Our pick for the best PS5 game is Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, because although it has a few bugs, the world looks gorgeous and it held our interest from start to finish. We’ve also included picks in other categories, like the best FPS, the best RPG, the best platformer, and the best PS5 game for kids. The side quest system feels streamlined and the quests are actually enjoyable, rather than having you spend hours on a bunch of meaningless hunts or fetch quests that are repeated through each zone. The game does not disappoint when it comes to acting or storytelling either. You play as Eivor—a male or female Viking who wants to lead their clan out of their homeland in search of a better life and home. Throughout the game, players explore much of medieval England. You get to see a really cool interpretation of Asgard, and several other places. Eivor will become involved with the Assassins in an attempt to take down Templars, much like other games in the series. As with other Assassin’s Creed games, there is a modern part of the tale, as well, which continues from previous entries. With fun combat, thorough exploration, and a good story, this is a top notch game for PS5. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is an open-world superhero adventure that launched alongside the new PlayStation 5 console, but is also available on PlayStation 4. It carries over most of the framework from Insomniac Games’ 2018 Spider-Man quest, but has a shorter campaign and less side content around it, but with a lesser price tag to match. The Cold War story follows up on the previous Black Ops entry, and even includes some characters you will find familiar. Don’t worry if you didn’t play the last entry, as you do not need to have played to enjoy this game. With huge set piece moments and classic COD gunplay, there is plenty of action in the roughly five to eight hours of campaign gameplay. The Multiplayer mode is the classic draw for any COD game, and Cold War doesn’t let you down, but at the same time, a lot of it feels familiar. Most modes are 6v6, but there is also Combined Arms mode, which features 12v12, and Fireteam: Dirty Bomb, which is a fun mode that features 40 players on 10 teams. Finally, there’s Zombie mode—a mode which sees players facing round after round of zombie killing fun in a cooperative way. With lots to do, and executed in a clean way, Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War is a must have for any PS5 owner who loves the FPS genre. Your goal is to destroy a shadow organization called Providence. You do this by traveling to different locations and completing missions. You’ll visit all sorts of cool places, like a skyscraper in Dubai, a mansion in Dartmoor, a club in Berlin, and other interesting places. The cut scenes tend to be a bit stiff and outdated, but the game still looks good overall. You play through six main missions, which are presented to you in a menu. You get incentives for replaying each mission, making the game more fun to replay. There are also different game modes to make the game more exciting, but there’s no multiplayer mode (as of launch). A unique game with fun levels, costumes, and humor, Hitman 3 is a must-play on PS5. The game has permadeath for your characters, which makes missions with your favorite characters feel more important. Exploring futuristic London is truly a sight made better on the PS5, and puts the hardware to the test. In the game, you are many characters who make up a group called DedSec, a hacktivist group who want to take down another hacker group and a private security group with a grip on the city. The story is pretty interesting, and the characters are well acted and thoughtful. As you complete the game, you will chase down side tasks, grow your abilities through a tech tree, and look for collectibles. All of the controls in the game are smooth and consistent, and you can see Ubisoft’s quality shine. Make no mistake, Demon’s Souls is a brutal experience that refuses to hold your hand through its claustrophobic corridors, gothic towers, and miserable stinking swamps haunted by decaying monsters designed to test your reflexes and strategic thinking. It’s a deep game with a steep learning curve. The reward for suffering such punishment is a feeling of accomplishment unparalleled in gaming. Even the smallest success in forward progression feels like a triumph. Aside from the gorgeous next gen graphics and smooth 60fps frame rate that show off the impressive capabilities of the PS5, the variety of environments to traverse in Demon’s Souls keeps the game feeling fresh. After hours of trudging through what can charitably be described as an infected sewer, it’s refreshing indeed to visit the relatively bright and stormy seaside. Swapping between the five available regions also gives you the opportunity to take a breather from that one boss that keeps killing you, if only to die ignominiously to a random skeleton you failed to notice hiding in an alcove. Along with the unique brand of multiplayer common among Souls games, Demon’s Souls is not only a worthy remake of the original classic that started it all, but this PS5 exclusive is perhaps the pinnacle of the franchise. It’s a wild ride, and one on that you must be prepared to die. The story is cute and lighthearted and keeps you invested as you play. Level designs are well done, as each level offers a good amount of variety and things rarely feel repetitive. The stages have beautiful visuals and just make you feel good as you play them. You will hop, dash, and explore to a fun soundtrack that features some fun takes on popular songs. While the controls can be a bit loose at times and can lead to a few unfortunate failures, they’re not so bad that they’ll cause a huge amount of frustration. Sack Boy: A Big Adventure is best described as a fun time and a game where you can smile while playing, especially with someone next to you playing along. To locate them, you will need to take a picture of them, and then work out a small puzzle to capture them based on the creature. The puzzles are fun to solve and not overly difficult, so kids will be able to continue and achieve without getting frustrated. However, just because we selected this as the best kids game doesn’t mean there’s not something here for all gamers. It’s a fun game for kids and adults to play and talk about together (there is no co-op or multiplayer though, so you’d have to take turns or play on separate consoles). The characters are extremely well written, and there are some truly genuine moments in Bugsnax that players may find surprising considering the theme and weight of the game. While Bugsnax does not graphically push the PS5, it is a great game for kids to play, which is an area often missed by game publishers. This is a first-person experience, with hundreds of widely varied weapons to do battle with and a vast array of unique cars to collect. There’s also a deep customization system where you can fine-tune everything from your character’s skills, abilities, and cybernetic implants, to your weapons and clothing. Combat and navigation are flawed, and the game’s promised AI is almost nonexistent, but it’s still fun to drive and fight your way through Night City. The story is one of the highlights of the game, with good writing and acting paired with believable character models. Side quests can also be very enjoyable, though the main campaign is the most polished and features the most exciting set-piece moments. Cyberpunk 2077 can be a lot of fun, and it’s truly spectacular to behold, but you have to put up with a lot of irritating problems to enjoy it. You’d be well advised to wait for its most serious technical issues to be patched out, and even then you’ll need a beefy PC to experience it as its best Andy Zahn has been writing for Lifewire since 2019 covering technology and games. Andrew Hayward is a Chicago-based writer who’s been covering tech and games since 2006. He’s previously been published in TechRadar, Stuff, Polygon, and MacWorld.
What to Look for in a game for PS5:
Playability- Few things are more irritating than a glitchy game. Look for games that run smoothly, with clean transitions, tight controls, and minimal bugs (or prompt and reliable fixes for existing bugs). Graphics- The PS5 has a 10.3-teraflop RDNA 2 GPU, 16 Gigs of RAM, and a 3.5-GHz 8-core AMD Zen 2 processor. With the upgraded hardware, game makers can take graphics up to the next level. Look for amazing visuals that truly feel next-gen. You want the game to look and run smoothly in the highest resolution/frame rates. Innovation- A new console gives developers the chance to push boundaries like they never have, introducing new gameplay, worlds, and novel mechanics. The best games have next-level controls and integration with new PS5 features like the DualSense controls and 3D audio.
