If you have exhausted everything Grand Theft Auto V has to offer, these games like Grand Theft Auto V will keep you busy for hundreds more hours. GTA 5 set the bar for open-world crime sandboxes with its sprawling city, cinematic story, and near-endless activities — and the five titles below each capture a different slice of what makes it so compelling, from Rockstar's own Wild West epic to neon-soaked Hong Kong thrillers.
What makes GTA 5 so replayable? A massive, detailed city; a strong main story with multiple protagonists; side activities ranging from stock-market manipulation to base jumping; and an online mode that keeps evolving. The games below share at least two or three of those qualities, making them natural next steps once Los Santos starts to feel familiar.
What to look for in a GTA 5 alternative
The best substitutes share a few traits: a large open world you can explore freely, a criminal or anti-hero protagonist, a mix of driving and on-foot action, and enough side content to fill dozens of hours. Some lean harder into narrative; others prioritize pure chaos. All five picks below deliver on the core GTA fantasy of doing whatever you want in a living city or landscape.
The 5 best games like Grand Theft Auto V
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1. Red Dead Redemption 2
Made by Rockstar Games — the same studio behind GTA 5 — Red Dead Redemption 2 is the closest thing to a spiritual twin. Set in a vast, gorgeously detailed 1899 American frontier, it follows outlaw Arthur Morgan through a deeply emotional story of loyalty and survival. The open world is enormous, hand-crafted, and packed with random encounters, side missions, bounty hunting, poker games, and treasure hunts. If you loved GTA 5's attention to world-building detail and its cinematic story with morally grey characters, RDR2 will feel immediately familiar — just swap the sports cars for horses and the skyscrapers for mountain passes.
Red Dead Redemption 2 shares GTA 5's Rockstar DNA: a massive open world, deep story, and endless things to do. -
2. Saints Row (Reboot)
Where GTA 5 keeps one foot in realism, Saints Row sprints in the opposite direction. The 2022 reboot drops you into Santo Ileso, a sun-baked desert city, as the founder of a brand-new criminal gang. You build your criminal empire, recruit crew members, and complete increasingly absurd missions involving weaponized wingsuit attacks, drone strikes, and more. A deep character creator lets you design your Boss from scratch, and full two-player co-op means you can drag a friend along for the ride. If you enjoyed GTA Online's anything-goes spirit and wish the campaign was even more over-the-top, Saints Row is your answer.
Saints Row cranks up the chaos with co-op play, wild weapons, and a sandbox city built for mischief. -
3. Watch Dogs 2
Set in a sun-lit recreation of the San Francisco Bay Area, Watch Dogs 2 gives you an open world roughly as large as GTA 5's Los Santos, but with a key twist: instead of guns blazing as your primary tool, your most powerful weapon is a smartphone. You play as Marcus Holloway, a young hacker working with DedSec to expose corporate surveillance. You can hack traffic lights to cause multi-car pile-ups, commandeer vehicles remotely, or distract guards with a drone — all without firing a shot. The city feels alive and the mission variety is impressive, mixing stealthy infiltrations with high-speed car chases. Watch Dogs 2 is a strong pick if you liked GTA 5's heist planning and want more of that tactical, team-based feel.
Watch Dogs 2's San Francisco open world lets you hack the city grid instead of just shooting your way through it. -
4. Just Cause 4
If what you love most about GTA 5 is blowing things up with spectacular results, Just Cause 4 will keep you entertained for a very long time. You play as Rico Rodriguez, an agent with an extraordinarily versatile grappling hook, a wingsuit, and a parachute. The fictional South American island of Solis spans over 1,000 square kilometres and is full of military bases to liberate, vehicles to steal, and physics systems to abuse. Attaching a balloon to a soldier and watching him float away never gets old. Just Cause 4 trades GTA 5's grounded story for pure kinetic freedom — the whole game is essentially one extended action sequence.
Just Cause 4 prioritises explosive, physics-driven chaos across a massive island open world. -
5. Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition
Often overlooked but consistently praised, Sleeping Dogs casts you as undercover cop Wei Shen in a dense, beautifully realised Hong Kong. The game stands out for its martial arts combat system — think punches, counters, and environmental takedowns rather than simply pointing a gun — and its story about identity and loyalty that rivals some of the best crime cinema. The city is smaller than Los Santos but far more densely packed, with street food stalls, karaoke bars, and underground fight clubs filling every block. If you appreciated GTA 5's story about characters caught between the criminal world and another life, Sleeping Dogs tells that tale with even more emotional weight. The Definitive Edition includes all DLC and runs well on modern hardware.
Sleeping Dogs sets its crime story in a neon-lit Hong Kong filled with martial arts, gang politics, and undercover drama.
Tips for picking the right game
- Want the closest to GTA 5? Start with Red Dead Redemption 2 — same developer, same level of polish, same cinematic ambition.
- Prefer co-op? Saints Row is the only pick on this list with a dedicated two-player co-op campaign.
- Enjoy stealth and planning? Watch Dogs 2 rewards patience and creative thinking over brute force.
- Just want non-stop action? Just Cause 4 removes every barrier between you and explosions.
- Looking for a great story on a budget? Sleeping Dogs regularly goes on sale for a few dollars and punches well above its price.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best game similar to GTA 5?
Red Dead Redemption 2 is widely considered the best alternative to GTA 5. It shares the same developer, the same high production values, and the same approach to open-world storytelling — it just swaps the modern city for a frontier wilderness.
Are there any games like GTA 5 with online multiplayer?
Yes. Saints Row supports full two-player co-op throughout its campaign. Watch Dogs 2 has co-op and multiplayer modes. Red Dead Online is an ongoing multiplayer world within Red Dead Redemption 2, similar in concept to GTA Online.
Is there a game like GTA 5 on PC with good graphics?
All five games listed here are available on PC and support modern settings. Red Dead Redemption 2 and Watch Dogs 2 in particular are frequently cited as benchmarks for open-world visual fidelity on PC.
What game has the biggest open world compared to GTA 5?
Just Cause 4's island of Solis is significantly larger than GTA 5's San Andreas in raw square kilometres. Red Dead Redemption 2's map is also comparable in size and considerably denser with hand-crafted detail.
Are games like GTA 5 available on PlayStation and Xbox?
Yes. All five games in this list are available on PlayStation 4/5 and Xbox One/Series X|S, as well as PC. Red Dead Redemption 2 and Sleeping Dogs Definitive Edition also remain available on older hardware through digital storefronts.
Wrapping up
There is no shortage of games like Grand Theft Auto V — the open-world crime sandbox is one of gaming's most beloved genres. Red Dead Redemption 2 is the safest bet if you want that same Rockstar magic in a new setting; Saints Row is the one to grab if you want to laugh out loud; Watch Dogs 2 adds a hacker's toolkit to familiar open-world thrills; Just Cause 4 goes full action-movie chaos; and Sleeping Dogs delivers one of the most underrated crime stories in gaming. For the latest news on GTA 5 and GTA Online, visit the official Rockstar Games GTA V page.
