10 Games That Are BETTER Than GTA (You've Never Heard Of #3!)

Nimesh poudel

🚨 ATTENTION GTA FANS: I spent 100+ hours finding games that capture the EXACT same chaos and freedom as GTA... and some are actually BETTER! From hidden gems to modern masterpieces, this list will blow your mind! 🎮 MAIN DESCRIPTION: If you're tired of waiting for GTA 6 or just want MORE open-world chaos, this video is for YOU! I've compiled the ultimate list of games that give you that pure GTA experience - complete mayhem, open worlds, crime sprees, and total freedom to cause havoc! 🔥 WHAT YOU'LL DISCOVER: ✅ Hidden gems that flew under the radar ✅ Modern games that PERFECTED the GTA formula ✅ Retro classics that inspired GTA itself ✅ Free alternatives you can play RIGHT NOW ✅ Games that do certain things BETTER than GTA ✅ The #1 pick that will make you question everything 🎮 FEATURED GAMES INCLUDE:  Saints Row series (before it went weird) Sleeping Dogs (GTA meets martial arts) Watch Dogs series (GTA with hacking) Mafia trilogy (GTA with better storytelling) And 6 more INCREDIBLE alternatives!  💡 PERFECT FOR GAMERS WHO: 🎯 Are waiting for GTA 6 and need their fix 🚗 Love open-world crime sandboxes 🔫 Want games with mature themes and freedom 💰 Are looking for cheaper GTA alternatives 🎮 Enjoy exploring massive game worlds ENGAGEMENT HOOKS: 💬 GAMER DISCUSSION STARTERS: 🎮 Which of these games have YOU played? 🤔 Did I miss any obvious GTA alternatives? 🔥 What's your FAVORITE open-world crime game? 📊 Rank these games from best to worst in the comments! 🎯 Should I do "Racing Games Better Than GTA Racing"? 🔔 SMASH SUBSCRIBE if you want more hidden gaming gems and alternatives to popular games! TIMESTAMPS: ⏰ ULTIMATE GTA ALTERNATIVES: 00:00 - 🎬 Why You Need GTA Alternatives 01:45 - #10: The Underrated Classic 02:30 - #9: Modern Mayhem Perfected 03:15 - #8: The Martial Arts Crime Epic 04:00 - #7: Cyberpunk Meets GTA 04:45 - #6: The Mafia Masterpiece 05:30 - #5: Saints Row at Its Peak 06:15 - #4: The Hacker's Paradise 07:00 - #3: YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF THIS 07:45 - #2: The ALMOST Perfect GTA Clone 08:30 - #1: BETTER Than Any GTA Game? 09:15 - 🎯 Bonus Picks & Final Thoughts

Transcript

00:00Los Santos, Liberty City, and Vice City promise some of the best open-world gaming experiences

00:05that money can buy, but they're hardly unparalleled in scope or even ambition.

00:10And, dare it be said, are even surpassed in some realms by other, better alternatives.

00:15Because I'm Sy for WhatCulture.com and here are the 10 best GTA games that aren't GTA games.

00:22Number 10, the Watch Dogs series.

00:24Ubisoft's Watch Dogs sits in a weird middle ground when it comes to assessing what the

00:28world of GTA-alikes has to offer.

00:31The series, three games strong at this point, has never enjoyed outward critical acclaim

00:35on the scale of some of the games present on this list, but conversely the trilogy isn't

00:39perched below the baseline of what's considered average either.

00:42That being the case, Watch Dogs doesn't have as much universal appeal, Ubisoft games rarely

00:47do, as its contemporaries.

00:49If you adore open-world action-adventure, that's not a guarantee you'll instantly love Ubisoft's

00:54attempts to combine the genre with stealth-oriented trappings.

00:57Metal Gear Solid this ain't, but Watch Dogs offers novelty in spades as far as sandboxes

01:02go, thanks to its sleuthing antics complemented by various gameplay systems based around hacking

01:07afforded to it by its quasi-futuristic setting.

01:10Yes, it can be finicky, and not a single entry in the trilogy has a particularly memorable plot,

01:15but if you're in the market for an open-ended experience that dares to do something different

01:19other than directly ape GTA, then there's a lot to love here, especially for the tech-savvy.

01:24Number 9, Red Faction Guerrilla.

01:27Combine Graham Greene's short story, The Destructors, with an extraterrestrial setting,

01:31and you've pretty much got the basic framework of what Red Faction Guerrilla is all about.

01:35While the series' third entry does away with the terrain destruction and alteration present

01:39in its predecessors, Volition made said sacrifice to refocus their efforts on delivering structural

01:44annihilation on a scale previously unseen.

01:47As Alex Mason, players can methodically or explosively dismantle essentially any man-made

01:53structure they're presented with.

01:54Give in to your inner anarchist and just devolve into wanton destruction without actually assisting

01:59the titular Red Faction in overthrowing an oppressive regime if you so desire.

02:03But you'd be doing yourself a disservice in ignoring Guerrilla's main course, as its

02:07GeoMod 2.0 engine opens up a wealth of possibilities on how to approach mandatory and optional missions.

02:13In lesser games, you'd have to don a disguise to get through an enemy checkpoint unnoticed

02:17and infiltrate their stronghold.

02:19In Guerrilla, you can destroy said checkpoint and headquarters with little more than hardy

02:23construction tools and explosives worth more than the GDP of an entire country.

02:27The reward?

02:28Witnessing silly human buildings becoming a hail of debris before your very eyes.

02:34Number 8, Sleeping Dogs.

02:36At least during a time when gamers were growing bored of visiting the same handful of North

02:40American cities time and time again, sleeping dogs like Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed champion

02:45an altogether different culture and setting to let players loose in.

02:49Indeed, protagonist Wei Shen's trials and tribulations as an undercover cop in the former

02:53largely take a backseat to the world around him, itself presented in painstakingly realistic

02:58detail.

02:59Modern day Hong Kong represented something of an alien playground for long-time action-adventure

03:04fans, just as Assassin's Creed 1's Holy Land had before it.

03:07This is a not insignificant achievement for United Front Games, who had only had the obscure

03:12Mod Nation racers under their belt before joining up with Square Enix to deliver Sleeping

03:16Dogs.

03:17That's not to say that Shen's story is throwaway by any means.

03:20Sleeping Dogs was quite rightly lauded for its authentic voice acting and characterisation,

03:24but it's the setting, together with thoroughly enjoyable combat and progression systems, that

03:28make it one of the 2010's biggest surprise hits, which is worth revisiting time and time

03:33again.

03:34Number 7, The Just Cause series.

03:36Just Cause is stupid, in the best way possible.

03:40Excluding the series' first entry, that is, which delivered a more muted experience, Avalanche

03:44Studios made the genius decision to distance subsequent sequels from Rockstar's flagship

03:49franchise by doing away with any concept of realism and going all in on absurdity.

03:54Released just two years after Grand Theft Auto 4, Just Cause 2 capitalised on criticisms

03:59of too much realism levied at the former, becoming a bombastic alternative.

04:03A reputation that Avalanche has successfully nurtured ever since.

04:07Protagonist Rico Rodriguez isn't so much a secret agent as he is a bona fide superhero,

04:12able to pull off feet far beyond anything James Bond could boast.

04:15And it's all largely thanks to a simple grappling hook.

04:18Traversal, or more accurately discovery, of the myriad ways Rico can get around whatever

04:22island he happens to be liberating is the core of Just Cause's entertainment factor.

04:27This is, after all, a series that lets players surf passenger planes and pay homage to Doctor

04:31Strangelove by riding literal missiles as if they were Kong himself.

04:36Number 6, L.A. Noire.

04:38Barring it at the time groundbreaking facial recognition tech, everything else in L.A.

04:42Noire feels a little stiff and clinical.

04:44It's a quirk of the game that's hard to qualify beyond that, but suffice it to say that it often

04:49feels like Team Bondi had to make concessions elsewhere in the game to ensure its key gameplay

04:53hook stuck the landing.

04:55Whatever sacrifices, if any, had to be made, Cole Phelps' believable rise from patrol officer

05:00to detective in 1940s Los Angeles is deftly handled, delivering a story that's arguably

05:05far better than anything Grand Theft Auto has ever produced.

05:09The accompanying open world components, on the other hand, are bare bones by comparison,

05:13but Phelps can explore downtown L.A. during his downtime between cases, and is rewarded for

05:18doing so with chance encounters with NPCs and shiny new cars to show off to his colleagues.

05:23In a perfect world where Bondi had infinite time and resources, stumbling upon optional

05:27criminal cases not tied to the campaign while out and about would have substantially extended

05:32L.A. Noire's longevity.

05:34But what's here is still worth the visit.

05:36Number 5, Mad Max.

05:39Taking a timeout from Just Cause in 2015, Avalanche managed to secure the lucrative gig of creating

05:44a Mad Max tie-in to capitalise on Fury Road's release in the same year.

05:48Despite their proximity, however, the two share little in terms of narrative.

05:52Avalanche's adaptation largely uses the IP to tell a standalone story about everyone's

05:57favourite post-apocalyptic anti-hero.

05:59One would think that using said setting as the foundation for an open-ended title would

06:03prove dreary and empty.

06:04But Avalanche sidesteps that trap, centering its world progression around Max's dearly

06:08beloved magnum opus.

06:10The car can undergo a dizzying number of upgrades via materials scavenged in numerous ways,

06:15namely by hijacking the right of scavengers and using their parts to improve the magnum's

06:19performance.

06:20Outside that, Mad Max borrows heavily from Ubisoft's Far Cry series by utilising a territorial threat

06:25system.

06:26Complete enough objectives in one zone and you'll ultimately set up an encounter with its leader,

06:31vanquish them to gain control of their stronghold and a raft of gameplay benefits.

06:35That, combined with survival light systems such as limited ammo and fuel for the magnum,

06:39make Mad Max a markedly different experience compared to its contemporaries.

06:44Number 4, Red Dead Redemption 2.

06:47Red Dead Redemption 2 pushed the boundaries of everything thought possible, not just in

06:51its native genre, but the medium as a whole.

06:54The temptation to wax lyrical over everything great about Arthur Morgan's heart-wrenching

06:58story is oh so difficult to resist.

07:01Chances are, you already know, directly or otherwise, the level of utmost care and attention

07:05afforded to every facet of Rockstar's tribute to the Old West, but it came at a cost.

07:10Reports of crunch culture needed to make Rockstar's dream a reality flew thick and fast following

07:15the sequel's release, calling into question if a game of such quality was justified if

07:20it meant putting the physical and mental health of employees at risk to do so.

07:24It's a debate that still, and in fact should, rage today.

07:27Despite the backdrop of Red Dead Redemption 2 earning its label as one of the greatest games

07:32of all time, even if it does indulge a little too much in realism for the sake of immersion,

07:36Had its online component followed closer in GTA Online's footsteps and placed greater

07:41emphasis on heists and the building of a criminal empire, it would have GTA 5 beaten in every

07:46respect.

07:48Number 3, The Saboteur.

07:50Another win for non-American settings, The Saboteur is likely the most unfamiliar entry

07:54here, but certainly through no fault of its own.

07:56Yes, the game's modest budget is often too blatant to ignore, but dig deeper than the wobbly

08:01visual fidelity and questionable voice acting, and you'll find a novel, rare exploration

08:05of civilian life at the height of World War II, in a format not glamorised a la Call of

08:10Duty.

08:11Unwittingly drawn into the French Resistance following the murder of his best friend at

08:14the hands of an SS officer, Irish immigrant and former race car driver Sean Devlin becomes

08:19an instrumental figure in helping to liberate Paris from German occupation.

08:23By disrupting the regime's operations through various means, Sean can sequentially liberate

08:28portions of France's capital, driving out its unwelcome visitors.

08:31Think Far Cry's outpost liberation system, but better and with more variation.

08:36A fantastic visual representation of this oppression-turned-liberation is Pandemic's

08:40decision to have Paris initially presented in only black and white.

08:44As Sean liberates sections of the city, color seats back in, restoring the city of love to

08:49its former glory, piece by piece.

08:51Sadly, Pandemic closed its doors for good following the release of The Saboteur, so it

08:55unlikely we'll ever see a sequel.

08:58Number 2, The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt.

09:00It took CD Projekt Red three games to get there, but everything it learned about open-world

09:05action RPGs finally culminated with The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt in 2015.

09:10Bursting with superbly written dialogue, unparallied characterisation of the narrative's major players

09:15and commendable, if slightly lacking, combat, every major component of the third outing mixed

09:20perfectly to deliver a concoction smoother than butter itself.

09:24Strictly speaking, Wild Hunt is an outlier here, as its setting doesn't exactly exhibit

09:28overt similarities to GTA, though both titles prioritise player freedom outside of their

09:33respective campaigns.

09:35You're free to go and do whatever you please when not actively searching for series whereabouts,

09:39and, thanks to the added gameplay depth that RPG systems allow, can curate Geralt's attire,

09:45powers and moral compass to your liking.

09:47If your adoration of GTA is born specifically from its setting and satirist nature, Wild Hunt

09:52might not be your cup of tea.

09:53On the other hand, if a well-realised fictional world reinforced with exploration and industry-best

09:58writing is your bread and butter, then The Witcher 3 is here to suit your every need.

10:03Number 1, The Saints Row Series.

10:06Grand Theft Auto isn't exactly renowned for taking itself too seriously.

10:10The series has always had a love affair with parodying American culture, after all.

10:14But compared to Saints Row, Rockstar's, billion-dollar franchise, is Highbrow Academia.

10:19Just like Avalanche with Just Cause, Volition took a look at GTA's DNA under the microscope

10:23and decided it could do with some alterations.

10:26Namely, dialling the absurdity way beyond healthy levels.

10:30For over a decade, Volition has been throwing caution to the wind with increasingly outlandish

10:34premises with every new instalment.

10:36Thanks to dated gameplay and performance woes, the 2022 reboot sadly failed to reach the

10:41high of its predecessors.

10:42With the mid-2010s offering Saints Row 4 and its standalone expansion Gat Out of Hell,

10:47still considered to be the pinnacle of zany the IP has become primarily known for.

10:52Time travel, computer simulations and even off-world shenanigans, there's no trope the

10:56series developer will hesitate to commandeer in the name of entertainment because, not to

11:00digress, it just doesn't care about being serious.

11:04Saints Row delights in billing itself as the ultimate digital playground, and Rockstar could

11:08stand to learn a thing or two from GTA's closest relative.

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