Forty-four days. That's what's left until November 19, and you've already watched every GTA 6 trailer enough times to recognise individual palm trees. The pre-order's done, the preload date is circled, and whatever you're playing right now feels like a waiting room with a controller.
Every "games like GTA" list opens with GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2. You've played both, probably twice, so they're not here. This list assumes you know Rockstar's catalogue and want something that hits one specific part of the GTA itch: the sunburnt city, the satire, the crime story or the pure chaos. It's ordered for momentum, starting with the closest match to Vice City and ending with the wildest. Most of it runs on PS5, alongside everything else we've recommended for the console, and Rockstar's official GTA VI page has the latest on the release itself. Eight entries. No padding.
01
Open-world action / Rockstar Games
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City – The Definitive Edition
PC · PS5 · Xbox Series X|S · Nintendo Switch
Play This First
GTA 6 is going back to Vice City, so the obvious homework is the original trip. The Definitive Edition of the 2002 classic, part of The Trilogy, drops you into 1986 as Tommy Vercetti, building an empire one property at a time across a neon Miami pastiche of pastel suits, speedboats and a radio dial that still has the best soundtrack in the series. Playing it now is like visiting a hometown before it gets redeveloped: when a familiar beach or boulevard turns up in November, you'll get the joke. The honest weakness is the remaster itself. It launched in rough shape in 2021, and while patches fixed the worst of it, some character models still look off, and a few missions (yes, the RC helicopter one) have aged in all the wrong ways.
The Hook: For players who want to see where Vice City started before Rockstar rebuilds it.
02
Action RPG / CD Projekt Red
Cyberpunk 2077
PC · PS5 · Xbox Series X|S · Nintendo Switch 2
Best City to Get Lost In
If what you want from GTA 6 is a city too dense to ever fully see, Night City is the best one available right now. CD Projekt Red's RPG has had years of patches, the 2.0 overhaul rebuilt its police and skill systems, and the Phantom Liberty expansion adds a spy story set in Dogtown, a walled district that plays like a heist movie with chrome arms. Compared with GTA, it's slower and talkier: you're building a character with perks and cyberware, not just stealing cars. That's also the weakness. Driving is fine rather than great, the police still can't match a five-star GTA chase, and the main story asks you to sit through a lot of dialogue choices. Still, few cities reward a random walk at 2 a.m. like this one.
The Hook: For players who care more about the city than the crimes.
03
RPG / Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
PC · PS5 · PS4 · Xbox Series X|S · Xbox One
Closest Postcode
GTA 6's Leonida is Rockstar's take on Florida. Infinite Wealth is RGG Studio's take on Hawaii, and it's the closest anyone has come to bottling sunburnt tourist-trap energy. Ichiban Kasuga lands in Honolulu with nothing, and the game piles on side content until you forget the main story exists: bike delivery runs, a monster-collecting parody built around fighting street weirdos, and Dondoko Island, a full island-resort management game hidden inside an RPG. The crime story is classic Yakuza: brotherhood, betrayal and grown men crying at sunsets. The weakness is the combat, which is turn-based, so if you want GTA's gunplay this is the wrong door. It also leans on knowing the previous Like a Dragon, though the recaps do the job. If it hooks you, our RPG archive has plenty more.
The Hook: For players who want GTA 6's beach-and-sunshine vibe with a lot more heart.
04
Open-world action / Ubisoft Montreal
Watch Dogs 2
PC · PS4 · Xbox One
Funniest on This List
GTA has always been a satire first, and Watch Dogs 2 gets that better than most of its imitators. It's set in a San Francisco Bay Area full of startup parodies, cult-like tech companies and smug app founders, and you play Marcus Holloway, a hacker who'd rather humiliate a billionaire online than shoot him. Hacking turns the city into a toybox: hijack cars, trigger traffic chaos, send an RC car or a drone to do the dirty work. Compared with GTA, it rewards cleverness over firepower. The weakness is that it hands you a 3D-printed arsenal anyway, so a mission can swing from goofy prank to body count in a way that clashes with the friendly tone. The story also loses its bite in the back half. On PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, it plays through backward compatibility.
The Hook: For players who come to GTA for the jokes as much as the car chases.
That's the first half: games that share GTA 6's postcard (Vice City, Honolulu), its density (Night City) or its sense of humour (the Bay Area). The second half goes after other parts of the GTA itch: hand-to-hand crime stories, family drama, clockwork chaos and pure nonsense.
05
Action-adventure / United Front Games
Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition
PC · PS4 · Xbox One
Most Underrated on This List
Sleeping Dogs is what happens when a GTA-style city meets a Hong Kong action film. You play Wei Shen, an undercover cop working his way into a triad, and the game's best idea is that fists matter more than guns. Combat runs on counters and environmental kills (phone booths, fish tanks, air-con units), and action hijacks let you leap from one moving car to another at highway speed. The city is smaller than GTA's but livelier at street level, with karaoke, night markets and mahjong tables. The weakness is the shooting, which feels like an afterthought, and a 2012 mission structure that repeats chase, fight, escape. United Front Games closed before a sequel, so this is all there is. It plays on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S through backward compatibility.
The Hook: For players who wish GTA's fistfights were as good as its car chases.
06
Action-adventure / Hangar 13
Mafia: The Old Country
PC · PS5 · Xbox Series X|S
Best Story-First Pick
If you care more about GTA 6's crime story than its open world, start here. Hangar 13's 2025 prequel goes back to 1900s Sicily, following Enzo Favara from the sulphur mines into the Torrisi crime family, with knife duels, horseback rides and vintage cars winding through the hills. It plays like a film: tight, linear chapters, careful pacing and a cast that earns its big dramatic moments. Compared with GTA, there's no sandbox to break; you're watching a story unfold, and that's the point. The weakness follows from it. The open world is a pretty backdrop with little to do between missions, and the stealth sections are fiddly enough to break the rhythm. It's best played in a few long evenings rather than in short bursts.
The Hook: For players who want a crime story told straight, without the sandbox.
07
Stealth / IO Interactive
Hitman: World of Assassination
PC · PS5 · PS4 · Xbox Series X|S · Xbox One
Odd One Out, Worth It
Hitman isn't open-world, but its levels are so dense they might as well be. World of Assassination bundles IO Interactive's trilogy, and one of its best maps is a Miami motor race, a sun-drenched Florida playground that makes a perfect warm-up for Leonida. Each level is a clockwork sandbox where you can poison a drink, drop a lighting rig or stroll through a crowd dressed as a flamingo mascot, and GTA's "what happens if I do this?" instinct is exactly the right mindset. The weakness is the connective tissue. There's no city to roam between missions, the best features need an online connection, and the story is a thin thread between targets. Treat each map as a toybox and it'll carry you to launch day.
The Hook: For players whose favourite GTA moments are the ones they planned themselves.
08
Open-world action / Deep Silver Volition
Saints Row IV: Re-Elected
PC · PS4 · Xbox One · Nintendo Switch
Most Ridiculous Pick
Saints Row started as a GTA rival and ended up as its unhinged cousin. Saints Row IV: Re-Elected makes you President of the United States just before aliens trap the Saints inside a simulated city, and then it hands you superpowers: super-sprinting, gliding, telekinesis. The result is the most ridiculous game here, a parody of GTA, action films and the series itself. Next to Jason and Lucia's grounded crime story, it sits at the opposite end of the dial, which makes it a perfect palate cleanser. The weakness is that superpowers make cars nearly pointless, and the simulated city is recycled from Saints Row: The Third, so the world can feel thin. If you want more open-world picks, we've got a whole label for them.
The Hook: For players who want GTA's chaos with every rule of physics switched off.
Closing thought
Every open-world crime game of the last twenty years has had to decide what to do about GTA. Some copied it and vanished. The ones on this list survived by picking one thing Rockstar does and pushing it further: Sleeping Dogs bet on fists, Watch Dogs on satire, Hitman on clockwork chaos, Yakuza on heart. GTA 6 will reset the bar again on November 19, and the next decade of games will have to answer it the same way.
FAQ
When does GTA 6 come out?
GTA 6 releases on November 19, 2026 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. Rockstar has also said digital preloading starts on November 12, 2026.
Is GTA 6 coming to PC?
Rockstar hasn't announced a PC version. For now, the only confirmed platforms are PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
Should I replay Vice City before GTA 6?
If you've never played it, yes. GTA 6 returns to Vice City, and the Definitive Edition of the 2002 game is the easiest way to see the original version of the city. Expect dated mission design, but the setting and soundtrack still hold up.
What's the closest game to GTA 6 right now?
For a dense modern city, Cyberpunk 2077 is the closest. For the sun-soaked tourist-trap setting, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth gets nearest, and for GTA's satire, Watch Dogs 2 is the pick.
Can I play the older games on this list on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S?
Yes. Watch Dogs 2, Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition and Saints Row IV: Re-Elected run on current consoles through backward compatibility, and the rest have native PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions.
Which of these is getting you through the countdown, and which crime game did we miss?
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