Best Open-World Games to Play While Waiting for Grand Theft Auto VI

If you want one recommendation while waiting for Grand Theft Auto VI, choose Cyberpunk 2077 for the closest modern-city substitute, Red Dead Redemption 2 for the richest lived-in world, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt for quest writing, or Elden Ring for discovery and demanding combat. Rockstar’s announced Leonida setting, including Vice City, makes a contemporary urban sandbox the obvious comparison point, but each of these games satisfies a different part of the GTA formula.

The right choice depends on whether you value a dense city, character drama, branching quests, unstructured exploration, vehicle travel, or combat mastery. This guide separates those priorities so you can pick a game that feels rewarding rather than merely similar.

#	Preview	Product	Price
1		Red Dead Redemption 2 PS4 Brand New Factory Sealed	$23.80	Buy on Amazon
2		Red Dead Redemption - PlayStation 5	$24.99	Buy on Amazon

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Quick answer: which open-world game should you play?

These four games are not interchangeable GTA clones. They approach open worlds through different genres, viewpoints and rhythms. Use the table to identify the best fit before reading the detailed breakdowns.

GameSpot’s 2026 open-world guide calls Red Dead Redemption 2 an “incredibly deep cowboy simulator” set in “an expansive version of the Wild West.” That description captures why it is the strongest choice when atmosphere and character relationships matter more than urban spectacle. For a city-focused experience, Cyberpunk 2077 is the closest structural match: it combines dense streets, vehicles and a first-person role-playing system.

#1 Best Overall

Red Dead Redemption 2 PS4 Brand New Factory Sealed

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• The deepest and most complex world Rockstar Games has ever created
• Covers a huge range of 19th century American landscapes
• Play as Arthur Morgan, lead enforcer in the notorious Van der Linde gang
• Interact with every character in the world with more than just your gun;Engage in conversation with people you meet. Your actions influence Arthur's honour;Horses are a cowboy's best friend, both transport and personal companion;Bond with your horse as you ride together to unlock new abilities

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What GTA VI gives you as a comparison point

Rockstar’s official description places Grand Theft Auto VI in Leonida, including Vice City. That announced coastal-city setting establishes the useful reference point for this list: a large contemporary-feeling region, recognizable urban spaces, travel between districts and a crime-and-character framework. It does not establish a launch date, final platform list or every gameplay feature, so those details should not be used to judge the alternatives.

Instead of asking whether another game is “the same as GTA,” compare the parts of the experience you actually want:

• Setting and tone: Do you want a modern city, a historical frontier, a fantasy continent or a hostile dark-fantasy landscape?
• Story density: Is your priority a tightly written cast, branching conversations, optional stories or lore you piece together yourself?
• Exploration freedom: Do you prefer map markers and activities, or discovering locations with little guidance?
• Combat difficulty: Should fights be cinematic and accessible, build-driven and tactical, or intentionally punishing?
• Perspective: Third-person presentation changes how you read a character and the world; first-person play makes the city feel immediate but hides the protagonist’s physical performance.
• Platform and edition: Current hardware support, complete editions and patches vary. Check the store listing for your region before buying.

Red Dead Redemption 2: the best slow-burn substitute

Why it belongs on the list

Red Dead Redemption 2 is the pick for players who enjoy inhabiting a world rather than rushing between missions. Its Wild West is expansive, but the important feature is density: camps, towns, wildlife, weather, strangers and small character routines make travel feel purposeful. The game expects you to notice the environment and spend time with the people around you.

The pace is deliberate. You ride long distances, maintain equipment, select weapons for a situation and take part in camp conversations that develop the group’s relationships. That patience produces a different kind of immersion from a fast-moving urban crime game. If you want constant explosions, instant vehicle access and a compact mission loop, the opening hours may feel slow. If you want a world that rewards observation, the same pacing becomes the appeal.

Story and character focus

The main narrative is strongly authored, with Arthur Morgan’s relationships and the gang’s changing circumstances driving the experience. Side activities are not merely checklist items: strangers, camp requests and optional encounters expand the setting’s social texture. You can ignore some of them, but doing so leaves out much of what makes the world feel inhabited.

Compared with GTA’s satirical criminal viewpoint, this is a western drama with a more reflective tone. The game spends time on loyalty, aging, survival and the consequences of a shrinking way of life. Choose it when you want a complete character arc and are comfortable allowing the story to control the pace.

Exploration and combat

Exploration centers on horseback travel, wilderness observation, hunting, fishing and discovering settlements. Gunfights are deliberate rather than twitch-focused. Positioning, weapon selection and the ability to slow time change how you approach a fight, while the wider game encourages preparation instead of constant improvisation.

It is not a direct replacement for driving through a modern city. There are no contemporary vehicles, urban traffic systems or first-person role-playing builds. Its strength is the credibility of its frontier simulation and the way optional details support the central drama.

Choose it if

• You want the most immersive and character-led world in this group.
• You enjoy long rides, optional encounters and a measured rhythm.
• You prefer a strongly authored story to a highly improvisational sandbox.
• You are happy with western weapons and third-person play rather than a modern city.

Cyberpunk 2077: the closest modern-city alternative

Why it feels nearest to the GTA idea

Cyberpunk 2077 is the obvious choice when your mental picture of GTA VI is a large, contemporary-feeling city full of traffic, businesses, factions and missions. Its setting is futuristic rather than present-day, but the core attraction is similar: you move through an urban environment, take jobs from different contacts, use vehicles to cross districts and decide how to handle encounters.

GameSpot’s open-world guide notes that updates and the Phantom Liberty expansion helped the game become one of the strongest open-world experiences available. That qualification matters: the current experience reflects substantial post-launch development, and the edition or platform you choose determines which content is included. Verify the exact product listing before purchase.

First-person role-playing systems

The game is built around a first-person viewpoint and a character build. Weapons, cyberware, perks and skills let you specialize in approaches such as stealth, hacking, firearms or close-quarters attacks. The result is more system-heavy than a traditional GTA protagonist. Two players can approach the same mission with different tools and see different opportunities.

First-person presentation changes the feel of driving, gunfights and conversations. You see the city at street level, but you do not watch the protagonist’s body perform actions in the way a third-person game allows. If physical character animation and cinematic camera work are central to your enjoyment, consider that trade-off before choosing it as your waiting game.

Story, choices and city structure

The narrative is choice-led and organized around a network of allies, fixers and factions. Main missions provide momentum, while optional jobs flesh out the city and can alter later scenes. Dialogue choices often express a role-playing identity rather than simply selecting a good or bad response.

Night City is dense, but density does not mean every building is a fully explorable interior. The game’s strongest spaces are the districts, missions and characters that connect them. Treat the city as a stage for role-playing systems, not as a literal simulation of every urban service.

Choose it if

• You want the nearest match to a modern urban sandbox.
• You like first-person shooting combined with deep character builds.
• You prefer branching conversations and faction-driven missions.
• You want vehicles and city travel but can accept a science-fiction setting.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt: the quest-first choice

What kind of open world it is

CD Projekt Red describes The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt as “a single-player open-world role-playing game.” That straightforward description is useful because the game’s priorities are clear: it is a long-form RPG in which exploration supports quests, characters and consequences.

The setting is a high-fantasy continent rather than a modern city. You travel between villages, fortified towns, forests, swamps and major urban centers, usually on horseback or on foot. The spaces are varied, but the connective tissue is the writing. A seemingly minor contract can introduce a moral dilemma, a local history or a character who reappears later.

Story density and decisions

This is the strongest recommendation for readers who judge an open world by the quality of its quests. The main storyline is substantial, and optional missions frequently have their own premises, reversals and outcomes. Conversations are central: the protagonist’s choices can affect relationships, local situations and later developments.

Rank #2

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Red Dead Redemption - PlayStation 5

• When federal agents threaten his family, former outlaw John Marston is forced to hunt down the gang of criminals he once called friends.
• Experience Marston’s journey across the sprawling expanses of the American West and Mexico as he fights to bury his blood-stained past in the critically acclaimed predecessor to the 2018 blockbuster, Red Dead Redemption 2.
• Also included is Undead Nightmare, the iconic horror story that transforms the world of Red Dead Redemption into an apocalyptic fight for survival against a zombie horde.

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The game does not offer GTA-style criminal improvisation. You are playing Geralt, a professional monster hunter with an established identity and abilities. That narrower role enables more focused writing. Choose it when you want authored situations and meaningful dialogue rather than a blank-slate avatar.

Preparation and combat

Combat combines swordplay with signs, potions, oils and equipment choices. Preparation is part of the fantasy: identifying a monster, selecting tools and exploiting weaknesses can make an encounter easier. Horseback travel expands the map, while investigation and tracking turn some quests into small mysteries.

The systems are more approachable than Elden Ring’s, but they still reward learning enemy patterns and maintaining an appropriate build. If you prefer a straightforward action game with minimal inventory management, the number of options may feel demanding at first.

Choose it if

• You want the best quest writing and a large amount of optional narrative.
• You enjoy dialogue choices, investigation and consequences.
• You are comfortable playing a defined protagonist instead of creating a criminal avatar.
• You prefer fantasy travel, horseback movement and preparation-based combat.

Elden Ring: the discovery-and-challenge option

Why its open world feels different

Elden Ring is the recommendation for players who want to get lost, test themselves and uncover answers without constant instructions. The world is dark fantasy, but its structure is unusually permissive: you can often leave a dangerous area, explore elsewhere, find a new tool and return later.

PlayStation includes it in its open-world recommendations, and Bandai Namco lists its release as 2022. Those references identify the game and its position in the genre, but they do not guarantee identical performance or content on every current platform. Check the edition and system requirements for your hardware.

Environmental storytelling

The narrative is fragmentary. Instead of explaining every conflict through frequent cinematic scenes, the game places clues in architecture, enemy placement, item descriptions and short conversations. You assemble the history of the world over time. This approach is rewarding if you like interpretation, but frustrating if you expect every quest to provide a clear objective and a marked route.

Combat difficulty and freedom

Combat is the most demanding among these four games. Enemies punish careless attacks, stamina management and positioning matter, and bosses require pattern recognition. Character builds, equipment and cooperative options can change the difficulty, but success still depends on learning the game’s timing.

Exploration is the counterbalance. You can approach major areas in different orders, discover optional dungeons and find weapons or abilities that transform your build. There is no modern city, criminal economy or vehicle sandbox; the appeal is the tension between curiosity and danger.

Choose it if

• You want discovery to be the main source of progress.
• You enjoy difficult combat and are willing to learn from failed attempts.
• You prefer environmental lore to heavily scripted exposition.
• You want maximum route freedom rather than a conventional mission list.

Compare the four games by the feature you care about

A simple decision path

Use this sequence if you are still undecided:

1. Pick your setting. Choose the Wild West for historical immersion, a futuristic city for urban energy, a fantasy continent for questing, or dark fantasy for mystery and danger.
2. Set your tolerance for friction. If you want a relaxed, cinematic journey, start with Red Dead Redemption 2. If you welcome repeated attempts and demanding bosses, choose Elden Ring.
3. Decide how much story guidance you need. The Witcher 3 gives clear quest context and extensive dialogue. Elden Ring expects you to infer more from the environment.
4. Choose your viewpoint. Cyberpunk 2077 is first-person. The other three present their protagonists in third person.
5. Check the exact edition for your platform. Listings, bundled expansions and performance options can differ by region and hardware. Confirm what is included before paying.

Release and platform details to verify

The dated release metadata supplied by Bandai Namco identifies Cyberpunk 2077 as a 2020 release, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt as a 2015 release and Elden Ring as a 2022 release. Those dates help distinguish the games’ generations, but they do not tell you which version is best for your system.

Store pages can list a base game, a complete edition or an edition that includes an expansion. They can also show different performance modes, language support and save-transfer rules. Before downloading, check:

• The supported operating system or console model.
• Whether major expansions are included in the edition you selected.
• Required storage space and any additional download.
• Whether online features or cooperative elements require a separate service.
• Recent patch notes or compatibility information for your hardware.

No single platform list is stated here because availability changes by edition, region and storefront. Verify the current listing where you intend to play.

How to avoid choosing the wrong game

Do not select by map size alone

A large map can be empty, carefully curated or intentionally mysterious. Red Dead Redemption 2 uses space to create atmosphere, The Witcher 3 uses it to connect quests, Cyberpunk 2077 uses density to support urban missions, and Elden Ring uses distance to conceal discoveries. Choose the structure you enjoy, not the largest numerical map claim.

Separate story expectations from combat expectations

The Witcher 3 and Red Dead Redemption 2 put authored characters near the center. Cyberpunk 2077 combines authored relationships with a build system that changes combat and some dialogue. Elden Ring makes combat and discovery primary while leaving more of the story implicit. A player seeking a strong narrative can be disappointed by Elden Ring’s opacity; a player seeking mechanical experimentation can find Red Dead Redemption 2 restrictive.

Allow for different pacing

These games reward different session lengths. Red Dead Redemption 2 may ask you to settle into a ride or camp scene. The Witcher 3 often turns a short contract into a substantial investigation. Cyberpunk 2077 can alternate between quick jobs and long story sequences. Elden Ring supports short exploration attempts but may require repeated sessions to learn a major encounter. Pick the rhythm that matches your available time.

Suggested order if you plan to play more than one

There is no required sequence, but this order provides variety:

1. Cyberpunk 2077 first if you want the most immediate urban substitute for the Leonida-and-Vice-City reference point.
2. Red Dead Redemption 2 next for a slower, deeply authored change of setting and pace.
3. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt when you are ready for a long quest campaign with extensive optional writing.
4. Elden Ring last if you want to finish with the most open-ended exploration and the steepest combat challenge.

You can reverse that order if difficulty is your main concern: begin with a more forgiving story-led game and move toward Elden Ring after you are ready for repeated trial and error.

Bottom line

Choose Cyberpunk 2077 when the thing you miss most about GTA is moving through a busy city and taking jobs from competing contacts. Choose Red Dead Redemption 2 when immersion, atmosphere and character drama matter more than speed. Choose The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt for the strongest quest-first role-playing experience. Choose Elden Ring when you want the freedom to wander, uncover secrets and earn progress through difficult combat. Together, they cover the major ways an open-world game can fill the wait for Grand Theft Auto VI without pretending that every world plays the same way.

Quick Recap

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From the creators of Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption; The deepest and most complex world Rockstar Games has ever created

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SaleBestseller No. 2

Red Dead Redemption - PlayStation 5

$24.99

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Cyberpunk 2077Elden RingGamingGrand Theft Auto VIopen-world gamesRed Dead Redemption 2The Witcher 3