Best 14 Games Like Red Dead Redemption 2

Red Dead Redemption 2 is a massive, immersive, and open-world story-driven cowboy RPG that showcased everything right about the gaming industry.

Rockstar made an instant classic, so it’s difficult to replicate. Looking for games like Red Dead Redemption 2 means finding the highest quality titles across the RPG, story-driven, and Western genres. 

Red Dead Redemption 1

It’s 1911, and you’re John Marston, a former outlaw. Enemies kidnapped your family, and your mission is to hunt down the renegades and save your loved ones. Ultimately, you decide your path: merciful or brutal. Like on RDR2, there’s an Honor system, and a police/law system. 

The quest takes you on a massive journey across towns, farms, ranches, deserts, and other sights proper of the wild west. You complete missions on linear scenarios or explore the open world to complete side activities and quests.

For example, you can target enemies’ body parts for non-lethal damage. you can also take cover, sneak, and disguise yourself. That said, you play in a first or third-person perspective with a variety of firearms, and you have a skill that slows down time so you can aim better. 

Grand Theft Auto V

GTA V is a classic run & gun title that happens in a massive open-world city. You play as three criminals, and you can swap between them at any time as you complete main or side quests or explore the city. Also, like RD2, it gives you access to its online version, GTA Online. 

As a Rockstar game, it shares how immersive, interactive, and dynamic the city is. The city is Los Santos, a fictional representation of Los Angeles and southern California, and it comes with a “Wanted” system that makes the police react to your crimes. 

The characters are Michael, Trevor, and Franklin. You follow their heists in the third-person with simple mechanics. You aim, shoot, swap weapons, run, jump, climb, steal cars, and drive. As you perform actions, the characters improve naturally, like in previous GTA titles. 

Cyberpunk 2077

• Developer: CD Projekt Red
• Publisher: CD Projekt
• Release Date: December 2020
• Platform: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, Windows, Google Stadia 

Cyberpunk 2077 has the quality standard you may be expecting as an RD2 fan. Its story, characters, and, most of all, setting, can grow on you and create memorable stories.

You’re V, a customizable mercenary on a life-and-death quest. The consciousness of a wildcard rebel-rocker, Johnny Silverhand, is in your head, and only one can live. It leads both into self-destructing quests against the massive Arasaka corporation.

Cyberpunk 2077 is an open-world action-RPG shooter in the dystopian Night City. The gunplay is fast and smooth, the arsenal is huge, and the character progression is moderately complex.

The Witcher 3

The Witcher 3 is an open-world action RPG with the sense of storytelling epicness to match RD2. Additionally, it has a straightforward character progression system. You level up, unlock skills, and buy/find/craft new gear as you rise in levels. 

You play as Geralt of Rivia, a Witcher. Witchers are mutated humans capable of defeating monsters and other evils. The story flows alongside Geralt’s friends and loved ones, like Yennefer, and it revolves around finding Geralt’s surrogate daughter, Ciri. 

You fight in a third-person perspective. You have a sword, a crossbow, magic, grenades, and potions. You can choose your gameplay style, though, so if you prefer dodging and parrying, you can improve your character that way. In any case, combat is challenging, but never too punishing, and never too fast.

Mafia II: Definitive Edition

• Developers: 2K Games
• Publisher: 2K Games
• Release Date: May 2020 (original game – 2010)
• Platform: Windows, Xbox One, PS4

The only way to go back to Mafia II, unless you already have the original game, is by getting the Definitive Edition. It’s a slight upgrade that packs HD detail, allowing you to go back to 1940s New York to play war-hero-turned-mobster Vito Scaletta. 

Like RD2, Mafia II is about, well, redemption versus downfall. Also, you play in a third-person perspective on an open world you can explore on foot or a vehicle. As an action-adventure game, the core gameplay revolves around shooting, driving, and limited melee systems.

Then, you can complete the main mission or side missions. The law and NPCs respond to your crimes with a “wanted system.” Other elements include era-accurate vehicles, music, and weapons, a weather system, a season system, and cover mechanics. 

L.A. Noire

• Developers: Team Bond
• Publisher: Rockstar Games
• Release Date: May 2011
• Platform: PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Windows, Nintendo Switch 

L.A. Noire is an action-adventure game focusing on detective work. You play as detective Jack Kelso in a neo-noir story in an open-world L.A. in the year 1947. Compared to RD2, it also features a depressing story about a character dealing with the darker sides of humanity. 

You can drive, run, shoot, explore the streets, and talk to suspects to solve a deep-rooted conspiracy. As a member of the LAPD, most of your job is interrogating suspects in the police station. Also, as the story progresses, you’ll go from one police department to another. 

The game also features fast-paced action. Action includes gunfights, melee combat, foot chases, and car chases. Outside of scripted scenes, you can solve optional street crimes and find special items in the world for achievements. 

Gun

Gun is an action-adventure RPG with an open-world wild west scenario. You play as Colton White, a renegade looking for vengeance on a story that feels, looks, and behaves like an RD2 spin-off. 

Aside from the main quest, there’re side quests, exploration activities, puzzles, and mini-games. Moreover, you can hunt animals like wild horses and buffalos. You can also mine, act as a sheriff, complete bounties, work on farms, deliver packages, rescue innocents, and play poker. 

Third-person combat is brutal, slow-paced, and varied. You can sneak, shoot, and use melee abilities. You can fight on horseback and on trains. And as you play, you’ll unlock weapons and upgrade your weapon-firing abilities. Lastly, if you commit crimes, the law enforcers respond.

Gunslinger: Call of Juarez

Call of Juarez is also an older western shooter. In particular, it works as a homage to Wild West tales and movies. If you’re been playing the RDR series because of the setting, it’s a great choice.

You play as a ruthless bounty hunter on a quest against the most dangerous outlaws. The journey is vicious and takes inspiration from legends, myths, and tales of the Old West. For example, it includes characters like Jesse James, Billy the Kid, and Pat Garret. 

You play with a vast range of pistols, rifles, and shotguns. You can also take cover, unleash combos against multiple enemies, and dodge bullets. Your abilities and arsenal grow over time. Lastly, there’s a character progression system that allows you to develop specific gun skills. 

Evil West

• Developers: Flying Wild Hog
• Publisher: Focus Entertainment
• Release Date: November 2022
• Platform: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, Windows 

Evil West is a third-person linear shooter. You play as Jesse Rentier, a cowboy vampire hunter wielding. Your tools are six-shot pistols, rifles, melee weapons, flamethrowers, and more. 

The game’s highlight is combat. Evil West is all about fighting vampires and demons, but it offers almost nothing in terms of story. However, the combat is complex, and it might be appealing if you were looking for a fully-fledged cowboy shooter.

For instance, you can kick enemies into traps, stagger enemies with a gauntlet, perform finishing moves, shoot explosive barrels, and more. You also level up to unlock skills and abilities and loot powerful gear. Lastly, you can play the campaign in co-op. 

Weird West

Have you ever wanted to play RD2 with isometric graphics and dark magic? How about playing a squad-based action RPG with real-time mechanics? It’s a dark fantasy western setting with six playable protagonists, choices, consequences, and sandbox elements. 

Combat is quite immersive. You shoot, kick, use your abilities, and interact with plenty of elements in the environment. That includes rails, explosive TNT barrels, toxins, and more. The world is open, and the choice mechanics blend seamlessly with the world and the action.

Lastly, former Arkane Studio developers are Weird West’s creators. The influence of games like Dishonored and Prey is apparent from the moment the initial credits roll. You’ll see it in the art style, hear it in the music, and enjoy it in the story.

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition

• Developer: BioWare
• Publisher: Electronic Arts
• Release Date: May 2021
• Platform: Windows, PS4, Xbox One

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is a remaster of the sci-fi action RPG trilogy. People still consider it the greatest story in its genre (space adventure or space opera).

You customize your Commander Shepard with gender, background, and class. Then, you enter a three-part story about defeating an ancient AI alongside a community of alien and human companions. Your choices affect the war, the races in the Galaxy, and your fate.

The gameplay improves with each entry, but the mechanics are similar. You run, shoot, take cover, use active power, and give simple commands to your companions. 

Fallout: New Vegas

• Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
• Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
• Release Date: October 2010
• Platform: Windows, PS3, Xbox 360

Fallout: New Vegas is an open-world action RPG as well, but it focuses on shooting and complex dialogue choices. You play in the Mojave Wasteland, a post-apocalyptic barren to find out who betrayed you.

The story puts you in the middle of a conflict between various factions for the Hoover Dam. Your choices ultimately decide the fate of these factions and the desert. Moreover, the game allows you to approach situations in any order and in any way and delivers branching paths and consequences.

The gameplay can be outdated and janky, though. You shoot and fight in third-person or first-person, and unlock perks, stats, weapons, and more. Additionally, you have the “VATS” system, which slows down the time to click and shoot at your enemies. 

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of Wild

The latest Zelda entry reinvented the franchise. The setting,  Hyrule, became a massive open-world sandbox without markers or indications. Also, it added various engines to manage how in-game objects interact, weather systems, night and day cycles, and more. 

The action RPG follows a new iteration of Link on a quest to defeat Ganondorf. You’re free to follow it in any way. For example, you can start by visiting a town for information, or you can travel to farther mountains for loot.

You can climb, run, jump, glide, swim, and mount, but your stamina bar is your limit. Naturally, you can find collectibles to increase stamina and HP, as well as gear and abilities. Aside from character progression, the game features hunting and harvesting from nature. 

Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines

Around the time Half-Life 2 debuted, another influential game was released. Bloodlines was an underappreciated jewel, but, today, it’s considered a key moment for the immersive RPG genre with vast consequences and dialogue mechanics. 

The story follows a human who died and was revived as a vampire. The setting is a semi-open world 21st Century Los Angeles, as you have to unlock map areas by progressing the quest. Then, the story is a journey about discovering a conspiracy that may end all vampires. 

You play in a first or third-person perspective. The action relies on using vampire powers, melee abilities, and firearms. As you progress through the plot, you’ll be able to join vampire clans to unlock further skills. These include lockpicking, stealth, hacking, range, persuasion, seduction, intimidation, charisma, etc.