10 Best Rockstar Games

Rockstar is good at giving you a place to get lost in, then supplying several questionable ways to spend your time there. These ten released games cover sprawling westerns, city-sized crime stories and tighter action adventures. The ranking favors memorable worlds and distinctive things to do in them, with the PC editions identified below.

Looking for somewhere to start?

• Red Dead Redemption 2 for a sprawling western story.
• Max Payne 3 for concentrated action.
• L.A. Noire for detective work.

10. Grand Theft Auto III – The Definitive Edition

Best for a compact crime sandbox · PC Definitive Edition · Single-player

Claude arrives in Liberty City with very little reason to trust anybody. A botched robbery puts him on the outside of its criminal networks, and taking work from a succession of questionable employers gives the journey its direction. The city tells much of the story through the jobs people are willing to offer.

Driving between assignments lets you learn its districts, steal an alternative escape vehicle or abandon a planned route when the police become involved. Missions are more rigid than the modern free-roaming backdrop might suggest, making preparation and familiarity with the streets useful.

This is a worthwhile look at the foundations of Rockstar’s three-dimensional cities. The Definitive Edition adds revised controls and presentation, while the underlying mission design retains the sharper edges of an older game. Approach it as a concentrated crime adventure rather than a smaller copy of GTA V.

9. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City – The Definitive Edition

Best for a compact rise through a neon city · PC Definitive Edition · Single-player

Tommy Vercetti arrives in Vice City after a deal goes badly wrong and starts looking for a way to regain control. The city wraps that criminal ambition in bright clothes, beachfront roads and an unapologetically loud period identity.

Vehicles and missions open up the islands, while properties give your progress a foothold in the city. The relatively compact map means familiar streets quickly become part of the pleasure.

It is an appealing choice when you want an older GTA with a very clear personality. This is the trilogy’s Definitive Edition version; its underlying mission structure still comes from an earlier era of open-world design.

8. Grand Theft Auto IV: The Complete Edition

Best for a grounded city crime story · PC Complete Edition · Single-player stories; no multiplayer

Niko Bellic arrives in Liberty City hoping that a new country might offer a better life. Family obligations, new acquaintances and the past complicate that plan, giving the city a more weary tone than Los Santos.

Driving and shooting have a weightier feel, and the missions keep returning you to relationships rather than a collection of anonymous employers. The two included Episodes from Liberty City add different viewpoints on the same city.

Choose it for atmosphere and intersecting stories. Complete Edition includes the additional campaigns but removes the old multiplayer component, so its value here is the single-player collection.

7. Red Dead Redemption

Best for a more concentrated frontier journey · PC version · Single-player; Undead Nightmare included

John Marston is pressured into tracking people from his former life, leaving him to cross a frontier that offers little chance of a quiet solution. The premise gives his travels direction without stripping away the freedom to wander.

Ride between settlements, take on side activities and use Dead Eye to manage dangerous encounters. The landscape is smaller and the routines less elaborate than in the sequel, which can make it easier to keep the story moving.

Start here if you want a western without quite so many systems competing for attention. The PC release includes the separate Undead Nightmare story; it does not include the original multiplayer modes.

6. L.A. Noire

Best for reading a crime scene · PC version · Single-player

Cole Phelps works cases in postwar Los Angeles, moving through a city where public appearances and private behavior rarely line up. Each investigation gives you a new collection of witnesses, objects and explanations to examine.

Search locations, connect evidence and question people about the gaps in their accounts. Driving and action sequences are part of the package, but the distinctive pleasure is deciding which detail deserves another look.

This is the pick for players who would rather investigate a room than immediately start a shootout in it. Some deductions are demanding, so it suits a patient evening with your attention on the case.

5. Bully: Scholarship Edition

Best for a smaller world with a strong identity · PC Scholarship Edition · Single-player

Jimmy Hopkins arrives at a boarding school where the social order is almost as demanding as the timetable. Finding a place among its cliques creates a different kind of Rockstar story, with school grounds and the nearby town replacing a vast criminal empire.

Classes offer short activities and useful rewards, while errands, pranks and fights fill the gaps between lessons. The compact setting makes it easy to recognize people and routes instead of constantly chasing the next distant map marker.

Its charm comes from that concentrated scale. Scholarship Edition includes additional content, but it remains an older PC release. Come for the unusual setting and varied routine rather than modern open-world polish.

4. Max Payne 3

Best for focused cinematic gunfights · PC version · Single-player campaign

Max is working private security in São Paulo when the people he is supposed to protect become targets. The change of scenery does little to improve his luck, but it gives the story a tense, bruised atmosphere of its own.

Gunfights revolve around cover, movement and short bursts of slow motion. A dive can buy a useful angle, but it can also leave Max somewhere inconvenient when normal speed returns. Reading the room matters as much as looking dramatic.

This is the answer when an enormous map sounds like homework. The recommendation is for the campaign; the appeal comes from its tightly staged action, not a promise of a thriving competitive community.

3. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – The Definitive Edition

Best for a crime story across contrasting regions · PC Definitive Edition · Single-player

Carl Johnson returns to Los Santos after a family tragedy and finds old friendships and neighborhood loyalties waiting for him. His attempt to reconnect grows into a journey that stretches well beyond the streets he knows.

You drive between cities and countryside, take jobs and develop CJ through activities and character systems. The changing landscape matters: a trip into the desert has a different feel from another evening around the old neighborhood.

Choose it for range and personality rather than the most modern mission design. This entry refers to the Definitive Edition, available through the trilogy collection, and not an assumed remaster of the original PC release.

2. Grand Theft Auto V Enhanced

Best for three intersecting criminal lives · PC Enhanced edition · Single-player; GTA Online is a separate mode

Michael, Franklin and Trevor approach Los Santos from very different positions, then find their problems tangled together. Their competing ambitions give the story its rhythm, whether a job calls for careful preparation or spectacularly poor judgment.

Switching protagonists changes the neighborhood, company and kind of trouble you encounter. Driving, shooting and multi-stage heists sit alongside a city full of smaller distractions, so there is room to follow the plot or spend time getting sidetracked.

This is the broadest modern crime sandbox here. The PC Enhanced edition has different hardware requirements from Legacy, so treat them as separate installation choices. Its story stands independently of the online business grind.

1. Red Dead Redemption 2

Best for a western with room to wander · PC version · Single-player; separate Red Dead Online mode

Arthur Morgan belongs to an outlaw gang trying to stay ahead of a country with less and less room for it. Between the robberies and uneasy camp conversations, you get a western full of people whose problems are rarely solved neatly.

Ride out to hunt, follow a stranger’s request or investigate something beyond the road. Maintaining your horse and supplies gives those journeys texture, while the camp connects your wandering to the people traveling with you.

It takes first place for making a large world feel inhabited. The deliberate pace suits players who enjoy the journey; anyone wanting uninterrupted action will find Max Payne 3 more direct.

Which should you play next?

Choose Red Dead Redemption 2 for a long journey with a complicated gang, Max Payne 3 for focused gunfights, or L.A. Noire for cases that reward attention. For another kind of freedom, browse Best Games Like Minecraft.