Highlights

  • Red Dead Redemption excels in combat, with a wild and authentic Old West style, while GTA's combat focuses more on humor and player mayhem.
  • Grand Theft Auto offers a more expansive and diverse open-world experience, with detailed environments and various activities, while Red Dead Redemption's open world is limited by its Old West theme.
  • GTA's fun factor lies in causing pure mayhem and chaos, with a five-star wanted level providing thrills, while Red Dead Redemption may be enjoyable, but lacks the same spectacle and fun factor.

For the longest time, the Grand Theft Auto series was the only triple-A title from Rockstar Games that was associated almost exclusively with the studio. However, the Red Dead Redemption series proved to be a huge hit, as well.

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With the second Red Dead Redemption game’s launch, it officially turned into a series that will see new entries just like the GTA titles. Since both of these franchises have received massive critical acclaim, many have taken to pitting them against each other. To this end, it’s worth taking a look at what one series does better and who the overall victor of this argument is.

Updated on August 28, 2023, by Dominic Allen: People are hyped for what Rockstar Games has to offer in the future. GTA 5 is almost ten years old, and with the sixth game rumored to be possibly launched late next year, people can not wait.

Red Dead Redemption was also recently launched on Switch and PS4, and with interest high in both series, it's worth updating this old article to modern standards. Plus, there were some notable omissions that got added in.

12 Combat: Red Dead Redemption

Red Dead Redemption 2 fist fighting

The GTA series’ take on combat has always been on the funnier side, with a focus on hand-to-hand. It gets especially comedic since it involves weak controls of punching. Red Dead Redemption’s combat has been on the wild side with the integration of the style and attitude of the Old West.

Shooting has felt more authentic since the guns involved have an aesthetic quality. This has allowed the combat aspect of this series to be in a class of its own. GTA games rely more on players going ballistic rather than honing their fight skills, as in Red Dead Redemption.

11 Open-World: Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto 5 Screenshot Of Franklin Using Parachute

Getting lost in GTA's world is something everyone who gets these games wants to do. With the benefit of vehicle mods, coasting around these places is a blast. With so many diverse environments in view, navigating around the map is a sure treat. Every single bit is detailed, even underwater, which has its own sealife.

Red Dead Redemption lacks in this area due to its theme of the Old West. Basically, every area is covered by undeveloped land where there is not much to do but ride a horse, fish, or hunt. The GTA cities offer refreshing worlds to explore — ones that offer a lot more to do.

10 Fun Factor: Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto 5 Screenshot Of Trevor Firing Rockets

A core appeal of the GTA series is the pure mayhem you can cause when you have a large supply of tools at your disposal. Trying to survive for as long as possible on a five-star wanted level is a thrill you can hardly get elsewhere.

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Face it, many people who play GTA dabble into the main story until they open everything up and then start causing mayhem from then on. Red Dead, unfortunately, doesn't have the spectacle and fun factor that a five-star wanted level brings. It's still a lot of fun, but the king of causing chaos is still GTA and what makes the series so special.

9 Story: Red Dead Redemption

Arthur Morgan crouched on a dock in Red Dead Redemption 2

It’s natural to find fans debating who between John Marston and Arthur Morgan had the better story. The characters had complete arcs that saw them overcoming their problems and meeting their ends to finish things off. The Red Dead Redemption series makes sure to place its characters in such scenarios.

The GTA series and its storylines are usually one-note, with the main characters moving up the ranks in their life of crime. More often than not, the stories have heavy comedic themes that don’t match up against Red Dead Redemption’s emotional impact. It's not that the GTA stories are bad with a more satirical nature; it's just that emotional weight will always win against comedy.

8 Replay Value: Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto 5 Character Wheel

There are a lot of things to do even after finishing GTA games’ stories, as the titles are mainly to be enjoyed in free play rather than be tied down to the plot. With GTA 5 bringing as many as three protagonists, its replay value was off the charts since each character had unique side missions and activities to do.

The Red Dead Redemption games will only be appealing after the main story is over to those who enjoy the themes of the Old West. Apart from that, there’s not much of an appeal there since the extra stuff has heavy elements of the period in which the story is set.

7 Graphics: Red Dead Redemption

red dead online shadow group

The GTA series has never had graphics as its strong suit, with the games before GTA 5 being much worse in appearance compared to other titles of the same generation. This is especially true for GTA 4, which you wouldn't believe came out in 2008. Red Dead Redemption has been quite the opposite in featuring character models and environments of high quality.

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The second game has been well received, in particular, due to its visuals, and is considered a high bar for modern graphics. Fans tout the game as something that brings the aesthetics together through the graphics on display. It also helps the first game runs at 4K resolution on Xbox Series X|S and PS5, which you can't say about GTA4 and earlier titles.

6 Side Missions: Grand Theft Auto

trevor philips industries in Grand Theft Auto 5

Due to the quirky style of the game and the characters involved, side missions in the GTA series can be considered a secondary campaign of their own. These were greatly expanded from GTA 4 onwards with the "Strangers & Freaks" aspect that brings further random missions to play.

The Red Dead Redemption games do have a lot of side missions of their own, but these are heavily linear. They often involve the protagonists galloping around from one place to another, for the most part, without truly bringing many interesting characters and scenarios. It also doesn't help that many of them have very unsatisfying endings or just stop with no conclusion at all.

5 Characters: Tied

GTA4 Niko and Red Dead 2's Arthur Morgan

On the surface, it might seem as if the Red Dead Redemption characters have more layers, yet it comes down to a difference in story execution here. Those who enjoy GTA’s style of moving up the crime ranks will enjoy the characters there more.

GTA characters also tend to offer more memorable scenes of black comedy, meaning that replaying their campaigns might be more fun. Still, Red Dead Redemption games are impressive in bringing forward even side characters with totally unique backstories. It's an especially great character study for history buffs.

4 Music: Red Dead Redemption

Red Dead Redemption 2 seeing an amazing vista

The setting can’t be placed in the minds of the players without the music, and the Red Dead Redemption games have incredible soundtracks. These bring the usual Old West themes forward along with crafting tracks specifically to the emotion that’s supposed to be felt in a particular scene.

RELATED: Best Missions In The Red Dead Redemption Series

The GTA series has some memorable soundtracks, such as the one in San Andreas. But the series hasn’t really made this point shine compared to its other high points. The Red Dead Redemption titles have been a masterclass in proving that music can change the perception of a game.

3 Multiplayer: Grand Theft Auto

GTA Online loading screen showing a woman with her arms folded and a man holding a pistol

Both Red Dead and GTA have expansive multiplayer sections, but in terms of content and fun factor, GTA wins again. When looking at GTA 5 online and Red Dead Redemption 2 online, it's a no contest on what game Rockstar puts more attention and effort into.

GTA has so much stuff going on that it's pretty daunting for a beginner nowadays. Heists, the casino, stunt races, multiple party game modes, it's just wild. Red Dead Online has nowhere near this amount of content. Even comparing GTA 4 and Red Dead 1's multiplayer is in favor of GTA due to some classic game modes that are still fun to play, like Cops 'n Crooks.

2 Dialogue: Grand Theft Auto

michael and trevor chatting in GTA5

While the Red Dead Redemption games bring more emotional connections and consequences, the dialogue is on the quieter side, with characters making statements rather than conversation. GTA benefits from the comedy that is injected into the script.

The characters’ personalities come out through their manners of conversation, and one can tell a lot about how a protagonist works based on how they talk. The exchanges between characters are also a strong point in GTA’s favor, as the banter has its own appeal. It's also worth noting that since GTA has much more content in its game world, there's more dialogue in general than Red Dead.

1 Winner: Grand Theft Auto

image of protagonists from Grand Theft Auto games

Overall, it’s a close contest between the two series that is decided mainly due to the bigger audience that GTA caters to. Fans aren’t limited to the setting of a cowboy theme and have more options in their navigation of the open world. These successes are further complemented by the comedic elements and likable characters.

The Red Dead Redemption series has carved a niche for itself — something that’s actually supposed to be the point of the series since it gets set apart from other games. The franchise does great in this regard but doesn’t quite match the reach of the GTA series. Several elements, like the multiplayer and replay value, hold it down as well.

NEXT: Most Dangerous Characters In Grand Theft Auto