Ranking the 13 Best PlayStation Games Of All Time

I honestly don't think there are many 3D platform games better than Astro Bot in recent years. The gameplay is fun, super responsive, has gorgeous visuals, creative and memorable levels inspired by some of PlayStation’s greatest, and it arguably takes advantage of the DualSense’s haptic feedback and adaptive triggers better than any other game. Astro Bot will no doubt go down as a timeless classic for all ages.

It’s a gruelling task trying to pick out the best game ever by FromSoftware. However, seeing as I’m sticking to mostly first-party titles, this decision became much easier. Bloodborne has all the challenging NPCs, hard-as-nails boss fights, and subtle lore story details that any fan of Dark Souls and Elden Ring would appreciate.

However, there was just something special about the gothic location of Yharnam that made Bloodborne stand out from all the other fantastic FromSoftware offerings. If only Sony and FromSoftware would give us that elusive sequel or remake.

While Capcom didn't create the survival horror genre, it certainly helped propel the genre into the mainstream, which would later inspire developers for many years with the release of Resident Evil. Grotesque monsters, a conspiracy to uncover, challenging puzzles, exploration and wonderfully cheesy one-liners delivered by Barry Burton. Resident Evil has it all.

To be honest, I almost chose RE2, my favourite game of all time, but with 2026 being the 30th anniversary of the Resident Evil series, I felt compelled to go with the title that started it all, on this occasion.

I was torn between Capcom’s Devil May Cry for this slot, but of course, I went with Santa Monica Studios’ God of War. From the get-go, it became clear that Kratos would become one of the greatest anti-heroes of all time.

Kratos is incredibly selfish and brutal, and no one will get in his way when it comes to getting revenge on all the Gods of Olympus after his father, Zeus, tricked him into cruelly slaying his family. Talk about a prank gone wrong. On top of that, God of War has fun, high-octane gameplay, epic boss fights, and it looks incredible to boot.

Up until this point, the original PlayStation wasn't really known for its racing sims, and for the most part, gamers had fun arcade racers such as Ridge Racer and The Need for Speed. Gran Turismo was an absolute blast to play and was unlike anything many Sony gamers had ever experienced.

Gran Turismo has challenging courses where just one mistake could cost you the race, AI drivers that would push you to the limit, in-depth car customisation, a fantastic soundtrack and more. Many would rightly consider Gran Turismo to be the G.O.A.T of racing sims.

I remember playing Journey quite some time after its launch. I’m pretty sure it was included in PlayStation Plus around its launch, which is probably why I played it, and boy, was I pleased that I got to experience this joy.

Journey is an adventure game that was typically not my cup of tea, especially as it had no combat, and before you label this as a “walking simulator”, that would be giving this masterpiece a huge disservice. It’s hard to explain how stunning this game is without giving anything away. So, please, trust me, if you’ve never played this game, you need to change that ASAP. It may only take a couple of hours to finish, but it will be a journey you’ll never forget.

To say that LittleBigPlanet was ahead of its time would be an understatement. This was not only our introduction to the lovable mascot, Sackboy, but it also provided gamers with incredible tools, allowing them to create amazing platforming levels with intuitive puzzles to share with other players across the world.

Creative tools of this level should not have existed on the PS3. On top of that, its gameplay was awesome, it looked fantastic, and it oozed endless charm. It’s just a shame that it seems like this amazing IP has been long-forgotten by Sony. Can someone please revive this series?

I nearly went with the 2004 movie tie-in, Spider-Man 2 from Treyarch. But instead went with Insomniac Games’ offering on the PlayStation 4. No game, in my opinion, captured the essence of both Peter Parker and Spider-Man more than this.

As Peter Parker, we got to know more about this unassuming, polite teen genius, who just wanted to be kind and do right for his fellow neighbour. Then we had the friendly-neighbourhood hero, and somewhat cocky webs-slinger.

Marvel’s Spider-Man had fun combat akin to Batman: Arkham Asylum, a great sense of exploration throughout Manhattan, charming NPCs, ruthless villains, gorgeous visuals and the best web-slinging I have ever experienced in a video game. Marvel’s Spider-Man is one of the best superhero games you’ll ever play.

This legendary Konami title let the creative juices of Hideo Kojima flow, and you could argue that it solidified putting the famed developer on the map. Intense stealth espionage, gripping action, an emotionally driven story, immersive cinematic cutscenes and a superb voice cast. Metal Gear Solid is yet another timeless classic, and a game that, despite its now outdated visuals, still holds up today.

For this entry, I’ll go for the 2018 remake of Shadow of Colossus from Bluepoint Games, rather than the PlayStation original from 2005. The reason being, is that the remake took what made the OG so great, but improved its visuals and gameplay, a template of how a remake should be done.

The word “masterpiece” gets thrown around a lot, and I’ve already used it at least once in this article. However, Shadow of the Colossus is deserving of that acclaim. Without giving too much away, you’re tasked with slaying colossal creatures to bring back the person you love. However, as the story progresses, you’ll soon realise that all is not what it seems. Trust me, by the time its story is over, Shadow of the Colossus will have you crying like a newborn baby.

I nearly went with the original Silent Hill that was released on the PlayStation in 1999, but instead, I went with its sequel, a game by many considered to be the greatest horror game of all time. Konami’s Silent Hill franchise is a very different type of survival horror from Capcom’s Resident Evil.

Don’t get me wrong, Resident Evil has its fair share of psychological horror, but it leans more into Hollywood-esque action. Whereas the “protagonists” in Silent Hill are, for the most part, incompetent in combat situations by design, but the psychological horror is cranked up to its maximum.

Again, without giving too much away, in Silent Hill 2, you play as James Sunderland. After receiving a letter from his dead wife, he returns to their special place. Silent Hill. Its story has so many twists and turns, monsters that are so disturbing, you’ll be questioning what’s real. By its conclusion, it will leave you gobsmacked and eager to restart a new run as soon as the current one is finished. Oh, and be sure not to overlook the brilliant 2024 remake from Bloober Team.

I could have gone with the 2022 remake on PlayStation 5, but in this instance, I’ll go with the entry that pushed the ageing PS3 to its absolute limits when The Last of Us graced us with its presence in 2013.

It would be easy to dismiss Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us as just another zombie game, but that would be an injustice. Set in a post-apocalyptic world plagued by the cordyceps fungal outbreak that rapidly turns humans into savage, mind-controlled vessels whose sole purpose is to spread the virus, and nothing more.

Outside of a world falling apart is a man named Joel Miller, a once caring family man, whose life changed following a tragic incident during the opening moments of the outbreak. Joel is a man who refuses to get close to avoid heartbreak and has done cruel things to survive in this harsh new world. However, when a young teenage girl, Ellie Williams, arrives in his life, she goes from simply being cargo to someone that reminded him of what it was like to be a father, and he will protect her at all costs.

The 13th and final entry on this list is another classic from Naughty Dog. To be honest, I probably could have gone with any one game from this series, and it would have been just as valid as Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.

I think most who have played this critically acclaimed sequel would probably agree that it has one of the best opening moments of any video game in history. The game begins with Nathan Drake, fighting for his life, frantically climbing up a crashed train carriage over a mountain.

You have no idea how Nathan got himself in this situation (that’s explained later in the game), but it was the perfect introduction to set the tone of all the over-the-top blockbuster action that’s still to come. Even though this game is 17 years old at the time of writing, it still holds up today from a visual, gameplay and storytelling perspective. In my opinion, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is the G.O.A.T of this series.