GTA 6 has become less of a video game and more of a cultural event. Every trailer, screenshot, rumor, and suspiciously blurry photograph can send the internet into complete meltdown.
Waiting for GTA 6 can feel like being stuck at a red light while watching everyone else drive past you. Rockstar’s next open-world crime epic is one of the most anticipated games ever, but what are you supposed to do while waiting?
Fortunately, gaming has plenty of other ways to steal cars, cause trouble, explore huge cities, and generally make terrible life choices.
Here are five games worth playing instead of GTA 6 even in 2026.
1. Cyberpunk 2077
If what you want from GTA 6 is a massive city where you can completely ignore the main story and spend hours causing trouble, Cyberpunk 2077 is an obvious choice.
Night City is packed with criminals, corporations, weirdos, side quests, guns, cars, and enough neon to permanently damage your eyesight. Like GTA, it gives you a huge playground and plenty of freedom to decide whether you’re going to be a responsible citizen.
You won’t be, obviously.
The biggest difference is that instead of stealing sports cars in Miami-inspired Florida, you’re stealing futuristic vehicles while occasionally getting involved in corporate conspiracies and existential crises.
So, basically GTA with cybernetic upgrades
2. Red Dead Redemption 2
Want the GTA experience but with significantly fewer smartphones?
Welcome to Red Dead Redemption 2. Rockstar’s western epic gives you an enormous open world, tons of side activities, criminal missions, random encounters, and one of the most detailed game worlds ever created.
Instead of stealing a sports car, you’re stealing a horse. Instead of robbing a bank while listening to police sirens, you’re robbing a bank while listening to someone shout about horses. It’s slower than GTA, but that’s part of the charm. And if GTA 6 has you craving another Rockstar open world, there’s arguably no better way to spend the waiting period.
You can rob trains, get into shootouts, hunt animals, gamble, explore the wilderness, or spend fifteen minutes watching your character clean a gun.
It’s basically GTA if everyone drove horses and took significantly longer to get anywhere.
3.Yakuza: Like a Dragon
If you want an open-world crime game but don’t mind your crime story occasionally turning into an absolutely ridiculous comedy, Yakuza: Like a Dragon is your ticket.
The Yakuza series has everything you’d expect from a crime drama: gangs, corruption, violence, shady businessmen, and people making extremely poor decisions.
It also has karaoke, bizarre side quests, restaurants, mini games, and a protagonist who can apparently turn everyday objects into weapons. Where GTA lets you mow down traffic in a stolen sports car, Yakuza lets you become emotionally invested in a group of middle-aged Japanese criminals while fighting a street thug with a bicycle.
It’s different from GTA, but that’s exactly why it’s worth playing. Because GTA in Japan has to be at least this weird.
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