What are the best PS5 games? No matter your tastes, PS5 has a huge range of brilliant games. Whether it’s Sony’s first-party efforts or excellent titles from elsewhere, there truly is something for everyone on the current-gen console. If you’re looking for something new to play, or want some recommendations for your brand new PS5, look no further as we bring you the very best PS5 games, as ranked and rated by our community.
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Playing as a lost cat in a mysterious underground cybercity, Stray is a truly unique title. This is a short but sweet adventure game that emphasises exploration and investigation from a feline perspective, and it works wonderfully. Linear levels are punctuated by more open areas that are a real treat to explore with your catty dexterity, letting you meet robotic buddies as you weave through the streets and rooftops of a decaying town. While you’re busy scratching up furniture and knocking things over, an intriguing sci-fi narrative unfolds around you. Gorgeous art direction and brilliant animation are the icing on this adorable cake.
Ubisoft proves with Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown that it’s arguably at its best when it’s scaling down the size of its games and creating something outside of its open world wheelhouse. Metroidvanias may be ten a penny on PS5, but this well-executed adventure is bursting with exploration and equipped with some of the most satisfying side-scrolling combat you’ll find on Sony’s current-gen system.
Toem takes the idea of a game about photography and twists it into something unique. Framed as a cutesy, top-down adventure game, you play as a young explorer on a pilgrimage to the mountaintop, snapping photos along the way. You can whip out your camera at any point, and the game swaps to first-person, giving you a new perspective on the black-and-white world. Helping out a colourful cast of characters, discovering all sorts of cool secrets, and solving imaginative puzzles mean this short but sweet indie game stands out.
A PS5 upgrade was never going to restore all of that cut content, but Resident Evil 3 on Sony’s latest system is at least the best way to experience it. With extremely fast load times and impressive ray tracing support, this more action-focused entry shines with solid combat and fun environments. It’s still far too short, but Resident Evil 3 is worth a playthrough for survival horror fans.
A long-awaited sequel to Capcom’s cult classic action RPG, Dragon’s Dogma 2 is another combat-focused romp, boasting some of the best and most dynamic monster-slaying skirmishes you’ll find in gaming. The exploration is also incredibly immersive, as your custom character and their AI-driven allies brave beast-infested roads, caves, and ruins, all in the name of completing quests. The story’s a little undercooked, but few games capture the spirit of adventure quite like Dragon’s Dogma 2.
F1 2021 is the best and most complete version of the annual motorsport simulator. As expected, it contains all the teams, cars, and tracks from the real-world season, and the in-depth career mode is as engrossing as ever. However, it’s the ways the game broadens its appeal that really impress. Braking Point is a great introduction to the world of Formula One, offering not only a fun primer for the proper career modes, but a twist of drama with some cool characters. The addition of Two Player Career and other features make it a more flexible game, letting you really tinker with it to get the experience you want. Oh, and Codemasters’ typically excellent handling model is a winner once again.
A game that needs no introduction: transcendent rails shooter Rez has been stirring emotions since it first released on the PS2 and Dreamcast in 2001. Upgraded to take advantage of PSVR2, the release’s crystal clear 4K visuals sing on Sony’s new hardware, and the added haptic feedback helps creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi get closer to his goal of true synaesthesia. You can complete the game without virtual reality, but experiencing it inside PS5’s headset is comfortably the optimal way to play.
Crash Bandicoot is one of PlayStation’s most iconic platforming heroes, and now that he’s double-jumped onto PS5, there’s no excuse for skipping Crash Bandicoot: It’s About Time. This sequel stays true to the series’ origins, but it’s bursting with brand new ideas and jaw-dropping set-piece moments. Running at a flawless 60 frames-per-second in sparkling 4K resolution — and cutting those load times to almost nothing — this release is at its absolute best on Sony’s next-gen console.
A Plague Tale: Innocence is the best kind of surprise: an unexpectedly strong historical outing with a likeable cast of characters and unique stealth mechanics. The fantasy underpinnings may not be to everyone’s tastes – especially as the tale somewhat limps to its conclusion – but Asobo Studio’s outstanding use of the PS5 hardware, including the DualSense, make it a must play for fans of story-based adventures.
There’s a snobbery among enthusiasts that suggests Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate, without tightly animated sprites and mind-boggling button combos, is a lesser fighting title. Be that as it may, few brawlers have the sheer scope and scale of what’s on display here. With an ever-rotating ladder of inventive towers to tackle, a sprawling single player campaign, and an RPG-inspired loot system that lets you tailor all of the title’s characters to your tastes, NetherRealm Studios may not have produced an audience-attracting e-sport here, but it has delivered a damn good time.
One of the most enduring games in history, Bethesda’s iconic RPG comes to PS5 with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Anniversary Edition. What’s more, it’s quite simply the best version of Skyrim to ever grace a PlayStation console. This is a real cut above previous versions (which were often riddled with bugs), offering a mostly locked 60 frames-per-second at 4K resolution. It’s taken a decade, but Bethesda has finally delivered a smooth experience with this PS5 release — and crucially, the game is still a fantastic, enormous RPG well worth playing today.
This is the debut game from developer Ember Lab, and it’s a strong first effort. Kena: Bridge of Spirits gets top marks for its animation and visual flair, but it’s also a very enjoyable action platformer. It puts us in mind of PS2 classics such as Jak & Daxter; you’re traversing a sort-of open world environment, collecting things, solving puzzles, and engaging in simple yet surprisingly challenging combat. Those lovable Rot creatures and some tricky boss battles further cement this as a cult hit.
Lies of P is one of the best Souls games not made by FromSoftware. Distinct in direction, tone, and style having leant into an evil take on the classic Pinocchio story, the journey through Krat is a memorable one thanks to solid combat, impressive customisation options, and unique art. If you’ve completed every FromSoftware experience multiple times over and you’re looking for the next Souls-like hit, Lies of P is up there with the very best.
Like a Dragon: Ishin! is set during the late 1800s, when Western powers were starting to encroach on Japan. On the brink of a civil war, you play as historical figure Ryoma Sakamoto, a skilled swordsman who embarks on a bloody quest for revenge. It’s typically brilliant storytelling from RGG Studio, coupled with an intense combat system. Since it’s a standalone spinoff, Ishin is a great place to start if you’re new to the Yakuza / Like a Dragon series, and you’ll even be introduced to an entire cast of characters whose faces and voice actors have been plucked directly from other entries. An all-star hit.
4A Games’ post-apocalyptic adventure Metro Exodus feels like it was meant for PS5, with silky smooth performance, great looking ray-traced graphics, and complete DualSense functionality. While some flaws of the original release do persist — those accents! — there’s a lot to like about this game on Sony’s current-gen system. Featuring loads of tense story moments and some super atmospheric exploration, this train ride through the Russian wasteland makes for a memorable journey.
Capturing the heart and soul of Warhammer 40k isn’t easy, but Space Marine 2 is just about as good as it gets. This gory third-person action-shooter is a brilliantly robust adaptation, boasting a well-paced campaign (that can be played in co-op), a full set of online co-op missions, and even competitive multiplayer. In many ways it’s a throwback to simpler times, when such shooters were so common, but it brings the brutality forward with some stunning visuals and a deeply satisfying, visceral combat system. A damn good time for everyone involved (except the Tyranids, obviously).
With creator Media Molecule focusing its attention elsewhere, LittleBigPlanet’s whimsical weaved hero deserved his Super Mario 3D World moment. Sackboy: A Big Adventure doesn’t pull up any trees like its predecessors, but is instead a robust co-operative platformer with some memorable musical moments. With a cutesy DIY aesthetic and some surprisingly tight action, it excels in an area that Sony has often been accused of overlooking: fun for the whole family.
After a long time in development, Blizzard’s beloved action RPG series returns in grand style with Diablo 4. This top-down dungeon crawler is all about building up your character with randomly generated loot, exploring a huge world map full of treasures and monsters, and teaming up with your pals for some devilishly addictive co-op. Jam-packed with stuff to do, this is a game you’ll be playing for a long time, and the insanely gratifying progression will keep you coming back for more.
