Welcome to the inaugural edition of our best games list for PlayStation 5. We've been running these lists quarterly since 2019, but it's only now that we feel the PS5 has a list of games strong enough to justify its own distinct page away from the PS4. That's not to say these games are all exclusive to the console — that really would be a short list — but we have looked for games that generally offer meaningful improvements over their last-gen counterparts when played on PS5. Usually we'd take this opportunity to tell you what's new for this edition, but well, they all are. We'll be updating this periodically, so, if a game's just been released and you don't see it, chances are that the reason for its absence is that we haven't played through it yet. Either that or we hate it.
Astro’s Playroom
It’s odd to start a best games list with a title that comes free with the console, but if you’re anything like my son, who swiftly deleted Astro’s Playroom to make space for various Call of Duty titles, I’m here to tell you to give the pack-in title another shot. Astro’s Playroom is a love letter to both 3D platformers and the PlayStation itself. It’s also, to date, the title that makes the best use of Sony’s DualSense controller, with incredible haptic feedback and clever usage of the pad’s adaptive triggers. (Although, eight years on, I’m still not convinced anyone has found a compelling reason for that touch pad.) It’s a game that even completionists can finish within six hours or so, but those six hours were among the most fun I’ve had with the PS5 so far.