GTA Alternatives: 5 best games apart from the GTA series that fans should try

The GTA franchise has undoubtedly made its mark on the gaming industry with its many entries and is one of the most beloved series' of all time. It has also been extremely influential in making the open-world genre as popular and as financially viable as it is today.

The genre has evolved by leaps and bounds over the years and has been home to some of the best games one can pick up from the last decade.

Here, we take a look at some of the best games in the open-world genre that fans can try apart from the GTA franchise.

5 open-world games that fans should try apart from the GTA franchise

1) Sleeping Dogs

Sleeping Dogs is the absolute king of the underground and is one of the most beloved open-world games to come out in the last decade. The game puts players in the role of Wei Shen, an undercover Chinese-American returning to Hong Kong to infiltrate and take down the Triads.

What follows is an action-packed romp as Wei kung-fu kicks his way through organized crime on the neon-lit streets of Hong Kong. The game is surprisingly well-crafted, with a decent amount of attention and care put into the narrative and story.

However, what really takes the cake in Sleeping Dogs is the fantastic combat system that never seems to get repetitive or old. Players can also choose to unlock moves by finding Dragon Statues, making for a fantastic gameplay experience that rewards exploration too.

2) Watch Dogs 2

Watch Dogs 2 proved to be an interesting turn of events for Ubisoft as it won over many detractors of the franchise after the original failed to live up to expectations. The sequel was everything the Watch Dogs franchise should have been from the start: fun, light-hearted and engaging, with a focus on experimentation.

The game allows players to interact freely with many of the game world's elements such as traffic lights, steam pipes, and a lot more.

Watch Dogs 2 is an excellent open-world title and should keep fans satisfied while they wait for a sequel in the GTA franchise.

Its emphasis on interactivity with the game world is truly what makes it shine, which is why many of the game's missions can be completed in a variety of ways. Even the seemingly routine is turned exciting by the use of these mechanics.

3) Batman: Arkham Knight

Batman: Arkham Knight is the swan-song to the Arkham series by Rocksteady and is an excellent bookend to what has been one of the most critically acclaimed game franchises of all time.

The final game in the series pits Batman against his rogues' gallery, and the battleground is the entire city of Gotham as well as Bruce's own broken psyche.

The iconic combat system that has gone on to influence many games in the genre makes an appearance in Batman: Arkham Knight in its most polished form. The stealth mechanics now have more purpose with greater variation as enemies can now change tactics at will, and the room layouts have been changed dramatically.

Batman: Arkham Knight is a fantastic open-world title that players should try at least once.

4) Yakuza 0

To the unintiated, Yakuza might seem like a game that is far too inaccessible to the average player, with its arcade-style combat and vast skill trees. However, the game opens up to the players and grows on them quite quickly.

The Yakuza games are some of the best that players can pick up for themselves, and Yakuza 0 is a great starting point. The game is a prequel to the events of Yakuza Kiwami and sets up the major players in the franchise such as Kiryu and the infamous Goro Majima.

The gameplay is excellent as players battle through the streets, in nightclubs and in whatever locations that best suit a brawl. The game never lets off the gas pedal and goes a 100 miles an hour at all times, making for some truly exciting gameplay moments as well as a deep and engaging story.

5) Just Cause 4

Just Cause likes to measure the quality of its games by a completely different scale than other games do: explosions per minute. The game wants the player to abandon all hope for a quiet time and to truly let chaos rule.

This is why the game, from the start, hands the player all the tools to cause the most amount of ruckus as possible. The versatility of the grapple-hook to attach itself onto virtually everything makes the game feel far more exciting than the standard open-world affair.

Just Cause encourages experimentation and rewards players for blowing up as many things as possible in the shortest amount of time.