GTA VI vs Other Open Worlds: Cyberpunk, Starfield, Horizon, and More

The Open World Heavyweight Title Fight

Grand Theft Auto VI is arriving at a moment when the open-world genre is, arguably, at its most crowded and most scrutinized. Every major publisher has a tentpole open-world franchise, and each one takes a fundamentally different approach to what “open world” means. This guide compares GTA VI — based on confirmed information and credible extrapolation — against the five most-discussed open worlds of the 2020s: Cyberpunk 2077, Starfield, Horizon Forbidden West, Elden Ring, and Red Dead Redemption 2.

All comparisons rely on publicly documented information about the other titles, and on confirmed trailers and screenshots for GTA VI.

GTA VI vs Cyberpunk 2077

CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077 launched in December 2020 to a famously troubled reception before being rehabilitated across multiple patches and the Phantom Liberty expansion [1]. It is the most direct comparison point for GTA VI: a modern, neon-soaked urban open world with crime-centric narrative.

Map. Night City is one of the densest cities ever rendered in a game, with a strong vertical component across six districts. Vice City in GTA VI appears to prioritize horizontal scale — more square kilometers, more distinct biomes — with less extreme verticality. Trailer 2 shots show skyscraper interiors but not the extreme multi-level interior traversal Night City specialized in.

Narrative structure. Cyberpunk 2077 is a single-protagonist RPG with heavy role-playing customization. GTA VI is a dual-protagonist action-narrative. These are different games. Cyberpunk 2077 asks “who is V?” GTA VI asks “what happens when these two people drive through each other’s lives?”

Driving. GTA has owned driving for three decades. Cyberpunk 2077’s driving improved dramatically post-2.0 but remains widely considered GTA’s inferior.

Combat. Cyberpunk 2077’s combat is deeper, with skill trees, netrunning, and cyberware builds. GTA VI is expected to retain the franchise’s more grounded gunplay with improved gore and physics.

Winner for each bucket. Narrative depth: toss-up. Driving: GTA. Combat: Cyberpunk. Urban density: Cyberpunk. Biome variety: GTA.

GTA VI vs Starfield

Bethesda’s Starfield launched in September 2023 to mixed reception — praised for scale, criticized for repetitive procedurally generated content [2].

Scale. Starfield has over 1,000 planets. GTA VI has one state. This is a false comparison: Starfield’s scale is procedural, GTA VI’s is handcrafted. A single handcrafted city block in GTA VI has more unique content than a typical Starfield planetary landing site.

Content density. The defining question of modern open-world design, and the defining failure of Starfield according to most reviewers. GTA VI’s confirmed focus on density — NPC behavior, urban detail, interactive interiors — represents the opposite design philosophy.

Writing. Bethesda’s writing in Starfield was widely panned. Rockstar’s narrative pedigree is among the strongest in the industry.

Modding. Starfield’s long-term value is its mod community. GTA VI’s PC release, which historically trails console by months or years, will have a smaller mod window early.

Winner for each bucket. Raw scale: Starfield. Content density: GTA VI. Narrative: GTA VI. Long-term mod value: Starfield.

GTA VI vs Horizon Forbidden West

Guerrilla Games’ Horizon Forbidden West (2022) is the most visually polished open world on the PlayStation 5 [3]. It represents the “theme park” approach to open-world design — carefully curated activities scattered across a beautiful but broadly static landscape.

Visuals. At launch, Forbidden West set a bar for character-face rendering and environmental detail. GTA VI’s trailers suggest a different visual priority — less photorealistic character rendering, more dynamic world simulation.

World simulation. Horizon’s world is beautiful but NPCs are largely static outside settlements. GTA VI’s defining feature since GTA IV has been emergent NPC behavior, traffic AI, and crowd simulation.

Combat. Horizon’s combat is deeper and more varied due to machine variety. GTA VI’s combat is more grounded.

Exploration. Horizon gates progress with tools and skills. GTA VI will likely allow full-map access shortly after the prologue (GTA V unlocked the full map by mid-story).

Winner for each bucket. Visual polish: Horizon. NPC simulation: GTA VI. Combat depth: Horizon. Exploration freedom: GTA VI.

GTA VI vs Elden Ring

From Software’s Elden Ring (2022) redefined open-world design for the post-Breath of the Wild era [4]. Its approach is almost opposite to GTA’s: wordless environmental storytelling, punishing combat, minimal UI.

This is the least direct comparison in the list. Elden Ring is an open-world Souls game; GTA VI is a crime simulator. But the comparison is worth making because of what each teaches about player motivation:

Guidance. Elden Ring trusts the player to find their own path. GTA has historically been mission-objective-driven. GTA VI may introduce more emergent direction (early trailer analysis suggests a less marker-heavy HUD).

Difficulty. Elden Ring’s identity is built on difficulty. GTA is accessible by design.

Discovery. Elden Ring’s greatest strength is surprise — the feeling that the world contains more than you expected. GTA has historically been more legible: everything on the map has a marker. Whether GTA VI moves toward Elden Ring’s discovery model is one of the most interesting open design questions.

Winner for each bucket. Discovery: Elden Ring. Accessibility: GTA VI. Narrative clarity: GTA VI. Combat: Elden Ring (different genre entirely).

GTA VI vs Red Dead Redemption 2

The comparison Rockstar most wants to invite — and most needs to exceed — is with its own 2018 landmark, Red Dead Redemption 2 [5].

World simulation. RDR2 raised the bar on NPC behavior, weather, animal AI, and environmental storytelling. GTA VI must meet or exceed that bar. Trailer 2 analysis shows NPC behaviors — including interior awareness, weather reactions, and dynamic crowd formation — that appear to match RDR2 and likely improve on it.

Pacing. RDR2’s opening hours are famously slow. GTA has historically started faster. GTA VI is expected to follow the GTA pacing tradition rather than RDR2’s.

Protagonist count. RDR2 had one plus an extended epilogue protagonist. GTA VI has two concurrent protagonists. This is structurally more complex.

Technology. GTA VI is presumed to run on an evolution of RAGE (the RDR2 engine). Expect visual improvements, denser crowds, and more interactable interiors.

Winner for each bucket. World simulation: toss-up, GTA VI favored by technical generation. Pacing: GTA VI. Atmosphere: RDR2 (a specific strength).

The Bigger Picture

The open-world genre has diverged into several distinct subtypes:

• Theme park. Horizon, Far Cry. Curated activity loops in beautiful static worlds.
• Systems playground. GTA, RDR2, BOTW. Emergent play built on deep NPC and physics systems.
• Procedural ocean. Starfield, Daggerfall, No Man’s Sky. Huge but shallow.
• RPG narrative. Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher 3. Dense, hand-authored quest content.
• Environmental discovery. Elden Ring. Wordless, player-driven storytelling.

GTA VI sits squarely in the systems-playground category. Its competitive advantage is that no one else is trying to do what Rockstar does — build a living, breathing city with emergent behavior at the scale of a full state.

Where GTA VI Could Fall Short

Open-world comparison goes both ways. Cautionary notes:

• Narrative depth. If the Lucia–Jason partnership does not hit the emotional register of Arthur Morgan’s arc, RDR2 fans may feel shortchanged.
• Quest variety. GTA has historically relied on a narrower mission toolkit than Cyberpunk or the Witcher 3.
• RPG systems. GTA has never had deep character progression. If the genre trend has moved permanently toward RPG-flavored open worlds, GTA VI may feel old-fashioned.

The Verdict (Speculative)

If GTA VI ships at the quality level implied by its trailers, it will be the most-played game in the world within its first month. That does not necessarily make it the “best” open world by every metric — but it will reset what the industry expects from a systems-playground open world, much the way GTA III did in 2001 and GTA V did in 2013.

Sources

1. CD Projekt Red post-launch roadmaps and Phantom Liberty reviews, 2020–2023.
2. Starfield reviews and Bethesda community feedback, September 2023–2025.
3. Horizon Forbidden West reviews and Guerrilla Games interviews, 2022.
4. Elden Ring reviews and From Software / Bandai Namco interviews, 2022.
5. RDR2 reviews, Rockstar Newswire, and post-launch community analysis, 2018–2020.

All direct claims about GTA VI are based on publicly confirmed trailers, screenshots, and product-page material. Comparative judgements are the author’s analysis.