While the main story in Grand Theft Auto V is incredibly entertaining, with three different playable characters all having set missions that need to be completed individually and as a group, the side missions in the game are just as fun. Labeled “Strangers and Freaks,” each character has their own side missions, and these create some of the best stories in the entire game.
While some of these missions are just quick and easy, others are tons of fun and take a long while to complete due to the detail. Here are the 10 best Strangers and Freaks missions in GTA: 5, ranked.
10 Death At Sea
To kickstart the list, this Strangers and Freaks mission is for Michael De Santa and involves an insurance company who is unwilling to pay the character, Abigail, after her husband dies in a submarine accident. Michael looks for the missing submarine parts in order to make a case to the insurance company, using a dinghy with sonar to locate them, which can be a little time-consuming.
This is an exciting story and is a perfect example of why these side missions can be just as detailed as the main ones.
9 An American Welcome
This Strangers and Freaks mission is for Trevor and is a satirical look at the topic of immigration, with several park rangers doing everything they can to try and take down and capture people who they believe to be illegal immigrants. Within these missions, Trevor teams up with Joe and Josef to take down whoever it is that they are deeming to be a threat, although they always end up ditching him after they’ve completed the mission.
These missions led to some chase sequences and some of the funniest dialogue in the game as Trevor argues about everything that is going on.
8 Risk Assessment
This is a slightly strange Strangers and Freaks mission as Franklin can actually understand a dog to kickstart this one, following him and responding to his barks. While that’s not explained, the following missions are enjoyable. The dog leads you to Dom, who is stuck in a tree and after helping him, you wind up learning Dom is a complete sports freak who enjoys the most extreme sports which leads to some fun missions.
From mountain biking down the side of cliff faces to parachuting off the tallest building within the game, missions with Dom are always a lot of fun, even if there isn’t much story.
7 Mrs. Philips
This is an exciting Strangers and Freaks mission, simply because it is one that only happens after the main storyline has been completed, which means a lot of gamers actually don’t end up getting to play this.
Firstly, you need to keep Trevor arrive at the end of the game to do this, so depending on your choices, this could end up being impossible, but anyone who kept him alive gets the chance to meet his mother. From here, a totally new sign of Trevor is shown, doing anything for his mother as she makes him go and find a Deludamol van, locking him out of the trailer until that happens.
6 Hao Street Races
These missions are specifically for Franklin due to the fact that driving is his specialty skill and are tons of fun to do throughout the course of the game as fun breaks from the main storyline. The missions take place around the map, putting Franklin into street race situations, getting the chance to earn more money by competing against other racers.
This fun side mission emphasizes the game’s driving aspects, so when a player is encouraged to race around the streets, that also allows them to improve that skill.
5 Exercising Demons
In a similar fashion to the street races, the Exercising Demons missions are a fun break away from the seriousness of the video game, as these missions are relaxed and easy to do. There is one of these missions for each main character, who meet Mary-Ann at different locations. She’s incredibly stressed and works out in order to deal with it.
Every time you bump into her, she clearly doesn’t appreciate the company and ends up challenging the characters to different exercise challenges.
4 Surreal Estate
Another very fun Strangers and Freaks mission series is the Surreal Estate series, which is for Trevor to play as he bumps into the character Josh Bernstein, a real estate agent who wants to remove the competition. Each mission here grows the anti, with the first simply being to destroy opposing estate agent signs around some of the mansions, but the intensity is quickly ramped up in later missions.
In the end, Trevor ends up actually blowing up a house of a rival estate agent, with this being an exciting set of missions that get more exciting as the story develops.
3 Grass Roots
Grass Roots is exactly as it sounds, with this Strangers and Freaks mission being based around marijuana, with each character having a unique Grass Roots mission to do.
All of the missions involve the same character, Barry, who is pushing for marijuana to be legalized. He gives out free samples which can cause ridiculous effects. Michael has to fight monsters, while Trevor encounters a bunch of crazy clowns in a melee style fight. Franklin’s mission is different as he has to find stashes of marijuana.
2 Paparazzo
There are many different paparazzo missions and they’re all fun. In each one, Franklin bumps into a member of the paparazzi trying to make a name for themselves. The missions all involve the same principle of catching a celebrity doing something and snapping some shots of them, a nod to how it really works.
The missions are fast-paced, often involving car chases, and feel exactly as side missions should be.
1 Vinewood Souvenirs
The Vinewood Souvenirs missions are loads of fun, with Grand Theft Auto V packing several different missions into this story, which is exclusive to Trevor, as he encounters the wild British tourists, Nigel and Mrs. Thornhill.
The pair is certainly a little crazy as they spend their vacation looking to steal memorabilia from celebrities and enlist the help of Trevor (who they mistake for another celebrity) to go and find different items for them. This ends up escalating to the point where they actually kidnap a celebrity, with the gamer having the choice of either freeing him or murdering him.
