Whether you’re picking up a PS5 or PS5 Digital Edition for the first time or just building out your library, here’s where to start. This list mixes the console’s enduring standouts with the newer releases actually worth your time in 2026.
God of War Ragnarök
The sequel to 2018’s reboot closes out Kratos and Atreus’s Norse saga with bigger set pieces, more playable characters, and combat that builds smartly on everything the first game got right. If you only play one story-driven PS5 exclusive, this is still the safest recommendation on the list.
Spider-Man 2
Insomniac’s sequel gives you both Peter Parker and Miles Morales, a faster and more fluid traversal system, and a New York that finally feels big enough to justify it. It builds directly on what made Miles Morales such a strong follow-up to the original Spider-Man, and it looks the part on PS5 hardware.
Astro Bot
A full platformer built entirely around what the PS5’s DualSense controller can do — haptics, adaptive triggers, the works. It’s consistently cited as the clearest showcase of PS5 hardware on the console, and it’s genuinely fun even if you don’t care about the tech behind it.
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
A cheerful game about a lonely space mechanic, his robot best friend, and a dimension-hopping crisis that sends them across a handful of gorgeous alien worlds. Whether you’re blasting cartoonish weapons at aliens or grinding across planets on jet boots, it’s built to show off what the PS5’s SSD can do, and it still holds up as one of the console’s best-looking games.
Demon’s Souls
A ground-up remake of one of the most influential games of the 2000s, rebuilt into something visually stunning without losing what made it brutal. You’ll fight through crumbling castles, a grim prison tower, and toxic swamps with whatever sword, shield, or scavenged gear you can manage. Progress is hard-won and the bosses are legendary, but you can summon other players for help if you need it.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
The middle chapter of Square Enix’s Final Fantasy VII remake trilogy, and the one where the story really opens up into a full open world. If you played the original or the first remake, this is where the reinterpretation earns its ambition.
Ghost of Yōtei
The spiritual successor to Ghost of Tsushima, set in a new era with a new protagonist, but carrying over the same open-world samurai action and striking art direction that made the original stand out.
Saros
Housemarque’s follow-up to Returnal takes the same punishing roguelike foundation and pushes it further, and it’s been one of the best-reviewed PS5 exclusives since launch. If you liked the moment-to-moment intensity of Returnal, this is worth checking out.
Beyond the PS5: more gaming to explore
If you’re craving more once you’ve worked through this list, Sony’s PlayStation VR2 support means you can also dive into virtual reality gaming for an even more immersive experience. And if mobile battle royale is more your speed between PS5 sessions, don’t miss the PUBG Mobile 4.0 update, which brought a new map and major gameplay changes when it rolled out.
Discussion about this post