Nothing is truly like Red Dead Redemption 2, and I wish the round-ups would start there instead of pretending a motorbike is a horse with better branding. Days Gone, Ghost Recon Wildlands, Cyberpunk 2077, Mad Max and GTA 5 each nail a different piece of it, so picking the right one depends on which piece you actually miss, and I have put serious hours into all five on the channel. This is what I would hand you after the credits on Arthur’s story, when the world feels a bit empty and you are tempted to wait for November, rather than a list scraped off a store page.
I have spent whole evenings in that map with no marker, cinematic camera on, horse following the road, which sounds daft until you remember the slowness is the product. The film on this page is me exploring it like it is the greatest map of all time, because for me it still is, and Red Dead is really four games in one: a slow world you travel through rather than past, a heavyweight story, a simulation obsessed with small details, and a Rockstar sandbox underneath. No single game replaces all four, so the useful version of this list is best first, with a note on which itch each one scratches.
Which piece of Red Dead each one actually matches
| Game | What it matches in RDR2 | What it does not |
|---|---|---|
| Days Gone | The open road, the lonely traveller, the personal story | Less simulation depth, one vehicle instead of horses |
| Ghost Recon Wildlands | The vast living wilderness, unhurried travel, planning from ridgelines | No narrative weight, it is a tactical shooter at heart |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | The story, the writing, the doomed-protagonist weight | City instead of country, faster pace |
| Mad Max | The brooding solitude, the harsh beautiful emptiness | Thinner story, repetitive activities |
| GTA 5 | The Rockstar sandbox, simulation depth, mission craft | The opposite mood, satire instead of sincerity |
I loaded these after Arthur, and the room told me to wait
The internet has decided, in that particular way the internet decides, that you should just wait for GTA 6, and Rockstar has it on 19 November 2026, which is a date and not a session. GamesRadar will keep publishing best-of lists that treat Red Dead as the immovable object, which is true enough and also not a plan for the next four months. People follow people, and they follow a trailer, while I try to follow the evening I actually had.
I have a habit of loving the game in front of me while the room is still calling it a mess, which is what happened to Days Gone six years late and to Cyberpunk after 2.0, and Red Dead never needed that recast, which is why everything after it has a lot to live up to. If GTA 6 is the heir for you, good, and if you need something tonight, that is a fairer question than either headline. My take is smaller than both of them, because these five are what I actually loaded after Arthur.
1. Days Gone, the closest single match
If I can only give you one, it is Days Gone, where you swap the horse for Deacon’s drifter bike and the frontier for post-apocalyptic Oregon, and the shape is remarkably similar. It is a long, sincere story about a rough man with a code, in a world that is gorgeous, hostile, and best experienced by riding through it, and fuel and maintenance give the bike the same tether the horse gives Arthur, so you plan journeys instead of teleporting through them. The first two hours still sag, and the bike still fights you until you upgrade it, and then a horde moves like one animal and the argument changes.
I have been defending this one since 2019, which is a miserable party trick, and the hordes are still the scariest thing I have pointed a camera at. I made the full case in is Days Gone worth it in 2026, it routinely sells for pocket change, and the 2025 Remaster is the version I would buy.
2. Ghost Recon Wildlands, for the living world
Hear me out, because on paper a Tom Clancy tactical shooter is nothing like a western, and in practice Ghost Recon Wildlands has the thing almost no other game has, a giant handcrafted wilderness that feels alive without you. Bolivia’s mountains, salt flats and jungles have weather, wildlife, civilians going about their day, and patrols you can watch from a ridgeline for ten minutes before deciding how to move. I play it with the HUD off, I have finished the campaign and still could not tell you how it ends, and the playground is not the part I forget.
The core Red Dead pleasure of travelling slowly through a huge believable map, picking your moment, is all here, just with a rifle instead of a lasso, and it is also the pick if you want the option of bringing friends along, which I rarely do.
3. Cyberpunk 2077, for the story
If what you actually miss is the writing, the setting matters less than you think, because Cyberpunk 2077 is the only open-world game since Red Dead whose story hit me with anything like the same force. V and Arthur are cousins, protagonists on a clock, surrounded by superbly written characters, in worlds that do not care whether they live, and Night City is dense where the Heartlands are empty, while the emotional register, sincere, doomed, human, is the same one.
I am not here to relitigate 2020, since the 2.0 overhaul rebuilt the combat, Phantom Liberty gave the writing a spine, and the sequel is still years off. After years of patches it is mechanically excellent now, which I covered in is Cyberpunk 2077 worth it in 2026.
4. Mad Max, for the lonely brooding
The most shrugged-at game on this list is Mad Max, which matches Red Dead’s mood better than its systems, a taciturn man, a harsh and weirdly beautiful emptiness, and long drives where the dirt does the talking. The wasteland’s storms and sunsets are genuinely stunning, the car-as-companion loop lands surprisingly close to the horse bond, and I once found a hot air balloon I had no business finding. The activities repeat, the story is thin next to Rockstar’s, it costs almost nothing these days, and the atmosphere is worth the ticket alone, which is the full verdict I already wrote in is Mad Max worth it in 2026.
5. GTA 5, for the Rockstar sandbox
The obvious one comes with an honest catch, because GTA 5 is the same studio’s craft, the simulation depth, the mission design, the world that reacts to you, wearing the opposite personality. Los Santos is loud, fast and satirical where Red Dead is slow and sincere, so it will not replace the mood, and it absolutely replaces the quality. With GTA 6 landing on 19 November 2026, there is a strong practical argument for a replay now, I ran through the whole thing in is GTA 5 worth it in 2026, and the head-to-head with Arthur’s world is in GTA 5 vs Red Dead Redemption 2.
GTA 6 is the real heir, and it is still months away
The real successor to Red Dead is not out yet, because GTA 6 is the first Rockstar open world built after it, it releases on 19 November 2026 according to Rockstar, and everything shown so far suggests it inherits that game’s simulation ambitions. If you want the full waiting-room plan rather than a single pick, that is exactly what what to play before GTA 6 and the bigger best open world games in 2026 round-up are for.
Miss the travel and the loneliness, and I would hand you Days Gone, while the living world is Wildlands, the story is Cyberpunk, the mood is Mad Max, and Rockstar’s craft is GTA 5 now with GTA 6 in November. There is no wrong answer on this list, only a wrong reason, and I have played and recorded all of these on the channel. The Red Dead Redemption 2 hub has everything from the game that started this problem in the first place, and I keep coming back to Arthur’s map because it is funny when it is trying to be grim, while everything after it is a different evening, which is allowed.
FAQ
What game is most like Red Dead Redemption 2?
Days Gone is the closest single match I have played, because it swaps the horse for Deacon's bike and the Old West for a broken Oregon, while the shape carries over as a long story about a rough man in a beautiful, hostile world, where travel itself is the game. Nothing matches every part of Red Dead at once, so I would pick the itch you actually miss rather than wait for a perfect copy.
Is there another game with a world as alive as RDR2?
Ghost Recon Wildlands is the one I point people to, because Bolivia is a huge handcrafted wilderness with weather, wildlife, civilians and patrols that exist whether you are there or not. It is a tactical shooter rather than a western, and the feeling of crossing a vast living map and planning from a ridgeline is the closest thing to Red Dead's world I have sat in.
What should I play after RDR2 for the story?
Cyberpunk 2077, which is the opposite setting, a neon city instead of open prairie, and still the only open-world game since Red Dead that hit me anywhere near as hard narratively. V and Arthur are cousins, protagonists on a clock, in worlds that do not care whether they live, and I would not wait for the sequel when this is the version you can actually play.
Is GTA 5 like Red Dead Redemption 2?
Same studio, same open-world DNA, and a very different mood, because GTA 5 is faster, louder and satirical where Red Dead is slow and sincere. If what you miss is Rockstar's simulation depth and mission craft, GTA 5 delivers, though it will not replace the evening ride, and it is also the natural place to warm up before GTA 6 lands on 19 November 2026.
Should I just wait for GTA 6 instead?
GTA 6 releases on 19 November 2026 and, as a Rockstar open world built after Red Dead 2, it is the true heir, though that is still months away, and every game on this list is deep enough to fill the gap. I would not sit on my hands until November, and my fuller waiting-room list is in the what to play before GTA 6 piece.
Are these games all single-player like RDR2?
Yes, every pick works fully solo, which is how I play them, since Days Gone, Mad Max and Cyberpunk 2077 are pure single-player, and GTA 5 has a complete solo campaign. Ghost Recon Wildlands plays brilliantly alone with AI teammates, and it also supports co-op if you want it, which I rarely do.
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