical paradise frozen in time. You must join the revolutionary movement, Libertad, to ignite a fire that will burn the tyrannical regime to the ground.
Far Cry 6 delivers the classic, polished “Ubisoft open-world” formula that offers a comfortable and explosive experience. If you enjoy the core loop of exploring a massive map, systematically taking over enemy outposts, and unlocking a huge arsenal of weapons and vehicles to cause widespread chaos, this game has you covered in spades. The ability to commandeer tanks, fly helicopters, and customize a wide array of firearms will feel right at home for any fan of sandbox destruction.
The “Resolver” philosophy is a key gameplay hook, allowing you to embrace guerrilla ingenuity by crafting bizarre and powerful makeshift weapons. These range from a minigun powered by a motorcycle engine to a backpack that launches homing missiles. The vibrant, sun-soaked island of Yara is a distinct and beautiful setting, and the “Amigos” companion system lets you recruit animal sidekicks—like a punk-rock rooster or a t-shirt-wearing crocodile—to assist you in combat.
This is the very definition of a “checklist” open world. While undeniably fun, the structure is highly formulaic. If you’ve played other recent Far Cry games, the gameplay loop of clearing outposts and hunting for upgrades will feel extremely familiar. The enemy AI can also be inconsistent, sometimes leading to less-than-challenging encounters.
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11. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (2023, Insomniac Games)
Peter Parker and Miles Morales return as New York’s protectors, facing their greatest threats yet. The ruthless Kraven the Hunter arrives, turning the city into his personal hunting ground for super-powered individuals. Meanwhile, the monstrous Venom symbiote bonds with Peter, granting him incredible power but twisting his personality, threatening to destroy him and everyone he loves.
It’s all about the sheer, unadulterated joy of traversal. While you’re not stealing cars, the feeling of absolute freedom as you swing at high speeds, glide with the new Web Wings, and zip through a breathtakingly realized New York City is second to none. The city is dense, detailed, and packed with random street crimes and side activities that make it feel alive and reactive, much like a world crafted by Rockstar. The combat is a fluid, acrobatic, and explosive power fantasy that is a constant delight.
The traversal system is arguably the best in the history of video games. It redefines open-world movement by making the journey itself the primary reward. The ability to seamlessly switch between playing as Peter and Miles on the fly adds wonderful variety to both gameplay and storytelling. The combat, while sharing DNA with the Arkham series, incorporates unique aerial combos and a host of gadgets and special abilities (like Peter’s symbiote powers and Miles’ bio-electric venom) that give it a distinct, high-flying identity.
This is a superhero game, not a crime simulator. The goal is to stop crime, not participate in it. The open-world activities, while fun, are not as deep or emergent as those in a GTA game. The experience is more curated and less of a true “sandbox” for player-driven chaos.
10. Mafia: Definitive Edition (2020, Hangar 13)
This is a stunning, ground-up remake of the 2002 cult classic. Set in the fictional 1930s American city of Lost Heaven, the game chronicles the story of Tommy Angelo. A humble cab driver, Tommy has a chance encounter with the mob that reluctantly pulls him into the world of organized crime. You’ll experience his rise through the ranks of the Salieri crime family during the tumultuous Prohibition era.
It offers a masterfully told, cinematic crime story that can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with some of Rockstar’s best narratives. The 1930s setting is impeccably realized, from the gorgeous architecture and period-accurate fashion to the weighty, authentic-feeling cars that handle like the heavy steel beasts they were. The core gameplay of third-person shooting and driving will feel familiar, but with a more grounded and less arcade-like feel.
This is a narrative-first experience. While it is set within a beautifully crafted open world, the game is fundamentally a linear story told in chapters. The city of Lost Heaven serves as an immersive, atmospheric backdrop for the gripping plot, rather than a playground for emergent chaos. The “Free Ride” mode allows you to explore the city at your leisure, but the main campaign is much more structured than a typical GTA game.
You should not go into this game expecting a true sandbox experience. The focus is squarely on the story. The police are also much stricter about traffic laws, especially on the game’s “Classic” difficulty, which can be a jarring change of pace for players used to causing consequence-free pile-ups.
9. Ghost of Tsushima (2020, Sucker Punch Productions)
In the year 1274, the Mongol Empire invades the Japanese island of Tsushima, slaughtering its samurai defenders. As one of the last surviving members of his clan, Lord Jin Sakai must set aside the honorable code of the samurai to become a new kind of warrior—a stealthy, feared “Ghost”—to wage an unconventional war of liberation against the overwhelming Mongol forces.
The world of Tsushima is one of the most breathtakingly beautiful open worlds ever created, and exploring it is a constant delight. The game cleverly does away with a traditional mini-map, instead using a “Guiding Wind” that directs you towards your objectives, encouraging you to engage with the stunning landscapes organically. The loop of liberating Mongol-controlled territories across the island provides that same satisfying feeling of reclaiming a map, one outpost at a time.
The combat system is a masterclass in swordplay. It’s not about button-mashing; it’s a deep, visceral, and rewarding dance of parries, dodges, and strikes. The game features different combat stances, each effective against specific enemy types, requiring you to think tactically in every single encounter. The game’s entire aesthetic is a playable Kurosawa film, complete with a dedicated black-and-white “Kurosawa Mode.” The central theme of honor versus pragmatism is brilliantly woven into both the narrative and the gameplay, allowing you to choose between honorable samurai duels and dishonorable Ghost tactics.
While beautiful, the open-world design does follow a more traditional structure of clearing camps and finding collectibles. It lacks the systemic, emergent chaos of a Rockstar world where different AI systems can collide in unpredictable ways. Traversal is limited to horseback and on-foot exploration.
8. Sleeping Dogs (2012, United Front Games)
You are Wei Shen, a Hong Kong-American police officer sent deep undercover to infiltrate the notorious Sun On Yee Triad. Wei must navigate the treacherous criminal underworld, walking a fine line between his duty as a cop and the violent acts required to maintain his cover and earn the trust of the city’s most dangerous gangsters. All of this plays out against the vibrant, neon-lit backdrop of a living, breathing Hong Kong.
This is, without a doubt, one of the best “games like GTA” ever made. It absolutely nails the modern-day open-world crime fantasy. The game is packed with thrilling high-speed car chases, intense shootouts, and a compelling undercover cop story that keeps you hooked. The city of Hong Kong is a dense, atmospheric, and incredibly fun playground to cause trouble in.
The melee combat is the undisputed star of the show. It’s a brutal, fluid, and deeply satisfying system inspired by classic martial arts films, and it’s far more complex and engaging than the hand-to-hand combat in any GTA game. The ability to use the environment for devastating finishing moves—like slamming an enemy’s face into a whirring air conditioner fan or shoving them into a phone booth—never, ever gets old. The story also uniquely explores the dual morality and psychological toll of being an undercover cop.
The gunplay is functional, but it clearly feels like an afterthought when compared to the incredible melee system. The game is over a decade old, and while the “Definitive Edition” holds up remarkably well, it doesn’t have the graphical fidelity or systemic depth of more modern titles.
7. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (2020, Ubisoft Montreal)
You play as Eivor Varinsdottir, a fierce Viking raider who leads their clan from the harsh, frozen shores of Norway to establish a new home in the lush but fractured lands of 9th-century England. As you forge alliances and battle the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, you become embroiled in the centuries-old, clandestine war between the Assassin Brotherhood and the Templar Order.
This game offers a massive, sprawling world to explore with a deeply satisfying core gameplay loop. You’ll lead your Viking crew on raids against fortresses and monasteries, plundering resources to build and upgrade your own settlement. This sense of building up your home base from a small camp into a thriving town provides a long-term progression hook that will appeal to any GTA fan who enjoyed the property management and business aspects of the series.
The Viking setting is a refreshing and brutal change of pace. The game fully embraces the fantasy of being a raider, with weighty, visceral combat that features a wide variety of weapons and the ability to dual-wield almost any combination, including two shields. The RPG mechanics are deep, with a massive, constellation-like skill tree that allows for significant customization of your playstyle.
This game is enormous, and for some players, it can feel bloated. The main story is broken into many smaller, self-contained arcs, which can make the overall narrative feel disjointed. Clearing the map of its hundreds of icons can also start to feel like a grind. The focus is squarely on melee combat and exploration, with no modern vehicles or gunplay.
6. Watch Dogs 2 (2016, Ubisoft Montreal)
Set in a vibrant and sun-drenched fictionalized San Francisco Bay Area, you play as Marcus Holloway, a brilliant young hacker wrongfully profiled by ctOS 2.0, an invasive city-wide operating system. He joins the hacktivist group DedSec to expose corporate corruption and take down the system that is being used to monitor and manipulate the city’s citizens.
This game captures the feel of a living, breathing modern city exceptionally well, rivaling even Rockstar’s efforts in world-building. The driving is accessible and fun, but the real chaos comes from hacking the city itself. You can change traffic lights to create massive pile-ups, blow steam pipes under pursuing police cars, and even remotely control vehicles to create the perfect distraction. The game’s satirical take on Silicon Valley tech culture is sharp, witty, and often hilarious, echoing the kind of social commentary GTA is famous for.
The hacking mechanic is the absolute core of the experience. It offers an incredible amount of player freedom. You can approach nearly every mission in multiple ways: go in guns blazing, use pure stealth, or, most uniquely, use your remote-controlled drones and hacks to complete objectives without ever setting foot inside a restricted area. This “trickster” playstyle, where you manipulate the world around you to achieve your goals, is something unique to the series.
The game’s tone is very lighthearted and, for some, can be “cringey.” It leans heavily into meme culture and hacktivist stereotypes that can feel a bit dated today. While the gunplay is serviceable, the game truly shines when you embrace the hacking tools and gadgets.
5. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (2023, Nintendo EPD)
Following the events of Breath of the Wild, a new cataclysm strikes the kingdom of Hyrule. Princess Zelda vanishes, a malevolent force awakens from the depths, and a chain of mysterious floating islands appears in the sky. The hero, Link, awakens with a new, powerful set of abilities and must explore the vast lands, skies, and cavernous underground of Hyrule to uncover the truth and save the kingdom once again.
This is the ultimate expression of sandbox freedom. The same spark of joy a GTA player gets from seeing how many cars they can pile up to block a bridge is the same joy a Tears of the Kingdom player gets from building a ridiculous, rocket-powered, laser-equipped death machine to solve a simple puzzle (or just to terrorize a camp of Bokoblins). The “Ultrahand” and “Fuse” abilities provide an unprecedented physics-based toolkit that allows you to interact with and manipulate the world in emergent, unscripted, and often hilarious ways that even Rockstar’s sandboxes can’t match.
The potential for creativity is practically limitless. The game rarely gives you a prescribed solution to a problem; instead, it gives you a robust set of tools and trusts you to figure it out on your own. The world is brilliantly layered across three distinct maps—the familiar surface of Hyrule, the mysterious sky islands, and the dark and dangerous Depths—that are all interconnected, encouraging a constant and rewarding loop of exploration and discovery.
This is not a crime game. The tone is one of epic fantasy adventure, and the gameplay is focused on exploration, puzzle-solving, and melee combat. There is no gunplay, no cars, and no modern-day setting. The weapon durability system, which encourages constant experimentation, can also be a source of frustration for some players.
4. Elden Ring (2022, FromSoftware)
You are a “Tarnished,” an exile summoned back to the ravaged Lands Between, a world forsaken by its gods and shattered by war. Your task is to find the scattered shards of the Elden Ring, restore it, and become the new Elden Lord. This monumental journey involves exploring a vast, mysterious, and incredibly dangerous world filled with demigods, monstrous creatures, and secrets buried for ages.
This game offers a sense of true, unguided freedom that is exceptionally rare, even in the open-world genre. After a brief tutorial, the game simply points you in a general direction and sets you loose. There are no quest markers, no checklists, no hand-holding. The profound thrill of stumbling upon a hidden catacomb, a colossal dragon guarding a lake, or a powerful new weapon simply by following your curiosity is immense. This feeling of pure, unadulterated discovery will deeply resonate with players who love to ignore the main quest in GTA and just see what kind of trouble they can find.
While GTA provides freedom through a lack of obstruction (you can go anywhere, do anything), Elden Ring provides freedom through the presence of obstruction. The world is hostile and full of challenges that will initially seem insurmountable. The freedom comes from your agency to choose how to overcome them. Do you bash your head against that giant boss for hours? Or do you turn around, explore a different continent for 20 hours, get stronger, and come back for revenge? This design fosters a sense of accomplishment that is second to none. The combat is challenging, deliberate, and deeply rewarding, with a staggering variety of weapons, spells, and character builds to experiment with.
This game is famously difficult. It is uncompromising and demands patience, observation, and a willingness to learn from your many, many deaths. This is not a relaxing power fantasy; every single enemy can be a serious threat.
3. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015, CD Projekt Red)
You are Geralt of Rivia, a professional monster slayer known as a Witcher. Your quest is to find your surrogate daughter, Ciri, a child of prophecy with immense power who is being relentlessly pursued by the Wild Hunt—a spectral cavalcade of otherworldly elves. This epic journey will take you across the war-torn Northern Realms, from the desolate swamps of Velen to the bustling, crime-ridden city of Novigrad and the rugged, windswept Skellige Isles.
The world is incredibly dense, detailed, and feels truly lived-in. But the real connection for a Rockstar fan is the quality of the side content. The side quests in The Witcher 3 are not filler; they are brilliantly written, multi-layered stories with complex characters, moral ambiguity, and meaningful choices that often surpass the quality of main quests in other games. This unwavering commitment to quality side content is something any fan who has been captivated by the strangers and freaks of Los Santos will deeply appreciate. The city of Novigrad, in particular, is one of the most convincing and immersive urban environments in all of gaming.
The narrative depth and quality of writing are arguably unparalleled in the genre. Decisions you make, even in seemingly minor side quests, can have real, often unforeseen consequences that ripple through the world and play out hours later. The game is a mature, dark fantasy RPG that tackles complex themes with nuance and intelligence. The gameplay loop of investigation, preparation (using oils, potions, and bombs), and tactical combat against a huge bestiary of monsters is deep and rewarding.
The on-foot movement and horse riding can feel clunky and less responsive when compared to the tight, fluid controls in Rockstar‘s games. The combat, while tactical and deep, lacks the immediate, visceral punch of a third-person shooter. The inventory management system can also be cumbersome at times.
2. Cyberpunk 2077 (2020, CD Projekt Red)
In the dystopian, neon-drenched metropolis of Night City, you play as V, a mercenary on the rise. After a heist goes disastrously wrong, you find yourself with a prototype biochip embedded in your head. This chip contains the digital ghost of the legendary, anti-corporate rockerboy Johnny Silverhand (played by Keanu Reeves), and you must find a way to save yourself before his consciousness completely overwrites your own.
Night City is the undisputed star of the show. It is a breathtakingly dense, vertical, and atmospheric urban sandbox that is begging to be explored. After the game-changing Update 2.0, the driving mechanics and police chase systems now deliver the kind of chaotic, emergent vehicle gameplay that GTA fans crave. The game is packed to the brim with crime-centric stories, high-octane gunfights, and a world that is dripping with unparalleled style and atmosphere. The first time I caused a multi-car pile-up on the rain-slicked, neon-lit streets of Night City felt like coming home to Los Santos.
The first-person perspective offers a level of immersion that is fundamentally different from GTA‘s third-person view, putting you right in the heart of the action. The RPG systems are incredibly deep, allowing for wildly different playstyles based on your cyberware, attributes, and perks. You can be a stealthy netrunner who remotely hacks enemies’ brains, a lightning-fast cyborg with deadly mantis blades, or a brute with Gorilla Arms who rips turrets from their mountings. The narrative choices you make have a significant and tangible impact on the story and its multiple endings.
To get the complete, definitive experience, the Phantom Liberty expansion is absolutely essential. It not only adds the new district of Dogtown but also contains the best story and mission design in the entire game. The RPG mechanics are far more complex than anything in GTA, which might be overwhelming for some. And while the game has been massively improved since its rocky 2020 launch, you may still encounter some minor bugs.
1. Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018, Rockstar Games)
A sweeping prequel to the original Red Dead Redemption, this is the epic and poignant story of Arthur Morgan, a senior enforcer for the Van der Linde gang in 1899. The age of outlaws is ending, and as lawmen and civilization close in, the gang finds itself on the run. Arthur is forced to make an impossible choice between his own ideals and his loyalty to the charismatic leader and the gang that raised him.
This is pure, unadulterated Rockstar DNA, refined to near perfection. The insane, almost obsessive attention to detail; the incredibly lifelike NPCs with their own daily routines and memories; the dynamic and unpredictable random events that make the world feel truly alive; and the physics-based systems are all here, but elevated to a level that is still unmatched years later. The gunplay is weighty and satisfying, and the Deadeye targeting system will feel instantly familiar to anyone who has used Franklin’s special driving ability or Michael’s bullet time in GTA V. It has the same masterful core loop of story missions, diverse side activities, and free-roam exploration in a world that feels more real than any other.
The pace. Red Dead Redemption 2 is a much more deliberate, methodical, and immersive game than its modern-day cousin. Actions have weight and take time, from skinning an animal to brewing coffee at your campfire. This isn’t a flaw; it’s a design choice meant to pull you completely into the world and the role of Arthur Morgan. The honor system dynamically and subtly affects how the world and its inhabitants react to you, creating a deeply personal role-playing experience. The story is not a satirical crime caper, but a poignant, character-driven tragedy about the end of an era.
That deliberate pace is not for everyone. The controls can feel heavy and the animations intentionally lengthy, which can be frustrating for players who prefer the snappy, arcade-like feel of GTA V. If you’re looking for non-stop, high-speed chaos and instant gratification, this masterpiece might feel too slow.
(Bonus) Other Worlds Worth Visiting
Just Cause 4: If your favorite part of GTA is turning the physics engine into your personal chaos generator, this is your game. The combination of the grappling hook, wingsuit, and extreme weather systems makes it an unparalleled playground for creative destruction, even if the story and mission design are on the weaker side.
The Yakuza Series (start with Yakuza 0 or Like a Dragon): For those who love the dense urban environments and incredible side content of GTA but want a smaller, more intimate world. These games offer gripping Japanese crime stories and some of the most bizarre, hilarious, and heartwarming side quests in all of gaming.
Starfield: If you want to trade the city streets for the final frontier. While its exploration is more menu-based than seamless, Bethesda’s massive RPG offers immense freedom in ship building, character creation, and joining various factions across the galaxy, from space pirates to corporate spies.
L.A. Noire: A Rockstar-published title for fans who love the period-piece atmosphere and detective work more than wanton destruction. It features a stunningly recreated 1940s Los Angeles and a unique interrogation mechanic, but it lacks the true sandbox freedom that defines GTA.
The Spirit of the Sandbox
While nothing can truly replace the specific magic of Grand Theft Auto, the wait for the sixth entry doesn’t have to be an empty one. The spirit of what makes the series so special—unparalleled player freedom, meticulously detailed world-building, and the potential for beautiful, unscripted chaos—lives on in many incredible games. This list provides a diverse menu of experiences, from direct spiritual successors that embrace the crime sandbox to games that share its core DNA in the most unexpected and innovative ways.
The wait for GTA VI continues, but your next great open-world adventure is on this list. Which games are you playing to pass the time? Did we miss your favorite? Let us know in the comments below!
Summary of 15 Best Open-World Games to Play While Waiting for GTA VI
The article provides a curated list of 15 open-world games for Grand Theft Auto fans to play while waiting for GTA VI, based on criteria like world interactivity, player freedom, traversal, and side content.
- 1. Red Dead Redemption 2: The top pick, praised for its unparalleled detail and immersive world, sharing core Rockstar DNA but with a more deliberate, narrative-focused pace.
- 2. Cyberpunk 2077: Highlighted for its dense, atmospheric Night City and deep RPG systems, especially after its 2.0 update and Phantom Liberty expansion.
- 3. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt: Recommended for its incredible world-building and exceptionally well-written side quests that rival the main story.
- 4. Elden Ring: A choice for those who love pure, unguided exploration and challenging gameplay, offering freedom through overcoming obstacles.
- 5. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom: The ultimate creative sandbox, where players can build and experiment to solve problems in limitless ways.
- The List Includes Diverse Genres: The countdown features a wide range of experiences, from direct crime-simulators like Sleeping Dogs and Mafia: Definitive Edition to fantasy epics like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and unique sandboxes like Just Cause 4.
- Each Game is Analyzed for GTA Fans: Every entry details why it would appeal to a GTA fan, what makes it unique, and provides an honest “Keep In Mind…” section to manage expectations.
- Honorable Mentions: The list is supplemented with honorable mentions like the Yakuza series and Starfield for players seeking different but related experiences.
- Expert Curation: The article is framed from the perspective of an experienced games critic, aiming to provide an authoritative and trustworthy guide for knowledgeable gamers.