The Most Complex Rockstar Games, Ranked

Rockstar Games means a lot of things to different people. Some think about the open-world mayhem and satire of Grand Theft Auto, while others remember the heart-wrenching stories of the Red Dead Redemption series. It is no secret the amount of work that goes into game development, but it is hard to even quantify the complexity of the biggest games from this publisher.

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The titles listed are not only complex in the way they were made - they also present gamers with rules and systems other games lack, forcing players to think about the experience differently. Fortunately, these complex mechanics are here to immerse players and not just be annoying roadblocks.

7 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Improve Or Ruin CJ's Body And Abilities

San Andreas had so many gameplay innovations over its predecessors. Players could freely aim their weapons, more easily navigate the environment on foot by climbing or crouch-walking, and they could finally swim in the ocean. These innovations also came with responsibilities for the player.

Protagonist Carl Johnson would become stronger or weaker depending on the player's actions. Overeating would cause him to gain weight and lose mobility while skipping meals would make him too skinny.

Other skills, such as driving, flying, and shooting would increase over time as the player used them. Completing a course at one of the associated schools could increase these skills faster.

6 Midnight Club: Los Angeles

The Tech Makes The Game More Challenging

Younger gamers might not realize that the publisher's Rage engine powered more than just Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption, and Max Payne 3. The engine helped make the most complex Midnight Club game to date.

Midnight Club: Los Angeles had realistic weather and traffic systems to make races more interesting for players. The former would also impact how cars handled on the streets.

The open world where the game is set was also huge, far bigger than the prior game's open-world efforts. Car damage was not simply for aesthetics. Players would have to drive to gas stations or mechanics to return their cars to pristine conditions.

5 Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

The Game Becomes Non-Linear Halfway Through

Grand Theft Auto 3 is a linear open-world adventure. Players do the story missions until they reach the end of the quest line and then the credits roll. The side activities are restricted to a few bonus missions and arcade-like minigames like driving a taxi or playing vigilante in a cop car.

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Vice City's story feels like it is on the same track until the halfway point when protagonist Tommy Vercetti starts his own empire. From this point on, players have to accumulate cash, buy up businesses, and then do the mission line for each business to start acquiring passive income. The last mission line does not open up until players acquire a certain number of businesses along with a few mandatory ones.

4 Red Dead Redemption 2

An Immersive Wild West Experience

Red Dead Redemption 2

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10 /10

Released

October 26, 2018

Developer(s)

Rockstar Games

Publisher(s)

Rockstar Games

Platform(s)

PS4, Xbox One, PC, Stadia

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Red Dead Redemption 2 came out on a prior generation's hardware, yet it is still one of the best-looking video games around. This feat is even more impressive considering its open-world design.

The gorgeous visuals owe a lot to the complex real-time weather system and the bustling ecosystem that behaves realistically. All of this aims to immerse players into the historical era.

Furthermore, players are responsible for hunting their own food to make sure Arthur Morgan does not go hungry. They also have to make sure their horse and guns are clean, as well as periodically cutting their hair unless they want Arthur to look unkempt.

3 Grand Theft Auto Online

So Much Content If One Knows How To Access It

Grand Theft Auto 5 is not the most complex game, but its online counterpart only grows in complexity as the years go on. Grand Theft Auto Online did not have a lot to do at launch. In the years since its launch, however, the developers have consistently added new content to keep players engaged.

While this is great, it can also make the game confusing. It is not always clear what new business players have to buy or what they have to do to access new updates. The heists are also complex multi-part missions that require multiple players to pull off.

2 Bully

Nothing More Complex Than Being The New Kid In School

Bully shows restraint and creativity in the open-world format that Grand Theft Auto does not. Instead of trying to create chaos and mayhem, the action-adventure game is about living through a school year at a prep school and balancing the drama between different cliques.

Skills and upgrades are earned by attending the school's classes. These are represented as various minigames. The grounded gameplay makes the player engage in a more realistic open-world environment that feels more like Shenmue or Like a Dragon than Grand Theft Auto.

Other gameplay tropes are also more diegetically integrated into the world. Fast travel is done by taking the bus rather than by opening up a menu at any time, for example.

1 L.A. Noire

Solve Cases Using Your Actual Detective Skills

This detective game does not force the player to engage with complex systems like paying attention to hunger, keeping their guns clean, or running a business. L.A. Noire's complexity is in the tiny details.

Players have to pay attention to every aspect of the cases they investigate to determine who is lying and who is telling the truth. Rarely does a game force players to truly engage with their intuition and instincts to find the answer as L.A. Noire does.

It does this through an elaborate facial capture system that makes some of the most realistic faces in all of gaming. It is especially uncanny when an actor's familiar face pops up with the same mannerisms and expressions they have when they perform in live-action productions.

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