The PS4 boasts a diverse game library and here we’ve gathered some of the best games on the platform.
What a comeback the PlayStation 4 was, and it’s showing no signs of stopping. As supplies of the PS5 remain difficult to grab and older consoles are easy to pick up cheap, it’s an essential purchase for just about any gamer. The best PS4 games fill every niche, and we’ve picked out 15 of them below.
Nobody did it – or still does it – like FromSoftware during the PS4 era, except FromSoftware in the current era. Bloodborne was their best, arguably ever, dropping defensive posture and slow pace for heal-on-hit gameplay and blistering dodges and parries. A world and game like no other.
The greatest soundtrack of all time? Arguments are ongoing, but Persona 5 Royal is simply a masterpiece of JRPG design, direction, and style. There are few games that run their central theme and visual motifs through every element – menus, sounds, dialogue, the works – as well as Persona 5 Royal. It helps that it looks, sounds, and plays good while doing it.
The most popular console MMO by some ludicrous margin, Final Fantasy XIV is also now the most successful FF game, one of the best story games ever, and free to play for about two JRPGs worth of run-time. Whether you’re a veteran of the genre or have never tried it, you’ll find something to love in Eorzea.
Red Dead Redemption 2 might be the very best Rockstar title, and that fact makes it one of the greatest story-driven games ever made by default. With an utterly stunning world and engaging story, it manages to evolve past the open-world chaos of early GTA games and feels entirely fresh. An essential regardless of where you play it.
The Last of Us Part II
If you want PlayStation first-party: the game, The Last of Us Part II is probably the best place to go. It’s slower paced, third-person, full of well-written characters and interesting storylines. It’s got shooting and bloody combat, a diverse cast, and gory deaths. Naughty Dog outdid themselves, and it lived up to years of hype.
Uncharted 4: A Thief‘s End
If you prefer things action-packed and a little less heartfelt, you can do a lot worse than Uncharted 4. Refining the joke-telling and gun-toting bits of Naughty Dog’s, Uncharted isn’t without its touching moments, but there’s a few less horrific deaths, and a little less considering of the human cost of your mild rampage. The stand-alone expansion, The Lost Legacy, is also well-worth your time.
One of the most beautiful games to ever exist, Shadow of the Colossus got a remake it richly deserved on PS4, and now everyone can figure out why, even at 15 fps on the PS2, everyone went a bit nuts for it. If you’re a fan of almost any modern third-person game, you’ll see part of its DNA formed from SOTC.
As far as reboots that change the core of a game go, God of War might be the most successful of all time. While this is as much of a third-person violence-fest as anything from earlier eras, it has far more going on than a simple combo game. Plus, significantly less bit-part half-naked women. Control Kratos with a little help from his son and make a long journey that will surprise and excite you throughout.
Journey is unlike most of the games on this list. It was made for maybe a tenth of the price, for one, and it features almost no direct storytelling or dialogue whatsoever. It’s an adventure, a pleasant trip, a journey you might say, through a barren land. There are surprises that await, and if you’ve never touched it before – and remain unspoilt on much of its surprises – you owe it to yourself.
Horizon Zero Dawn was the first new IP in the PlayStation first-party mould, and one that looked ridiculous prerelease. A slightly weird name that read like someone taking the piss, robot dinosaurs you kill with a bow and arrow – there was a lot to be confused by. It ended up being great fun to play, with a collection of the most attractive characters in games, and a great plot to boot.
Whether you’ve played the original or not, Final Fantasy VII Remake is something special. Gorgeous, massive, eyebrow-raising, and with incredible gameplay that manages to bridge the gap between JRPG and action game, it’s not without its fault, but it is still quite a trip. With sequels on the way and endless debate as to what it all means, this is something to jump on soon.
Good licensed games still feel like a marvel (or Marvel, HA), despite the best efforts of many a developer over the past 15 years. Spider-Man may be the greatest of them, an open-world masterclass of web-slinging, fun combat, and great stories.
Realistic racing simulators are all well and good, but it’s easy to miss the classic days of super-fast absurd racers. Wipeout Omega Collection is a “collection” that actually functions as an all-new game, bringing together courses and vehicles from Wipeout HD, Wipeout Fury, and Wipeout 2048. It feels a bit different from those games while maintaining the absurd pace and ridiculous tracks of its predecessors.
Is it a game if it’s simply a game creation tool? Dreams counts, in our book, because you can play just so much stuff inside of it, growing every day. The talent on display is incredible, and the variety more-so. If you want to create, it’s probably the best game in the world, if you don’t, it might be thirty of them.
This is still one of the very best horror narrative games you can play on any console. Until Dawn boasts impressive graphics and a great cast of actors. The campy, ‘80s-style story pairs well with the ‘save them all’ challenge and promises scares and fun in equal measure.
Written by Ryan Woodrow on behalf of GLHF.
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