10 Games to Play Before GTA 6

From an Autumn 2025 release date to May 2026, and now November 19, 2026, Rockstar Games is really doing a number on us. What’s waiting for a few more months for the winner of the Most Anticipated Game award at the 2024 Game Awards event? 

Rockstar has released two official trailers, confirming the setting in Leonida and the protagonists Lucia and Jason. Check out more details about the story, characters, and locations in our Everything We Know about Grand Theft Auto 6 article. 

But if you’re already up to speed, then you might be interested in our list of the games you should play before Grand Theft Auto 6 launches next year.

10. LEGO City Undercover

LEGO City Undercover is one of the most impressive LEGO games you’ll play, strong enough to compete on par with GTA. It has a bustling open-world LEGO city to explore, packed with 20 visually distinct districts. These aren’t just set dressing, but living, breathing places, with people for police officer Chase McCain to interrogate in his hunt for the criminal Rex Fury.

Complete with a new story, full of LEGO humor, and lots of missions chasing down criminals on bikes and helicopters, Undercover more than outdoes itself.

9. Yakuza: Like a Dragon

Still, not quite as big as Yakuza: Like a Dragon, benefiting from a long-running Yakuza franchise. Hawaii is calling, with its charm and vibrant color, which is quite the change of pace from the Japan setting the series is used to.

Even the protagonist, Ichiban Kasuga, lightens up, featuring a funny pirate dance scene. From karaoke to pachinko, the popular mini-games of the series return, as do the tight and satisfying martial arts combat sequences. 

8. Grand Theft Auto IV

Closest to GTA 6 will be Grand Theft Auto V, but the fourth entry more so. It has aged quite a bit, but it sure does remain an enthralling ride for GTA fans. The story is just as compelling, following Niko Bellic’s fresh start chasing the American dream.

The criminal underworld brews its eccentric characters, as you struggle to deal with crooked thieves and become a street kingpin. And the open world just brings back fond memories of the many things you could do, dating, socializing, working side jobs, exploring the city, and orchestrating heists. 

7. Expeditions: A Mudrunner Game

Expeditions: A Mudrunner Game may not be an obvious choice for the games you should play before Grand Theft Auto 6. But it’s the perfect venture for car lovers. With your off-road truck, you ride off into demanding terrains, battling the rugged and arid regions of vast wilderness.

But in your exploration feats lie opportunities for discovering hidden treasures and historical, forgotten ruins. Your tenacity for research and handling treacherous roads might be grueling, but ultimately, such a joy when they bear fruit.

6. Mafia II

Mafia is another series you don’t want to miss out on ahead of GTA 6. And while every entry has its perks, we recommend Mafia II. Following three crime organizations trying to get control over the smuggling, extortion, and drug deals of Empire Bay, 1943, you’ll find yourself deep in the trenches of true crime drama. The story is pretty heavy, daring to dig deep into vulnerability and emotions that cut through the soul.

5. Saints Row 2

Setting: The Wild West, where all hell is let loose. It’s also the place to fully be yourself, in Saints Row 2, where your style to your weapons defines who you are. Style ranges from clothing to over 80 rides you can pick and choose from. This is open-world gaming at its finest, with deep character creation and customization, and a vast space to explore by land, air, and sea.

4. Watch Dogs 2

The Watch Dogs 2 have been let out again to hack and break into the most protected drones, cars, robots, and so much more. Hacking is the way of life here that opens the floodgates into unexpected paths. Even people’s data can be hacked into, creating an open world where nothing is beyond your reach.

3. Cyberpunk 2077

In the same vein as the games you should play before Grand Theft Auto 6 comes sci-fi, futuristic, Cyberpunk 2077. The spy thriller campaign is engrossing enough, but so is exploring the impressive but dangerous megalopolis of Night City. Here, power and unlimited body modification rule. But you aren’t confined to any set path, choosing your own experience.

Cyberpunk 2077 does focus heavily on the story, but it’s pretty fun, too, driving around and customizing your preferences. It’s an RPG whose world feels atmospheric, and the characters are badass mercenaries whose lives are running short by every minute.

2. Sleeping Dogs

Hong Kong’s darker side is given the spotlight in Sleeping Dogs, which follows an undercover cop infiltrating the criminal underworld. It’s probably one of the most challenging jobs that tests your morals, forced to choose between keeping your identity hidden and upholding the law. From relatively easy commands like punching people to spilling blood, you’ll navigate a heavy and gritty campaign not for the faint of heart.

I don’t envy undercover cops one bit. But perhaps the fantastic parkour, melee, and driving action sequences, and stunning Hong Kong open-world setting will help ease the wounds of defying your own values. 

1. Red Dead Redemption 2

Rockstar Games are gurus at developing open-world games, introducing us to yet another new Old, Wild West universe of Red Dead Redemption. The sequel is the better option, set in 1899 America, and following the hot pursuit of Arthur Morgan and the Van der Linde gang by the law. The best bounty hunters join in as well, creating intense encounters you barely survive through.

These help enhance deeply emotional cutscenes, alongside making some tough decisions that may compromise your own values and loyalty to the gang. Like Grand Theft Auto 6, a compelling story awaits, but also an exciting exploration of a large, stunning map.