Games like GTA 5
The three best games after GTA 5 are Red Dead Redemption 2 (the same studio's deeper, slower masterpiece), Yakuza 0 (the best crime story on this list, on foot) and Sleeping Dogs (the most underrated open-city game of its generation). Ten games ranked below by which GTA you actually want back: the story, the city, or the chaos.
'Games like GTA' means three different wishes: a crime story with weight, a city that feels alive under your wheels, or a physics playground where the fun is what you break. No single game does all three the way GTA 5 does — which is exactly why it sold forever.
So the ten below are ranked with their wish labelled. All prices on the linked pages are live; all ratings quoted are from Steam at the time of writing. One entry is a deliberate skip — the one that looks most like GTA in screenshots and least like it in your hands.
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How we picked these
- An open city (or frontier) with life beyond your missions.
- A campaign worth finishing, not just a sandbox with errands.
- Chaos tolerance: the game survives you ignoring the plot.
- 80% positive or better on Steam, with exceptions flagged in their entries.
- PC versions that run properly today.
The list
01 Red Dead Redemption 2
Red Dead Redemption 2 is Rockstar's own answer and the obvious first stop: the same open-world craft aimed at depth instead of chaos — 92% positive across 908,000 Steam reviews. Slower than GTA by design; the gang around the campfire is the best-written cast the studio has produced.
02 Yakuza 0
Yakuza 0 is the best crime story you can buy for the price of a takeaway: 1980s Tokyo, two protagonists, and tonal whiplash from knife-fight drama to karaoke that somehow always lands. 95% positive across 77,000 reviews. No cars — the city is dense enough to walk.
03 Sleeping Dogs
Sleeping Dogs is the undercover-cop GTA that deserved a sequel it never got: Hong Kong instead of Los Santos, martial-arts combat instead of gunplay-first, and a 94% rating years after release. Regularly absurdly cheap, and the most complete single answer to 'GTA but new to me'.
04 Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077 delivers the city half at a fidelity nothing else matches — Night City is the densest urban open world on PC, and the RPG layer runs deeper than GTA ever tried. 87% positive across 973,000 reviews post-redemption-arc. Weaker as a chaos sandbox: the fun is in being someone, not breaking everything.
05 Mafia: Definitive Edition
Mafia: Definitive Edition is the story wish in its purest form: a tight, linear 1930s gangster film wearing an open city as a costume. 87% across 110,000 reviews. Do not come for sandbox freedom — come because the last act is one of the genre's best endings.
06 Grand Theft Auto IV: The Complete Edition
Grand Theft Auto IV is the series' heaviest story and its most physical city — the driving and euphoria-inducing ragdolls still feel unmatched. The 83% rating reflects a rough PC port that mods largely fix. For many longtime fans, Niko's Liberty City remains the peak of the series' writing.
07 Just Cause 3
Just Cause 3 is the chaos wish with everything else removed: grappling hook, infinite parachute, a Mediterranean republic of exploding fuel tanks. 84% across 127,000 reviews. The story is wallpaper; the physics playground is the entire, glorious point.
08 Saints Row: The Third
Saints Row: The Third is GTA's id let off the leash — the comedy sandbox that stopped competing with Rockstar and started competing with cartoons. 96% positive across 69,000 reviews says the joke aged better than anyone expected. Play it when you want the chaos without the cynicism.
09 Watch_Dogs 2
Watch_Dogs 2 is the closest modern open-city sandbox in structure: San Francisco, gadgets instead of guns if you want, and mission design that rewards creative trespassing. 82% positive across 101,000 reviews — the hacking fantasy is silly, and leaning into the silliness is where it clicks.
SKIP10 Watch Dogs: Legion
Skip the newer one — Watch Dogs: Legion trades written characters for a 'play as anyone' gimmick, and its 56% Steam rating reflects what that costs: a city full of nobody. Watch_Dogs 2 is the same fantasy with actual people in it, usually at a lower price.
Similar but different
HITMAN World of Assassination
HITMAN World of Assassination compresses the open-world crime fantasy into perfect single locations — each level is a Swiss watch full of disguises and accidents waiting to be arranged. The methodical cousin of GTA's loud heists.
Teardown
Teardown is the heist half of GTA rebuilt around one idea: everything is destructible, so the plan IS the demolition. 96% positive across 134,000 reviews for the best physics sandbox since the genre began.
Euro Truck Simulator 2
Euro Truck Simulator 2 sounds like a joke here and is not: it is what happens when you keep GTA's driving-across-a-country calm and delete the crime. 97% across 937,000 reviews — the sincerest open road on PC.
FAQ
What is the closest thing to GTA 5 right now?
For total package, Red Dead Redemption 2 — same studio, same craft, different pace. For a modern city specifically, Cyberpunk 2077. For tone and comedy, Saints Row: The Third.
Is GTA 4 worth playing after GTA 5?
Yes, with expectations set: heavier story, better physics, uglier port. Its 83% Steam rating is dragged down by technical complaints, not by the game design. Grab it cheap and patch it with community fixes.
What about GTA Online — should I just play that?
If your GTA love is chaos with friends, it still delivers, but it is a live-service grind wearing GTA's skin. Nothing on this list replaces it; Just Cause 3 gets closest to the solo mayhem.
Best story on this list if I do not care about driving?
Yakuza 0 — it is on foot, and it out-writes everything here. Mafia: Definitive Edition is the runner-up if you want it darker and shorter.
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