Short answer: nothing is truly like Red Dead Redemption 2, but Days Gone, Ghost Recon Wildlands, Cyberpunk 2077, Mad Max and GTA 5 each nail a different piece of it, and picking the right one depends on which piece you actually miss. I have put serious hours into all five on the channel, so this is not a list scraped off a store page. It is what I would genuinely hand you after the credits roll on Arthur’s story and the world feels a bit empty.
RDR2 is really four games in one: a slow, beautiful world you travel through rather than past, a heavyweight story, a simulation obsessed with small details, and a Rockstar sandbox underneath it all. No single game replaces all four. So here is the honest breakdown, best first, with a note on which itch each one scratches.
The comparison at a glance
| 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 |
1. Days Gone, the closest single match
If I can only give you one, it is Days Gone. Swap the horse for Deacon’s drifter bike and the frontier for post-apocalyptic Oregon, and the shape of the experience is remarkably similar: a long, sincere story about a rough man with a code, in an open world that is gorgeous, hostile and best experienced by simply riding through it. Fuel and maintenance give the bike the same tether the horse gives Arthur, you plan journeys instead of teleporting through them. The hordes provide the fear the Old West provided with a different costume. I made the full case in is Days Gone worth it in 2026, and it routinely sells for pocket change.
2. Ghost Recon Wildlands, for the living world
Hear me out on this one, because on paper a Tom Clancy tactical shooter is nothing like a western. 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. The core RDR2 pleasure of travelling slowly through a huge believable landscape, picking your moment, is all here, just with a rifle instead of a lasso. It is also the pick if you want the option of bringing friends along.
3. Cyberpunk 2077, for the story
If what you actually miss is the writing, the setting matters less than you think. Cyberpunk 2077 is the only open-world game since RDR2 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. Night City is dense where the Heartlands are empty, but the emotional register, sincere, doomed, human, is the same one. After years of patches and the 2.x overhaul it is also mechanically excellent now, which I covered in is Cyberpunk 2077 worth it in 2026.
4. Mad Max, for the lonely brooding
The most underrated game on this list. Mad Max matches RDR2’s mood better than its systems: a taciturn man, a harsh and weirdly beautiful emptiness, long drives where the landscape does the talking. The wasteland’s storms and sunsets are genuinely stunning, and the car-as-companion loop lands surprisingly close to the horse bond. Its weaknesses are real, the activities repeat and the story is thin next to Rockstar’s, but it costs almost nothing these days and the atmosphere is worth the ticket alone. Full verdict in is Mad Max worth it in 2026.
5. GTA 5, for the Rockstar sandbox
The obvious one, with an honest caveat. 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 RDR2 is slow and sincere, so it will not replace the mood, but it absolutely replaces the quality. And 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.
The elephant in the room: GTA 6
The real successor to RDR2 is not out yet. GTA 6 is the first Rockstar open world built after Red Dead 2, 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.
Bottom line
Miss the travel and the loneliness? Days Gone. Miss the living world? Wildlands. Miss the story? Cyberpunk. Miss the mood? Mad Max. Miss Rockstar? GTA 5 now, GTA 6 in November. There is no wrong answer on this list, only a wrong reason.
I have played and recorded all of these on the channel, and the Red Dead Redemption 2 hub has everything from the game that started this problem in the first place.
FAQ
What game is most like Red Dead Redemption 2?
Days Gone is the closest single match. It swaps the horse for a motorbike and the Old West for post-apocalyptic Oregon, but the core experience carries over: a long, personal story about a rough man in a beautiful, hostile open world, where travel itself is the game. Nothing matches every part of RDR2 at once though, which is why it helps to pick an alternative based on which part of it you miss most.
Is there another game with a world as alive as RDR2?
Ghost Recon Wildlands is the one I point people to. Its 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, but the feeling of crossing a vast living landscape and planning your approach from a ridgeline is the closest thing to RDR2's world I have played.
What should I play after RDR2 for the story?
Cyberpunk 2077. It is the opposite setting, neon city instead of open prairie, but it is the only open-world game since RDR2 that hit me anywhere near as hard narratively. V's story has the same weight, the same doomed-clock tension and the same quality of writing in its side content.
Is GTA 5 like Red Dead Redemption 2?
Same studio, same open-world DNA, very different mood. GTA 5 is faster, louder and satirical where RDR2 is slow and sincere. If what you miss is Rockstar's simulation depth and mission craft, GTA 5 absolutely delivers, and it is 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 RDR2, it is the true heir. But that is still months away, and every game on this list is deep enough to fill the gap. 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. Days Gone, Mad Max and Cyberpunk 2077 are pure single-player. GTA 5 has a complete solo campaign, and Ghost Recon Wildlands plays brilliantly alone with AI teammates, though it also supports co-op if you want it.
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