There is still a lot of time left before the release of GTA 6. Rockstar has already confirmed that it will release the next numbered part of the series no earlier than in the fall of 2025. And this is the earliest date: the company postponed all its recent games for at least six months. Here are the exciting adventures that will help you forget about GTA 6 or even replace it.
Watch Dogs Series
The first part of the series was supposed to be released right before GTA 5. As a result, the release was greatly delayed. Rockstar had time to be the first, and the hacker action was lost against the background of its hit. Ubisoft ended up releasing three Watch Dogs, but each one had problems. Ironically, it was the desire to make the series more like GTA that badly affected the franchise. If the writers had spent more effort on quality, serious stories in the sequels, they would have turned out not just good, but great games.
Nevertheless, the franchise remains one of the most original experiments with open-world action games. All parts are worthy of a pass: the first has the best story, the second has a beautiful open world, and the third has cool gameplay mechanics. The IP is rumored to have been shelved, so there’s no point in waiting for Watch Dogs 4. It would be better to go through the past games in the series, which, just like the interface of the baji999 login page, look and work great even in 2024.
Red Dead Redemption 2
The most obvious candidate for a walkthrough (or another replay) is a western from Rockstar. Like the latest installments of GTA, Red Dead Redemption 2 offers a huge, vibrant world filled with interesting characters and events. The Wild West is just fun to travel through: you never know what a lonely cabin in the woods holds or where strange footprints in the snow in the mountains will lead you.
But even if you don’t feel like exploring the world, RDR2 offers a compelling story; perhaps it’s one of the best in games. It’s more serious than in GTA, but there’s humor here, too. Red Dead Redemption 2 also features incredibly charismatic characters, a great soundtrack, and Rockstar’s trademark attention to detail. The fastest playthrough will take about 50 hours, so you won’t think about GTA 6 for a while.
Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077 is similar to GTA. It includes black humor, plenty of characters from the criminal sphere, action-packed missions, and a cool setting for all plot tasks. Attention to detail is also unbelievable: even in 2024, fans continue to find pass-hacks and consequences of decisions made during the passage.
With the release of update 2.0 and the Phantom Liberty add-on, the game has finally found its final, best form. The authors reworked perks and cyber-implants, updated the police behavior system, added gun battles and car chases, and improved the AI. You’ll have to spend 50-100 hours to play the full edition, but if you’re a fan of the setting and genre, it’s worth it.
Mafia: Definitive Edition
Remake of the cult crime action game about the life of the mafia. The original version was released in the same year as GTA 3, but even with such strong competition, it managed to get the highest marks from critics and win the love of players. The re-release was released 18 years later, and it succeeded; the plot is still interesting to follow, new dialogues better reveal the characters, and the staging in the remake is a head above the original.
However, the town of Lost Heaven is disappointing; it can easily compete for the title of the deadliest open world. So it’s better to consider Mafia as a linear game, where all trips are a kind of loading between missions. If that doesn’t scare you, the remake is great to familiarize yourself with Tommy Angelo’s story.
Sleeping Dogs
Kung Fu Action from United Front Games is a game adaptation of classic police detectives. The protagonist is a Hong Kong undercover cop who is trying to sabotage the work of the Chinese mafia. According to the laws of the genre, the already difficult task becomes harder every day when the criminals turn out to be ordinary people with their own goals, desires, and complexes.
Sleeping Dogs is good not only for exotic Asian settings; everything in it is cool. The characters are well-developed and deep, the plot is dashingly twisted, and the simple but spectacular combat system doesn’t bore you until the end of the game. United Front Games has made a dream game for all fans of oriental fighters, even in the open world, where there is something to do.