The PS5 was released in 2020, and in the six years since then, it’s become home to over 4,800 games. While many of these titles are smaller releases, there are still plenty of gems in the PS5’s library, including some of the greatest games of this entire console generation.
Now that the PS6 is getting closer, it’s worth looking back at some of the best PS5 games that have been released so far. Even though upcoming titles like Grand Theft Auto 6 could give these games a run for their money, these titles are classics, and they’ve given gamers a reason to invest in a PS5.
Astro Bot Won Game of the Year for a Reason
Astro Bot Playstation 5Image via Team ASOBI
Many beloved PlayStation franchises, like Ape Escape and Jak and Daxter, have been dormant for years, but Astro Bot brought them back to life. The 2024 platformer was a love letter to PlayStation’s history, with cameos from beloved characters like Nathan Drake and Sackboy.
Astro Bot’s cameos were a ton of fun, but the game had much more to offer than references. Its 90 levels were masterfully designed, and Astro’s varied abilities made the game’s puzzles a blast to solve. Astro Bot managed to win Game of the Year in 2024, beating out competitors like Balatro and Metaphor: ReFantazio, and that victory was well deserved.
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Resident Evil 4 Remake Improved On One of the Best Games Ever Made
Image via Capcom
Capcom has mastered taking a beloved classic and reimagining it for modern hardware, and the Resident Evil 4 Remake puts that expertise to good use. Leon S. Kennedy navigates a rural European village to rescue the President’s daughter from a parasitic cult. Resident Evil 4 Remake gets a complete visual overhaul but carefully preserves the tense, action-focused soul of the original.
The combat loop represents action-horror mechanics at their highest peak, introducing fluid movement options like knife parries, stealth takedowns, and dynamic melee prompts. The resource management aspect remains balanced, requiring players to carefully optimize their inventory using the iconic attaché case system.
Technical utilization of PlayStation 5 hardware elevates every single combat encounter into a visceral spectacle. Immersive DualSense haptic feedback gives every firearm a distinct physical weight and recoil profile, while the 3D audio engine allows players to pinpoint the footsteps and frantic chants of approaching Ganados in pitch darkness.
Spider-Man 2 Is One of the Greatest Superhero Games Ever Made
Spider-Man 2 featuring Spider-Man web-slingingImage via Insomniac Games
Spider-Man 2 dual-wields Peter Parker and Miles Morales, creating a personal story centered around the corrupting influence of the Venom symbiote and the relentless hunt of Kraven the Hunter. The game balances bombastic, movie-level set pieces with quiet, grounded character moments that highlight the emotional cost of wearing the mask.
wapping between Peter and Miles occurs almost instantaneously across the open world, leveraging the console’s ultra-fast solid-state drive to eliminate loading screens. Combat is equally refined, featuring fluid parry systems, symbiotic abilities, and bio-electric venom attacks that turn large encounters into high-energy martial arts displays.
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Spider-Man 2 shines through its remarkable technical achievements, presenting a vibrant city filled with ray-traced reflections on skyscrapers, dense pedestrian traffic, and dynamic weather effects. Skill trees and custom suits give players complete control over their preferred play styles, while side activities offer genuine narrative payoffs rather than meaningless map clutter.
Alan Wake 2 Delivers an Intense Story That Keeps Players Hooked
Alan Wake 2 PS5Image via Remedy Entertainment
Set thirteen years after the disappearance of the titular author, Alan Wake 2 splits its focus between FBI agent Saga Anderson investigating ritualistic murders in the Pacific Northwest and Alan Wake desperately trying to write his escape from a nightmare dimension. The game blends live-action footage, environmental clue-gathering, and shifting psychological realities into a mind-bending thriller.
Gameplay revolves around methodical light-based combat, precise resource management, and deep investigative mechanics inside Saga’s Mind Place. Players must physically place clues, photos, and profiles onto a case board to piece together murder mysteries and unlock new narrative paths.
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Meanwhile, Alan’s sections use an alter-reality writer’s board that lets players rewrite environmental scenes on the fly, transforming dark city streets into completely new structural layouts to solve spatial puzzles. Visually, Alan Wake 2 serves as an incredible showcase for modern atmospheric rendering, utilizing photorealistic lighting and unsettling particle effects to build relentless dread.
God of War Ragnarok Brought Back Kratos and Atreus
Kratos looking sad in God of War RagnarokImage via Sony and Santa Monica Studios
2018’s God of War reinvented the franchise, and its 2022 follow-up, Ragnarök, took the series to new heights. Facing the impending threat of an apocalyptic war, Kratos and his son, Atreus, must fight their way through gods like Thor and Odin. At the same time, God of War Ragnarök tackles mature themes like the difficult process of breaking generational cycles of violence.
Combat is expanded, with players switching between Kratos and his son. Playing as an older, more agile Atreus provides a completely unique combat style built around rapid archery and magical summons. While Kratos’ shift to Norse mythology gave the series a soft reboot, Ragnarök uses lore across the franchise while putting its own spin on a classic mythological tale.
God of War Ragnarök is the pinnacle of cinematic action-adventure games, with some of the most moving and heartbreaking writing in video game history. Next year’s Laufey is set to expand the franchise even further, but the emotional highs of Ragnarök won’t be easy to top.