The Voice is finally using his voice! After nearly two years behind bars and a major courtroom victory, Lil Durk has broken his silence and let fans know exactly how he’s feeling. And now, he’s speaking on what’s next as he looks toward freedom, family, and giving back to his community.

RELATED: Lil Durk Fans Go UP For Brian Steel After Attorney Gets Swarmed Leaving Courthouse (PHOTO + VIDEO)

Lil Durk Finally Used His Voice

The rapper took to Instagram with his first public statement since the verdict, sharing a message of gratitude for the people who stood by him. “Against all odds, we’re stronger together,” he wrote. “Allah doesn’t make mistakes. I feel all the love and positive energy. Now let me be free to help save our kids and bring unity back to our communities. I couldn’t have made it this far without my family, my lawyers, and supporters. 🫶🏾 Freedom. Freedom. Freedom.”

Durk paired the message with a photo of his legal team, including attorneys Brian Steel and Drew Findling, who have represented high-profile hip-hop figures throughout their careers. Steel previously worked on the YSL RICO case, while Findling recently made headlines after NBA player Quinn Cook gifted him an OTF chain.

The Comments Were COMMENTING

You already know fans weren’t about to let this moment slide! They ran straight to TSR’s Instagram comment section and let it RIP, with some saying Lil Durk needs to regroup and move differently with a new circle, while others were busy crowning Brian Steel as “OTF Steel.”

One Instagram user @therealmvp_mo said, “LMAOOOO them lawyers got that “ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMINS” smile 😂 IKTRRR ! God bless to Durk tho fr 🙏🏾🤞🏾”

This Instagram user @qveen.evvv shared, “protect Brian Steel 🙏🏽”

And, Instagram user @legendary_berry added, “The streets calling that man OTF Steel is crazy 😂”

Meanwhile, Instagram user @tellyyyyyy__ wrote, “Be like Chief Keef And don’t take yo self back to the streets.”

While Instagram user @nasirxsparksher joked “Durk gotta get Steele and Drew tatted if they beat his RICO case 😂”

Instagram user @ohalyssaface commented, “We love you Durk you better get a WHOLE NEW FRIEND GROUP AFTER THIS BRO PLEASE 😭🙏🏼”

Lioness star Dave Annable would love nothing more than to appear on Dutton Ranch — despite being killed off on Yellowstone.

“I’m such a huge fan of [Taylor Sheridan’s] Landman and I love that they just put [my costar] Michael Kelly in Landman. I don’t want to say I’m jealous but maybe I go on as his brother or maybe his uncle,” Annable, 46, exclusively told Us. “And then I gotta be honest, [I would love to join] Dutton Ranch.”

Annable reflected on his time playing Lee Dutton, adding, “I’m such a Yellowstone guy. I really learned so much and really learned to love and appreciate that world and being in Montana.”

He continued: “Basically, I’m not going to say no to anything. If Taylor is like, ‘Dave, we’re just going to put you on one episode and kill you off on Tulsa King.’ Great, I can’t wait. I’m a fan of Taylor’s as a person, as a man and as a writer. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do in that man’s universe.”

Sheridan, 56, built his TV empire starting with Yellowstone. The hit series aired from 2018 to 2024 as viewers tuned in to keep tabs on the fictional Dutton family. Sheridan branched out with original shows such as Landman, Tulsa King and Lioness.

Lioness, which airs Sundays, is a spy thriller that follows the leader of a CIA team that enlists female operatives — known as Lionesses — to go undercover in the war on terror.

The first two seasons followed Joe (Zoe Saldaña) as she recruited Cruz (Laysla De Oliveira) and Josie (Genesis Rodriguez) to go undercover. A season 2 mission put the team at risk and nearly ended in a group sacrifice. Season 3 raised the stakes even higher while jumping back and forth from the past to the present.

Annable, for his part, plays Saldaña’s onscreen husband, Neal.

“She really is that good. You watch the show and see her not only as the wife and mother but as the senior case officer in combat and being tortured. She’s just crushing it and it couldn’t happen to a better person,” he gushed to Us. “My family, we all love Zoe and we love her family, and she loves us. It’s really been this beautiful dance getting to stand across from her over these seasons.”

Thank You!

You have successfully subscribed.

Related: Showrunner Changes on Taylor Sheridan Shows: ‘Tulsa King’ to ‘Dutton Ranch’

Advertisement

Taylor Sheridan‘s TV universe has found immense success — but his projects have also come with many showrunner changes. After getting his start as an actor, Sheridan started writing scripts for movies. He began his TV empire with Yellowstone, which aired from 2018 to 2024. Sheridan then created prequels 1883 and 1923, as well as […]

In season 3, Joe and Neal have found themselves struggling in their marriage due to her job, with Annable adding, “Obviously with the war coming home, it really made it very real for Neal. The real deal. He [is] now faced with his kids’ lives in danger, his life in danger and witnessing firsthand that his wife’s life is in danger.”

He continued: “Obviously that’s going to elevate any of the stakes that were there in previous seasons — or previously in their marriage. This is a whole different ball game and then with her being abducted in the present timeline, I’m not quite sure there’s anything worse. Especially the not knowing if she’s OK or not. Over these seasons, we witnessed Neal’s patience and support slowly turn into fear and and maybe putting other priorities first instead of his wife’s now.”

Lioness airs new episodes Sundays on Paramount+.

Latto and 21 Savage were officially OUTSIDE together! The new parents pulled up to the U.S. Open and made their first public appearance together since confirming their relationship and welcoming their baby girl earlier this year. And chile, fans wasted no time clocking their pop-out and zooming in ONE thing!

RELATED: Stickin’ Beside Her! 3 Times 21 Savage Proved He Doesn’t Play About Latto (PHOTOS) 

Finally Outside! Latto & 21 Savage Officially Hit The Scene Together

Latto and 21 Savage had timelines going OFF after they made their first official appearance together at the U.S. Open on Saturday, September 12. Photos of the couple quickly made rounds online as they looked boo’d up while posing side by side at the event. 21 kept his look cool and casual, rocking a striped shirt with a striped hoodie, fitted cap and shorts. Meanwhile, Big Mama came ready to catch some tennis action serving a lil’ fashion moment of her own. Latto rocked a Burberry hat with a plaid top and trench coat-style skirt. Fans wasted NO time sounding off about the pics! The photos marked the first time fans got to see Latto and 21 officially step out together after the rappers spent years keeping their love and relationship lowkey.

Fans Clocked ONE Detail About Big Mama & Savage’s Pop Out

Of course, The Shade Room’s comment section went UP as soon as the photos of Latto and 21 Savage hit the timeline. Fans quickly locked in on ONE thing, with plenty saying they wished the couple would’ve continued to keep their relationship private. Meanwhile, others loved seeing Big Mama and 21 finally pop out together, but some said their outfits had them too distracted.

Instagram user @swavvydom wrote, “When the public forces you out ya private relationship…” 

Instagram user @my_kalia wrote, “Coulda stayed hidden for this..ugh 🤭” 

While Instagram user @plt.ess wrote, “All that hiding for what lol.” 

Then Instagram user @tiffanimonique__ wrote, “I’m just mad at the outfits 😂” 

Another Instagram user @shepinkdiamondz wrote, “I prefer the mystery.” 

Instagram user @iam_liv_sopretty wrote, “It’s just too many patterns going on.” 

Then another Instagram user @nay4shorttt wrote, “I like it when they pretended to not know each other 😩” 

Finally, Instagram user @bizbaby wrote, “Wish they kept this low.” 

Girl Dad Mode! 21 Savage Spills On Life With His & Latto’s Daughter

Even though Latto and 21 Savage just made their first official pop out together, the couple has given fans a lil’ peek into life with their baby girl. Latto confirmed their daughter’s arrival when she dropped her ‘Big Mama’ album in May. More recently, 21 opened up about fatherhood and life with their newborn during an interview on Netflix’s ‘The Pete Davidson’ podcast. The ‘Bank Account’ rapper explained that raising his daughter with Latto hits different because he’s more mature now than he was when he welcomed his first three children. In addition to his baby girl with Latto, 21 has three other children. He shares two sons, Kamari and Ashaad, with his ex Keyanna Joseph and also has a daughter, Rhian, from a previous relationship.

“My first three […] I was younger, running around in the street, just like it was different. Now it’s like I’m in the house. I have the baby all night making her bottle, changing her diapers like so it’s kind of like a different bond type sh*t,” 21 said.

RELATED: 21 Savage Opens Up About Fatherhood & How Parenting Youngest Child With Latto Differs From Raising His Other Kids 

It would be challenging to make any list of the greatest heroes of all time without mentioning Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker. While audiences may have been used to seeing superpowered characters with confidence and abilities, Luke was unique because he was simply a young man trying to find his place in the galaxy far, far away. Hamill has been an integral part of the Star Wars franchise since its inception and has returned to play a more grizzled version of Luke in the most recent sequel trilogy. However, Hamill played a different Force-powered character when he had a guest role in the sixth season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Who Is Darth Bane in ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars?’

Hamill voices Sith Lord Darth Bane in the episode “Sacrifice,” in which Yoda (Tom Kane) travels to the dark side world of Morriban after intercepting a vergence in the Force. Although he is eventually met with a startling vision about Anakin Skywalker (Matt Lanter) and Darth Sidious (Ian McDiarmid) starting an intergalactic conflict, Bane shows that the Sith have secretly been plotting to take down the Jedi Order for years. Hamill brought a creepy sense of legacy to the character, differentiating him from the other Sith Lords already featured in the franchise. Although he and Yoda never engage in an actual lightsaber duel, Bane certainly set precedents for the Sith dynasty that have had ramifications that lasted long beyond his death.

Bane is a crucial character in the Star Wars universe, initially established by George Lucas in the official novelization of Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace as the Sith Lord who created the Rule of Two, which said that only one Sith master and one apprentice could exist at a time in order to keep the organization secret. While earlier regimes of Sith had become too obsessed with power and ended up annihilating each other, Bane recognized that there was an opportunity to deceive the Jedi Order into thinking that the dark side had become extinct. Bane was certainly an imposing figure whenever he engaged in combat, but it was his strategic mind that ended up shaping the direction of the Sith moving forward and, in many ways, inspired Palpatine.

Bane’s appearance in Star Wars: The Clone Wars brought him into the official canon, as many of the books, comics, video games, and other expanded universe content released prior to 2014 were classified as part of the “Legends” timeline. Formerly known as the Expanded Universe, the Legends timeline became decanonized to make way for Disney’s new timeline, though several things from the Expanded Universe have since been brought over. Although the three Darth Bane novels by Drew Karpyshyn were often cited as among the best Star Wars spin-offs, many fans doubted that the character would ever be brought into the new canon. Bane’s appearance was a significant moment that showed that Lucasfilm had paid attention to the love that the character received; the fact that it was Hamill voicing the character and bringing such a sinister edge to the role made it even cooler.

Mark Hamill Is More Than Just Luke Skywalker

Hamill’s live-action roles outside of the Star Wars franchise have been relatively few and far between; Hamill is among the most celebrated voice actors of all time. His performance as Joker in Batman: The Animated Series is often cited as one of the best interpretations of the character, but Hamill has also had roles in Regular Show, Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Boy and the Heron, Codename: Kid Next Door, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, The Venture Bros., and Justice League: Unlimited. It was only a matter of time before Hamill popped back up in an animated project, even if it was a return to an existing franchise as a new character. Hearing him as Bane was a welcome (if not entirely surprising) treat for fans who had been waiting to see which character he would play next.

Not one to be deterred by public controversy and pronounced backlash, Ryan Murphy will return with a new show this week. His four most recent releases have been a mixed bag, and in many ways, they represent the entire spectrum of the Murphy experience. All’s Fair, which premiered in November on Hulu, holds a 6% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. Murphy’s first new show of 2026, the sci-fi horror title The Beauty, has effectively been canceled after a single season that drew mixed reviews. His second release of 2026, Love Story, on the other hand, was received warmly by critics and audiences, and it ended up turning Sarah Pidgeon and Paul Anthony Kelly into overnight stars. Murphy’s third new show of the year, The Shards, set the clock back with divisive reviews. And now, he’s about to release the fourth season of arguably his most popular streaming series.

Murphy signed a lucrative deal with Netflix, but his output under the deal turned out to be just as uneven as the rest of his career. While some shows — Halston, Hollywood, and Ratched, to name three — didn’t create the sort of buzz that they could have, others were far more successful. At the top of Murphy’s list of Netflix originals is Monster, an anthology series that has drawn massive audiences, but has also received brickbats for its perceived spotlighting of abhorrent crimes. The anthology series centers on serial killers who have become pop-culture oddities over the years — Season 1 focused on Jeffrey Dahmer, Season 2 focused on the Menendez brothers, and Season 3 revolved around Ed Gein.

Here’s When Ryan Murphy’s Controversial Netflix Series Returns

This week, the fourth installment of Monster — Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story — will mark the anthology’s first time focusing on a female protagonist. This could open a new can of worms, given how divisive the response to earlier seasons has been. Monster holds an overall 42% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, with the Ed Gein series sitting at a franchise-low 22% score. In her review, Collider’s Therese Lacson wrote, “It’s 2025, Ryan Murphy, Please Stop Making These Serial Killer Sob Stories.” The upcoming season stars Ella Beatty, Charlie Hunnam, Rebecca Hall, and Vicky Krieps. Murphy regular Sarah Paulson appears as the serial killer Aileen Wuornos, perhaps teasing where the fifth season is heading. The show debuts on September 17 on Netflix. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.

Advertisement

Release Date

Advertisement

September 17, 2026

Network

Netflix

Advertisement

Directors

Max Winkler, Sarah Adina Smith

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Lori Loughlin appears determined to close the door on her marriage to Mossimo Giannulli amid claims that the fashion designer has been reluctant to let go of their relationship.

After nearly three decades together, the actress filed for divorce and is said to be eager to finally move forward with her life. While Giannulli allegedly hoped there was still a possibility of winning her back, those close to Loughlin believe she has already made up her mind.

His actions following their separation, including his connection to a much younger woman, have also reinforced Lori Loughlin’s decision to leave their marriage behind.

5

Loughlin is ready to put her lengthy marriage behind her after the process of reaching this point took longer than she initially expected.

“It’s taken longer than she would have liked to get to this point,” a source told Star Magazine. “She is definitely more than ready to tie everything up with Mossimo and be able to cleanly move on with her life.”

Loughlin and Giannulli separated in 2025 after 28 years of marriage. The former couple shares two adult daughters, Isabella Rose and Olivia Jade.

Their relationship had already endured significant strain following the college admissions scandal, which resulted in both serving prison sentences. According to the insider, Loughlin made a serious effort to preserve the marriage afterward, but tension remained over who was responsible for their involvement in the scandal.

“She tried very hard to make it work after the whole college admissions nightmare,” the source said, claiming Giannulli later tried to shift responsibility onto his wife when discussing the scandal with others.

Now that Loughlin has taken the legal step of ending their union, the source suggests she has no desire to go back on that.

Mossimo Giannulli Reportedly Wants The Actress Back

5

While Loughlin is apparently focused on closing this chapter, Giannulli has allegedly been less enthusiastic about bringing their marriage to a formal end.

According to the source, people close to the actress believe he was deliberately making the process take longer because he hoped the pair could eventually reunite.

“He has been the one dragging his heels,” the insider claimed. “Everyone in her life agrees that Mossimo was trying to stall because he wants Lori back.”

Those alleged hopes do not appear to be mutual. The source insisted reconciliation is no longer something Loughlin is considering, adding, “It’s way too late for that. She’s totally done with him.”

After years of marital difficulties, Loughlin’s decision to get a divorce indicates that she is prepared to make their separation permanent, regardless of whether Giannulli would prefer a different outcome.

The Fashion Designer’s Rumored Fling With A Stylist Removed Any Hope Of Reconciliation

5

Whatever possibility Giannulli may have seen for repairing the marriage was reportedly weakened further by his behavior after the couple went their separate ways.

The 63-year-old fashion designer has been seen spending time with Hannah Harrison, a 32-year-old fashion stylist.

According to the source, watching her estranged husband move on in that manner affected whatever feelings Loughlin might still have had for him.

“The way he acted after they first split snuffed out any last flicker she had for him,” the insider explained.

Loughlin believed she approached their separation differently and continued respecting the history they shared even after their relationship broke down.

“She carried herself with respect for their union of all those years, and he did not,” the source added.

Rather than drawing her back toward Giannulli, his post-separation behavior appears to have strengthened Loughlin’s determination to finalize their split.

Lori Loughlin Might Not Get Anything Out Of The Divorce

5

Although Loughlin wants to move forward, the financial outcome of the divorce could prove complicated. An earlier report suggested that the prenuptial agreement she signed before marrying Giannulli in 1997 kept the couple’s assets separate.

“It’s something Mossimo insisted on before they married,” an insider said, adding that Giannulli was already worth more than $100 million at the time.

Under the terms described in the report, Loughlin could potentially leave the marriage without receiving part of Giannulli’s fortune. However, the divorce filing later revealed that their prenup was amended in 2015, meaning the final financial outcome may depend on the updated agreement rather than solely on its original terms.

For Loughlin, however, reports have suggested that ending the relationship and regaining control of her life have become the greater priorities.

Lori Loughlin Has No Plans To Jump Back Into Dating

5

Loughlin’s decision to divorce Giannulli does not appear to have been motivated by another relationship. Instead, she is comfortable entering this new stage of her life without immediately searching for another partner.

The actress has been concentrating on her career and recently returned to Instagram. Her ongoing movie work has also left little room for dating, according to TMZ.

After living separately from Giannulli for more than a year before filing, Loughlin appears focused on creating a fresh start on her own terms rather than rushing into another relationship.

Spider-Man as a character is interesting enough, and we want to see him interact with villains and defeat them. The baddies are far less compelling without, you know, a hero to fight and that’s the battle that plagued Sony as they tried to build an interconnected superhero franchise without a… superhero. While the Venom trilogy became a major commercial success, Morbius and Madame Web were savaged by critics, leaving one more standing and waiting for its fate.

Kraven the Hunter is the origin story of how and why one of Marvel’s most iconic villains came to be. Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays Kraven, a man whose complex relationship with his ruthless father, Nikolai Kravinoff (Russell Crowe), starts him down a path of vengeance with brutal consequences, motivating him to become not only the greatest hunter in the world, but also one of its most feared. Now, Kraven the Hunter is preparing for another opportunity to find an audience on streaming. It’s officially coming to Disney+, bringing Taylor-Johnson’s standalone adventure under the same streaming roof as much of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and an expanding collection of Sony’s Spider-Man movies.

The cast is led by Taylor-Johnson (Bullet Train) as Sergei Kravinoff/Kraven, alongside Crowe, Ariana DeBose (West Side Story) as Calypso Ezili, Fred Hechinger (Gladiator II) as Dmitri Smerdyakov, Alessandro Nivola (The Brutalist) as Aleksei Sytsevich/Rhino, Christopher Abbott (Poor Things) as the Foreigner, Levi Miller (Pan) as young Sergei, and Billy Barratt (Invasion) as young Dmitri.

‘Kraven the Hunter’ Was Mauled by Critics

Kraven the Hunter struggled badly with critics when it arrived in December 2024. The movie currently holds just 15% on Rotten Tomatoes from more than 160 reviews, making it one of the worst-reviewed entries in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. Audiences were considerably kinder, however, with the movie holding a 72% Popcornmeter score. That was typically the case with Sony’s movies, as audiences tended to be more forgiving, viewing them as mindless entertainment while critics saw a cash grab.

Its box office performance was equally disappointing. Despite carrying an expensive production budget, Kraven the Hunter failed to turn Taylor-Johnson’s character into Sony’s next major Marvel antihero, effectively closing the book on the studio’s run of Spider-Man spin-offs without Spider-Man.

Kraven the Hunter will soon stream on Disney+ and is also available to watch now on Netflix.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Release Date

December 13, 2024

Runtime

Advertisement

127 Minutes

Director

J.C. Chandor

Advertisement

Writers

Art Marcum, Richard Wenk, Matt Holloway

Advertisement

Franchise(s)

Marvel Comics, Marvel Cinematic Universe

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Image via Steam

There’s no one in the industry who can create a crime-filled open-world sandbox quite like Rockstar Games, and it seems no one in the West is willing to even try anymore. Rockstar earned their monopoly honestly through obsessive attention to detail and by raising the technical bar with each release. Grand Theft Auto VI will surely raise that bar again when it launches November 19. But the genre they defined used to be a competitive one.

From the early 2000s to the mid 2010s, studios constantly attempted to go toe-to-toe with the champ, and they fared far better than the “clone” label suggests. Many outclassed Rockstar in specific areas, whether it be robust combat mechanics, unique mission design or an engaging narrative. These games proved there’s room for more voices in the space and room for improvement in Rockstar’s formula. Here are seven titles that outplayed Rockstar in some way or another, and a reminder of what this industry gave up when it stopped competing.

7. Retro City Rampage (2012)

Image Via Nintendo

Brian Provinciano created Retro City Rampage as a mostly solo developer. It was originally a demake of Grand Theft Auto III, but eventually morphed into something far stranger. It’s the only game on the list that shot for the classic top-down style, so the natural comparison is Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, an excellent return to where Rockstar made their name. Although they share the same perspective, they have completely different approaches to the genre.

Chinatown Wars was more about condensing the 3D GTA formula into a handheld. Provinciano’s game leaned into the comedic and satirical aspects of GTA while delivering new mechanics with each new mission. Almost no two missions in Retro City Rampage share the same blueprint, going from a stealth section with Metal Gear energy, to a grappling hook sequence inspired by Bionic Commando, to a Frogger-style traffic-dodging situation. Each only appears once before you’re on to the next unique mechanic, something you can’t say for GTA‘s standard mission structure of “drive here, shoot this, repeat.”

The weapon selection goes just as hard with 24 absurd, situational options that promote diversity over settling on a favorite. Throw in a skateboard and grappling hook for traversal, along with an arcade-style scoring system akin to Rampage Mode, and Retro City Rampage becomes a rare game in the space that offers a varied and diverse experience from beginning to end.

6. Scarface: The World Is Yours (2006)

Radical Entertainment took one of the most interesting approaches to a movie tie-in video game, creating a “what if” scenario where Tony Montana survived the mansion shootout and continued growing his empire. That setup alone made Scarface: The World Is Yours worth a playthrough for any fan of the movie, but it wasn’t only the premise that made it great.

The empire management system is where the game truly shined over Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which released in 2004. Players were able to launder money at a bank, move contraband through real supply chains, and buy fronts while staving off heat from police and rivals. San Andreas had a light asset-purchasing mechanic to generate passive income, but Radical took it to another level with its economic simulation.

Even the combat had some tricks up its sleeve with the introduction of the Balls meter, a resource built up by taunting your enemies that unleashed the brutal first-person Blind Rage mode. This devastating mechanic slowed the world down, granted the player infinite ammo, and regenerated health with each kill. Not only was it insanely fun to use, but it also made the gunplay stand head and shoulders above Rockstar’s latest offering. Nearly 20 years later, Scarface: The World Is Yours remains one of the most ambitious licensed games the open-world genre has ever produced.

5. True Crime: Streets of LA (2003)

Advertisement

Luxoflux and Activision were the first to take the fight directly to Rockstar. True Crime: Streets of LA made a name for itself by recreating roughly 240 square miles of actual Los Angeles, allowing players with knowledge of the city to navigate by memory. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City‘s fictional depiction of Florida did not offer the same accuracy, and it would be years before Rockstar even attempted a similar feat.

The differences run deeper than just the map, however. As LAPD detective Nick Kang, players were equipped with a full suite of melee fighting abilities that could be expanded further with unlockable moves. It made Vice City‘s hand-to-hand combat look like an afterthought. A “good cop, bad cop” morality system monitored your behavior, bringing a branching narrative structure with multiple endings to the GTA formula over 20 years before Rockstar allegedly implemented the honor system into GTA VI.

To top it off, failing a mission did not force a game over and a restart. True Crime‘s narrative adapted to the failure and continued down a different path, an impressive system that is still not standard in modern gaming. True Crime: Streets of LA took on GTA with pure ambition, but the true crime is that this franchise didn’t become the juggernaut it had the potential to be.

4. Watch Dogs 2 (2016)

Image via Xbox

Watch_Dogs was originally heralded as the next-gen blockbuster that would become the “GTA Killer.” Unfortunately, the game fell well short of expectations with huge graphical downgrades from the initial gameplay trailers, stunted hacking mechanics with little agency, and an overall run-of-the-mill story and protagonist. Ubisoft Montreal course-corrected hard with Watch Dogs 2, going for a sunny San Francisco and a likable group of characters that felt like an antidote to Grand Theft Auto V‘s cynical take.

Playing as Marcus Holloway, you are given DedSec’s signature arsenal of hacking tools complete with more player agency and options. The RC jumper and quadcopter allowed players to scout, infiltrate, and sometimes even complete entire missions without Marcus setting foot in the building. With one character, Watch Dogs 2 offered more options when tackling missions than in GTA V with three characters.

Best of all, nonlethal playthroughs are fully viable in Watch Dogs 2. Stun guns and takedowns allow players to complete every mission in the game without killing a single person, an option completely foreign to GTA. Watch Dogs 2 proved the crime sandbox Rockstar defined didn’t need to be dark and cynical, and there was room for more open-ended mission design.

3. Mafia II (2010)

Image via 2K Store

2K Czech went the opposite direction from Grand Theft Auto and every other studio that chased it. Mafia II showcased Empire Bay across the 1940s and 1950s as a period piece first, letting players watch Vito Scaletta age into the life over years rather than a few months.

Vito was a well-developed character like no other in the genre. Grand Theft Auto IV‘s Niko Bellic caused whiplash as, depending on the mission, he would feel like a different character with different motives. Every mission in Mafia II had an intent and impact on Vito’s character, as well as his friendship with Joe Barbaro. The years of small moments carry the game and slowly lead to an explosive ending that hits much harder than Niko Bellic’s split decision at the end of GTA IV.

The bigger achievement is the design of Mafia II. 2K Czech traded the open-world filler for a tightly authored crime drama, proving the sandbox doesn’t have to offer everything to justify itself. Mafia II was the rare competitor that gained success by focusing its scope and elevating its strong points to the highest degree.

2. Sleeping Dogs (2012)

Sleeping Dogs has the best action to ever grace the open-world crime genre, and it’s honestly not even close. United Front Games built a dynamic martial arts system for Wei Shen equipped with grabs, counters, and environmental takedowns that found vicious ways to finish enemies with meat hooks and table saws. No matter which Grand Theft Auto you compare it to, its combat comes up short of Sleeping Dogs by a few miles.

Traversal received just as much care, with dynamic chase sequences that had the player dodging crowds and jumping over obstacles to apprehend a suspect. You could also hijack speeding cars by leaping from one to another mid-chase. These gameplay sequences felt cinematic without taking away player agency, which is very difficult to pull off.

Sleeping Dogs also stood out by moving the setting out of America to Hong Kong. Setting this undercover cop story in China added a fresh layer to the genre. Wei Shen earned separate Cop and Triad experience, and players would juggle which side they wanted to lean toward. The narrative did not disappoint either, with moments that still stick even 14 years later. If you’re looking for the best moment-to-moment gameplay in the genre, then Sleeping Dogs easily takes the crown.

1. Saints Row 2 (2008)

Image via Xbox

Advertisement

Volition dropped Saints Row 2 the same year Rockstar released Grand Theft Auto IV, and it genuinely felt closer to a follow-up to San Andreas than GTA IV ever did. Rockstar introduced many robust mechanics in San Andreas that made the game feel giant and expansive, but GTA IV completely stripped everything that made its predecessor special in order to chase realism. This worked for some players, but it went too far in the wrong direction for a lot of fans. Saints Row 2 ended up being the safe haven that felt most like home.

Everything fans loved about Los Santos was still there but bigger and better: gang territory to take over, businesses to buy, tons of activities and mini-games, and a completely customizable protagonist. While GTA IV‘s sandbox felt paved over with cement, Saints Row 2‘s was still a robust playground with tons of fun to be had outside of missions. Volition’s take on the formula was goofier at times, but it still knew when to have heartfelt or serious moments.

Volition’s sequel struck the perfect balance, and here’s the hot take: Saints Row 2 was a better GTA than Grand Theft Auto IV. The game offered a more complete experience including drop-in/drop-out online co-op across the entire campaign, a robust character creator, vehicle, crew and crib customization, a bigger map, smooth vehicle handling, and a deeper melee fighting system with finishing moves. Although Volition and Saints Row‘s story didn’t end well, history should highlight that there was a time when developers could go toe-to-toe with GTA and decisively come out on top.

The Genre Rockstar Won by Forfeit

Image via Rockstar Games

Grand Theft Auto VI will arrive on November 19 with no direct competitors in sight, and that should be frustrating. In an industry full of Soulslikes, why did the ball drop with GTA-likes, even though it’s proven that there are areas where developers can improve over Rockstar? No game has been able to dethrone Grand Theft Auto, but none needed to. They pushed the open-world crime genre in ways Rockstar was unwilling to, and the space was healthier for it.