Grand Theft Auto V
The most recommended of 5 open world games
People recommend it for its acclaimed single-player story, open world and long life. Common caveat: multiplayer often does not work, and it runs poorly on Steam Deck.
People recommend it for its acclaimed single-player story, open world and long life. Common caveat: multiplayer often does not work, and it runs poorly on Steam Deck.
44 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 21
- criticize it
- 23
- approval share
- 48%
Recommended in 11 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 2 years
Median of the 4 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 21 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 0.9 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 11 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Single-player works well
“I've played through the whole of story mode with no more than a few rare world streaming issues”
Comment from 19 Jul 2026 in “Modder Runs GTA III Inside GTA: San Andreas on an In-Game TV” “Single player mode works beautifully, but multiplayer is verboten.”
Comment from 23 Dec 2025 in “The post-GeForce era: What if Nvidia abandons PC gaming?” “GTA5 singleplayer works but multiplayer does not”
Comment from 28 Jan 2026 in “Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux” Acclaimed and beloved classic
“GTA V and Cyberpunk are some of the most critically aclaimed and beloved games ever made”
Comment from 10 Sep 2026 in “Blizzard Workers Win Historic Union Contract” “one of the most successful games in history, bringing joy to many people”
Comment from 5 Jan 2026 in “All AI Videos Are Harmful (2025)” Strong graphics and physics
“a passable story combined with top notch graphic and physic”
Comment from 28 Oct 2026 in “Genie 4” “Look at the sheer quality of some of these”
Comment from 28 Mar 2026 in “I Built an Open-World Engine for the N64 [video]” Long-lasting, lots to do
“Love the characters and the open world. So much to do.”
Comment from 27 May 2026 in “Ask HN: What game have you replayed more times than any other?” “GTA 5 lasted so long, it's a good buy”
Comment from 24 Jun 2026 in “GTA 6 will cost $80”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Multiplayer broken or unavailable
“Single player mode works beautifully, but multiplayer is verboten.”
Comment from 23 Dec 2025 in “The post-GeForce era: What if Nvidia abandons PC gaming?” “the multiplayer doesn't work anymore. Singleplayer works though”
Comment from 2 Nov 2025 in “Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark” “GTA5 singleplayer works but multiplayer does not”
Comment from 28 Jan 2026 in “Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux” Poor performance on Steam Deck
“constantly conflicts with the Steam Deck sleep mode and kicks you out of the game at random after waking up”
Comment from 4 May 2026 in “Denuvo has been cracked in all single-player games it previously protected” “it ran so terribly on the Steam Deck that I refunded it”
Comment from 24 Jun 2026 in “GTA 6 will cost $80” Slow start and unskippable intro
“by that time I was already sick from the unskippable in game intro”
Comment from 15 Sep 2026 in “Steam Frame starts at $1059” “Remember how GTA5 took 10 minutes to start and nobody cared?”
Comment from 26 Dec 2025 in “Package managers keep using Git as a database, it never works out”
Other open world games people recommend
The four most recommended other open world games, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Theft Auto VThis page | 21 | 23 | 48% | 11 | 2 yrs4 owners | — |
| Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas | 10 | 5 | 67% | 6 | — | Approved |
| Hedra | 7 | 0 | 100% | 1 | — | — |
| Grand Theft Auto III | 6 | 5 | 55% | 3 | — | — |
| Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor | 5 | 1 | 83% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
40 of the 45 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“a passable story combined with top notch graphic and physic”
“the gameplay improvements in GTA V over IV are hardly there due to hardware capabilities”
“patching the anticheat system so that Linux users can play the game online again”
“try installing gta V from steam... you get Two Launchers besides steam! all three ad ridden.”
“by that time I was already sick from the unskippable in game intro”
“GTA V and Cyberpunk are some of the most critically aclaimed and beloved games ever made”
“these games didn't respect my time”
“I personally thought GTA5 lost its soul.”
“All friction has been removed because general audience hates friction.”
“I'm not a fan of the last game”
“For all the good work done in GTA V it just sucks IMO.”
“Either by proving that the sales of the product is still significant (like GTA V)”
“That includes GTA with the possible exception of part IV.”
“I don't see the GTAV characters as representative of society”
“Yet RS cannot with its billions.”
“I've played through the whole of story mode with no more than a few rare world streaming issues”
“When GTA5 stopped working (without updating from Win7->10, years ago), I lost a great therapeutic post-work sytem.”
“always been offline: RDR2; GTA5”
“Had nothing for me, very boring.”
“It worked great as a quasi-movie but not a video game.”
“it ran so terribly on the Steam Deck that I refunded it”
“GTA 5 lasted so long, it's a good buy”
“an AAA game title from the GTA V era”
“Love the characters and the open world. So much to do.”
“constantly conflicts with the Steam Deck sleep mode and kicks you out of the game at random after waking up”
“Look at the sheer quality of some of these”
“very disappointed there was no gouranga”
“even GTA5 I lost interest about 25 hours in.”
“GTA5 singleplayer works but multiplayer does not”
“the writing was complete ass”
“one of the most successful games in history, bringing joy to many people”
“there's probably a reason that GTA5 is still plagued with cheaters”
“Remember how GTA5 took 10 minutes to start and nobody cared?”
“Single player mode works beautifully, but multiplayer is verboten.”
“At least for a while they didn't optimize at all.”
“I've had to stop playing a few games once I made the switch-over”
“Multiplayer is completely non-viable since then.”
“GTA V is dated. It's 12+ years old.”
“Playing GTAV just felt like cut scene, then chores”
“the multiplayer doesn't work anymore. Singleplayer works though”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.