The best games for PlayStation 5

Astro’s Playroom

a love letter to both 3D platformers and the PlayStation itself.

Astro’s Playroom is a love letter to both 3D platformers and the PlayStation itself. It’s also, to date, the title that makes the best use of Sony’s DualSense controller, with incredible haptic feedback and clever usage of the pad’s adaptive triggers.

Control: Ultimate Edition

a mainstay of our best games lists since creation

The Ultimate Edition brings the smooth performance and ray tracing PC gamers got from Control to owners of next-gen consoles. (It also includes all of the DLC from the original release.) Short of a multi-thousand-dollar PC, it’s the best way to experience Remedy’s best game to date.

Demon's Souls

Graphically Demon’s Souls is a true showcase of what the PS5 can do

Bluepoint’s Demon’s Souls remake won’t be for everyone — no Souls game is.

Bluepoint has been faithful to the original, then, but graphically Demon’s Souls is a true showcase of what the PS5 can do, with gorgeous high-resolution visuals, smooth frame rates and swift loading. While the graphics certainly catch your eye, it’s the smoothness and loading times that are the most impactful.

God of War

manages to successfully reboot the series

SIE Santa Monica Studio's God of War manages to successfully reboot the series while turning the previous games' narrative weaknesses into its strengths. Kratos is now a dad, the camera is now essentially strapped to his shoulder and Sony has what is sure to become a new series on its hands.

Ghost of Tsushima

This tale of samurai vengeance is like Japanese cinema come to life.

There are multiple betrayals, the sad deaths of several close allies, tense sword fights, villages and castles under siege, and even a ‘Kurosawa mode’ black-and-white filter you employ for the entire game. The world of feudal Japan, with some creative liberties, is gorgeous, with fields of grass and bullrushes to race through on your faithful steed, temple ‘puzzles’ to navigate around and fortresses to assess and attack.

Hitman 3

hat marks this version out is additional PlayStation VR support and the utilization of Sony’s DualSense controller.

this isn’t a shooting game, though you can shoot if your plan doesn’t quite work out. The rebooted Hitman series is more about scoping out the environment, planning your takedowns, pulling them off and fleeing the scene. When you do everything right, you can calmly walk away from a mission with no one even knowing you’ve killed the mark.

Each mission isn’t overly long, but they are all built to be played again and again. Every time you complete a mission (with varying degrees of success) you unlock new starting locations, weapons to stash and more opportunities for even more elaborate kills

Marvel’s Spider-Man Ultimate Edition

a tour de force.

Featuring the best representation of what it's like to swing through New York City, well, ever, Insomniac's PlayStation exclusive also borrows liberally from the Batman: Arkham series' combat and throws in a story that, although it takes a while to get going, ends up in a jaw-dropping place.

With the launch of the PS5, Insomniac released a Miles Morales spin-off game, which follows the eponymous character as he attempts to protect NYC in Peter Parker’s absence.

Resident Evil Village

a fresh vibe for the franchise

The game retains its horror, puzzle and action roots, and it has Umbrella Corporation’s fingerprints all over it. On PS5, the game is gorgeous and it plays nicely with the DualSense controller, adding haptic feedback to weapons and terrifying situations alike. It simply feels like developers had fun with this one, and so will you.

Returnal

a third-person action game, a roguelite, a bullet-hell shooter & very hard, perhaps not in that order

The setup is basically that you’re stuck in a death loop, but you’re aware of it, and must learn the patterns and weaknesses of enemies — and master your own — in order to progress. As Devindra Hardwar explains, it leans heavily on the dark sci-fi of Alien, Edge of Tomorrow and Event Horizon but makes something new and unique in the process.

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