The Best Games For PlayStation 5
From the wow-inducing “NBA 2K21” to the new “Spider-Man” title.
You have your shiny new PlayStation 5 and a cool TV to play it on, but what games should you hit first? What games will allow you to take advantage of all those exciting new features and really show off what your new hardware can do? We have a list here of a few of our favorites that excel at maximizing the potential of the new hardware.
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
One of the biggest games of the PS4 era gets a mini-sequel with Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales. One of the first big exclusive games for the PS5, Miles Morales sets an example of what is possible with the new hardware. The game uses the extra horsepower of the PS5 to increase graphical quality, and it also adds in Ray Tracing technology.
The use of Ray Tracing allows for true and perfect reflections of the world around you, so every building you cling two shows a real reflection, rather than a “faked” one. The result is a world that feels more natural and lived in. Miles Morales also leverages the new adaptive trigger tech in the PS5 DualSense controller.
Demon’s Souls
One of the hidden gems of the PS3-era was the brutally difficult Demon’s Souls. The game that kicked off the “Souls” craze here in the west, the FromSoftware original gets a full overhaul for the PS5. It takes the classic game’s mechanics and design ideas, and translates it into a modern and gorgeous retelling of the original.
The game is overly punishing in its design and combat, but nothing on sale today looks quite as interesting. If you can manage to fight your way through the game’s punishing enemies, you will be rewarded with a true next-generation visual presentation.
Astro’s Playroom
This is the game that came installed on your PS5, and if you don’t play it you are missing out. It looks like a cute and simple platforming game, but the true purpose of Astro’s Playroom is to demonstrate the power of the new DualSense controller. The DualSense is packed full of the most advanced haptic feedback systems ever featured on a console. This means that instead of basic vibration function, the PS5 controller can “describe” the way things feel through pure vibration. It sounds weird, but it gives the kind of tactile feedback that can only really be experienced.
Playing through Astro’s Playroom, you can close your eyes and using just the vibrations of the controller you can tell what kind of surface Astro is walking across. It is unclear how many games are going to make full use of the DualSense controller, but games like Astro prove that this controller could be the most next-generation thing about any new console.
NBA 2K21
If you just want a game that makes you go “wow” every time you turn it on, check out NBA 2K21. The NBA series from 2K has always pushed the boundaries of visual fidelity, and the newest game is no exception. If you need to see just one game that really shows you how the new consoles can improve graphics, this is the game to do it.
Every character looks more realistic, the lighting is better than ever, and the crowds and on-court characters are more varied and dense than ever before. Seriously, this game is unbelievably good looking.