Best PS5 Games in 2026

I went in expecting a tech demo with legs and stayed for one of the best platformers I have played in years. Astro Bot is the rare game that makes you feel the hardware without ever making you think about it. Every DualSense trick, from the resistance of a bow to the patter of rain on the triggers, is woven into the moment rather than bolted on. It is joyful in a way that is hard to manufacture. Genuinely surprised. No other game on this list earns a recommendation for literally every PS5 owner quite this cleanly, regardless of age, genre taste, or how long they have been gaming.

I have been playing God of War since the PS2 era, passing the controller back and forth with a friend over a few beers on those early entries. Ragnarök is the version of this series that justifies all of it. The combat has real weight, the story is genuinely moving, and the production quality is the kind you notice even on a mid-range display. It runs beautifully on PS5. What keeps it from the top spot is that Astro Bot represents the platform more purely, but as a cinematic action game this is about as good as the genre gets. Play it in performance mode. Sixty frames makes the axe throws feel right.

Light, easy, and one of the best-looking games the PS5 has produced. That sounds like faint praise but it is not. Rift Apart does something most games cannot: it uses the hardware in a way you actually notice during play, not just in trailers. The instant dimension shifts happen in real time with no load screen, and the first time it happens it genuinely stops you. The DualSense implementation here is among the most thoughtful on the platform. It sits at three because it does not reach the emotional or mechanical highs of the games above it, but as a pure PS5 argument, it is one of the clearest ones on this list.

PS5 is my go-to for open worlds and anything with visual ambition, and Elden Ring is the open world that has stayed with me longest from this generation. The sense of discovery is unlike anything else: cresting a ridge and finding a castle you had no idea existed, or falling through a floor into an entirely different underground region that dwarfs the surface. I spent a lot of hours on this one. The challenge curve will stop some players early and that is worth being honest about. But for anyone willing to meet it on its terms, this is one of the generation's signature games. The world alone is worth the admission.

Not my genre by instinct, but the movement hooked me anyway. Web-swinging through Manhattan at that speed, with that fluidity, is one of those rare cases where traversal is genuinely its own reward before the mission even loads. The PS5 version is a showpiece: near-instant fast travel, rock-solid performance, visuals that hold up on a good display. The story is crowd-pleasing rather than surprising, and the open world does not have the depth of the RPGs on this list. Still, as a blockbuster exclusive you can hand to almost any PS5 owner and expect them to enjoy, Spider-Man 2 does that job better than almost anything else on the platform.

One of my all-time favourites on this platform. There is something specific about walking through a Japanese village knowing the historical weight behind it that pure fantasy cannot replicate, and Tsushima earns that feeling over and over. The combat rewards patience in a way I did not expect from an open-world action game, and the stealth system is genuinely satisfying once it clicks. The Director's Cut on PS5 runs at 60fps and loads fast enough to make the open world feel effortless to navigate. It sits at six only because the list above it is genuinely strong. On a shorter list this would rank higher without hesitation.

The remake does something remakes rarely manage: it makes the original feel like a rough draft. Tighter controls, richer environments, and a Leon who actually moves like a person rather than a turret. The pacing is close to perfect for a campaign of this length, roughly sixteen hours that never drag. Horror as a genre tends to narrow the audience, but RE4 lands in that specific zone where the action is engaging enough to carry players who would not normally seek out survival horror. Replay value is genuine. A New Game Plus run with upgraded gear plays completely differently. Mechanically distinct from everything else in the top ten.

I played the first two Baldur's Gate games when I was young and they were honestly a bit too complex for me at the time. I enjoyed them anyway, but I knew I was missing things. Coming back to BG3 with more RPG hours behind me made the difference. The reactivity of this world is what separates it from other games that claim to offer choice: decisions made in Act 1 surface three acts later in ways you genuinely did not anticipate. I spent a lot of hours on this one. The CRPG complexity means it is not for everyone, and the PS5 controller adaptation, while good, takes some adjustment. Worth every hour.

Vibrant colours, insane movement, relentless pacing. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is exactly the kind of spectacle the PS5 was built to run. The combat system layers action and strategy in a way that keeps evolving across the entire runtime, which for a game this long is no small achievement. It sits at nine because it asks more of you than most entries above it, both in time commitment and franchise familiarity, and the open zones have filler that the tighter games on this list avoid. But the production values are genuinely extraordinary and the party writing is some of the best character work in any RPG I have played this generation. Lots of fun.

My group plays this one together online and it is one of our favourites right now. As a solo experience it also holds up: the hunt loop is satisfying enough that an evening alone with it does not feel like you are missing half the game. Monster Hunter Wilds is the most current-gen the series has felt, with encounters that fill the screen and ecosystems that behave like they exist before you arrive. The systems are denser than anything else in this top ten, and the early hours ask for patience before the build variety opens up. Stick with it. The payoff is a game you will still be talking about months later.