Games Like GTA to Play Before GTA 6 Launches

The best game like GTA to play before GTA 6 is GTA Vice City – Definitive Edition. It’s set in the same city GTA 6 returns to, four decades earlier in in-game time. After that, Red Dead Redemption 2 is the closest preview of how Rockstar builds worlds now. Mafia: The Old Country is the strongest recent story-driven crime game from another studio.

GTA 6 launches November 19, 2026, on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. That leaves about eight weeks, enough for two or three of these.

Quick List

#	Game	Developer / Year	Setting	Approx. main story	Why play it before GTA 6	Current consoles
1	GTA Vice City – Definitive Edition	Rockstar / Grove Street Games, 2021	Vice City, 1986	~15 hrs	Same city GTA 6 returns to	Native PS5/Xbox Series
2	Red Dead Redemption 2	Rockstar, 2018	American frontier, 1899	~50 hrs	Rockstar’s closest predecessor in design	Backward compatibility
3	Mafia: The Old Country	Hangar 13 / 2K, 2025	Sicily, 1900s	~12–15 hrs	Newest story-first crime drama, same publisher group as GTA	Native
4	Mafia: Definitive Edition	Hangar 13 / 2K, 2020	Lost Heaven, 1930s	~10–12 hrs	Classic mob rise-and-fall, rebuilt	Backward compatibility
5	Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition	United Front / Square Enix, 2014	Hong Kong	~20 hrs	Best melee combat in the genre	Backward compatibility
6	Cyberpunk 2077	CD Projekt Red, 2020 (2.0 in 2023)	Night City	~25 hrs	Dense city with a reworked police system	Native
7	Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth	RGG Studio / Sega, 2024	Hawaii + Yokohama	~45 hrs	Sun-soaked crime comedy	Native
8	Watch Dogs 2	Ubisoft Montreal, 2016	San Francisco Bay Area	~20 hrs	Satirical sandbox, hacking heists	Backward compatibility
9	Crime Boss: Rockay City	Ingame Studios / 505 Games, 2023	Florida-inspired city, 1990s	Varies (roguelite)	Closest non-Rockstar match to Vice City	Native
10	Saints Row (2022)	Volition / Deep Silver, 2022	Santo Ileso (U.S. Southwest)	~15–20 hrs	Over-the-top GTA-style co-op chaos	Native

Story lengths are approximate main-story averages from player-tracked completion times. Your playtime will vary with side content.

1. GTA Vice City – Definitive Edition

GTA 6 is the first mainline game set in Vice City since 2002, so the original is the most direct lead-in you can play.

Quick facts
Developer	Rockstar Games (remaster by Grove Street Games)
Released	2002 original; Definitive Edition in 2021 as part of GTA: The Trilogy
Setting	Vice City, 1986
Protagonist	Tommy Vercetti
Approx. main story	~15 hours

Main features:

• Asset empire: you buy businesses around the city, like a nightclub, a taxi firm, and a film studio, and each one unlocks missions and passive income. It’s the series’ first real “build a criminal empire” loop.
• Modernized controls: the Definitive Edition adds a GTA 5-style weapon wheel, updated aiming, mid-mission checkpoints, and a mini-map with waypoints.
• Updated visuals: new lighting, reflections, and higher-resolution textures over the original city layout.
• Period radio: full 1980s station lineups, the series’ signature storytelling device, still intact.

GTA 6 connection: Vice City’s layout (the beach strip, the downtown towers, the island mansion district) is the ancestor of what Rockstar is expanding in Leonida. Playing it first makes the callbacks in GTA 6’s map and marketing land. Compare the two eras with our Leonida map locations guide once you finish.

Worth knowing: the Trilogy launched in 2021 with widely criticized bugs, and later patches fixed many of them. Play the current patched version.

Play it if: you want the setting and tone GTA 6 builds on, in a game you can finish in a couple of weekends.

2. Red Dead Redemption 2

RDR2 is Rockstar’s last full open-world game and the best preview of how GTA 6 is built.

Quick facts
Developer	Rockstar Games
Released	2018 (PC 2019)
Setting	American frontier, 1899
Protagonist	Arthur Morgan
Approx. main story	~50 hours

Main features:

• Honor system: your choices raise or lower Arthur’s honor, which changes how NPCs react, what dialogue you see, and parts of the ending.
• Living world simulation: NPCs keep daily routines, remember encounters, and react to your appearance, weapons, and behavior.
• Bounty and wanted system: crimes are tracked by region and witnesses, and a bounty follows you until you pay it off.
• First-person mode at launch: a full first-person camera option available from day one.
• Red Dead Online: a separate multiplayer mode running alongside the story.

GTA 6 connection: GTA 6’s honor/relationship system for Jason and Lucia, its witness-and-description Wanted tracking, and its animation-heavy movement all read as descendants of RDR2’s systems. One notable difference: creators who previewed GTA 6 say it won’t launch with a full first-person mode, which RDR2 had.

Play it if: you want to understand Rockstar’s current design style. The first two chapters alone show it.

3. Mafia: The Old Country

The newest Mafia game is a tight, linear crime drama, and a good palate cleanser before an 80-hour GTA story.

Quick facts
Developer / publisher	Hangar 13 / 2K (a Take-Two label, like Rockstar)
Released	August 2025
Setting	Sicily, early 1900s
Protagonist	Enzo Favara
Approx. main story	~12–15 hours

Main features:

• Story-first structure: a chapter-based campaign rather than an open sandbox, with heavy cinematic direction.
• Knife duels: one-on-one close-combat set pieces that act as the game’s signature fights.
• Period vehicles and horseback: early motor cars alongside horses across the Sicilian countryside.
• Stealth and cover shooting: a slower, more deliberate combat rhythm than GTA.
• Explore mode: a free-roam mode for the countryside outside the story.

GTA 6 connection: it comes from the same publisher group as GTA 6 and has similar crime-family storytelling, just delivered linearly. It’s a good reminder of the story focus GTA 6’s heist-driven plot is expected to share.

Play it if: you want a complete crime story in a single week, not another sandbox before the biggest sandbox of the year.

4. Mafia: Definitive Edition

A ground-up remake of the 2002 original. It’s the classic mob rise-and-fall story in modern visuals.

Quick facts
Developer / publisher	Hangar 13 / 2K
Released	2020 (original 2002)
Setting	Lost Heaven, a 1930s American city
Protagonist	Tommy Angelo
Approx. main story	~10–12 hours

Main features:

• Remade story and cast: rewritten scenes and new performances, while keeping the original’s plot beats.
• 1930s driving: period cars with period handling, including races and chases.
• Classic difficulty mode: stricter police and harder combat for players who want the original’s challenge.
• Free Ride mode: a post-story mode for exploring the city and collectibles.

GTA 6 connection: it’s the most grounded game on this list. If GTA 4’s serious tone was your favorite era of GTA, this is closest to that mood. Its police enforce traffic laws, an early version of the “police notice what you do” idea GTA 6 expands.

Play it if: you want a short, cinematic crime story. The whole trilogy is in the Mafia: Trilogy bundle if you enjoy it.

Clearing Space for GTA 6?

Installing several of these before November eats storage fast. GTA 6 alone is estimated at 150–200GB. Best PS5 SSD for GTA 6

5. Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition

An undercover-cop story in Hong Kong with the best hand-to-hand combat of any open-world crime game.

Quick facts
Developer / publisher	United Front Games / Square Enix
Released	2012; Definitive Edition 2014
Setting	Hong Kong
Protagonist	Wei Shen
Approx. main story	~20 hours

Main features:

• Martial arts combat: counter-based melee with grapples and environmental takedowns, using phone booths, fish tanks, and other objects around the city.
• Dual XP tracks: separate Cop and Triad progression that reflect the character’s split loyalties.
• Action hijacking: leap from one moving car to another mid-chase.
• Definitive Edition extras: includes the DLC packs and improved visuals.

GTA 6 connection: the Extended Look showed contextual close-quarters takedowns, and Sleeping Dogs is the benchmark those systems will be compared to. Its car-to-car action also mirrors the vehicle-combat focus Rockstar showed in GTA 6’s chase footage.

Play it if: melee is your favorite part of open-world games. It’s still unmatched.

6. Cyberpunk 2077

After its 2.0 overhaul, one of the densest open-world cities on current consoles, and the best look at a modern police-chase system outside Rockstar.

Quick facts
Developer	CD Projekt Red
Released	2020; 2.0 update and Phantom Liberty expansion in 2023
Setting	Night City, a futuristic West Coast city
Protagonist	V (custom)
Approx. main story	~25 hours

Main features:

• Reworked police system: the 2.0 update added escalating wanted levels, pursuing police vehicles, and car chases.
• Vehicle combat: shoot from the driver’s seat, added in 2.0.
• Deep character builds: skill trees and cyberware let you play stealthy, hacker, or brute-force.
• Phantom Liberty: a spy-thriller expansion set in a new district, sold separately or in the Ultimate Edition.
• First-person throughout: the entire game is played in first person.

GTA 6 connection: Cyberpunk’s 2.0 pursuit system is the closest recent comparison to GTA 6’s six-star, description-based Wanted system. Its first-person view is the opposite of GTA 6’s expected third-person-only launch (what we know).

Play it if: you want a dense city, a great story, and deep character building before Leonida.

7. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

A crime saga with heart, set half in sunny Hawaii, the closest tonal match to Leonida’s beach-and-crime mix outside Rockstar.

Quick facts
Developer / publisher	RGG Studio / Sega
Released	January 2024
Setting	Hawaii and Yokohama, Japan
Protagonists	Ichiban Kasuga and Kazuma Kiryu
Approx. main story	~45 hours

Main features:

• Turn-based combat: positioning-based fights with job classes, not real-time action.
• Huge side content: Dondoko Island (a resort-management mode), a Pokémon-style collection side game, part-time jobs, and minigames.
• Two protagonists: the story switches between the two leads, a structure GTA 6 shares.
• Dark comedy: serious crime plot, absurd side stories. It’s the same tonal mix GTA is known for.

GTA 6 connection: its tropical setting, two-lead structure, and side-activity density are the closest match on this list to what Rockstar has shown of Leonida’s everyday life, from jet skiing to basketball.

Play it if: you’re fine with turn-based combat and want an emotional crime story with lots of side content.

8. Watch Dogs 2

A bright, satirical sandbox where hacking replaces most gunplay, and the heists feel like playful GTA missions.

Quick facts
Developer / publisher	Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft
Released	2016
Setting	San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley
Protagonist	Marcus Holloway
Approx. main story	~20 hours

Main features:

• Hack everything: traffic lights, cars, security cameras, and phones become tools and weapons.
• Drones and an RC jumper: scout and complete missions without entering a building.
• Non-lethal playstyle: the full story can be played with minimal killing.
• Seamless co-op: drop into a friend’s world for co-op missions.

GTA 6 connection: camera-based detection is central to GTA 6’s new Wanted system (police track whether a camera caught you). Watch Dogs 2 is built entirely around controlling cameras and surveillance, so it trains the same awareness.

Play it if: you want a lighter, funnier open world for short sessions.

9. Crime Boss: Rockay City

A Florida-inspired 1990s crime game built around co-op heists and turf wars, the nearest thing to Vice City from another studio.

Quick facts
Developer / publisher	Ingame Studios / 505 Games
Released	2023
Setting	Rockay City, a fictional 1990s Florida-style city
Protagonist	Travis Baker (single-player campaign)
Approx. main story	Varies. The campaign is a replayable roguelite

Main features:

• Roguelite campaign: build a criminal empire, take territory, and run heists. Losing the boss ends the run.
• Co-op heists: up to four players on robberies, a lighter take on the heist formula.
• Celebrity voice cast: a cast of well-known film and TV actors.
• Turf war map: a strategic layer for claiming and defending districts.

GTA 6 connection: the Florida setting and heist focus overlap directly with GTA 6’s premise of a criminal duo pulling jobs across a Florida parody. Reviews were mixed, so treat it as a co-op filler, not a must-play.

Play it if: you have a regular group and want heists before GTA 6’s online mode (which Rockstar hasn’t dated).

10. Saints Row (2022)

The GTA formula with realism removed. Pure co-op chaos, wingsuits, and a customizable crew.

Quick facts
Developer / publisher	Volition / Deep Silver
Released	2022
Setting	Santo Ileso, a fictional U.S. Southwest city
Protagonist	The Boss (custom)
Approx. main story	~15–20 hours

Main features:

• Criminal Ventures: place fronts and businesses around the map to unlock missions and income. It’s a playful version of GTA’s business empire.
• Deep customization: the character, cars, weapons, and crew are all heavily customizable.
• Wingsuit traversal: glide across the city between fights.
• Two-player co-op: the full campaign is playable with a friend.

GTA 6 connection: its business-front loop echoes Vice City’s asset empire and GTA Online’s businesses. It’s also a reminder of how differently Rockstar treats realism. Reviews were mixed, and Volition closed in 2023, so this is the reboot’s only outing.

Play it if: you want silly co-op fun, not a serious story, before GTA 6.

Frequently Asked Questions