Games Like GTA Online: The Best Open-World Multiplayer Alternatives

If you want games like GTA Online, start by deciding which part of Rockstar’s formula matters most. Red Dead Online is the closest structural substitute: it offers another persistent Rockstar world with character progression, posse activities and a shared economy, but in a slower Wild West setting. Saints Row (2022) is the clearest open-world crime co-op replacement for two players. PAYDAY 2 and PAYDAY 3 are better choices when heists and teamwork matter more than free-roam driving. For hacking, choose Watch Dogs: Legion; for social cruising and collecting vehicles, look at The Crew Motorfest or Forza Horizon 5.

This guide compares those games by world structure, co-op size, mission style, progression, setting, platforms and buying considerations, so you can choose a GTA-style crime sandbox—or a more focused alternative—without assuming that every multiplayer game works like GTA Online.

#	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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What GTA Online establishes as the baseline

Rockstar describes GTA Online as “a dynamic world for up to 30 players,” playable solo or with friends and expanded with updates and content since launch. That baseline combines several systems that are easy to confuse with one another:

• Persistent progression: your character, money, equipment and unlocks carry between sessions.
• Social free roam: you can travel through a shared environment rather than selecting every activity from a menu.
• Vehicles and property: driving, collecting and using owned assets are part of the long-term loop.
• Criminal missions: jobs, robberies and other activities provide structured objectives.
• Cooperative and competitive play: you can join friends for missions or encounter other players in the same online space.

No alternative reproduces all five elements at once. The recommendations below are therefore organized by the part of GTA Online you want to keep.

#1 Best Overall

Red Dead Redemption 2 PS4 Brand New Factory Sealed

• From the creators of Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption
• 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

$23.80

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Best alternatives at a glance

Player counts in this table reflect the descriptions available for each game, not a promise that every mode supports that number. Platform support, cross-play, online-service requirements and the contents of different editions can change by region and storefront, so check the exact listing for your platform before buying.

Red Dead Online: the closest Rockstar alternative

Why it feels most like GTA Online

Red Dead Online is the strongest choice if what you value is Rockstar’s persistent-world design rather than the modern setting. GameGeeker describes it as GTA Online’s direct persistent-world cousin, sharing Rockstar’s mission grammar, posse co-op and economy. The ESRB describes it as a multiplayer version of Red Dead Redemption 2 set in an open-world Wild West, with combat, bounty hunting and collection missions.

You still create or develop an online character, travel through a continuous map, meet other players and build progress through repeatable activities. Missions have the familiar Rockstar rhythm of riding to a location, dealing with an objective and escaping or returning for a reward. Friends can form a posse instead of a GTA-style crew, which makes the game a natural fit for a small group that wants to roam together between jobs.

What changes from the GTA formula

The setting changes the pace of almost every activity. Horses replace cars, towns are smaller and journeys take longer. Gunfights, bounties and collecting replace modern robberies, businesses and vehicle-based criminal operations. The slower traversal is deliberate: it gives the landscape and encounters more room, but it can feel uneventful if your favorite GTA activity is jumping between properties in a fast car.

Content cadence also differs from GTA Online’s long-running stream of modern-world additions. Treat Red Dead Online as a western online world with its own rhythm, not as a reskinned version of Los Santos.

Who should choose it

• Choose it if you want another Rockstar online world, persistent character progression and cooperative missions.
• Choose it if bounty hunting, collection work and frontier combat sound more appealing than contemporary crime.
• Skip it if driving, dense urban traversal or elaborate modern property management is the main reason you play GTA Online.

The ESRB rates Red Dead Online Mature 17+ for blood and gore, intense violence, strong language, suggestive themes and in-game purchases. Verify that the Red Dead Redemption 2 edition you select includes the online access you want on your target platform; editions and entitlements are not interchangeable assumptions.

PAYDAY 2 and PAYDAY 3: choose these for heists

PAYDAY 3 for a focused four-person crew

PAYDAY 3 is described as a four-player, mission-instanced heist game. Each job supports stealth-or-loud approaches, and the group must plan entry, manage alarms, complete the objective and organize an escape. This structure makes every teammate’s role more visible than it usually is in a free-roam sandbox: one player may scout, another handle security, and the group can change plans when guards or civilians disrupt the setup.

If “GTA Online alternatives with heists” is your exact search, PAYDAY 3 is the most direct specialist. You select a robbery, assemble the crew and repeat missions to improve execution. The trade-off is fundamental: there is no shared city in which to cruise, buy a broad collection of properties or stumble into unrelated activities between jobs.

PAYDAY 2 for the deeper legacy library

PAYDAY 2 offers a larger legacy heist library and a mature progression loop. GamesRadar highlights its cooperative robbery planning and its similarity to GTA Online’s heists. That breadth is useful if your group wants many scenarios and approaches rather than a smaller selection of newer missions.

Because both games are mission-centered, their economies and unlocks serve the heist loop instead of simulating a complete criminal city. You are building a more capable crew and loadout, not necessarily a public-facing empire with properties, garages and businesses.

How to decide between them

Check the current store listing for platform availability, edition contents, online-service requirements and any cross-play rules. Those details can differ between versions and are not safely inferred from the game’s title alone.

Saints Row (2022): the clearest open-world crime co-op substitute

The Santo Ileso loop

The 2022 Saints Row reboot places co-op partners in Santo Ileso, an open-world city where criminal-empire progression and ventures provide the long-term structure. You explore the city, complete activities and expand the organization rather than selecting only isolated robbery missions. That makes it the closest recommendation for someone who specifically wants a crime sandbox with a friend.

GamesRadar lists the game on PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and Xbox One. GameGeeker describes two-player co-op and a progression model based on ventures and building an empire. The two-player limit is important: it suits a pair, but it cannot replace a larger GTA Online crew.

Tone and design trade-offs

Saints Row is more exaggerated than GTA Online. Its humor, characters and action favor absurdity over Rockstar’s more grounded crime satire. That can be an advantage if you want a lighter, less serious co-op campaign, but it may disappoint players looking for the same tone, economy or mission presentation as GTA.

The reboot’s reception was divisive, so treat it as a specific co-op campaign and sandbox rather than assuming universal critical or player consensus. The game’s strengths are the shared city, criminal ventures and ability to progress with one partner; its limits are the two-player co-op ceiling and tonal difference.

Rank #2

Sale

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.

$24.99

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Best use case

• Pick Saints Row when two people want to explore a crime-themed city and build an empire together.
• Expect a campaign-style co-op experience rather than a 30-player public online ecosystem.
• Confirm whether your platform and edition support the co-op setup you want before purchase.

Watch Dogs: Legion: the hacking-focused four-player option

Watch Dogs: Legion offers four-player online open-world co-op built around recruiting different non-player-character specialists. Instead of developing one criminal avatar through businesses and vehicle ownership, you assemble a team whose members bring distinct abilities to cooperative objectives.

This system changes how you approach missions. A specialist can alter access, surveillance or combat options, and the value of a teammate comes from the role that person can perform. The open world remains important, but hacking and recruitment—not property ownership or a car economy—drive the progression fantasy.

Choose Watch Dogs: Legion if your ideal GTA-like session involves scouting cameras, manipulating connected systems and coordinating complementary abilities. It is a weaker fit if the non-negotiable features are garages, businesses, heists in the classic robbery sense or long-term vehicle collecting. The cited material identifies four-player co-op, but platform, cross-play and edition rules still require a current store check.

The Crew Motorfest and Forza Horizon 5: best for driving with friends

The Crew Motorfest

The Crew Motorfest is categorized as an always-online driving game with eight-player co-op. It targets the social side of GTA Online: meeting friends, moving through a large environment and treating vehicles as the main form of expression and progression.

It is the better fit when your group spends more time organizing convoys, trying different cars and touring roads than carrying out criminal missions. “Always online” also matters as a practical requirement: your ability to play depends on the service and the edition you purchase, so confirm the current platform listing.

Forza Horizon 5

Forza Horizon 5 is described as a convoy-focused driving alternative with a large car economy. Its open environment and vehicle collection can replace GTA Online’s cruising and garage appeal, but its design is centered on driving events and cars rather than crime, combat or robberies.

Pick Forza Horizon 5 when the group’s shared activity is fundamentally “drive and race.” Pick The Crew Motorfest when an always-online driving world and larger stated co-op group are more important. Neither should be presented as a GTA Online crime replacement; they cover the social vehicle layer instead.

Persistent world or instanced missions?

This is the most useful dividing line when choosing an alternative.

Choose a persistent shared world

Red Dead Online and Saints Row are the closest matches for players who want to move around a substantial environment, encounter activities in context and keep returning to a character or empire. Watch Dogs: Legion also offers open-world co-op, but its recruitment and hacking systems replace GTA’s property-and-vehicle economy.

Choose instanced missions

PAYDAY 2 and PAYDAY 3 are better when your group wants a reliable start-to-finish heist session. Instancing reduces the time spent traveling or organizing a public lobby and puts planning, execution and escape at the center. The cost is that the world outside the mission is not a persistent social playground.

Choose a driving world

The Crew Motorfest and Forza Horizon 5 make sense when the important ritual is meeting online, selecting cars and driving together. Their progression and economies are built around vehicles, not criminal enterprises.

How to choose in five questions

1. Do you want Rockstar’s mission style and a persistent online character? Start with Red Dead Online.
2. Is the word “heist” more important than “open world”? Compare PAYDAY 3’s four-player missions with PAYDAY 2’s deeper legacy catalogue.
3. Will only two people play together? Saints Row (2022) is the most direct crime-sandbox option.
4. Would hacking and different specialist abilities be more fun than buying businesses? Choose Watch Dogs: Legion.
5. Do you mainly want to cruise, race and collect vehicles? Compare The Crew Motorfest and Forza Horizon 5 rather than another crime game.

Buying and setup checks before you commit

Online games are sold in multiple editions and operate under platform-specific rules. Use this checklist on the exact store page for your console or PC:

• Online entitlement: confirm that the edition includes the multiplayer component you intend to play. This is particularly important when selecting a Red Dead Redemption 2 edition.
• Platform generation: check whether the listing is for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One or Xbox Series hardware. A title appearing in a franchise search does not guarantee that every edition runs on your device.
• Co-op capacity: verify the number for the mode you will use. A headline player count may describe a specific activity, not every mission.
• Cross-play: do not assume that friends on another platform can join. Look for a current, explicit cross-play statement for the exact edition.
• Subscription or service requirement: console online-play rules and publisher services can change. Read the current platform and publisher requirements before checkout.
• Edition contents: deluxe bonuses, expansions and standalone online access can differ. Compare what is included rather than relying on a franchise name.
• In-game purchases: review the store description and rating information if you want to avoid optional spending. The ESRB specifically lists in-game purchases for Red Dead Online.

Which game is the best GTA Online alternative?

There is no single replacement because GTA Online is a bundle of genres. Red Dead Online wins on overall structure: it is another persistent Rockstar multiplayer world with cooperative activities and progression. Saints Row (2022) wins for a two-person open-world crime campaign. PAYDAY 2 and PAYDAY 3 win when robbery planning is the point of the session. Watch Dogs: Legion is the specialist choice for hacking and four-player co-op, while The Crew Motorfest and Forza Horizon 5 are the right destinations for convoys, racing and vehicle collecting.

Make the decision from the activity you repeat most often, not from the label “open world.” A game can share GTA Online’s map size or multiplayer marketing and still feel completely different once you remove the crime loop, the economy or the free-roam social layer.

Quick Recap

Bestseller No. 1

Red Dead Redemption 2 PS4 Brand New Factory Sealed

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

$23.80

SaleBestseller No. 2

Red Dead Redemption - PlayStation 5

$24.99

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