Refreshing the GTA VI news feed every morning isn't a sustainable hobby. The good news? The open-world genre has quietly entered a golden age, and there's never been a better time to dig into the games that helped shape — or are now reshaping — the sandbox formula Rockstar made famous. Whether you're chasing chaos, character, or just a great drive home at sunset, these five picks should keep your hands busy.
1. Red Dead Redemption 2
If you somehow haven't, start here. Rockstar's last major single-player release remains the studio's most ambitious world by almost any measure, and it's the closest thing we have to a preview of the sensibilities the team brings to its modern projects. The slow-burn pacing throws some players off in the opening hours, but stick with it — Arthur Morgan's story is one of the most quietly devastating arcs the medium has produced. Pay attention to the small stuff: NPC routines, weather systems, the way your horse remembers you. This is the texture Rockstar has spent a decade perfecting.
2. Cyberpunk 2077
Yes, really. CD Projekt Red's troubled launch is years in the rearview, and after the 2.0 update and the Phantom Liberty expansion, Night City finally plays like the game it was always pitched as. The driving feels good, the gunplay has weight, and the side content frequently outshines the main story. It's also the most direct stylistic cousin to GTA on this list — a dense, vertical urban sandbox built around criminal underworlds, bad decisions, and worse outfits. If you bounced off it at launch, it's worth a second date.
3. Saints Row: The Third Remastered
When the GTA itch needs scratching but you don't want a 100-hour commitment, the Saints Row series has always been the answer. The Third in particular leans into the absurd — purple dildo bats, tiger-filled passenger seats, gang wars that escalate into luchador conspiracies — and the remaster cleans it up just enough for modern screens. It's pure dumb fun, and a useful reminder that open-world crime games don't have to take themselves seriously to be great.
4. Watch Dogs 2
Often overlooked in conversations about the best urban sandboxes, Ubisoft's San Francisco riff has aged surprisingly well. The hacking systems give you genuine creative freedom in how you approach objectives, the city is dense and walkable, and the tone — sun-soaked, irreverent, occasionally pointed — is a refreshing break from grimdark crime fiction. It also happens to be one of the better PC ports of its era, which matters if you're playing on aging hardware while saving up for whatever rig GTA VI ends up demanding.
5. Yakuza: Like a Dragon (or Infinite Wealth)
A curveball, but hear it out. RGG Studio's long-running series occupies a small slice of urban real estate compared to a Rockstar map, but it uses every square inch. Kamurocho and its sister districts are stuffed with side stories, minigames, restaurants you can actually eat at, and a cast of characters you'll genuinely miss when the credits roll. Like a Dragon reboots the series into a turn-based RPG, and Infinite Wealth takes things to Hawaii — both are great entry points if the older brawler combat isn't your thing.
The community angle
The honest truth is that nothing on this list is going to replace GTA VI, and you shouldn't expect it to. What these games can do is remind you why you're excited in the first place — that the appeal of the genre isn't just one studio's output, but the simple pleasure of being dropped into a world and trusted to find your own fun in it. The wait is what it is. Filling it with games that take swings of their own is a better use of the time than refreshing the same three subreddits for the hundredth time today. We'll see you back at the news desk when there's something new to talk about.
