iTechGuides is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Learn more
If you want a modern-city sandbox, start with Cyberpunk 2077. If what you miss most about Red Dead Redemption 2 is a long, carefully written journey through a living world, choose The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Complete Edition. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is the grounded historical alternative, while Elden Ring is the best choice for combat-led discovery. Ghost of Tsushima emphasizes cinematic travel and swordplay, and Grand Theft Auto V remains the most direct familiar-city fallback.
There is no single game that combines GTA’s vehicle-based urban chaos with Red Dead Redemption 2’s slow, character-focused historical drama. The useful way to choose is to identify which part of those games you want next: a dense city, authored quests, realism, exploration, combat, or atmosphere.
Quick answer: which game should you play first?
- Closest to a GTA-style modern city: Cyberpunk 2077.
- Best long-form story and quest chains: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Complete Edition.
- Most grounded historical immersion: Kingdom Come: Deliverance II.
- Best for discovery and build experimentation: Elden Ring.
- Best cinematic historical atmosphere and swordplay: Ghost of Tsushima.
- Most familiar modern-city option: Grand Theft Auto V.
These recommendations serve different purposes. Cyberpunk 2077 supplies the closest urban substitute, but its future setting and role-playing systems make it unlike a contemporary crime sandbox. The Witcher 3 offers a huge authored journey rather than freeform city mischief. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II slows the pace for historical simulation. Elden Ring makes exploration and combat the main event. Ghost of Tsushima is more focused and cinematic. GTA V is the obvious choice if you want to remain inside the series’ established modern-city formula.
The Tool Desk
Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →What “like GTA 6” usually means
When players ask for a game like GTA 6, they generally mean more than “an open map.” They are usually looking for a contemporary or futuristic city, fast movement between districts, vehicles, firearms, criminal or faction systems, and the possibility that unscripted encounters will create their own stories. A useful substitute therefore needs urban density and freedom, not merely a large countryside.
#1 Best Overall
![NAMCO - CD Projekt Red - The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt - Complete Edition, Playstation 5 [English Edition]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51dWUfwFl5L._SL160_.jpg)
- 1205504
- High-quality material
- Durable
- robustness
Cyberpunk 2077 fits that request most closely in this group. CD PROJEKT RED describes it as “an open world role-playing game set in the most dangerous city of the future.” Its city is built around dense neighborhoods, driving, gunplay and character choices. It is still an RPG, so equipment, attributes and quest decisions matter more than they do in a pure action sandbox.
Grand Theft Auto V remains the safer pick if what you want is the familiar combination of modern roads, vehicles, crime missions and spontaneous trouble. It is an older entry, so it should be treated as a known quantity rather than a preview of how GTA 6 will work. No substitute can guarantee the same characters, map design or systems as an unreleased sequel.
What “like Red Dead Redemption 2” usually means
Red Dead Redemption 2 appeals to players who value authored storytelling, a world that feels inhabited, slow travel, environmental detail and relationships that develop over many hours. The closest alternatives are not necessarily westerns. They are games that make the journey itself important and give side quests, locations and companions a strong sense of place.
PC Slower Than It Used to Be?
A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11Outdated Drivers Are Slowing You Down
One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchThe Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Complete Edition is the strongest match for that style of play. Its open-world RPG structure supports long quest chains, horseback travel and a large fantasy continent. The official Witcher page identifies Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine as its two major expansions, making the Complete Edition a particularly substantial single-player package.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is the better choice when realism matters more than fantasy. It presents a grounded historical setting and a slower, simulation-minded rhythm. Ghost of Tsushima offers a more stylized historical world, with cinematic traversal and swordplay rather than the conversational, quest-heavy emphasis of The Witcher 3.
Comparison table
| Game | Setting and tone | Realism versus fantasy | Story focus | Exploration freedom | Combat | Perspective | Confirmed platform in the cited material |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | Dense futuristic city; dangerous, neon-lit urban RPG | Science-fiction fantasy with believable social and technological detail | Character-driven quests with consequential choices | High; districts, interiors, driving and optional activities | Firearms, abilities, stealth and close combat | First-person | Not stated on the cited official catalog page |
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Complete Edition | Large fantasy continent; expansive and heavily authored | High fantasy with monsters, magic and political conflict | Very strong; major quest chains and two major expansions | High; travel on foot or horseback with many optional stories | Third-person swordplay, signs and preparation | Third-person | Not stated on the cited official game page |
| Kingdom Come: Deliverance II | Grounded historical world; deliberate and immersive | Historical realism rather than fantasy | Character-led historical adventure | Open-world travel with a slower, simulation-minded pace | Grounded melee and practical tactics | First-person | Included in PlayStation’s current PS5 open-world recommendations |
| Elden Ring | Mythic, ruined landscape; mysterious and hostile | Dark fantasy | Less traditionally directed; discovery and lore carry much of the narrative | Extremely high; broad routes, hidden areas and optional bosses | Build-based melee, ranged attacks, magic and mounts | Third-person | Listed by PlayStation as an open-world title for PS5 |
| Ghost of Tsushima | Stylized historical Japan; focused and cinematic | Historical setting with dramatic, stylized presentation | Focused character story supported by regional activities | High within a curated island structure | Precision swordplay, stealth and ranged tools | Third-person | Listed in PlayStation’s current open-world catalogue |
| Grand Theft Auto V | Modern city and surrounding region; satirical crime sandbox | Contemporary realism with exaggerated action | Mission-led crime story with multiple protagonists | High; vehicles, properties, activities and free-roam systems | Firearms, driving and melee | Third-person, with a first-person option | Included in PlayStation’s open-world page content; exact platform is not stated in the cited material |
“Realism” in this table describes the tone and rules of the world, not a claim that any game simulates real life perfectly. “Exploration freedom” describes how much the game lets you choose routes and activities; a highly directed story can still exist inside a large open map.
Cyberpunk 2077: the clearest modern-city substitute
Why it fits
Cyberpunk 2077 is the first game to try when your priority is a city that feels like the main character. Its setting is not contemporary, but it delivers the urban ingredients people usually seek after a GTA game: traffic, districts with distinct identities, vehicles, firearms, criminal factions and situations that can be approached in different ways. The first-person perspective puts the player directly inside conversations, driving and combat.
What’s actually slowing this PC down?
Pick the symptom - the matching free tool is one click away.
The role-playing layer changes how you play. Builds, equipment and abilities can turn the same mission into a loud firefight, a stealth operation or a more technical encounter. That flexibility provides more character customization than a traditional GTA campaign, but it also means the game expects you to manage upgrades and make deliberate choices.
Where it differs from GTA
Night City is denser and more futuristic than a present-day city, and the story is more tightly tied to your created character. Driving and gunplay are important, yet the game is not designed solely around emergent police chases or unrestricted criminal mayhem. If you want a role-playing game with a city, this is the best match. If you want uncomplicated sandbox chaos, GTA V is the more direct fit.
Choose it if
- You want urban traversal, vehicles and firearms above all else.
- You enjoy first-person combat and build experimentation.
- You are comfortable with science-fiction rather than contemporary realism.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Complete Edition: the strongest story alternative
Why it fits
The Witcher 3 is the best recommendation when your favorite part of Red Dead Redemption 2 was the feeling of undertaking a long, authored journey. The game combines a large fantasy continent with horseback travel, layered quest chains and side stories that are treated as more than disposable map markers. The official page calls it a generation-defining open-world role-playing game and identifies Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine as its two major expansions.
Rank #2
- If you buy this game, you will receive a free next-gen update on December 14th!
- Play as a highly trained monster slayer for hire.
- Built for endless adventure, the massive open world of The Witcher sets new standards in terms of size, depth and complexity.
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Game of the Year edition brings together the base game and all the additional content released to date.
Its world is designed for wandering between meaningful destinations. Villages, roads, ruins and settlements support a broad range of stories, while the main narrative gives the journey a clear emotional direction. The result is less about improvising crimes in a city and more about deciding which problems your character will take responsibility for.
Where it differs from RDR2
The setting is high fantasy, with monsters, magic and political conflicts. Combat uses swords and supernatural signs rather than firearms, and the third-person perspective keeps the hero visible during travel and fights. The tone can move from grim political drama to folklore and dark humor, so it is not a historical simulation.
Choose it if
- You want the longest, most quest-focused single-player journey in this list.
- You value horseback travel, exploration and consequences in dialogue.
- You want a complete package that includes both major expansions.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II: grounded historical immersion
Why it fits
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is the choice for players who want the physical texture and slower pace of a historical world without fantasy creatures or magic. PlayStation includes it in its current PS5 open-world recommendations. Its appeal is simulation-minded immersion: travel takes time, social situations matter, and progress feels tied to the world rather than to a purely arcade-style power curve.
The first-person view reinforces that immediacy. You experience roads, settlements and confrontations from the protagonist’s position instead of watching a highly choreographed hero from behind. Combat is grounded and deliberate, so preparation and positioning matter more than simply surrounding yourself with increasingly spectacular abilities.
Where it differs from RDR2
It is not a western and does not reproduce Red Dead’s gunslinging, frontier mythology or gang drama. Its historical setting is more restrained, and its slower systems can feel demanding if you want instant action. The reward is a stronger sense that ordinary travel, social status and practical decisions belong to the same world as the main story.
Quick wins for a faster PC:
Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Choose it if
- You prefer historical realism to fantasy spectacle.
- You enjoy first-person immersion and deliberate pacing.
- You want an open world that asks you to adapt to its rules.
Elden Ring: the best for discovery and combat
Why it fits
Elden Ring is the outlier in this group, but it is one of the strongest open-world choices if your priority is finding something new around every corner. PlayStation describes it as an open-world title in which players create a character and explore on foot or horseback. The map is built to reward curiosity: a visible landmark can lead to a hidden route, an underground area or an optional fight rather than a single prescribed mission.
Build experimentation is central. Weapons, abilities, magic and equipment support different approaches, so changing your character can change how you read the same encounter. Combat is demanding and often the main source of narrative momentum; the world tells its story through locations, enemies and fragments of lore as much as through conventional cutscenes.
Where it differs from GTA and RDR2
There is no modern city, vehicle-based crime sandbox or conventional companion drama. The third-person perspective and fantasy setting place the emphasis on combat mastery and environmental discovery. If you want a tightly scripted emotional journey, The Witcher 3 or Ghost of Tsushima is a better fit. If you want freedom to roam and a reason to inspect every path, Elden Ring is difficult to beat.
Choose it if
- You want exploration to produce surprises rather than checklist completion.
- You enjoy challenging combat and rebuilding your character around new discoveries.
- You are happy for the world to communicate through atmosphere and environmental clues.
Ghost of Tsushima: cinematic travel and swordplay
Why it fits
Ghost of Tsushima is the most focused historical adventure in this set. It appears in PlayStation’s current open-world catalogue and combines a curated island environment with cinematic traversal, swordplay and stealth. The world is broad enough to invite detours, but its presentation keeps a clear dramatic line rather than dissolving into a purely systemic sandbox.
Recommended Free Tools
Its third-person combat makes every duel readable. Timing, stance choice, stealth and ranged tools work together, while travel through the landscape is designed to feel purposeful and visually composed. That makes it a strong bridge for players who want Red Dead’s atmosphere but prefer a faster, more action-oriented campaign.
Rank #3
- PLAY AS A HIGHLY TRAINED MONSTER SLAYER FOR HIRE: Trained from early childhood and mutated to gain superhuman skills, strength, and reflexes, witchers are a counterbalance to the monster-infested world in which they live.
- Gruesomely destroy foes as a professional monster hunter armed with a range of upgradeable weapons, mutating potions, and combat magic.
- Hunt down a wide variety of exotic monsters, from savage beasts prowling mountain passes to cunning supernatural predators lurking in the shadowy back alleys of densely populated cities. Invest your rewards to upgrade your weaponry and buy custom armor, or spend them on horse races, card games, fist fighting, and other pleasures life brings.
- EXPLORE A MORALLY AMBIGUOUS FANTASY OPEN WORLD: Built for endless adventure, the massive open world of The Witcher sets new standards in terms of size, depth, and complexity. Traverse a fantastical open world: explore forgotten ruins, caves, and shipwrecks, trade with merchants and dwarven smiths in cities, and hunt across the open plains, mountains, and seas. Deal with treasonous generals, devious witches, and corrupt royalty to provide dark and dangerous services. Make choices that go beyond good & evil, and face their far-reaching consequences.
- TRACK DOWN THE CHILD OF PROPHECY: Take on the most important contract of your life: to track down the child of prophecy, the key to saving or destroying this world. In times of war, chase down the child of prophecy, a living weapon foretold by ancient elven legends. Struggle against ferocious rulers, spirits of the wilds, and even a threat from beyond the veil – all hell-bent on controlling this world. Define your destiny in a world that may not be worth saving.
Where it differs from RDR2
Ghost of Tsushima is stylized rather than simulation-driven. Its historical setting supports dramatic set pieces and elegant movement, not the mundane routines and social systems of a slower western. The story is more concentrated, and the combat is based on sword technique instead of firearms and cover.
Choose it if
- You want a cinematic historical setting with a clear central story.
- You prefer swordplay, stealth and third-person action.
- You want open-world freedom without the sprawl of a very long role-playing campaign.
Grand Theft Auto V: the familiar modern-city fallback
Why it fits
If you have somehow skipped GTA V, it is the most straightforward answer to “what should I play while waiting for GTA 6?” It delivers the recognizable combination of a modern metropolitan region, vehicles, firearms, crime missions and free-roam distractions. PlayStation’s open-world page content includes the game’s official launch materials.
The campaign’s multiple-protagonist structure gives missions different personalities and lets the story move between distinct criminal perspectives. Outside missions, driving and exploration provide the familiar sandbox loop: choose an activity, cause trouble, or simply cross the map and see what happens.
Where it differs from the newer alternatives
GTA V is the least novel recommendation here because it belongs to the same series. Its value is reliability: if you want the established formula rather than a reinterpretation, it removes the learning curve associated with a new combat or role-playing system. It should not be treated as evidence of what every mechanic in GTA 6 will be.
Choose it if
- You want the most direct modern-city and vehicle sandbox.
- You prefer mission-driven crime stories to fantasy or historical settings.
- You have not already exhausted the previous mainline GTA experience.
Pick by the experience you want
| Your priority | Best first choice | Why | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dense urban sandbox | Cyberpunk 2077 | Future-city districts, driving, firearms and flexible approaches | RPG systems and science-fiction tone |
| Long authored story | The Witcher 3 Complete Edition | Extensive quest chains, horseback travel and two major expansions | Fantasy setting and sword-based combat |
| Historical realism | Kingdom Come: Deliverance II | Grounded world and simulation-minded pacing | Slower, more demanding progression |
| Exploration and build variety | Elden Ring | Open-ended routes, hidden areas and character builds | Combat difficulty and less conventional storytelling |
| Cinematic historical action | Ghost of Tsushima | Focused story, swordplay and curated traversal | More stylized and less systemic than RDR2 |
| Classic GTA formula | Grand Theft Auto V | Modern city, vehicles, crime missions and free roam | It is the older familiar formula, not a new interpretation |
Platform and edition checks before buying
Availability is not fixed across every region, storefront or edition. The cited material confirms PS5 recommendations for Kingdom Come: Deliverance II and Elden Ring, and places Ghost of Tsushima and GTA V in PlayStation’s open-world catalogue. It does not establish a complete platform list for every game in this article.
- Open the store listing for your exact console or PC storefront.
- Check whether the page names the edition you want, especially for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Complete Edition.
- Confirm that expansions are included rather than sold separately. The Complete Edition’s official description identifies Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine.
- Verify regional availability, language support and any upgrade requirement before paying.
- Compare the listed edition with your existing library so you do not buy duplicate content.
Current prices, stock, bundles and any third-party availability are not established here, so use the live store listing for those details.
Common mismatches and how to avoid them
Choosing by map size alone
A large map does not automatically provide the kind of immersion you want. If you care about authored relationships and quest writing, start with The Witcher 3. If you care about discovering hidden routes and mastering fights, start with Elden Ring. If you care about urban vehicles and firearms, choose Cyberpunk 2077 or GTA V.
Expecting every game to replace both GTA and RDR2
These games solve different design problems. GTA emphasizes modern movement, crime systems and emergent chaos; RDR2 emphasizes character drama, environmental detail and a slower journey. Pick one axis first instead of judging every recommendation against both at once.
Ignoring perspective
Perspective changes how travel and combat feel. First-person games such as Cyberpunk 2077 and Kingdom Come: Deliverance II place more of the world directly in your view. Third-person games such as The Witcher 3, Elden Ring, Ghost of Tsushima and GTA V keep the character visible and make animation, positioning and cinematic movement easier to read.
Buying the wrong edition
Edition names can change what is included. Check the product page, expansion list and platform version before purchase instead of assuming that every listing contains the same content.
A practical waiting plan
- Want a city tonight? Start with Cyberpunk 2077. If you have not played GTA V, use it instead for the most familiar crime-sandbox structure.
- Want a long campaign? Choose The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Complete Edition and plan around its main story, side quests and two major expansions.
- Want realism? Pick Kingdom Come: Deliverance II and accept its slower, simulation-minded rhythm.
- Want discovery? Choose Elden Ring and explore without treating every unexplored path as a missed objective.
- Want a focused historical adventure? Choose Ghost of Tsushima for cinematic travel and swordplay.
The best temporary replacement is therefore personal: Cyberpunk 2077 is the clearest modern-city substitute, The Witcher 3 is the strongest long-form story alternative, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II supplies grounded history, Elden Ring makes combat and discovery central, Ghost of Tsushima delivers focused cinematic action, and GTA V preserves the familiar formula.
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteQuick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
