10 Best GTA Games That Aren't GTA Games
1. Saints Row Series
Grant Theft Auto isn't exactly renowned for taking itself too seriously - the series has always had a love affair with satirising American culture, after all - but compared to Saints Row, Rockstar's billion-dollar franchise is highbrow academia. Just like Avalanche with Just Cause, Volition took a look at GTA's DNA under the microscope and decided it could do with some alterations, namely dialling the absurdity way beyond healthy levels.
For over a decade, Volition has been throwing caution to the wind with increasingly outlandish premises with every new instalment. 2022's reboot sadly failed to reach the highs of its predecessors (dated gameplay and performance woes aplenty), with mid-2010s offerings, Saints Row IV and its standalone expansion, Gat out of Hell, still considered to be the pinnacle of zany the IP has become primarily known for. Time travel, computer simulations, and even off-world shenanigans, there's no trope the series' developer will hesitate to commandeer in the name of entertainment because, to not digress, it just doesn't care about being serious.
Saints Row delights in billing itself as the ultimate digital playground and Rockstar could stand to learn a thing or two from GTA's closest relative.