Best PlayStation 5 Games in 2023

The PlayStation 5 has well and truly arrived, being almost a year old and having several exclusive games. If you’ve been lucky enough to get your hands on the new console, then here are the games you should play.

Like its rival, the Xbox Series X/S, the PlayStation 5 is an incredibly powerful console on which you can play some of the fastest, most beautiful, most demanding games that have ever been created. The PS5 has SSD storage to cut down loading times, an intricate, complicated cooling system, and a new controller (the DualSense) with one of the best haptic feedback systems ever built. It might not be as powerful as some of the best gaming laptops, but it comes close.

The PS5 also launched with some exclusive games, and several more have launched since the console has been on the market. Xbox Series X/S games are usually not exclusive (although the console has some exclusives coming), while Nintendo Switch games are almost nothing but exclusives. This list is a mix of games that are PS5-exclusive, PS4 games, and games that look great on the new console.

Astro’s Playroom

The first game that any new PS5 owner should play when they get their new console is Astro’s Playroom, which is available for free with the console. It’s designed to give users the full experience of playing with the new DualSense controller. Each of the levels will give you opportunities to test the DualSense’s haptic triggers and other features.

In addition to the game’s technical greatness, it’s also just a really fun, colorful, enjoyable game. The worlds you explore are cartoonish versions of the hardware inside your PS5, and you collect various artifacts that are really hardware Sony has produced. It’s an adorable nostalgia trip, especially if you’ve owned PlayStation consoles before.

Demon’s Souls

A remake of the PS3 classic, Demon’s Souls brings the brutal difficulty of a From Software title to the next generation. If you’ve never played a From game before, this is a good game to get started with -- not because it’s easy, but because it’s not. In addition to the gameplay, the game is beautiful on PS5. The atmospheric environments look good on the console, and the lack of long wait times makes the game marginally less frustrating. If you want to play the game that invented the Souls-like genre and also see what your PS5 is capable of, this is the game to get.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales

Marvel’s Spider-Man was one of the best games for the PS4 -- and it still looks good on the PS5. But if you want the full next-gen experience, like being able to feel web-shooters as you’re swinging around New York City, then you need to play the quasi-sequel, starring Peter’s successor, Miles Morales. Miles has a number of moves that Peter didn’t have in the original game, courtesy of his electric superpowers. The game is somewhat shorter than the first, but it’s still a fun game that stars a colorful cast of characters with whom Miles can interact with.

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

One of Sony’s longtime franchises, Ratchet and Clank have never looked better than they do in their latest adventure. Their old nemesis Dr. Nefarious has stolen a weapon that opens rifts to other dimensions, and it’s up to Ratchet, Clank, and Ratchet’s alternate dimension counterpart Rivet to stop him.

Rift Apart is basically designed to show off the power of the PS5’s SSD, meaning you can jump through rifts with no loading slowing you down. It’s also one of the more kid-friendly games available on the PS5.

Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade

The remake of the original Final Fantasy VII launched on the PlayStation 4 in April 2020 to much acclaim and much rejoicing from series fans. Final Fantasy VII Remake takes the story of Cloud and company and puts a fresh spin on it. In 2021, Square Enix launched the game on PlayStation 5, with some new content -- an intermission chapter that follows the events of the game starring Yuffie Kisaragi. This new release, called Intergrade, also gives the game a next-gen upgrade.

Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla

Over a decade old with a dozen games under its belt, the Assassin’s Creed series continues to expand and improve. The latest, Valhalla, is a Viking adventure starring the warrior Eivor, who gets drawn into the eternal conflict between the Assassins and Templars while raiding England. The British countryside looks stunning with the PS5’s GPU, and the gameplay is as smooth as it’s ever been. While the game is a typical Ubisoft adventure, it’s also a good entry point if you’ve never played an Assassin’s Creed game before.

God of War

God of War is the latest adventure of mature, somber Kratos, formerly the Greek god of war, as he and his son Atreus embark on a long journey to put their wife and mother to rest, which somehow leads to an epic quest that would put the ancient poems to shame. As with all games, it not only looks better on the PS5, but it also plays more smoothly. If you haven’t already played it, it’s part of the PS Plus Collection, a group of PS4 classics offered to PS5 users also subscribed to PlayStation Plus.

Returnal

This PlayStation exclusive has a lot of different genre names -- it’s a roguelike sci-fi third-person shooter. What you might not be able to glean from looking at the trailers is that Returnal is also a horror game, and a pretty effective one at that. It’s a great test of the PS5’s hardware, and is not an easy game to master -- the lack of a save feature was such a problem for gamers that they pleaded with the developers to add one. But if you want a game that’s a little more serious for the PS5, this is your game.

Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut

Ghost of Tsushima is a grand tale of Jin Sakai, a noble samurai who must become a nascent ninja in order to save his home island of Tsushima from invading Mongols. It’s a fun game if you’re a fan of third-person action-adventure or Japanese history for that matter. The game was originally released on PS4 shortly before the next-gen launch, but it only recently received its upgrade for the PS5. Called the Director’s Cut, this version of the game has improved graphics and a new expansion set on nearby Iki Island.

The Last of Us Part II

The sequel to one of PlayStation’s most successful titles, The Last Of Us Part II tells a harrowing story about flawed people attempting to survive an impossible situation. The star, Ellie, is a character you can both love and be incredibly uncomfortable with, and characters around her aren’t much better. The game is also a tense, frightening horror action game that refuses to let you get too relaxed, and it looks better on the PS5 than anywhere else.