The 10 Best Rockstar Video Games of All Time, Ranked
Lucas Kloberdanz-Dyck is a writer for Collider. He grew up creating lists, stories, and worlds, which led to his love of anime and video games. He attended Sheridan College where he earned an Honours Bachelor of Game Design. Lucas and his group won 1st place for technical innovation at LevelUp Toronto 2023, and he was also an intern for the Oakville Film Festival of Arts.
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Modern video games are better than ever, with titles such as Elden Ring and Baldur's Gate 3 advancing the medium to new heights. However, the world will stand still when the most anticipated video game of all time comes out: Grand Theft Auto VI. It has been highly anticipated for over a decade, and while it has been a grueling wait, it finally comes out in 2026. If all goes well, it will be Rockstar Games' magnum opus.
Before fans imagine how good GTA VI will be, they should reflect on the history of one of the greatest video game studios. That is why this list will rank the ten best video games by Rockstar of all time based on aspects such as gameplay, design, narrative, visuals, influence, originality, staying power, how it defines the company, fan opinion, critical acclaim, and overall quality.
10 'Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne' (2003)
Rockstar has a handful of franchises, but one that fans wish would return is Max Payne, which sports a couple of entries on this list, including Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne. When the titular character gets his old job as a detective again, he is immediately put on a case where he must tackle a hitman organization, only to reunite him with a love interest he thought was long dead.
Even though this game was developed by Remedy Entertainment, it was published by Rockstar and fits its many themes and common similarities to the studio. Max Payne 2 is heavily stylized, creating a gritty neo-noir vibe that is so unique, fresh, and one-of-a-kind. The romantic plot that takes over the city is riveting, and the introduction of the new physics engine makes combat even more chaotic.
9 'Grand Theft Auto III' (2001)
Grand Theft Auto is undoubtedly Rockstar's biggest franchise, but it didn't become massive until they ventured into the realm of 3D with Grand Theft Auto III, instantly becoming one of the best games in the series. After a failed bank robbery with his girlfriend, Catalina, the protagonist is left betrayed and imprisoned. But once he escapes, he vows to get his revenge by climbing his way up the mob ladder.
Grand Theft Auto III fundamentally changed everything about the franchise, making it an important shift in the direction that has steered it towards what it is today. While it was influential, it is also unrefined, meaning it places lower on this list than its sequels. Still, GTA III is one of the best Grand Theft Auto games that pioneered open-world level design to create the best sandbox world for the time.
8 'Red Dead Redemption' (2010)
Most fans know and love the second game of this franchise, but they shouldn't underrate the first Red Dead Redemption. Taking place in 1911, when the American frontier is closing its curtains, John Marston's wife and son are kidnapped, leaving him to travel around the country to capture or kill old members of his gang to hand over to the newly instated FBI.
It may not be as good as its sequel, but Red Dead Redemption still features an incredible story that was the definitive cowboy video game for the time. Like the sequel, its bleak, yet engrossing ending is a shocking delight, but that shouldn't overshadow the rest of the game, which features tight gunplay and an atmospheric world that is invigorating to explore.
7 'Bully: Scholarship Edition' (2008)
Rockstar is known for its franchises like Grand Theft Auto and Max Payne, but not all of their masterpieces get a sequel, and that was the case with Bully. This list will use Bully: Scholarship Edition, as it is the best way to play. Jimmy Hopkins may be fifteen, but he is already a rebel, which lands him in a corrupt boarding school where he must fight for survival and hopefully end the brutal culture of bullying.
GTA is great because it is fresh and new, but Bully takes those aspects, such as the sandbox world, and makes it more relatable to players with a school setting. It mixes gritty and brutal action with a somewhat nostalgic charm and smaller stakes that puts players back into school. It also features a surprisingly heartfelt story, proving it is the next Rockstar franchise that needs to come back.
6 'Max Payne 3' (2012)
The best Max Payne video game isn't unanimous, with all three having their specialties, but most will agree that Max Payne 3 is the best of the franchise. Years after the events in the second game, Max is a cynical private security guard who must go on an adventure through Brazil when the trophy wife of a wealthy family is kidnapped by a ruthless street gang.
Max Payne 3 is the best technically, featuring its iconic bullet time mechanics that add acrobatic stunts to make it even more exhilarating. While it does lose the hardboiled and moody atmosphere of the other games, the sun-soaked city of São Paulo is a fresh setting that ramps up the chaos, action, drama, and adrenaline.
Collider Exclusive · Action Hero Quiz
Which Action Hero Would Be
Your Perfect Partner?
Rambo · James Bond · Indiana Jones · John McClane · Ethan Hunt
Five legends. Five completely different ways of getting out alive — with style, with muscle, with charm, with luck, or with a plan so intricate it probably shouldn't work. Ten questions will reveal which action hero was built to have your back.
🎖️Rambo
🍸James Bond
🏺Indiana Jones
🔧John McClane
🎭Ethan Hunt
01
You're dropped into a dangerous situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner? The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you.
02
You have to get somewhere dangerous, fast. How do you travel? How you get there is half the mission.
03
You're pinned down and outnumbered. What does your ideal partner do? This is when you find out what someone is really made of.
04
The mission is paused. You have one evening to decompress. What does your partner suggest? Who someone is when the pressure drops is who they actually are.
05
How do you prefer your partner to communicate mid-mission? Good communication is the difference between partners and a liability.
06
Your enemy is powerful, well-resourced, and has the upper hand. How should your partner approach them? The approach to the enemy defines the partnership.
07
Things go badly wrong and you're captured. What do you trust your partner to do? Who someone is when you need them most is the only thing that matters.
08
What does your ideal partner bring to the table that you couldn't replace? A great partner fills the gap you didn't know you had.
09
Every partnership has a cost. Which of these can you live with? No one comes without baggage. The question is whether you can carry it together.
10
It's the final moment. Everything is on the line. What do you need from your partner right now? The last question is the most honest one.
Your Partner Has Been Assigned Your Perfect Partner Is…
Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.
Rambo
Your partner doesn't talk much, doesn't need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you've finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You'll never need to ask if he has your back. You'll just know.
James Bond
Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it'll take you a moment to remember what's actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You'll never be bored. You'll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.
Indiana Jones
Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar's eye and a brawler's instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn't matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you'll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.
John McClane
Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren't so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.
Ethan Hunt
Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you've finished reading the briefing, and the plan he's settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn't exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.
5 'Grand Theft Auto IV' (2008)
This list features almost every single Grand Theft Auto game, with that nearly being half the list, proving how essential the franchise is. Grand Theft Auto IV follows an Eastern European immigrant who moves to Liberty City to see what the American Dream is all about. However, trying to escape his dark past, he is thrust into the clutches of the underworld of organized crime, now needing to pay off a debt through less than noble means.
There is a lot of debate when it comes to the top three Grand Theft Auto games, but ignoring the ranking, fans know that this is a revolutionary title that critics claim to be the best in the franchise. This renowned Game of the Year winner has one of the best stories in the franchise and brings a grittier tone alongside its complex physics system to innovate an already technically impressive franchise.
4 'L.A. Noire' (2011)
Like Bully, L.A. Noire is another Rockstar game that never got a sequel despite being one of the best and most innovative video games, with fans hoping it will one day return. Post-World War II Los Angeles is full of crime, and that is exactly how the player, Cole Phelps, rises through the ranks of the police department by solving a string of murders and investigating a giant morphine smuggling ring.
Rockstar is an underrated studio when it comes to vibes and atmosphere, with all of their games presenting an unmistakable tone that is immersive and engaging. This is especially true with L.A. Noire, which is one of the best detective games. From finding evidence at the crime scene to analyzing people's faces, L.A. Noire lives up to its title by embracing the conventions of film noir through an immersive detective adventure set in the 1940s.
3 'Grand Theft Auto V' (2013)
As mentioned, Grand Theft Auto VI is on the way, and it might be the best in the series, but before then, Grand Theft Auto V can remain the most technically impressive. This game follows three protagonists, including Michael, a retired bank robber, Franklin, a common street hustler, and Trevor, an unhinged arms dealer. When their fates intertwine, they need to pull off a series of high-stakes heists across the city of Los Santos.
13 seems like an unacceptable time to wait for a new game, but the reason why GTA VI was so delayed wasn't just because it took a lot of time to make, but because there wasn't any rush since GTA V was still so popular. It perfected the mechanics in this franchise to build an ambitious world ripe with emergent gameplay that gives full agency to the player. The steering wheel is in their hands as they can experience an unmatched legacy that not only proves it is one of the most fun video games, but also a legacy title that went down in history.
2 'Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' (2004)
GTA V is a lot of people's favorite because it is the biggest, technically impressive, and the most modern. However, the best GTA game is arguably Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. After CJ returns to his city after his mother passes away, he is framed for her murder. In order to clear his name, he must travel across the state, save his family, and take back the streets.
This franchise is known for innovating and expanding the length of its ambition, but it might have peaked with Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which gave not one, not two, but three cities to explore. This daring masterpiece, too big for its own good, pushed the bounds of creativity and technical prowess, making it not only the best GTA game, but also one of the greatest video games of all time.
1 'Red Dead Redemption 2' (2018)
The Grand Theft Auto franchise might be Rockstar's most famous and popular, but their magnum opus takes place on the Western Frontier. Red Dead Redemption 2 is set in the dying age of the Wild West. Arthur Morgan is the leader of a Cowboy gang that is slowly falling apart. Diagnosed with tuberculosis, he sets out on one final adventure, hoping to ride into the sunset and redeem himself for past failures.
As the most recent Rockstar game, Red Dead Redemption 2 is the studio's largest, most ambitious, best-crafted, and visually stunning game. All these factors blend perfectly to deliver an almost simulator-like game where the Wild West is at the whims of the player. This adventure video game masterpiece boasts a gorgeous open world and one of the best narratives in gaming history, and for the time being, it is the greatest Rockstar video game of all time.
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