You’ve finished the Union Depository heist for the tenth time. You’ve flown the Oppressor Mk II until the neon lights of Los Santos started blurring into a headache. Now what? Everyone is waiting for GTA 6, but 2025 is a long way off, and let’s be real, the "Coming 2025" window usually means "Whenever Rockstar feels like it." You need something else. But finding games like Grand Theft Auto 5 is actually harder than it looks because most developers who try to copy the Rockstar formula end up failing miserably.
They get the "crime" part right, sure. But they miss the soul.
What makes GTA 5 special isn't just stealing cars. It’s the weird, satirical hum of the city. It’s the physics of the suspension when you take a curb too fast. It’s the way the AI pedestrians insult your outfit while you’re trying to buy a rocket launcher. Most clones feel like empty movie sets. You can look, but you can’t touch. If you’re hunting for that specific itch—the one where you have total freedom to be a menace in a living world—you have to look at titles that actually understand what "open world" means.
The Sleeping Dogs Phenomenon: Why This Is Still the King
If you haven't played Sleeping Dogs, stop reading this and go buy it for five dollars on a Steam sale. Seriously. Originally intended as a third entry in the True Crime series, United Front Games created something that, in some ways, actually outclasses GTA. You play as Wei Shen, an undercover cop infiltrating the Sun On Yee Triad in Hong Kong.
The combat is the star here.
While GTA 5's melee is basically just "press B to punch," Sleeping Dogs uses a system heavily inspired by the Batman: Arkham games. You’re shoving guys into industrial fans, slamming car trunks on their heads, and using martial arts to dismantle entire rooms of thugs. It feels visceral. The city of Hong Kong is neon-soaked, cramped, and smells like pork buns. It doesn't have the massive landmass of San Andreas, but it has density. Every alleyway feels intentional.
The tragedy of Sleeping Dogs is that we never got a sequel. The developer went under, and the IP is essentially in limbo. But as far as games like Grand Theft Auto 5 go, it’s the only one that captures that specific "crime drama" cinematic feel without feeling like a parody of itself. It’s gritty. It’s heartbreaking. And the driving—while a bit more "arcadey" than GTA—is fast and rewards you for being aggressive.
Saints Row: When the Satire Goes Off the Rails
We have to talk about the purple elephant in the room. Saints Row used to be the "GTA clone" that actually stood a chance. The first two games were grounded urban crime simulators. By the time Saints Row: The Third and Saints Row IV arrived, you weren't just a gangster; you were the President of the United States fighting an alien invasion inside a Matrix-style simulation with superpowers.
It’s a lot.
If what you love about GTA is the chaos and the "sandbox" element, Saints Row IV is basically a superhero game. You don't even need cars because you can outrun them on foot. However, the 2022 reboot... well, that’s a different story. It tried to bring things back to basics but missed the mark for many fans due to a shift in tone that felt a bit "corporate." If you want the true Saints experience, go back to Saints Row 2. It has a map that is arguably more interactive than GTA 5's, with secret underground malls and a story that isn't afraid to be genuinely dark when it needs to be.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is Just GTA in a Cowboy Hat (And That’s Good)
It feels redundant to recommend another Rockstar game, but some people genuinely avoid Red Dead Redemption 2 because they think it’s "too slow."
It is slow.
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But it’s the same DNA. Arthur Morgan is basically a 19th-century Michael De Santa. He’s a man out of time, tired of the life, but stuck in a cycle of violence. The level of detail in RDR2 makes GTA 5 look like a mobile game. You have to clean your guns. You have to feed your horse. You have to watch the skinning animation for every deer you hunt.
If you want games like Grand Theft Auto 5 because you love the immersion, RDR2 is the peak. The "wanted" system is more complex, the heists (train robberies) are scripted with incredible tension, and the world reacts to your "Honor" level. It’s the grown-up version of the GTA formula. Just don't expect to go 120 mph through the streets; your horse will hit a tree and you will fly over its head. It happens to everyone.
The Watch Dogs Problem: Hacking vs. Havoc
Ubisoft tried to take the crown with Watch Dogs. The first game had a "vibes" problem—Aiden Pearce was about as charismatic as a wet piece of cardboard—but the mechanics were solid. Hacking the city's infrastructure to lose the cops is a genius mechanic. Raising bollards, changing traffic lights, or exploding steam pipes under the road adds a layer of strategy that GTA lacks.
Watch Dogs 2 is the one you actually want to play.
San Francisco is bright, colorful, and actually fun to explore. Marcus Holloway is a much better protagonist, and the "DeadSec" crew feels like a group of people you’d actually hang out with. It leans into the "hacker culture" of the mid-2010s, but the gameplay loop of infiltrating a restricted area using drones and cameras is incredibly satisfying.
Then there’s Watch Dogs: Legion. It’s... experimental. You can recruit literally anyone in London. Want to play as a 70-year-old grandmother who is a retired assassin? You can. But in trying to make everyone a protagonist, they made no one a protagonist. The story loses its hook. If you’re looking for a world that feels alive and interactive, the second game is the sweet spot.
Cyberpunk 2077: The Redemption Arc
When Cyberpunk 2077 launched, it was a disaster. It wasn't just buggy; it didn't feel like a living world. The police would spawn directly behind you, and the NPCs were basically zombies.
Fast forward to the Phantom Liberty expansion and the 2.1 update.
CD Projekt Red basically rebuilt the game. It is now one of the best games like Grand Theft Auto 5 if you’re looking for high-budget production and a dense urban environment. Night City is, visually, the most impressive city ever built in a video game. Period. The way the skyscrapers loom over the slums, the neon reflections in the puddles—it’s breathtaking.
The vehicle combat was revamped. The police AI now actually chases you through the streets using tactics. While it’s more of an RPG than an action-sandbox, you can still spend hours just driving around, taking out gangs, and buying overpriced apartments. It’s a darker, more cynical world than Los Santos, but the feeling of being a small-time mercenary trying to make it big is exactly the same "started from the bottom" energy that GTA fans love.
Mafia: Definitive Edition and the Linear Open World
Some people like GTA because they can spend 50 hours ignoring the story. If that’s you, skip Mafia. But if you like GTA for the cinematic crime story—the Goodfellas or Heat vibes—then Mafia: Definitive Edition is mandatory.
It’s a beautiful recreation of 1930s "Lost Heaven" (basically Chicago). The cars are slow. They handle like boats. If you run a red light, the cops will actually pull you over and give you a ticket rather than opening fire with assault rifles. It’s a more disciplined experience. The world is an "open world" in name only; it’s really just a backdrop for a very tight, very professional crime narrative. Tommy Angelo’s rise through the Salieri crime family is one of the best stories in the genre.
Just Cause 4: For the Michael Bay Fans
Sometimes you don't care about the story. You don't care about the satire. You just want to tether a cow to a propane tank and launch it into a helicopter.
That’s Just Cause.
Rico Rodriguez is a one-man army. The physics engine in Just Cause 4 is designed for maximum stupidity. You have a wingsuit, a parachute, and a grappling hook that lets you zip around the map like Spider-Man with a rocket launcher. It’s not "realistic" in any sense of the word, but it captures the "5-star wanted level" chaos of GTA better than almost any other game. The map is massive—seriously, it’s huge—but it can feel a bit empty between the military bases you're supposed to blow up.
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Actionable Insights for Your Next Playthrough
Choosing your next game depends entirely on which part of GTA 5 you actually liked. If you’re overwhelmed by the options, here is how to narrow it down based on your playstyle:
- For the "Street Fighter": Go with Sleeping Dogs. The hand-to-hand combat makes GTA feel ancient.
- For the "Roleplayer": Pick up Red Dead Redemption 2. The level of interaction with the world is unmatched.
- For the "Tech Nerd": Watch Dogs 2 offers a tactical approach to crime that involves more brains than bullets.
- For the "Chaos Agent": Just Cause 4 is your playground. It’s less about "crime" and more about physics-based destruction.
- For the "Sci-Fi Fan": Cyberpunk 2077 is finally the game it was promised to be. It’s the closest thing to a "Next-Gen" GTA experience available right now.
Don't go into these games expecting a 1-to-1 clone of Rockstar's work. Nobody has Rockstar's budget—literally nobody. But if you're willing to trade a little bit of polish for some fresh mechanics (like hacking or martial arts), you’ll find that the "GTA-like" genre is actually much wider than you thought.
The best way to play these is to stop trying to play them like GTA. Don't just follow the waypoints. In Sleeping Dogs, spend time at the night markets. In Cyberpunk, walk through the markets of Japantown. The magic of these games is usually found in the details that the developers added to make their cities feel unique. Stop driving at full speed and actually look around; you might find your new favorite virtual home.