5 games to play in 2025 now that GTA 6 has been delayed

Take-Two and Rockstar have announced that Grand Theft Auto VI won’t be releasing until May 26, 2026, leaving a massive hole in the 2025 video game release calendar. While there won’t be anything on the same scale as GTA VI, there are still massive and exciting games coming out this year. As for what can fill that void, we’ve got games about crime, great open worlds, and massive scale to try and satisfy the blockbuster cravings the decade-long wait for the next Grand Theft Auto has caused. Here are the games you can check out.

5

Mafia: The Old Country

Right genre, wrong century

A different Take-Two game about organized crime is still set to release in 2025, with Mafia: The Old Country releasing in Summer 2025 on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC. Hanger 13’s prequel to its crime series, Mafia: The Old Country, takes place in Sicily during the 1900s, following the origins of this particular brand of organized crime. While it’s not being advertised as a massive open-world game like Grand Theft Auto VI, it will offer a single-player story-driven experience of doing crime. While it’s unlikely to completely satisfy your need to play GTA VI, it could certainly help make the wait until next May feel a bit shorter.

4

Schedule 1

Crime with friends.

Already out on Steam, Schedule I is an early-access co-op game about running a successful drug empire. It’s much more of a sim than something like Grand Theft Auto VI, but a multiplayer game where you commit crimes and get into shenanigans with friends is at least GTA Online adjacent. In Schedule I, you have control over the entire process of manufacturing and selling drugs, starting with growing or cooking them, distributing them around the neighborhood, and expanding your operation.

There are still shootouts with the police, so you are getting plenty of crime simulations. Add three of your closest friends to the mix, and you might not even notice that you aren’t playing Grand Theft Auto VI in 2025.

3

MindsEye

A big, expensive video game with GTA alumni.

You may not be immediately familiar with MindsEye, but it has the potential to scratch that GTA VI itch in a few ways. It’s a third-person, narrative-focused experience, taking place in the technologically advanced city of Redrock, advertising high-end cinematics, driving, and combat.

MindsEye looks like an expensive undertaking, and the gameplay elements all sound similar to GTA, which makes sense, considering the game is being led by director Leslie Benzies, who was a lead developer on the series at Rockstar from GTA III to GTA V, making him partially responsible for the most popular games in the series. While it seems unlikely that a game as expensive to make as GTA VI won’t be released anytime soon, MindsEye appears to be at least aiming to feel that way.

2

Elden Ring Nightreign

If you want to feel like you’re part of a moment.

Outside of actually playing Grand Theft Auto VI, a big part of its release is the cultural moment that will happen around it. Think of it like when Animal Crossing: New Horizons or Elden Ring were released, and it felt like every person was talking and playing those games. Elden Ring Nightreign will not be a similar video game to GTA VI, but it’s the game most likely to have that big cultural moment around it in 2025.

The Nintendo Switch 2 launch will be at similar levels, just a week or so after Elden Ring Nightreign, but that’s a more expensive ask if you are just looking to be a part of a moment. This multiplayer title has the potential to be as big as the game it spun off from, and it will certainly be one of the most played games of the year, if you want to be part of the conversation. Elden Ring Nightreign will also include bosses from Elden Ring and other FromSoftware games.

Elden Ring Nightreign is a multiplayer roguelike spin-off of the action-RPG made by FromSoftware. It can be played solo or with three people in co-op, asking you to make it through three nights of boss rushes in order to finish a run. Elden Ring Nightreign launches on May 30 on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5, and PC.

1

Lost Soul Aside

A different level of ambitious

Another aspect of Grand Theft Auto VI’s appeal is just how ambitious Rockstar Games are. I can’t tell you with certainty that Lost Soul Aside will achieve a similar level of ambition, especially with Rockstar having the time, resources, and talent to be incredibly ambitious in its projects, but it’s aiming high. What originally started as a solo project by director Bing Yang and was shown in a YouTube trailer nearly a decade ago, it has since become a massive project, getting published by PlayStation for PS5 and PC.

The action RPG is heavily inspired by Final Fantasy XV in both the combat and the aesthetic, especially the characters’ clothing. You must defeat invaders from beyond the sky to save your sister and the rest of humanity. The trailers and development progress shared by Ultizero Games, the developer, have shown off an ambitious project by a smaller team. Considering that one of the best-reviewed games of 2025, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, came from similar circumstances, Lost Soul Aside could be something special when it launches on August 29 for PlayStation 5 and PC.

2025 is stacked with great games without GTA 6

While it’s completely understandable to be disappointed that the wait until Grand Theft Auto VI is going to be even longer, there are still tons of excellent games to play coming out in 2025, not only are there more crime dramas like Mafia: The Old Country, but there are multiple landmark releases still coming, like the Nintendo Switch 2, the first new Mario Kart since 2014 with Mario Kart World, and even the long-awaited Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. You can’t make GTA VI release sooner, but you can pass the time with other great video games.

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