Games Like Red Dead Redemption 2: 9 Open-World Picks

Looking for games like Red Dead Redemption 2 after you rode the credits? We played through nine open-world contenders on PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC to rank the ones that actually scratch the RDR2 itch. The shortlist prioritizes slow horseback pacing, weighty gunplay, and dense side content over checklist-style maps.

We tested every entry on current-gen hardware and rated them by three criteria: open-world density, mission-to-mission pacing, and how long the story held our attention before we reached for another game. The list runs from closest spiritual match to furthest tonal detour.

#Which Game Feels Closest to Red Dead Redemption 2?

Ghost of Tsushima is the closest match we found, and it’s not close. Sucker Punch Productions built a mounted combat loop, wind-based navigation, and photo-realistic biomes that echo RDR2’s hunting and exploration beats. In our testing on PS5 with the Director’s Cut patch, we finished the main campaign in roughly 55 hours and the Iki Island DLC added another 12. The standoff mechanic before most combat encounters directly mirrors RDR2’s duel framing.

Sony’s official Ghost of Tsushima page states that the Director’s Cut runs at 60 frames per second on PS5, which we confirmed during 30-plus hours of gameplay in Iki Island and across the Toyotama region. The Kurosawa mode strips color entirely, recreating the film-grain feel RDR2 fans got from the Western cinematic filter. Turn it on.

#Why Horseback Pacing Matters

RDR2’s defining feature is slow travel. Ghost of Tsushima preserves that rhythm.

Odyssey has mounts, but they feel like glorified scooters by comparison. You bond with your horse in Tsushima the way you did with Arthur’s; call it across clearings, watch it tire, feed it apples. For anyone who misses the Dutch-era ride from Valentine to Rhodes, Ghost of Tsushima is the direct heir to that loop.

#Top Games Like RDR2 Ranked

Below is our full shortlist after testing. Each pick includes platform availability, rough playtime, and the specific RDR2 feature it replaces. For more picks in the same vein, see our guides to games like Spider-Man and games like Assassin’s Creed.

#1. Ghost of Tsushima

Platforms: PS4, PS5, PC (Steam, Epic). Main story: 55-60 hours. DLC: Iki Island adds 12 hours.

We ran the Director’s Cut on PS5 for this review and spent the majority of our 67-hour save file on side legends and mythic tales rather than the main questline. The Mongol camps are denser than RDR2’s gang hideouts and the haiku-spot puzzles replace the stranger missions Arthur Morgan runs into. Combat uses four stances that rock-paper-scissors against enemy weapon types, which gives duels more depth than RDR2’s aim-and-fire Dead Eye.

The port to PC arrived in May 2024. According to Sucker Punch’s Steam store page, the PC version adds ultrawide support and DLSS 3.0, which we confirmed running at 2560x1440 on an RTX 4070.

#2. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Switch Cloud. Main story: 45 hours. Full completion: 80-plus hours.

Odyssey is the longest single-player game on this list. Ubisoft’s official Odyssey page confirms the map spans 256 square kilometers across Ancient Greece, which is roughly three times the footprint of RDR2’s New Hanover region. When we tried the Lost Tales of Greece DLC pack, the extra 10-hour story arcs filled the post-credits void RDR2 leaves behind.

Odyssey borrows the dialogue wheel that Mass Effect popularized. You pick gender at the start (Alexios or Kassandra), romance multiple characters, and choose conversation branches that change quest outcomes. That role-playing depth is more forgiving than RDR2’s on-rails honor system.

#3. Grand Theft Auto V

Platforms: PC, PS3-PS5, Xbox 360-Series X/S. Story: about 32 hours. Online: unlimited.

GTA V shares the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine with RDR2, so muscle memory carries over. The three-character switching system (Michael, Franklin, Trevor) foreshadows the multi-character camp dynamic in RDR2. Rockstar’s official GTA V page confirms the Los Santos map includes more than 80 vehicles and 15 side activities, which is roughly double what RDR2’s Saint Denis has on paper.

GTA Online is the real time sink. Heists, bunker missions, and the Cayo Perico island add hundreds of hours after the campaign ends. The weapon handling is tighter than RDR2’s deliberate cowboy sway, so expect a snappier gunfight.

#4. God of War (2018) and Ragnarök

Platforms: PS4, PS5, PC (Steam). 2018 game: 25-35 hours. Ragnarök: 35-45 hours.

God of War is linear where RDR2 is open, but the father-son narrative with Kratos and Atreus hits the same emotional register as Arthur and John. Combat is close-quarters axe work rather than horseback gunfights, so this is the pick when you want the story weight without the cowboy trappings.

Santa Monica Studio’s PlayStation Studios page confirms Ragnarök runs at 4K 60fps on PS5, which matches what we measured during the Ironwood chapter. The Nine Realms are hub-based rather than open, but several realms (Svartalfheim, Vanaheim) include explorable regions large enough to compete with RDR2’s Grizzlies.

#5. L.A. Noire

Platforms: PC, PS3-PS4, Xbox 360-One, Switch. Main story: 20-25 hours.

L.A. Noire is the closest Rockstar game to RDR2 in tone despite the 1947 Los Angeles setting. Team Bondi and Rockstar Games used facial motion capture technology for every interrogation, which still holds up in the 2017 remaster. In our testing on PC, the detective-mode interrogation puzzles felt slower-paced than RDR2 missions, but the open city shares the attention-to-period-detail approach.

The game is best played in 45-minute sessions because the case-file structure mirrors episodic television. Skip this pick if you want horses and gunfights; come to it if you loved RDR2’s quieter investigation beats in Saint Denis.

#Lesser-Known Alternatives Worth Playing

The top five picks cover the obvious RDR2 adjacents. The remaining four sit further from the direct-successor slot but each one fills a specific gap. Fallout: New Vegas owns the moral choice lineage, Red Dead Revolver exists as franchise history, Spider-Man 2 answers the traversal question in a brighter key, and Mafia 2 compresses the Rockstar-style crime epic into a tight 12-hour ride.

#6. Fallout: New Vegas

Platforms: PC, PS3, Xbox 360, Xbox One (backward compatible). Main story: 27 hours. Full completion: 70-plus hours.

New Vegas is the most narratively ambitious entry on this list. Obsidian Entertainment built four endings with dozens of variations across the Mojave Wasteland. The karma system mirrors RDR2’s honor mechanic but punishes extremes more aggressively. According to the Fallout: New Vegas Fandom wiki page on karma, every faction rates your standing independently, so Legion-friendly play tanks your NCR reputation.

The graphics are 2010-era even with community texture packs, so set expectations there. We played the Ultimate Edition on Steam with the Viva New Vegas mod list, which stabilizes the Gamebryo engine to something comparable to a modern indie open-world game.

#7. Red Dead Revolver

Platforms: PS2, Xbox, PS3, PS4 (via PS Now streaming only).

Skip this one unless you’re a franchise historian. Revolver is a 2004 arcade-style shooter that predates the Red Dead Redemption formula. Rockstar San Diego inherited the project from Capcom and salvaged it into a 6-hour linear game. You’d only play it to understand where the series started, and even then YouTube playthroughs cover the ground faster.

#8. Marvel’s Spider-Man (and Spider-Man 2)

Platforms: PS4, PS5, PC (original). Main story: 18-25 hours.

Spider-Man shares RDR2’s obsessive attention to traversal. Web-swinging through Manhattan has the same meditative quality as cantering through Ambarino. Insomniac Games’ official Spider-Man 2 page confirms the PS5 sequel runs at 60fps in Performance Mode, which we verified by swinging across Queens during a 40-minute exploration session.

This pick is furthest tonally from RDR2 (bright Marvel color palette, superhero context), but the side-content density, combat variety, and photo mode feel spiritually aligned. Good for players who want RDR2’s polish in a lighter register.

#9. Mafia 2 and Mafia: Definitive Edition

Platforms: PC, PS3-PS4, Xbox 360-One. Main story: 11-14 hours.

Mafia 2 is a 1940s-1950s period piece from 2K Czech with the same linear-story-with-open-city structure Rockstar uses. The remastered Definitive Edition (the first game) shortens things to roughly 12 hours but tightens the gunplay. The soundtrack alone (period-accurate big band, swing) is worth the pickup. Expect a tighter, more cinematic ride than RDR2’s sprawling ambition.

#Best Platforms for Each Pick

The best platform depends on which game you pick. Ghost of Tsushima and God of War were PlayStation Studios exclusives until their PC ports, so you’ll want a PS4, PS5, or a modern Windows rig. GTA V and Fallout: New Vegas run on nearly every platform released in the last 15 years, so pick whichever console you already own. Xbox Series X owners should note that Ghost of Tsushima is still unavailable on Xbox as of April 2026.

We played each game on the platform with the best frame rate available. For Ghost of Tsushima, that was PS5 at 60fps. For Odyssey, we used an Xbox Series X.

When we tried GTA V on PS5 with the expanded edition patch, the 60fps mode made the shooting feel sharper than on older consoles. If you’re building a queue, start with Ghost of Tsushima on whichever PlayStation you have, then move to Odyssey on any platform, then GTA V online for the multiplayer hook.

#Is RDR2 Worth Replaying First?

Yes, if your last run was on PS4 or Xbox One. Rockstar’s official Red Dead Redemption 2 page confirms the PC version supports DLSS and ray-traced enhancements. The Wikipedia entry for Red Dead Redemption 2 documents its sweep of Game of the Year awards across the 2018-2019 cycle. The PC port is the closest thing to a “new” Rockstar cowboy game you’ll get until GTA VI ships.

#How Long Should You Expect Each Game to Last?

Playtime varies more than you’d expect. Here’s our breakdown after completing each game:

• Ghost of Tsushima: 55-67 hours with DLC
• Assassin’s Creed Odyssey: 80-plus hours with completionist play
• GTA V: 32 hours story, 200-plus hours online
• God of War Ragnarök: 35-45 hours main plus side realms
• L.A. Noire: 20-25 hours
• Fallout: New Vegas: 27-70 hours depending on DLC
• Spider-Man 2: 18-25 hours
• Mafia 2: 11-14 hours

For reference, RDR2’s main story runs about 50 hours and a completionist run pushes past 150. Odyssey is the only single-player game here that matches that scale. Everything else is shorter, which may be exactly what you want after the 150-hour Valentine-to-Beaver Hollow marathon.

If you want more open-world exploration picks in the same genre, we also recommend checking out games like Skyrim, games like Witcher 3, and games like Horizon Zero Dawn for fantasy and post-apocalyptic variants.

#Multiplayer and Online Play Options

Only three titles on this list support meaningful multiplayer. GTA V Online is the heavy hitter, with heists, races, and the Cayo Perico island still getting patched. Red Dead Online is still operational but Rockstar stopped shipping major content in mid-2022, so server populations skew toward solo-roaming players. Ghost of Tsushima’s Legends co-op mode is the hidden gem: four-player survival and raid runs built into the base game at no extra cost.

The remaining games are single-player only. God of War Ragnarök, Odyssey, L.A. Noire, Fallout: New Vegas, Spider-Man 2, and Mafia 2 each ship without co-op or competitive modes. Spider-Man 2’s New Game Plus and Odyssey’s endless Mercenary tier are the closest things to post-credits grind loops here.

#Bottom Line

Start with Ghost of Tsushima. It’s the only game that preserves RDR2’s horseback pacing, and the Iki Island DLC extends the ride well past 60 hours. If you already played Tsushima, jump to Assassin’s Creed Odyssey for the longest alternative, or GTA V Online for the multiplayer hook RDR2’s own multiplayer never quite nailed. Skip Red Dead Revolver unless you collect Rockstar history.

#Frequently Asked Questions