The 25 best PS4 games

Who’d have thunk digital childhood trauma could be so entertaining? This ace procedurally-generated dungeon crawler is fiendishly funny and scorchingly difficult. It also boasts a hugely endearing art style. A roguelike from the twisted mind behind Super Meat Boy, Isaac is wonderfully depraved and, well, just downright wonderful. An oozing, squelchy descent into hell, it someone manages to make a poignant commentary on parental neglect, all the while making you fight bosses sporting unborn foetal growths. Whether you pick up on the dark subtext or not, the actual shooting is top notch and the humour hilariously deviant. Good, clean (alright, filthy) fun.

Black Ops 3 is an admirably weird entry in the unstoppable franchise. There’s something for every flavour of COD fan, with an intriguingly bonkers story that you can tackle in four-player co-op or solo, a fully (rotting) fleshed-out Zombies mode that takes place inside an entire open-city, and the still criminally addictive online multiplayer with all its perks and Cyber Core abilities and insane weaponry. Also, Jeff Goldblum is in zombies mode, which automatically secured the game’s place on this list.

PES 2016 takes what made the previous year's standout title and brings even better animations and passing, and improved feature set, and outstanding visuals. It offers a masterful football experience that improves on the PES 2015 formula. The Master League mode has been much improved over the previous year's outdated feature. The control mechanics are top notch, treating you to a sumptuous passing game of football, where each player feels like a real individual.  Though the presentation doesn't meet every expectation, there are still some cracking player models in there. A true champion on the pitch.

An innovative take on the classic peripheral design might’ve been enough to convince us there’s still greatness in the series, but that would be unfair to the beautifully designed GHTV and its constant stream of songs. Sure, Rock Band offers a more polished, all-round experience, but it lacks the accessibility of Guitar Hero and the raft of tracks you’ll play via GHTV. Plus, the songs here are a little more catchy. It’s only the slightly weird ‘token’ system that sullies an otherwise great music game. Clear the lounge, it’s time to rock.

Following closely on the action-RPG heels of Geralt of Rivia (who has since returned in Witcher 3), BioWare’s third trip to Thedas conjures something truly special. Dragon Age: Inquisition has improved combat; an ace cast of characters; a semi-open world full of emergent gameplay; an epic story. The list goes on. What’s more, there are some genuinely tough choices to be made in this game (not just who you decide to try and sex-up), which draws you even further into the narrative. Oh, and dragons. There are proper, scary, bastard-hard dragons too.

Once destined to live its life as a PS Move curio on PS3, Supermassive Games’ ode to the teen slasher movie has emerged on PS4 with a rusty, bloody axe in one hand and a rather nasty looking set of consequence-based choices in the other. The real beauty of Until Dawn is in a) the well-crafted, largely flawed cast of characters, and b) the horrific ends that they meet at the hands of the antagonist(s). In other words, you’ll want most of them to die sticky deaths, and although saving each one is a fun challenge, it’s an accepted and enjoyable nod to horror tropes when they get executed in the most gruesome fashion.

In a gaming landscape dominated by mindless violence and blabbering idiots this wordless walkabout stands tall in red robes. Journey is all about joining an online stranger and going for a wander, exploring a beautiful sandy world together in quiet awe. The more time you spend in Journey, getting to know its secrets and quirks, the more entertaining it becomes. And have you seen it? Despite being a PS3 port, it still looks amazing and stands up next to the best on PS4.

Capturing everything that made the shoot-‘em-ups of old so compelling and combining it with a sumptuous voxel-based visual presentation, Resogun should come with a health warning that reads ‘This game will consume your every waking moment’. At any rate, it’ll certainly obliterate your sleeping patterns; just try to peel yourself away from its high score challenges after that 72nd ‘one last go’. Even if chasing scores isn’t your thing, the game’s sumptuous controls, striking crumbling cities and ear-enchanting techno tunes are sure to appeal. Undoubtedly the star of PS4’s early launch lineup and a game that shows Sony’s indie charm offensive is working a treat.

What remains to be said about the game that awoke our long-dormant fantasies of playing Bear Grylls lost in a Lego wilderness? Perhaps just this: despite the knee-jerk outpouring of imitators, Minecraft still offers the most empowering and malleable survival experience on PS4. Whether you view it as an apparatus with which to build a 1:1 scale replica of your office block, a pig farming simulator, a first-person shooter or simply a whole bunch of blocks on which to place TNT for kicks, Notch's playbox has you covered. This iconic build-’em-up benefits massively from PS4’s additional power and gives you a creative playground 36 times the size of that on PS3 in which to build.

The sublime writing and pacing of this episodic narrative will have you agonising over choices, and then marvelling at their flawless integration. Life is Strange starts off as a fairly innocuous teen-life simulator and throughout the episodes transforms into something… very different. To quote heroine Max’s BFF Chloe, it’s “hella” good, and certainly a lot darker than you may initially think. In an ironic nod to the lead character’s ability to rewind time - you’ll wish you could play it all over again for the first time.

If you somehow missed the trilogy on PS3 then this excellent remaster - The Nathan Drake Collection - should be your next purchase. While the original game hasn’t aged too well, Uncharted 2 and 3 hold up extremely well, especially with the slight visual upgrade. There’s heaps of value here too, with three full stories to play through. Nathan Drake is PlayStation’s biggest hero, and no PS4 owner should skip his collection, especially with Uncharted 4 on the horizon.

You haven’t lived until you’ve enjoyed a four-player free-for-all in this instant couchplay classic. There's a level of depth to TowerFall Ascension's arena-based archery bouts that continues to surprise, delight, and forces you to evolve your play style practically every time you go back to it. And you'll go back to it a lot. The solo campaign is an enjoyable sideshow and an opportunity to hone your skills, but almost nothing beats the arrow-grabbing, death-defying last-second kills of local multiplayer mayhem. Best of all, the replay function shows you that maelstrom of pixels in ultra-satisfying slow-mo after each round-ending kill.

Seemingly the result of an improbable dare issued to Creative Assembly, Alien: Isolation not only allied itself with the erstwhile toxic Aliens license but threw gunplay out of the window almost entirely. Instead, the game is a perpetual cat-and-mouse game between the under-equipped player and their xenomorph pursuer. A brave and exceptionally well-crafted first-person horror, Alien Isolation allows you to explore Ridley Scott’s original vision of a horror-tinged future in startling fidelity with an attention to detail that borders on the obsessive. It’s time to remember what made the xenomorph so scary in the first place... and then get killed by it.

Weighed down by a litany of server malfunctions, Driveclub sank like a particularly shiny stone at release. But developer Evolution Studios wasn't about to give up on its motoring labour of love - in the months between then and now the game's been stabilised, expanded and transformed by a steady stream of updates and DLC. Today, Driveclub delivers and even exceeds its promise: a coming together of fanatical graphical detail, a pleasing handling model and social features you’ll actually appreciate. The competition isn’t exactly fierce on PS4 for Evolution Studios’ current-gen racer, but it crushes the rivals nonetheless.

Hitting PS4 with the atomic force of a Fat Boy, Fallout 4’s excellent gunplay and crafting systems can trigger a nasty case of RPG-itis. There’s so much to do and see here, and quite often you’ll set off to complete a mission and get completely side-tracked when you find something wonderful/horrific along the way. Giving the main character a proper voice adds an extra layer of polish to proceedings, and the expanded set of companions and customisation options are very welcome too. It’s not without its faults (or vaults), but the scale of Bethesda’s wasteland will keep you bunkered down for weeks.

Like a full-bodied Stilton, this modern master-piece just gets stronger with age. The Last of Us Remastered is a starkly brutal, emotionally-honest take on the end of the world, Naughty Dog’s stealth shooter is quite simply one of the best written, most wryly-paced video games ever. With the jump to (a mostly stable) 60fps on PS4, TLOU has never been sharper to play or more devastating to watch. Whether refining the undead or redefining what a game script can be, this is Naughty Dog at the peak of its powers. And with Left Behind bundled in, you’re also being treated to arguably the finest slice of DLC in PlayStation history.

Blurring the lines between single-player shooting and co-op camaraderie, Bungie has created an epic MMO hybrid built on incredibly fluid firefights. The first 20 hours and a relatively disappointing ‘campaign’ eventually blossom into the real Destiny; a near infinite end-game of Raids, Nightfall Strikes and chasing delicious Exotic gear. In the Vault of Glass Raid, Destiny may well play host to the most expertly designed, sustained shooting gallery on PS4. Couple that with the wonderfully balanced Crucible PvP and the insatiable desire to keep improving your Titans’ gear and this is an essential experience with friends and the perfect platform for PS4’s social features.

The magic of Grand Theft Auto 5 - our favourite PS3 game - and it's reappearance on current-gen hardware isn’t in the improved textures, shinier cars or even the brilliantly executed new first-person mode. It’s in the way each addition and improvement combines to enthral and seduce you all over again to sink another blissful 50 hours into Los Santos without it ever feeling like a re-run. Also: an unhealthy dose of first-person cat-stomping. If tabby-kicking isn’t your thing, GTA: Online – with its mega online Heists and improved character creator – is sure to gets it claws into you. Quite simply the definitive edition of the greatest open-world game ever made.

Konami might try and scrub Hideo Kojima’s name from the ultimate in tactical espionage action, but it’ll never remove his fingerprints. While retaining that distinct storytelling and sense of wonder that defines the Metal Gear series, MGS5 offers a level of freedom and creativity unheard of in any sandbox. It’s something to be explored for days, weeks, months - each little secret and hidden slice of gameplay just waiting to be found and to make players rethink the way they approach the game. Plus, it’s got a killer 80s soundtrack, and some wonderfully gruff voice-acting from Keifer Sutherland. Grand, majestic and bittersweet, this is an instant classic and the finest thing you can shove into your PS4.

Has PS4 delivered on all your wildest hopes and dreams? Not quite? Well, if you wait a bit there'll be plenty more to get excited for. There's bound to be a new entry in [insert your top franchise here] that'll blow your pants clean off. Like, you'll be without pants. Pantless. Where your pants once were, there will be a pile of PlayStation 4 games that you'll happily play (without leaving your house, because pants).

Think the grass might be greener on the other side? Check out the best Xbox One games and the best Wii U games.

A note on affiliates: some of our stories, like this one, include affiliate links to stores like Amazon. These online stores share a small amount of revenue with us if you buy something through one of these links, which helps support our work writing about games, movies, and TV.