Topic: New to PS5

Hello everyone!

I have just returned to the PlayStation fold after many years after getting a PS5 Slim with disc drive. I was last with Sony during the PS2 generation, when it was my main system until 2009. I have a lot of catching up to do!

I am fortunate enough to now own all three current consoles, so my question to you all is: what have I missed? With access to both PS4 and PS5 games, what exclusives should I be on the look out for?

As I have been an Xbox player since 2012 I’m sticking with the Series X for cross platform games, unless there is a significant reason to go for the Sony version such as additional features or price.

I’m not one for online play, so I am after single player titles that are exclusive to PS4 or PS5. I’m particularly fond of shooters, platformers, action and adventure titles. Blood and guts, bad language or controversial stories don’t bother me (I’m a big Resident Evil/Doom/Wolfenstein fan). I’m not a huge fan of ‘rogue-likes’ or ‘get good slog-a-thons’, though I will admit I haven’t tried anything like Dark Souls. I also really like more family friendly games as well, so Astrolab has been a great surprise with it’s similarity to Nintendo titles. As an old school PS2 player I’m also familiar with some legacy series as well, so if there are any sequels to old IP that are any good I’d love to hear about them.

@PeaceSalad thanks for the recommendation. A few of those were in my mind already. Given that it is going for a song now God of War is probably going to be my first pick up.

I’m interested in Last of Us, but the recent remaster is still pretty expensive. I’m not sure if it’s just worth going for the PS4 remaster instead, as it is much more reasonably priced. I already know the story and the division among fans with part 2, but I’m just in it for zombie slaying mayhem!

In a fairly similar boat myself, had a PS2, been Xbox since the 360, but got a PS5 recently for the exclusives... played/playing these, and loving them:

Astro Bot (and Astro's Playroom, in-built in your console)
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

@Gamecuber You should have a look at Days Gone, looks stunning on PS5. GOW:Ragnorak is on PS Plus in the coming month too. What about Heavy Rain, Detroit etc? Not sure they are all on XBOX if at all, not everyones cup of tea, but if they are you'll love them.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I’ve gone for God of War, as it was a reasonable price and I had a gift card lying around. Won’t be here for a few days so Astro’s Playroom will have to keep me going until then…

“ I’m particularly fond of shooters, platformers, action and adventure titles”

You missed out on the PS3 then. The PS3 arguably is the reason the PS4 and PS5 had easy success & laid the foundation with its exclusives and library that caters the most to your type

@nomither6 Don’t worry, I was well served with the Xbox 360 at the time. I stuck with Microsoft as my main as I have large library of games, but had the opportunity to get a PS5 for peanuts with some game trade ins. Now I’m looking to explore the exclusives that were unavailable to me previously.

@Gamecuber oh , well in that case astrobot & ratchet are some platformers it has; GoW reboot seems to be popular & more loved than the originals. Days Gone seems to be having a redemption arc among gamers these days, Returnal is probably underrated (i haven’t played it yet myself, but want to). There’s also Uncharted 4, TLOU series, Infamous Second Son & Spiderman .

@Gamecuber I’m a little late to reply, but this is one of my favorite topics because it prompts me to take an enjoyable sentimental journey back through my PS3-PS5 memories. It’s also exciting to see new players get to enjoy a treasure trove of games that are all new to them.

I’m not as familiar with shooters and platformers, but as @PeaceSalad said, PlayStation is home to the best in action-adventure.

To start, I’m going to say that you may want to subscribe to PS+ Extra. I know that subscription services are felt by some (especially in the PlayStation community) to be a blight upon the industry. So if you have personal opposition or a moral objection to subs, then ignore this, but as far as getting the ‘most bang for your buck’ (as we say in the states), you’re the ideal audience for PS+ Extra and will get enormous value. A year subscription is around $140. It’s the monetary equivalent to buying around 4-6 games, depending.

The following are some highly recommended PlayStation exclusives which are all available on PS+ Extra (roughly listed in order of preference and consideration):

• TLoU Part I Remake
• Shadow of Colossus Remake
• The Last Guardian
• Spider-Man Miles Morales
• God of War (2018) and GoW: Ragnarok
• Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut (has a sequel coming out this year)
• Uncharted 4/Lost Legacy - The Legacy of Thieves Collection, PS5 Remakes (Although I definitely recommend playing UC 1-3 first, which are not on the service)
• R&C Rift Apart (Might want to play the Ratchet & Clank PS4 reboot first if you’re not familiar with the IP)
• Days Gone
• Death Stranding Director’s Cut (has a sequel coming out this year)
• Detroit Become Human
• Final Fantasy 7 Remake (sequel Rebirth is a recent release)
• Infamous Second Son and Infamous First Light
• Sackboy: A Big Adventure
• Gravity Rush 2
• Until Dawn (PS4 version, but the PS5 remake isn’t worth the upgrade according to reviews)
• Concrete Genie

Also here’s a few which fall within the ‘get-good-a-thons’ PS+ also has, if you feel daring:

• Demon’s Souls Remake
• Returnal
• Bloodborne

Add to that the large number of multi-platform games also on there like Witcher 3, Hollow Knight, Doom Eternal, Celeste, a bunch or Assassins Creed games, etc. and you have more than you can ever get to within a years time.

As far as games to also look at which are not in the PS+ Extra catalogue:

• Uncharted Nathan Drake Collection (which includes UC1-3)
• TLoU Part 2 (obviously only after playing Part I)
• Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2
• Ratchet & Clank (2016)
• Gran Turismo 7
• Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West
• Heavy Rain (if you end up liking Detroit Become Human, a similar game by the same studio)
• The Order 1886

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If you want to be more up-to-date, the hottest console exclusives over the last year are: Stellar Blade, Helldivers 2, Silent Hill 2, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Final Fantasy XVI, Rise of the Ronin, Astro Bot, and Black Myth: Wu Kong. But you have such an enormous back catalogue to choose from, you can probably spend the next couple years catching up and getting older games for cheaper. But if any of those catch your eye and you have $70 to spare, you can keep up with the latest. Personally I think it would be good to play some of the back catalogue first, and perhaps target Ghost of Tsushima and Death Stranding early on, and that way you’re ready to jump into the fray with their respective sequels this year, if you’re the kind of person who likes to be in the current discussions.

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As an aside, if you’re strapped for cash, there’s quite a library of Free-to-play games on PS5, some of which are console exclusive such as:
Infinity Nikki, Zenless Zone Zero, Wuthering Waves, and Honkai Star Rail. The PlayStation fandom love these games. I can’t speak from experience about any of them though.

Regardless of your approach, you’ve got a wonderful journey ahead of you! Happy gaming and if you want further clarification on anything feel free to ask!

What have you missed since PS2? Good God.

You can usually pick up the Mass Effect trilogy for next to nothing. About fifteen Yakuza games, mostly available real cheap. Cyberpunk 2077 is my favourite game in ages. All the PlayStation first party stuff - Uncharted, Last of Us, Ghost of Tsushima, God of War, Spider-Man.

Imagine being away from PlayStation since PS2 and then being like, "What did I miss?"

You've basically woken up from a coma in the future surrounded by hundreds of amazing things to experience. Amazing stuff.

edit: Oh yeah I forgot Xbox existed. In my head I was picturing you playing nothing but Nintendo games, blissfully unaware of what was going on in gaming. Funny.

@johncalmc ‘’Oh yeah I forgot Xbox existed. In my head I was picturing you playing nothing but Nintendo games, blissfully unaware of what was going on in gaming. Funny.’’

In that case I’d be asking questions like ‘What is this 4K that everyone speaks of?’ or ‘Oh, HDR! I’ve got some of their albums!’😂

@Th3solution wow! That’s a lot of suggestions. Thanks!

I’m going to be following a few simple rules with PlayStation:

1) Exclusives only (I’ll consider multiplatform titles if there is a good reason over the Xbox version, such as price or performance).
2) Physical only. I have a nasty habit of buying digital titles on a whim and never actually playing them. I’ve fallen into that trap on both Xbox and Switch so I’m trying to avoid it a third time.
3) Avoid subscriptions. I’m pretty sick of them now and although Game Pass was great when I it first came out I found that I wasn’t making much use of it enough to warrant the price. There are some nostalgia titles for PS1/2 on there but I could always break out my PS2 to play those; I kept all my games from back in the day.

@Herculean Ghosts is also on my list to look into. I’m starting off with PS4 games that I’ve never had chance to play, as I can find them for between £10-£15. With PS5 games I’m going to have to be very selective, as I’m seeing them for £35-£50. It’s not that I couldn’t afford them occasionally, but it’s hard to justify paying that much (and I pride myself on never paying full price unless I have to).

@Gamecuber 😂 Sorry to overwhelm. I tend to do that. And as far as avoiding subscriptions, no problem - I understand. You’ll fit it really nicely with the PlayStation enthusiast crowd! A lot of folks here are staunch advocates for physical media.

I do like my PS+ sub but I also very much buy physical games also. I have a smorgasbord of digital, physical, and subscription games in my library.

But as far as my post with all the games listed, the recommendations are still valid, even in a purchase environment. All bulleted games are exclusives, I’m pretty sure. At least console exclusives (not counting PC ports).

Many have been mentioned before, but I do think that if you have a love for things PS2, then you should give the two Team Ico games a try, as they are different from all the pew-pew games out there. As much as I love TLoU, Uncharted, Spider-Man, GoW, GoT, DS…. I still consider Shadow of the Colossus to be my favorite game of all time.

@Gamecuber You can usually buy the classic games offered on PS Plus Premium from the PS Store. They do also come with some modern tweaks such as save states and trophies.

@JohnnyShoulder good to know. It looked like they were subscription only from a glance. Will look in more detail later.

@breakneck thanks for the heads up. Dino Crisis was a game (along with the OG Resident Evil) I played on my laptop (!) back in the very early 2000s. I have both on PS1 disc but I’ve downloaded them on PS5. The upscaling and save states are a welcome addition to both.

@Gamecuber Let us know how you get on with it, as it was one of my faves when I played it as a kid.

@breakneck thanks! I went and downloaded Resident Evil Director’s cut and Dino Crisis. A lot of nostalgia for them, though I actually played both on my laptop way back when!

As a quick update I’m really enjoying God of War and my kids like Ratchet and Clank. I managed to snag a code for Spiderman Remastered online for less than 50% of the going rate on the PlayStation Store. Seeing it is a digital only game it seemed a good time to grab it at a discount. Seems I will be rather busy for a while with these three games…