These two get compared constantly because they are both enormous, both third-person-adjacent, both set in stylised cities full of crime. That comparison is mostly superficial. The genres underneath are not the same thing at all.
The core difference
Cyberpunk 2077 is a first-person role-playing game. Your build determines what you can do — whether you can hack a camera, force a door, talk your way past a guard. Dialogue choices matter, character progression is deep, and a substantial part of the appeal is respeccing and replaying with a different approach.
Grand Theft Auto is a third-person crime sandbox. Everyone has the same toolkit. The variety comes from what the world does in response to you rather than from what your character sheet permits. GTA 6 deepens that considerably — police that build a case, a persistent Criminal Profile — but it remains a systems sandbox rather than an RPG.
Side by side
| Cyberpunk 2077 | GTA 6 | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | First-person action RPG | Third-person open-world crime |
| Perspective | First person, third person only in vehicles and cutscene moments | Third person |
| Character | V, built and customised by the player | Jason and Lucia, fixed characters, switchable |
| Progression | Deep skill trees, cyberware, build variety | No RPG build system |
| City | Night City — extremely dense vertically | Leonida — a whole state, stated at three times RDR2's map |
| Driving | Improved substantially post-launch but not the main event | Core to the entire experience |
| Status | Finished, heavily patched, expansion released, frequently discounted | Releasing November 19, 2026, $79.99 / $99.99 |
| Length | Long, and longer with the expansion | Roughly 80 hours for a story-focused run |
The Cyberpunk 2077 situation, honestly
It launched badly in 2020 — that is a matter of record and it dominated the conversation for years. The 2.0 overhaul and the Phantom Liberty expansion rebuilt the game substantially, particularly the police system, the perk trees and the cyberware economy. The version you buy today is not the version that shipped.
It is also, at this point, comfortably discounted and bundled with its expansion. Judged on cost per hour against a full-price November release, it is not close. Our standalone verdict is in Is Cyberpunk 2077 worth buying in 2026.
Which to buy first
What works
- Buy Cyberpunk first if: you want an RPG, you value dialogue and build variety, you are price-sensitive, or you want something substantial to play before November
- It is finished, cheap and complete — there is no reason to wait on it
- Phantom Liberty is one of the better expansions of the generation
- It fills the pre-GTA 6 window well without being an 80-hour commitment on top of another 80-hour commitment
What doesn't
- Buy GTA 6 first if: driving, chaos and world reactivity are what you actually want
- Cyberpunk's first-person perspective is a genuine dealbreaker for some players
- Its combat is fine rather than exceptional
- Night City is dense but small next to a state-sized map
The scheduling problem
Both are long. Playing Cyberpunk 2077 properly plus Phantom Liberty is a serious commitment, and GTA 6 is roughly 80 hours on its own. Trying to do both between now and December is unrealistic for most people.
The sensible sequence is Cyberpunk now, finish it or reach a natural stopping point before mid-November, then GTA 6. That is more or less what our run-up plan recommends, and what not to buy before GTA 6 covers the wider trap of stacking too many long games into a short window.