Over its 30-year history, it's fair to say that a lot of incredible games have graced PlayStation. Across five generations of consoles, two handhelds, and toes dipped into the VR waters, there is a lot to choose from, but we’ve put our heads together to narrow it down to the top 100 of all time. These aren't necessarily the best games to play right now, but ones that have cemented their legacy in PlayStation lore and paved the way for what was to come.
What games do you see when you close your eyes and hear the word PlayStation? While we’ve got a good amount of exclusives on this list, we, of course, have to include a fair few multiplatform classics as well. Our rule of thumb for those is if you when you think of that game, do you see a PlayStation banner at the top of its box? If so, it qualifies here.
You’ll see plenty of familiar faces here, from Crash to Kratos, but there will no doubt be some that surprise you as well. Have an opinion on what should be placed where? Let us know in the comments below.
(Over the course of this week we’ll be steadily revealing our picks, with 20 being revealed each day until the full ranking is complete on Friday November 29th.) So, without further ado, here are the top 100 PlayStation games of all time:
100. Ape Escape
Hot on the heels of Crash Bandicoot and Spyro, Sony once again explored the mascot platformer waters with Ape Escape, a family-friendly, chimp-hunting adventure that armed players with a slew of monkey-capturing gadgets.
Ape Escape was popular enough to spawn many sequels and is still referenced as recently as 2024’s Astro Bot. But perhaps its most important legacy was being the first game that could only be played with the recently released DualShock, introducing a controller layout that still stands strong for PlayStation to this day.
99. Crash Team Racing
Crash Bandicoot was Sony's solution to compete with Nintendo’s Mario and so, naturally, he needed a kart racer, too. A shameless imitation of Mario Kart, Crash Team Racing is nontheless a genuinely a fun time, with a great selection of tracks and all of the silly weapons and power-ups you’d expect from the genre. Just like his platforming, Crash isn’t as good at driving as his red-capped contemporary, but CTR is still a speedy party in its own right.
98. Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage
Ripto’s Rage is the most complete Spyro package. More challenging compared to its predecessor, it improved on everything that everyone’s favourite little purple dragon brought the table the first time around. A certain bandicoot may have ultimately come out on top as the original PlayStation’s mascot platformer of choice, but Spyro certainly played his part. It’s also notable, and worth celebrating, that both Spyro developer Insomniac and Crash studio Naughty Dog have together evolved into two of Sony’s most important sources of blockbuster creativity from such similar beginnings.
97. Tearaway
LittleBigPlanet developer Media Molecule reinvented its arts-and-crafts approach for portable gaming with Tearaway, one of the PS Vita’s shining stars. Making innovative use of the console’s rear touchpad and front-facing camera, you are able to enter Tearaway’s papercraft world by pushing your fingers ‘through’ the landscape, or by having your own face adorn the skies as a colossal shining sun. That’s all good fun, but it only works because Tearaway is also a great and charming platformer, too.
96. Deathloop
Arkane Lyon only made one PlayStation timed exclusive before being snapped up by Microsoft in the Bethesda deal, but god was it a good one. Echoing the outside-the-box creativity of Sony’s best output, Deathloop is a time-looping shooter that’s also a detective game and a PvP assassination sim. Ambitious, but never to a fault.
95. Jak 2
Rockstar dominated the PS2 era of open-world games, but that didn’t stop Naughty Dog from trying its hand at it. Jak 2 moves away from the mascot platformer bedrock of its predecessor to take Jak and his Ottsel companion Daxter to a hub-world city filled with danger. An ambitious pivot to a more combat-heavy focus, it was a gamble that paid off, as well as being one of the best-looking games of the generation.
94. LocoRoco
Platformer LocoRoco was one of the PlayStation Portable’s must-own games and one of so many examples of the out-there creativity that Sony's Japan Studio contributed to PlayStation since the very beginning. A relatively simple concept based around the idea of rolling colourful jellies from point A to B, it contained hidden complexities that accentuated its elegant design. Packed full of charm that threatened to burst out of its portable confines, it was a treat in every sense of the word.
93. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
Insomniac followed up its 2016 reboot of Ratchet & Clank with PS5 exclusive Rift Apart, arguably still the greatest display of the hardware’s power to date. Colours pop off the screen at each turn and particles flood the sky at every opportunity, especially when firing one of its many outrageous, esoteric weapons. A great example of how to do action platforming on a multiversal scale, it assembles a new high for the long-running Lombax series.
92. Lumines
Before Tetris Effect, designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi had an idea that combined block-based puzzling with electronic music that could be played on the go. That idea became Lumines, one of the best puzzle games to ever grace the PSP. While solving its Tetris-like puzzles was what made it fun, the kicking soundtrack that synchronised its beat with the gameplay made it so anyone who played Lumines feel like a third member of Daft Punk.
91. Syphon Filter
It’s easy to write off Syphon Filter as a Metal Gear clone, especially as it released just months after Kojima’s masterpiece debuted on PlayStation. But despite the similarities between these two stealth experiences, Syphon Filter is a brilliant espionage adventure in its own right thanks to sharp gunplay, a story stuffed with twists, and missions that are as varied as they are action packed.
90. Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
A lavish RPG about a boy whisked away to a fantasy land to revive his recently deceased mother, Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the Witch is a PlayStation 3 exclusive built on the wonderful bones of the Nintendo 3DS’ Dominion of the Dark Djinn. With a Pokemon-like monster-collecting battle system and an enrapturing story, Level-5 left a mark on a console lacking in top-tier RPGs for much of its lifetime. Throw in sequences produced by Japanese animation masters Studio Ghibli and you’ve got one of the most visually arresting games on the PS3. And if all that were not enough, it also gave us the Welsh legend that is Mr Drippy. Long live our short king.
89. Pro Evolution Soccer 6
Pro Evolution Soccer 6 is as good as football games have ever been. At a time when the rivalry between PES and FIFA was at an all-time high, Konami’s soccer simulation was the sports game to play on PS2. It’s the sort of standout opposition that EA sorely misses now, as with no strong competition the genre is left to wallow in mediocrity. Oh, for those glory days to return.
88. Patapon 3
Patapon 3 is a rhythm game with a difference, because every note you hit – in this case, a different beat of a drum – issues commands to a band of one-eyed warriors you lead into battle. Different button combos order them to advance, retreat, defend and attack. Patapon’s unique blend of strategy and rhythm action is as infectious as its soundtrack, and the constant hum of ‘Pon-pon-pata-pon’ is an earworm that still sticks over a decade later.
87. Horizon Zero Dawn
Killzone developer Guerrilla Games took a big swing on the PS4, ditching its desaturated shooter series for the altogether much more vibrant world of Horizon Zero Dawn. Its rug-pulling sci-fi story is a solid backdrop for the introduction of a new PlayStation hero in the form of Aloy and her metal dinosaur-decapitating archery combat. It proved a crucially strong pivot for Guerilla, and set in motion the start of a new series that has already seen a PS5 sequel, VR experience, and LEGO game spawn from it.
86. Doom Eternal
PlayStation isn’t the natural home of the FPS, and so unsurprisingly there are very few of them on this list. Also unsurprising is that one of our FPS picks is Doom Eternal, which rethinks and refines Doom’s fundamentals in a way that makes it feel like the shooter of tomorrow instead of the seventh sequel in a decades-old series.
85. SSX Tricky
SSX Tricky proved stiff competition in the extreme sports market for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. Barreling down perilous mountains and flipping around in every direction was fun in its own right, but it's that colourful style that Tricky brought to the otherwise snow-white vistas that made it truly pop off the screen. The PS2 era was one where you couldn’t move for a BMX, surfing, or snowboarding sim, but SSX stood out as one of the best in its field.
84. Tetris Effect
Long-associated with the Game Boy — where Tetris was sold as a bundled game — Tetris Effect sees Rez mastermind Tetsuya Mizuguchi reimagine the eternal puzzle game for the PlayStation VR headset. Themed around the psychological effect of the same name that occurs when playing the block stacker for long hours, Tetris Effect turns the classic game into a psychotropic-like trip by combining the timeless tetriminos with far-out visuals and stellar soundtrack.
83. Kingdom Hearts 2
Mickey Mouse fused with Final Fantasy shouldn’t work. Yet Square Enix demonstrably proved that it can in Kingdom Hearts. Its the bigger and better sequel though, in which Sora, Goofy, Donald and the lads embark on a convoluted sequel through beloved Disney worlds, where the concept truly flourishes. Particular highlights are a blast from the past in the form of the Steamboat Willie-inspired Timeless River level and Hercules’ Olympus Coliseum. Does it all make much sense? That’s a question for another day. We’ll enjoy any game that lets us chat with Winnie the Pooh in between bashing enemies with a giant key, though.
82. Monster Hunter World
The Monster Hunter franchise is fondly remembered for its PSP legacy, which enabled millions of gamers — mostly in Japan — to spend hours hunting and gathering together in between work and school. But Monster Hunter World would bring the series roaring out of the gates and onto the home consoles of millions of new fans. Monster Hunter World took the series’ tried and true gameplay loop and made everything much, much bigger. Bigger monsters, larger worlds, and even more players to link up with to take down giant creatures, collect their hides, make better armor, and repeat.
81. Medal of Honor: Frontline
The original 1999 Medal of Honor, co-created by Steven Spielberg, is a true PlayStation classic, but it’s 2002’s MoH: Frontline on PS2 where the historical shooter series finally fulfills its playable Saving Private Ryan ambition. Opening on an intense recreation of the D-Day landings, Frontline’s exciting and varied campaign is the blueprint for Call of Duty’s later success.
80. Hotline Miami
It’s hard to think of many games that are more perfectly suited to the PlayStation Vita than Hotline Miami, a top-down violence simulator that's fast, frantic, and relentless with murder. Hotline Miami's secret is its addictive simplicity, and so even though it came to other platforms, its bite-sized levels and rapid restarts are perfectly suited to the take-it-everywhere PlayStation Vita. It's so good that it even featured as a cameo (being played on the Vita!) in one of PlayStation’s biggest-ever games, The Last of Us Part 2.
79. Killzone 2
Killzone may never have proved Sony’s Halo killer, but its industrial-weight shooting and gas-mask aesthetic were instrumental in putting Horizon developer Guerrilla on the map. Killzone 2 is particularly memorable for being a controversial graphical showcase; an E3 demo was eventually revealed to be too-good-to-be-true, but the final game was nonetheless a stunning example of what the PS3 could deliver when it came to visuals polished to a sparkling finish.
78. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
Square Enix’s vision for remaking Final Fantasy 7 became crystal clear with its second installment. Untethered from the need to set up the familiar events of Final Fantasy 7, Rebirth is able to throw our beloved heroes into a vibrant open world that brings to life what every gamer who played the original FF7 was only able to imagine previously. Bursting at the seams with love for its iconic characters and world, Rebirth is an ambitious second act in this three part remake that’s already proving as essential as its retro parent.
77. Ridge Racer Type 4
The words Ridge Racer are now best known for being shouted by an overexuberant Kaz Hirai at E3 2006, but years before that it was PlayStation’s standout driving game. Type 4 hit a sweet spot between the sim trappings of Gran Turismo and the white-knuckle speed of WipeOut, carving out its own corner as one of the most popular games on the original Sony console.
76. Returnal
Before Returnal, Housemarque was known for its exhilarating but relatively niche twin stick shoot em’ ups. But in 2021, Selene’s time-looping sci-fi roguelike burst onto PS5s to showcase exactly what the console could do. Its psychologically twisting story, excellent shooter gameplay, and stunning art design locked it in as one of the generation’s must-play games.
75. Driver
In the days of the original PlayStation, open-world driving games were limited to Grand Theft Auto’s top-down perspective, and the thought of being able to navigate the streets at 60mph from a 3D viewpoint felt like a distant pipedream. But in 1999, Driver arrived on PlayStation to shatter those expectations, allowing players to become a wheelman in a video game like never before. That is, of course, assuming they could get past its initial, notoriously difficult driving test - a fiendish barrier to entry before tearing up the streets of Miami and beyond.
74. LittleBigPlanet
The hunt for a family-friendly PlayStation mascot is as old as the brand name itself, but it’s fair to say that 2008’s LittleBigPlanet delivered the hero the noughties were looking for with Sackboy. LittleBigPlanet was not only the birth of a mascot though, it was also PlayStation's first significant experiment in user-generated content, giving players the tools to share their woolly, 2D creations with the world. Developer Media Molecule would unquestionably do it all better with sequels and spiritual successor, Dreams, but none of that happens without the whimsy, charm, and just plain adorableness of LittleBigPlanet.
73. Yakuza 0
The Yakuza series (now known as Like a Dragon) has been a PlayStation staple since the first entry’s release in 2005, steadily growing over the years from a niche interest to a cult phenomenon. Our pick of the bunch is 2015’s Yakuza 0, in part because its prequel status makes it the best way to get into the storyline, but mostly because it has everything you’d want from one of Ryu Go Gotoku Studio’s crime epics: over-the-top action, melodramatic Kiryu and Majima plotlines, and, of course, life-consuming mini-games, including a full cabaret club management sim.
72. Need for Speed: Underground 2
Between MTV’s Pimp My Ride and Need for Speed Underground 2, it seemed like every car in the world in the early 2000s had tinted windows and underglow neon lighting. The PS2 was home to Need for Speed at its height, with Most Wanted’s pink slip system and open-world police chases providing just as many thrills, but Underground 2 uses its nitrous oxide to just edge in front here thanks to its electric street racing drenched in glow-in-the-dark painted cool.
71. Helldivers 2
PlayStation’s recent history has been gilded with single-player success stories. As such, it was quite a surprise when Arrowhead Game Studios’ co-op blaster Helldivers 2 seemingly dropped out of nowhere to capture the democracy-obsessed minds of PS5 players everywhere. A riff on Starship Troopers’ special brand of propaganda satire, PvE has rarely felt so good. A group of four can use all forms of weaponry to gleefully dispatch bug-like aliens and Terminator-esque cyborgs. Oh, it also has the best-looking explosions you can wish to see in a video game. Great stuff.
70. Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
Legacy of Kain has emerged as one of PlayStation’s favourite cult series over the years, and we think it peaked with 1999’s Soul Reaver on the PS1. Crystal Dynamics’ combination of combat and puzzles, powered by vampire ghost protagonist Raziel’s supernatural abilities, was stylish and challenging in equal amounts. It was incidentally the first game directed by Amy Hennig, who would go on to help shape Naughty Dog into the modern PlayStation behemoth it is today. All of the aspects of what has become Sony’s trademark single-player formula can be felt back here in Soul Reaver.
69. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time's chronology-warping mechanics were incredibly novel back in 2003, helping cement it as an instant PS2 classic and signalling a return to popularity for a series that had been left in the 2D era. But while Sands of Time's supernatual approach formed the bedrock of a fantastic action-adventure, the game as a whole is more significant for being the foundation of Ubisoft's modern-day success. While Sands of Time recieved a number of direct follow ups, ideas for a proposed Prince of Persia sequel eventually morphed into what would become Assassin’s Creed.
68. Bully
Bully comes from a time when Rockstar would dominate the PS2 on an annual basis, a far cry from the seven-plus year waits we have now to suffer through. But while those long development cycles have their benefits, Jimmy Hopkins' misadventures through a year at Bullworth Academy is a prime example of when the GTA developer would take risks on smaller projects that offered unusual spins on the studio's trademark humour and larger-than-life characters. Rumours of a sequel have always persisted, and we certainly wouldn’t say no to another term of classes after GTA 6 drops.
67. Katamari Damacy
Katamari Damacy was the cool, artsy kid’s favorite PlayStation 2 game. Before the need to “roll up” famous IP and turn them into AAA blockbuster games, the Prince of All Cosmos was rolling up everyday objects into a larger and larger ball, and taking over the gaming world with it. Katamari Damacy is emblematic of the kind of madcap video game ideas that we don’t really see on consoles these days, but were a regular blessing during the PS2 era.
66. Devil May Cry
The original Devil May Cry was an ice-cool breath of fresh air when it slashed its way onto the PS2 in 2001. Hideki Kamiya’s wild combination of lightning-quick combat and demon-slaying story conjured up out of 700-year-old Italian poetry was originally planned as an entry into the Resident Evil series before Capcom made it into its own thing entirely. On one of history’s most iconic action series – it effectively created the 'character action' genre – the original DMC has spawned multiple sequels, but none made as big an impact as Dante’s first outing.
65. Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain
One of the great gaming tragedies is that Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain is likely Hideo Kojima’s last Metal Gear game ever. But what a game to go out on. For fans who’ve played every Metal Gear game leading up to Phantom Pain, you’ll find almost all the series' different gameplay mechanics in their most evolved - and, dare I say it, perfect - iteration, combining to create Kojima’s ultimate vision for stealth action gameplay on PlayStation.
64. Rocket League
A PlayStation Plus success story. Yes, Rocket League owes much to the vast number of players who received the game for free, but that would mean nothing if it wasn’t so damn fun. While it arrived on the PS4 was back in 2015, it’s still being supported and regularly played to this day. Many have tried to replicate its car-based soccer action, but no imitator has truly come close to developer Psyonix's original.
63. Destiny
After making its mark on Xbox with the Halo series, Bungie forged close ties with PlayStation for its ambitious MMO shooter. Destiny may have been multiplatform, but it received many PS4 timed exclusive content drops – including an all-important alpha test – that made it feel like an exciting Sony experiment. The original Destiny is flawed, but it was the lab where Vault of Glass was born – the raid that set Bungie on the path towards both Destiny 2 and its wobbly multiplayer crown.
62. PaRappa the Rapper
“Kick! Punch! It’s all in the mind”. Those seven words have stuck with me for almost three decades and I remember them more clearly than I do the first words spoken by my children. PaRappa the Rapper’s legacy is unquestionable then, and the hip-hop hound’s rhyming adventures became the blueprint for the rhythm game genre which Guitar Hero and Rock Band built on years later. PaRappa was a huge part of PlayStation’s push for experimentation, and in 1996 – heck, even today - it’s not often you see a beanie-wearing beagle spitting bars.
61. Hitman: World of Assassination
While Metal Gear Solid may be considered the definitive PlayStation stealth series, IO Interactive’s Hitman has a strong legacy on the PS2. We could have picked any of Silent Assassin, Contracts, or Blood Money for this list, but instead we’ve opted for the much more recent World of Assassination – the now-combined trilogy of games that act as the culmination of over a decade of playful stealth mastery. Its huge, opportunity-filled levels act as immersive murder playgrounds, and while the scripted objectives always allow for amusingly creative kills, it’s the death scenarios you come up with yourself that always prove the most rewarding.
60. Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag
A PS4 launch game, Black Flag showed how transformative the eighth generation of consoles could be for the Assassin’s Creed series. While the PS3 version was still able to render the huge, (nearly) seamless Caribbean map, the PS4 build does all that with much more detail, resulting in beautiful ocean waves and lush vegetation. Arguably the best Assassin’s game to date, its ambitious land-and-sea open world lay the groundwork for the beloved AC Odyssey, while its environmental detail was echoed at smaller, denser scale in cult favourite AC Unity.
59. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
After the success of the first Metal Gear Solid, expectations for Hideo Kojima’s PS2 follow-up were immense. But rather than merely give fans a better version of what they got in the first game, Kojima trusted his vision and gave us, well, something different. Sidelining hero Solid Snake in favor of newcomer Raiden for Sons of Liberty, Kojima still delivered on bringing Metal Gear Solid into the PS2 era in terms of graphics and gameplay, while fleshing out his universe of government conspiracies and nuclear annihilation in a way that still resonates today.
58. Journey
The PS3 was the major starting point for online multiplayer on PlayStation. While there are many examples of great PvP games from that generation, Thatgamecompany’s Journey is perhaps the best showcase of how multiplayer can forge connections between players. In this wordless adventure you can be randomly paired up with a mystery second player. You’re unable to communicate with each other, but you nonetheless forge a bond through the shared experience of Journey’s ethereal, quietly impactful story. It's singular and unforgettable.
57. Crash Bandicoot
Back in 1996 an orange marsupial spun his way into our hearts when Crash Bandicoot arrived on the original PlayStation. Intintally earmarked to be Sony’s answers to Mario and Sonic, Crash has long since formed his own identity of tomfoolery and wumpa fruit obsession. He can still be regularly seen smashing through crates and setting off TNT boxes to this day, but even though the loveable bandicoot has since appeared on the majority of video game platforms, he’s still unquestionably a PlayStation icon.
56. Ghost of Tsushima
Ghost of Tsushima was the PS4’s last big hurrah, and few consoles get to go out on such a high. Sucker Punch transported its open-world learnings from Infamous to feudal Japan in astonishing style. Perhaps the most “purely cinematic” of PlayStation’s blockbusters, the vengeance story of Jin Sakai is told against a backdrop of stunning scenery that lets you breathe in its glory between bursts of superb sword combat.
55. Final Fantasy 9
Despite many considering it to be one of the best in the series, Final Fantasy 9 is often overshadowed as a PlayStation classic by its older siblings. It also didn’t help that it arrived right at the tail end of the console’s lifespan, falling to the wayside when the PlayStation 2 and Final Fantasy 10 were on the horizon. But this welcome return to the series' original high-fantasy storytelling demands your respect. A tale of political turmoil seen through the eyes of a thief called Zidane, its clever evolution of series staples and ability to tell multiple concurrent, powerful stories truly places shoulder-to-shoulder with the genre's giants. It’s arguably one of the strongest RPGs for the original PlayStation and without question the console’s last big hurrah.
54. Batman: Arkham City
2009’s Batman: Arkham Asylum was a surprise hit with its intricate metroidvania action, but it was Rocksteady’s follow-up that truly blew the doors wide apart as we were unleashed in an open-world Gotham. In Arkham City, the most notorious rogues gallery to grace the PS3 clashes with the caped crusader as he races against time to save the city from a thrilling plot that has you second-guessing at every turn. Throw in an evolution of one of the most influential melee combat systems designed in recent memory and you’ve got a fully-fledged superhero fantasy.
53. Vagrant Story
Vagrant Story is a fantastic RPG with a finely tuned battle system and interesting puzzles, but it's best remembered for how it unlocked new depths for how stories could be told in video games. Square had already enjoyed an incredible run of genre-defining RPGs on the original PlayStation, but Vagrant Story’s adventure through Valendia captured the hearts and minds of anyone who walked in Ashely Riot’s shoes - our hero who is accused of a murder they didn’t commit. Perhaps the biggest crime of all, though, is that we never got a sequel.
52. Marvel's Spider-Man 2
The culmination of Insomniac’s web-slinging work so far, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 takes the best bits of both Peter Parker’s and Miles Morales’ games to create their best adventure yet. With silky smooth swinging across a stunning New York City, a twisting comic book storyline, and exciting melee combat, it’s yet another in a long line of highly polished releases from a studio that can consider itself among PlayStation’s most prolific.
51. The Walking Dead
Do you enjoy crying? Well, maybe we could interest you in a trip across the zombie apocalypse with Lee and Clementine in Telltale’s The Walking Dead. Season one of this episodical choose-your-own adventure saw the studio working at the peak of its powers as agonising decision after agonising decision was placed in front of us on the PS3. A tonally faithful adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s seminal graphic novel, it preinvigorated the adventure genre in 2012.
50. Grand Theft Auto 3
Do not underestimate the influence of GTA 3. Without Rockstar's original satire of New York City, the open-world genre that’s so densely populated today simply wouldn’t exist. It catapulted the previously top-down Grand Theft Auto series into a 3D world that felt genuinely alive, its streets packed with unforgettable characters and underpinned by a mob movie-inspired narrative that was as funny as it was compelling. Throw in an unparalleled level of freedom, allowing players to tackle missions in different orders and different ways, plus the ability to steal any car, and GTA 3’s Liberty City started a legacy that is still going strong over 20 years later.
49. Final Fantasy Tactics
As part of the burgeoning relationship between Final Fantasy and PlayStation, series creator Sagaguchi conceived of a tactical spinoff for Final Fantasy, combining his beloved role-playing series with a more strategic genre he loved. The result was Final Fantasy Tactics, a beautiful and thoughtful tactical RPG for sure, but it also introduced the world of Ivalice - the land which would go on to become the setting for games like Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy 12.
48. Demon's Souls
A grimy fantasy dungeon delver thick with mystery and lore, Demon’s Souls' place in the halls of PlayStation history is secure thanks to being the starting point of FromSoftware’s modern legacy. It was the journey where we first rested at bonfires to restore our health, summoned unknown strangers to aid us in difficult boss battles, and fought tooth-and-nail to retrieve our lost souls. Demon’s Souls laid the foundations for bigger and better games, but that shouldn’t detract from its own achievements (particularly its evocative environment design) which have been handsomely preserved in BluePoint’s fantastic PS5 remake.
47. God of War 2
The PS2 era of God of War was a completely different proposition to its character-focused modern reinvention. But what 2007’s God of War 2 may have lacked in nuance, it made up for in scale, ferocity, and excess. Chaining combos with the Blades of Olympus never felt so good as Ancient Greece’s pantheon of Gods fell at Kratos’ feet. Initially created as a Western answer to the character action genre popularised by Japanese developers, God of War confirmed its worthy position standing alongside those names with this excellent sequel.
46. Chrono Cross
It’s widely regarded that the original Chrono Trigger is perhaps one of the greatest RPGs ever made. But rather than simply rehash ideas from the original for the follow-up, Chrono Cross mixes everything up to huge success. Firstly, it’s set in an entirely different world with new characters to bond with and stories to discover. But more importantly, its battle system is completely overhauled, mixing real-time and turn-based strategy to create one of the deepest, most fulfilling RPG experiences of its time. And back in the year 2000, the only console you could play it on was PlayStation.
45. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
The beauty of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is how Hideo Kojima really emphasized the 'Portable' in PlayStation Portable. Taking the stealth action gameplay the series is known for, Peace Walker delivers bite-sized missions for Big Boss to take on that could be finished in a single commute to work or school. Not only that, but the big story implications set up in Peace Walker makes this PSP outing a genuinely important part of the Metal Gear storyline.
44. Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock
Picking a favourite Guitar Hero game is difficult. Ultimately, it comes down to which eras-spanning setlist of rock songs you most preferred to pretend you were playing along to live in front of 20,000 people. GH2 had War Pigs and Free Bird, but GH3 had the killer addition to the catalogue in the shape of a track that would become synonymous with the series: DragonForce’s Through the Fire and Flames. It’s hard to underestimate just how much of a phenomenon Guitar Hero and its competitor, Rock Band, were in the PS3 era, but take a look at just how many played-to-death plastic guitars you’ll find at your local landfill and you’ll get a good idea.
43. WipEout XL
Few games define the original PlayStation’s cultural identity as perfectly as WipEout. Its futuristic, heavily stylised aesthetic and techno soundtrack were the epitome of Sony’s vision for PlayStation being a lifestyle rather than just another games console. But beneath the slick visuals was a blisteringly fast racing game that, thanks to its anti-gravity vehicles, felt completely different from anything that had come before. XL, Wipeout's first sequel, was a blast to play, too, with sharper controls and punchier graphics that improved on the original.
42. TimeSplitters 2
When it comes to the history of console multiplayer, tales of GoldenEye on N64 and Halo on Xbox dominate the splitscreen conversation. But PlayStation 2 had its own FPS king that deserves as much respect. TimeSplitters 2 was the essential PS2 shooter, and almost certainly the reason anyone owned the four-player Multitap peripheral. Its Arcade mode provided match after match of exciting showdowns, made all the more thrilling and esoteric by the maps and weapons that were pulled from a whole host of different time periods and genres.
41. Titanfall 2
The original Titanfall was an Xbox exclusive without a campaign. When its sequel arrived on the PS4 with one of the finest set of first-person shooter single-player missions ever constructed, the series’ full potential was finally realised. Add an exhilarating (criminally underplayed) multiplayer offering to the mix and Titanfall 2 is not just one of the best shooters to appear on a PlayStation console, but one of the best FPS games of all time.
40. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
After an 11-year (and counting) wait for Grand Theft Auto 6 to arrive, the thought of a Grand Theft Auto sequel coming only one year later is unimaginable. But it happened back in 2002, with fan-favourite Grand Theft Auto: Vice City promptly arriving 12 months after GTA 3. And it wasn't a quick and dity spin-off - Vice City was a triumph that took everything its predecessor had to offer and improved it. The characters were better, the storytelling stronger, and the decision to create an '80s-set ode to Scarface set in a fictional Miami was inspired, opening the doors for an incredible soundtrack and exciting visual flair. Grand Theft Auto 3 may have laid the foundation, but Vice City coated it with irresistible style and neon.
39. Astro Bot
It may have taken nearly 30 years, but Sony finally has a mascot platformer to rival the likes of Nintendo’s Mario. A consistently inventive joyride through PlayStation history, Astro Bot is pure joy packaged up in a shiny box that fully embraces the quirks of the PS5’s DualSense controller. Instantly one of the console’s best games, its legacy will surely only grow over time.
38. Tomb Raider
There would be no Uncharted without Tomb Raider. In fact, it’s hard to imagine what action-adventure games would look like without Lara Croft’s first outing. Hitting the PlayStation in 1996, it's often considered the first game to approch storytelling in a truly cinematic manner – an outlook Sony would adopt for decades to come. It may be a little unwieldy to play at this point in time, but there’s no denying the original Tomb Raider’s impact.
37. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End sees Nathan Drake contending with the prospect of retirement as he aims (and fails miserably) to resist the call of adventure. An odyssey into not just the darkest dungeons, but also the minds and fraying relationships of its lead characters, it's as human as Drake has ever appeared and a reflection of the evolution of Naughty Dog as a studio. That doesn’t stop it from doing what it does best, though: delivering blockbuster bursts of action – the Madagascar chase sequence still reigns as one of the most dynamic sequences felt through a Dualshock. This bittersweet closing chapter serves as the perfect ending for one of PlayStation’s most beloved series… for now.
36. Nier: Automata
In order to fully uncover the secrets of the wild ride that is 2017’s Nier: Automata you’ll need to play through it three times. That would seem like a chore for most games, but PlatinumGames’ one-of-a-kind exercise in narrative structure makes that journey thrilling from start to finish. Tasked with saving a post-war planet from machine forces, it’s as dynamic as it is compelling, packed start-to-finish with varied gameplay approaches that range from third-person hack-and-slash action to top-down bullet hell battles. It's exactly the sort of exciting experiment synonymous with the PS1 era, making Nier Automata a perfect fit for this list.
35. Burnout 3: Takedown
Crash, bang, wallop. Criterion’s Burnout 3: Takedown looked at what Polyphony was doing with simulation racing in Gran Turismo and took things as far to the other end of the scale as possible. With just as much heavy emphasis placed on ramming into your rivals as speeding past them, driving games have rarely been as fun as they were in Takedown on the PS2. And that’s without even mentioning Crash Mode, an all-timer of a mode designed around creating the biggest wrecks possible.
34. Dishonored 2
If clockwork-like intricacy and artistic elegance is what you’re searching for in a game, then look no further than Arkane’s beautiful supernatural assassin sim, Dishonored 2. It’s a PlayStation-friendly gateway to the player-driven ideals of early 2000s PC gaming, powered by wickedly smart level design that allows you to approach and execute your targets in any way you see fit. Going stealthy or stabby is just the first choice, and Dishonored 2’s world reacts appropriately to every single decision you make.
33. Okami
There’s a reason why Clover Studio is remembered so fondly even decades after it was disbanded. The Capcom subsidiary behind games like Viewtiful Joe and Godhand created some of the most wildly creative and beautiful games for the PlayStation, but none of its titles are quite so beloved as Okami. The cel-shaded art style that renders mythological Japan will be forever beautiful, and the iconic paintbrush mechanic that brings brushstrokes to life still feels like pure magic. We miss you every day Clover Studio.
32. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
Although Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater made an important mark on PlayStation, it’s the sequel that took the series to the next level, birthing the generation of extreme sports video games that followed. Where Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 excels is its ability to push beyond being an excellent sports game. It established a reasonably complex formula of combos, puzzles and collectables, all wrapped within a 2-minute time constraint. It demands to be endlessly replayed, and when you’re doing that in some of the most iconic locations ever committed to a sports game, it’s hard to resist. THPS 2 vitally helped extend the combo by adding in the (frankly essential) manual system, pairing that with its superior soundtrack and vastly improved level design ensures it’s the second in the series that ollies over its peers.
31. Final Fantasy 10
Final Fantasy 10 is perhaps the best example of how the PS2's DVD drive revolutionised console gaming. Thanks to the discs’ vastly higher storage capacity, FF10 was able to be both the first full 3D and fully-voiced game in the series, resulting in an experience notably more cinematic than its PS1 predecessors. Combined with dozens of beautifully rendered cutscenes, FF10's story is granted an enhanced level of emotion and intimacy – a vital thing considering the romance between characters Tidus and Yuna that acts as the game’s soulful heart. This, along with rock-solid turn-based combat and a bright, fascinating world, makes Tidus’ journey arguably the last truly essential Final Fantasy game.
30. Suikoden 2
It’s no surprise Nintendo was the dominant console for JRPGs during the early '90s, but when PlayStation launched the landscape changed dramatically. This was in part due to Square's Final Fantasy and Chrono series coming to Sony's console (both also features in this list), but also Konami’s beloved Suikoden games. Their storytelling, especially in Suikoden 2, was a notable highlight, filled with depth, emotion, and characters so wonderfully realised you couldn’t help but fall in love with them. It’s those connections that make Suikoden 2 so fondly remembered today as it was 25 years ago.
29. Resident Evil
It’s hard to imagine what video game horror would look like without the arrival of Resident Evil. The first in the long-running (and extremely successful) series arrived on PlayStation in 1996, letting players explore the zombie-infested, puzzle-riddled Spencer Mansion, and it’s fair to say the survival horror genre hasn’t looked back since. Although primitive by today’s standards, Resident Evil set the mould for everything that followed - the isolation, the limited resources, the relentless sense of dread, and the jump scares. The formula has since been regularly improved upon and the original is arguably weaker than most of its sequels, but none of Raccoon City's later highs would have been possible without the progenitor. Its importance to the genre (and PlayStation) is unquestionable.
28. Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect 2’s achievements are well known – with its A-tier companions, an unrivalled sense of urgency in its story, and reactive decision making, it’s BioWare’s finest hour. Less documented is Mass Effect 2’s journey to PlayStation, during which the series broke free from the shackles of Microsoft exclusivity a year after ME2’s launch on Xbox 360. PS3 players were asked to jump into the middle chapter of a trilogy without having played its predecessor, using an interactive comic to catch up on the story. It was an awkward transition, but one players happily endured in order to play one of the best RPGs ever made.
27. Tekken 3
Both Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat dominated the fighting game space in the '90s, but neither was synonymous with the PlayStation brand in quite the same way as Tekken, the new up-and-comer that (along with Virtua Fighter) established and cemented the 3D fighter. There are many contenders for the best Tekken game on PlayStation, and we’d especially like to shout out PlayStation 2 launch game, Tekken Tag Tournament. But for our money, Tekken 3 - the first outing for legendary characters like Jin Kazama and Eddy Gordo - will always stand tall as the true king of the Iron Fist Tournament.
26. God of War Ragnarok
It was no easy task for Sony Santa Monica to follow up its 2018 Norse masterpiece, but with God of War Ragnarok it succeeded to almighty effect. While not telling as tight a story, the sprawling PS5 sequel evolved Kratos’ bone-crushing combat even further, adding a creative new weapon to his arsenal that reflected his past life in a poignant, yet delightfully brutal manner. Dealing with everything from familial friction to the literal end of the world, the ambition on show is staggering, making it all the more impressive that it pulled it off and remains one of this generation’s finest games.
25. Persona 5 Royal
Just take a quick glance at one of its eye-catching menus or listen to five seconds of its acid jazz soundtrack and you’ll quickly realise that no PlayStation game possesses more style than Persona 5 Royal. A 100-hour rollercoaster ride through modern Tokyo and its darker parallel metaverse, the Royal version enhances the original Persona 5 by adding an extra chapter and gameplay tweaks to an already stellar RPG. It’s a flashy, fun foray into the hearts of the worst people encountered by the Phantom Thieves; a group of teenagers pulling off Inception-like heists using monsters pocked along the way. Your gang of heroes must do all that while also managing the delicate bonds created in its high school setting. Incredibly exciting from start to finish, it cemented Atlus as one of the all-time great RPG studios.
24. Resident Evil 4 (2023)
Remake Resident Evil 2? Sure, why not. Resident Evil 3? Haven’t seen that one around for a while. But remaking Resident Evil 4? Doesn’t that feel too soon? Isn’t Resident Evil 4 already perfect? Well, it turns out you can teach an old dog new tricks. Capcom decided to tackle the seemingly impossible task of remaking one of the greatest video games of all time. Rather than a beat-for-beat remake, Capcom took some ingenious liberties with its RE4 remake, doubling down on the horror and losing some of the campier elements of the original. It still strikes that perfect balance between scares and action, but the PlayStation 2 horror classic may just have been usurped with its newest version.
23. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Ah sh*t, here we go again. Another Grand Theft Auto entry finds its way onto this list. GTA: San Andreas displayed a new level of ambition from Rockstar as it looked to evolve the open-world series in the PS2's twilight years. A mammoth-sized map for the mid 2000s included three entire cities and miles of countryside in between, with every square inch of it acting as the playground for Carl “CJ” Johnson as he navigated the gang warfare and police corruption plaguing his home state. Experimenting with new life sim-esque mechanics and a satirisation of more mature topics (amongst the gimp costumes and comical dildo fights), it signaled the direction that Rockstar would take as it moved into the HD generation.
22. Portal 2
Tucked away in 2007's Orange Box bundle was a small little, inter-dimensional puzzle game called Portal. It was fun, created a few memes, had a great song. End of story, right? Well, for Portal 2, developer Valve decided a fun distraction wasn’t enough. Along with a much more comprehensive story and more ingenious puzzles for the sequel, Valve doubled down on the fun with one of the best co-op modes ever made for a puzzle game, or any game for that matter.
21. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Call of Duty’s first venture into a contemporary setting couldn’t have gone much better. A memorable globe-trotting campaign packed with instant-classic missions such as All Ghilled Up, combined with a multiplayer suite of maps and a progression system that would go on to define a generation of shooters, Modern Warfare changed the game when it burst onto the PS3 in 2007.
Come back tomorrow when we'll be counting all the way down to 1 on the 100 Best PlayStation Games.
