Games Like Sunset Overdrive

What Made Sunset Overdrive Work

Sunset Overdrive punishes you for touching the ground. Grinding, bouncing and wall-running build a style meter that powers up your weapons, so movement and combat are the same system. It is loud on purpose. Open-world shooters that let you walk are not the answer.

Sunset Overdrive is Insomniac Games' 2014 Xbox One open-world shooter, released on PC in 2018. In Sunset City in 2027, an energy drink has turned people into mutants, and you survive by grinding on rails, bouncing on cars and wall-running while firing ridiculous weapons. Keeping moving builds a style meter that powers up your abilities. Fans usually want movement-driven combat with a loud, comic attitude.

9 Games Like Sunset Overdrive

1. Je

   1.Jet Set Radio

   The grinding-a-city ancestor, and just as loud.

   Why it fits: Smilebit's 2000 Dreamcast game is built around grinding on rails and skating through Tokyo-to while tagging walls — Sunset Overdrive's rail-grinding is a direct descendant, and both lean on loud music and colour.

   What is different: There is no shooting; you tag walls and outrun police. Levels are small and the controls are old.

   Where to play it: Dreamcast; also on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

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2. Bo

   2.Bomb Rush Cyberfunk

   The modern Jet Set Radio, and it nails the movement.

   Why it fits: Team Reptile's 2023 game combines skating, grinding and graffiti with trick-based movement.

   What is different: Graffiti and trick scores instead of guns and hordes, so the movement is the whole game.

   Where to play it: PC and Switch.

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3. Cr

   3.Crackdown

   Traversal-first open world where movement is the upgrade.

   Why it fits: Realtime Worlds' 2007 Xbox 360 game makes rooftop traversal a skill that improves as you collect agility orbs, so the city opens up the more you move through it — the same reward loop as Sunset Overdrive's traversal.

   What is different: Almost no story or jokes, and you jump rather than grind; the city is a sandbox.

   Where to play it: Xbox 360; plays on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S through backward compatibility.

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4. Sp

   4.Spider-Man

   Insomniac again, and the traversal is the best they have made.

   Why it fits: Insomniac's 2018 PS4 game focuses on web-swinging traversal through Manhattan.

   What is different: A straight hero story with melee combat; the swinging is the movement, not guns.

   Where to play it: PS4; remastered for PS5 and PC.

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5. Ra

   5.Ratchet and Clank

   Same studio, same inventive weapon design.

   Why it fits: Insomniac's 2002 PS2 platformer began the studio's tradition of inventive weapons, the same design thinking behind Sunset Overdrive's teddy-bear bombs and vinyl-record launcher.

   What is different: A platformer on separate planets, not an open city, and the humour is family-friendly.

   Where to play it: PS2; remastered for PS3 in the Ratchet and Clank Collection.

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6. Sa

   6.Saints Row IV

   Superpowered open-world silliness with the same tone.

   Why it fits: Volition's 2013 open-world game has superpowered movement and a comic tone.

   What is different: Super-speed and flight instead of grinding, and the comedy is cruder.

   Where to play it: PC, PS3 and Xbox 360; Re-Elected on PS4, Xbox One and Switch.

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7. Hi

   7.High on Life

   Comedy shooter with talking guns and a similar sense of humour.

   Why it fits: Squanch Games' 2022 first-person shooter features talking guns and a comedic sci-fi story.

   What is different: Linear first-person, with no traversal system to speak of, and jokes that run through the guns themselves.

   Where to play it: Xbox, PC and PlayStation.

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8. De

   8.Dead Island 2

   If the zombie-slapstick side was the appeal.

   Why it fits: Dambuster Studios' 2023 game is a zombie action game set in a satirical Los Angeles with melee-focused combat.

   What is different: Melee-first and gory, with no grinding or traversal tricks; you walk the streets.

   Where to play it: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.

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9. Ul

   9.Ultrakill

   Style-meter combat where standing still means losing.

   Why it fits: Arsi 'Hakita' Patala's shooter, published by New Blood Interactive, rewards dashing, sliding and weapon-switching with a style meter, so standing still is the worst thing you can do — as in Sunset City.

   What is different: Fast first-person levels rather than an open city, and much harder.

   Where to play it: PC.

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Where to Start

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is the closest for movement. Insomniac's Spider-Man is the pick for the best traversal the studio has made. For humour and weapons, try High on Life.

How We Picked These Games

Every pick either makes movement part of combat, uses inventive weapons, or matches Sunset Overdrive's comedy. We gave priority to Insomniac's own games and to the grinding games it borrowed from.