It might seem like a boastful name, but Rockstar Games really are rockstars in the gaming world. The developer is responsible for arguably the most important and lucrative gaming franchise of all time with the Grand Theft Auto series. While the open-world crime series is what the studio is best known for, it has dipped its toes into a wide range of genres and styles as a publisher since its first game in 1997. While the studio’s output has certainly slowed, with an over eight-year gap between Red Dead Redemption 2 and GTA 6, there’s a backlog of over 40 games in its portfolio. That’s a lot of history to digest, but it’s important to understand the entire scope before we decide which games are the best.
All Rockstar games released
Originally called DMA Design, Rockstar has been developing and publishing games since 1997 and shows no sign of stopping any time soon. Not counting any remasters or rereleases, here is every game Rockstar has developed and published. We split this list based on whether a studio with Rockstar in the name developed or co-developed the game in question.
All Rockstar-developed games
- Grand Theft Auto (1997)
- Grand Theft Auto 2 (1999)
- Wild Metal (2000)
- Grand Theft Auto 3 (2002)
- Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002)
- Midnight Club 2 (2003)
- Manhunt (2003)
- Red Dead Revolver (2004)
- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2005)
- Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition (2005)
- The Warriors (2005)
- Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (2006)
- Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis (2006)
- Bully (2006)
- Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (2006)
- Manhunt 2 (2007)
- Grand Theft Auto 4 (2008)
- Midnight Club: Los Angeles (2008)
- Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (2009)
- Beaterator (2009)
- Red Dead Redemption (2010)
- L.A. Noire (2010)
- Max Payne 3 (2012)
- Grand Theft Auto 5 (2013)
- Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018)
All Rockstar-published games
- Monster Truck Madness 64 (1999)
- Earthworm Jim 3D (1999)
- Thrasher: Skate and Destroy (1999)
- Evel Knievel (1999)
- Austin Powers: Oh, Behave! (2000)
- Austin Powers: Welcome to My Underground Lair! (2000)
- Midnight Club: Street Racing (2000)
- Smuggler’s Run (2000)
- Surfing H3O (2000)
- Smuggler’s Run 2: Hostile Territory (2001)
- Max Payne (2001)
- Oni (2001)
- State of Emergency (2002)
- The Italian Job (2002)
- Smuggler’s Run: Warzones (2002)
- Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne (2003)
- Grand Theft Auto Advance (2004)
The best Rockstar games
For the sake of not having half this list just be different GTA games, we’re only listing one game per franchise.
Grand Theft Auto V
90%
Platforms
PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
Release
June 15, 2022
What else could top the list of best Rockstar games? GTA 5 is more than just a game but a lifestyle thanks to GTA Online. The initial single-player offering was impressive enough in 2013 by somehow managing to make one of the biggest and most detailed and dense open-world playgrounds ever and cramming it onto an Xbox 360 and PS3 disk. Each of the three main protagonists has their own appeal and bounces off one another in an almost Tarantino way, and the story has plenty of twists, turns, and massive moments to make it a strong contender for first place already. But really, it’s the scope of the game that can’t be ignored. So many mechanics, systems, and possibilities have been added to this game over 10 years that it isn’t surprising at all to see it remain one of the most played games to this day. From building your own custom racetracks to pretending to be an office worker in an RP server, there isn’t much you can’t do in GTA 5.
Red Dead Redemption 2
93%
Platforms
PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Google Stadia
Genre
Shooter, Role-playing (RPG), Adventure
Developer
Rockstar Games
Publisher
Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar Games
Release
October 26, 2018
There is a passionate group out there that will claim Red Dead Redemption 2 is superior to even GTA 5, and we have a hard time disagreeing with them at least in terms of the single-player component. The level of detail and graphical power on display is still jaw-dropping. The way clothes wrinkle as characters walk and how dirt and mud realistically deform and clump is technically unnecessary but shows just how much care Rockstar had when making this world. Graphics are great, but that alone can’t make a great game. Red Dead Redemption 2‘s entire Western epic is probably the closest any of us will get to actually living out our cowboy fantasies. Rockstar’s writers were at the top of their game here. Despite being a prequel in which certain character’s fates are already known, no ounce of drama or tension is lost. As strong as Red Dead Online started out, it just didn’t get all that much support, which is a shame because of how much people wanted to really live in that world.
Bully
81%
Platforms
PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 2, PlayStation 4
Genre
Adventure
Developer
Rockstar Vancouver, Rockstar New England
Publisher
Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar Games
Release
October 17, 2006
Before Rockstar applied the GTA formula to the Old West, it wondered what it would look like in a modern-day (for the time) boarding school. Bully trades in its guns and cars for slingshots and bicycles. Instead of a hardened criminal embroiled in some dark underworld plot, you play as Jimmy Hopkins just trying to survive in a school run by bullies and corrupt teachers. The world is much more compact, consisting of the school grounds and a small town just outside it to roam around in, but that’s part of what makes the game so charming. While most Rockstar games are some form of power fantasy, Bully felt much closer to home by being set in a school that the players could very well imagine as their own. You could make friends, lots of enemies, and either attend or skip class based on the time of day. It felt very much like a “stick it to the man” game at a more realistic scale and scope compared to anything else.
Max Payne 3
82%
Platforms
PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Mac
Genre
Shooter
Developer
Rockstar Vancouver, Rockstar New England, Rockstar London, Rockstar Toronto
Publisher
Rockstar Games, Take-Two Interactive
Release
May 15, 2012
If there’s one thing we mostly put up with in Rockstar games, it’s the shooting. Since GTA 4 it has never been bad, but it is far from great. Max Payne 3 proves that Rockstar can make a mechanically satisfying shooter under the right circumstances. This is a heavy, challenging game. Max has put on a few pounds since the last game, but he can still only take a couple of direct shots before going down. To survive, you will have to rely on all your bullet-time dives, dodges, and rolls. This isn’t an instant-win mechanic like it can be in other shooters because, again, Max is a heavy dude who can’t just bounce back onto his feet after leaping headfirst through a window. When you hit the ground, you are stuck there for a few seconds while he picks himself up. It’s a challenging game to master and a rare linear game from the studio, but still great.
L.A. Noire
82%
Platforms
PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, SteamVR
Genre
Strategy, Adventure
Developer
Team Bondi, Rockstar North, Rockstar Leeds
Publisher
Rockstar Games, Take-Two Interactive
Release
May 17, 2011
Who would argue that detectives aren’t cool? What’s cooler than just being a detective is being one in the late 1940s with all the care and attention Rockstar gives to bringing its world to life. Sure, in this specific case an open world wasn’t really necessary since there’s almost nothing besides the main cases to do, but just having the freedom to explore such an accurate recreation of Los Angeles from that time is an experience. On the gameplay front, this game featured facial tech so advanced we’re only now seeing other games match what it did back then. Collecting clues, interrogating suspects, and moving from case to case felt like a true noir epic. It’s a shame we were never able to get a sequel to capitalize on this game’s potential.
