Best PS5 Games On PS Plus

In June 2022 in North America, Sony launched a revamped version of PlayStation Plus that combines the previous model with PS Now. Split into three tiers, subscribers who invest in PS Plus Extra or Premium gain access to a wide selection of PlayStation games. While the library has hundreds of PS4 titles, it also includes quite a few PlayStation 5 releases, something PS Now did not offer.

With each new month of additions, PS Plus Extra adds a couple of PS5 titles, ensuring the library continues to expand. So far, the selections have been decent, and they have arguably been getting better as the current generation progresses. Consequently, what are the best PS5 games on PS Plus Extra?

Updated November 13, 2024: This month’s PS Plus Essential games are available for a few more weeks, so subscribers should pick them up while they are part of the service.

1 Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged & Ghostwire: Tokyo (PS Plus Essential For November 2024)

Two Fun Games That Are Solid Additions To Any Library

• 	Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged	Ghostwire: Tokyo
  Released	2023-10-19	2022-03-25
  Developer(s)	Milestone	Tango Gameworks
  Genre(s)	Racing	Action, Adventure
  How Long To Beat	8 Hours	11 Hours

PS Plus Essential’s monthly games are not that big of a deal nowadays, and they are usually not as exciting as the Extra and Premium picks. That said, most months generally include pretty good games, be it annual sports titles or single-player experiences. Essential’s giveaways have the added benefit of being enduring additions to a player’s library that are not subject to eventual withdrawal, granting access whenever a subscription is active as long as someone remembers to “purchase” them during their month.

November 2024’s lineup will not go down as an all-time great, but it is decent. Death Note Killer Within was arguably the “biggest” arrival due to being a Day One debut, and the social deduction game is by no means bad. However, it is not going to be for everyone, and these online-only multiplayer games can have a short shelf-life if they fail to really ignite. Still, this is the best time to play Death Note Killer Within.

Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 and Ghostwire: Tokyo are just solid mid-tier releases. Sure, they might not be especially huge names, but they are both polished, entertaining, and offer 10+ hours of gameplay. They are also wildly different. The former is a racer with a well-done (but silly) campaign and a focus on multiplayer; meanwhile, the latter is a single-player open-world game that has a great horror-leaning setting. Even though Ghostwire: Tokyo‘s appeal is slightly hurt due to the fact it was previously available on PS Plus Extra, this Essential run grants players a chance to pick up the game if they had originally missed or skipped it.

2 Dead Island 2

A Gorefest Romp Through Zombie-Infested LA

Who does not enjoy slashing zombies to bits? Or, blasting them to smithereens? Dead Island 2 indulges in excess, delivering a consistently entertaining romp through a Los Angeles that has seen better days. The gameplay loop is quite straightforward, dropping players into semi-open but relatively linear areas and mostly just letting them kill everything that moves. Sure, there are some side quests, progression, and slayer classes, but they are not the focus or even a big part of the equation. No, Dead Island 2 is entirely about its combat and gore system.

Sometimes, simplicity is the best policy, and this sequel focuses on its strengths and minimizes any distractions. Consequently, if the gameplay does not click with someone within the first two hours or so, Dead Island 2 might not be for them. Conversely, if it clicks, it really clicks.

3 Two Point Campus

Back To University

Two Point Studios has a knack for creating life-consuming simulation games, and Two Point Campus builds smartly on Two Point Hospital‘s formula. As implied by the title, players are put in charge of running a university, which comes with plenty of decisions, both easy and hard.

Two Point Campus throws quite a lot of ideas, options, and mechanics at players, which can be overwhelming, especially for those who did not play its predecessor. However, it is all tight together with a lighthearted tone and solid instructions that should help beginners get started. Two Point Campus can be a massive time-sink, especially due to its sandbox mode that feels basically endless.

4 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Brilliant Writing, World-Building, Characters, And Nearly Everything Else

Released for the PS4 in 2015, The Witcher 3 made its way to the PS5 in 2022, and both versions are available on PS Plus. While the original iteration is still worth playing today, the PS5 update comes with an array of improvements and changes that, overall, amount to the definitive version of The Witcher 3, at least on consoles. Despite looking far better on current-gen hardware, this is still ultimately the same experience; therefore, people who already played through the 50+ hour campaign might not find much reason to sit through the same story for a second time. However, anyone who has yet to jump into CD Projekt Red’s masterpiece can now do so with far improved visuals, quality-of-life adjustments, and quicker load times.

Plainly put, The Witcher 3 is right up there with the greatest RPGs and open-world games of all time. While the main plot is good but not necessarily mind-blowing, the secondary content is regularly fantastic, telling gripping self-contained stories driven by well-developed NPCs and a fully realized world. The combat takes some getting used to and tends to be slightly polarizing, but it fits Geralt’s background and personality well.

5 Remnant 2

One Of The Best Co-Op Soulslikes (Especially For Shooter Fans)

Although hardly exhaustive, PS Plus has a respectable selection of Soulslike games. For the most part, these releases tend to lean heavily into close-quarters combat, with mage builds being viable in some projects; however, few games prioritize ranged action. Gunfire’s Remnant series is the definitive exception that blends the core Soulslike experience with third-person shooter gunplay, delivering experiences that bring out the best in both genres. While the first entry is not available, Sony’s service has the 2023 sequel, which surpasses its predecessor in most key areas.

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Remnant 2: 5 Overpowered Builds That Are A Lot Of Fun

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Remnant 2 feels big. The campaign is divided into worlds, with each one being fairly large, grandiose, and unique. Even the boss battles emphasize scale, including a particularly inspired encounter against a cube. Impactful and satisfying, the combat is accessible but challenging, and it is enhanced by build variety courtesy of archetypes and weapon modifications. As great as a solo run can be, Remnant 2 is made for co-op.

6 Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

A Pitch-Perfect Ratchet & Clank Adventure

Platformer

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Third-Person Shooter

Systems

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Released

June 11, 2021

ESRB

E10+ for Everyone 10+: Alcohol Reference, Animated Blood, Fantasy Violence

How Long To Beat

11 Hours

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Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart was one of the first projects to truly come across as a next-generation experience, and the game is still among the console’s standard-setters. Insomniac has been on fire over the last few years, and while Spider-Man has hogged most of the spotlight, the studio regularly produces the goods whenever it returns to its other flagship IP.

Rift Apart is, fundamentally, just another Ratchet & Clank adventure that delivers exactly what most fans have come to expect from the franchise. Along with stunning graphics, the game has fast-paced and satisfying gunplay, enjoyable platforming, lavish worlds, and charming characters. Although not lacking in new ideas, including the introduction of a second playable character, Rift Apart mainly seeks to perfect the formula rather than reinvent it. The result is a polished, confident, and delightful third-person shooter.

7 Ghost Of Tsushima: Director’s Cut

Immersive And Gorgeous Open-World PS5 Game

Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut

Action-Adventure

Open-World

Systems

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Released

August 20, 2021

ESRB

M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language, Partial Nudity

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How Long To Beat

30 Hours

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A highlight of the PS4’s final main year, Ghost of Tsushima quickly made its way to the PS5, offering a native version that comes packed with the expansion. Sucker Punch’s epic samurai adventure is a technological tour de force, delivering visuals that are consistently stunning. A lot has been stated about the graphics, but GoT‘s brilliance goes well beyond just a pretty exterior. An occasionally frustrating camera aside, the combat combines dodging, parrying, crowd management, ranged options, stealth, and stances to create an impressively deep system that is nevertheless accessible.

Narratively, GoT mostly hits the mark, even if the overall story does not hold too many surprises. With the Mongols taking over Tsushima Island, a samurai named Jin sets out to find allies, rescue his master, and reclaim their home. Most of the campaign is framed through Jin’s companions, who are generally more interesting than the protagonist. While following a fairly standard structure for the genre, the open-world benefits from consistently enjoyable side quests that emphasize the “common” people’s struggle to survive in this post-war setting.

8 Returnal

Intense And Addictive Roguelike Shooter

Systems

Released

April 30, 2021

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ESRB

T for Teen: Blood, Mild Language, Violence

How Long To Beat

20 Hours

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Housemarque’s Returnal is a sci-fi epic about Selene, a space traveler who visits a strange planet and becomes ensnared in a time loop. This plot point serves as narrative justification for the third-person shooter’s roguelike structure; as Selene explores Atropos’ six biomes, her demise will signal a return to the beginning.

Returnal has fantastic gameplay, which is hardly surprising considering the studio’s previous releases like Alienation. The story builds an engrossing sense of mystery while cleverly diving into Selene’s history and mental state.

9 Demon’s Souls

An Impressive Remake Of A PS3 Classic

Systems

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Released

November 12, 2020

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Violence

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How Long To Beat

23 Hours

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When the PlayStation 5 debuted, Bluepoint’s Demon’s Souls remake was the main reason to pick up the console. Since then Sony’s system has welcomed quite a few great projects, but this launch title continues to be one of the PS5’s crowning achievements.

FromSoftware’s 2009 original is also on PS Plus Premium, and as game-changing as that PS3 classic is, the remake’s improved gameplay and enhanced environments make it the version most worth playing on the subscription service.

10 Monster Hunter Rise

Fun Solo, Incredible Co-Op

Monster Hunter Rise started life on the Nintendo Switch, before eventually making its way to other ecosystems. While very popular in general, Capcom’s franchise is still relatively niche and can be intimidating for newcomers who have yet to hunt their first monster. Consequently, World and Rise seemed to be designed with the specific purpose of lowering the barrier for entry, providing an accessible experience that still preserves the typical Monster Hunter experience that long-time fans have come to expect. As the easiest core title in the series, Rise incorporates a relatively short “story” that teaches beginners the basics, all the while allowing veterans to skip this crash course and jump right into the Hub quests that are the real meat of the game.

Monster Hunter Rise is addictive, time-consuming, and an absolute blast. Now, the gameplay loop is pretty basic: hunt, loot, craft, hunt, loot, craft, and repeat for eternity. However, the combat offers a ton of customization options, including 14 weapon types that feel completely different from each other and require dozens upon dozens of hours to master. While the village story missions are single-player, the Hub quests support co-op, which is generally the “ideal” way to experience a hunt. That said, Rise is a blast even when played solo.

11 Animal Well

Puzzle-Metroidvania With Style

A pleasant surprise, Animal Well is an indie Metroidvania with a strong artistic identity, responsive platforming, and clever puzzles. Beyond the atmospheric visuals, the latter brain-teasers are the game’s main selling point, and every screen is a puzzle that requires utilizing a small assortment of tools in inspired ways to unlock doors and avoid threats (be it intimidating crows or a kangaroo). Putting aside fireworks that can stun or eliminate enemies, Animal Well is pretty much devoid of combat, with even boss fights being essentially puzzles with added steps and on a more epic scale.

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Animal Well Walkthrough

This Animal Well walkthrough will help players reach the end credits and explore the challenging puzzles that can be found beyond them.

While not extremely long, Animal Well is quite difficult in a few ways. More often than not, the puzzles require thinking outside the box, especially after the first hour of the campaign. Consequently, they can occasionally bring progression to a screeching halt, although they are satisfying to solve. The game does not provide much direction on where to go, leaving players to their own devices. That said, the map is quite detailed and helpful. Even if it might not be the biggest name ever, Animal Well is undoubtedly among the best PS5 PS Plus games and a must-play for anyone into puzzles or Metroidvanias.

12 Dave The Diver

Great Genre Blender With A Quirky Sense Of Humor

Dave the Diver follows, well, Dave as he dives into a magical sea in search of fish that can be turned into sushi for a restaurant he opened with a couple of friends. During the day, players explore the Blue Hole in search of living ingredients, and they have to make certain choices before they dive into the cold water. For one, Dave can only carry a limited loadout, meaning he has to preemptively pick between equipment suited for different fish, not knowing what he might find in the ever-changing Blue Hole. The daily dives can produce jaw-dropping vistas along with genuine terror (for Dave, the game is not remotely scary) and the occasional boss fight.

The management side of things also works well, even if it is a bit stripped down compared to games dedicated to the genre. Players have a fair degree of control over the restaurant’s processes, including hiring staff to ensure things keep running smoothly. Dave the Diver is not the greatest management sim out there, but it complements the exploration side of things well to create a satisfying whole.

13 Rogue Legacy 2

Roguelike With Great Combat And Visuals

On the surface, the sequel to 2013’s influential roguelite might not seem to take all that many risks as it largely sticks to the same core formula; however, Rogue Legacy 2 plays out like a perfected version of the original, which was and still is fantastic. As before, players are randomly assigned a class as they head into massive levels in search of loot and bosses. When death comes calling, they can pick from three new characters who will have different classes and personality traits. While they must start exploring from scratch, players can use their acquired loot to purchase upgrades, so they are not constantly returning to zero.

Rogue Legacy 2 emphasizes the differences between its classes way more than its predecessor, to the point that each one feels completely unique. Simply trying out the various options is fun, especially since most classes are fairly complex and take a while to master. Variety is also provided through the many traits, relics, and upgrades, all of which can greatly alter a build or run. The stages are expansive, ambitious, and detailed, ending with memorable boss fights that will test anyone’s skills.

14 Doom Eternal

Intense FPS With No Dull Moments

Premium subscribers can check out the classics, starting from the 1993 original release and concluding with Doom 3. Meanwhile, Doom Eternal is part of the Extra tier, along with its predecessor. Id Software knocked 2016’s Doom completely out of the park, and the developer could have simply opted to rethread the exact same ground for the sequel; thankfully, Doom Eternal carves its own identity.

While still ultimately the Doom everyone knows and loves, this entry shakes things up by emphasizing the Doom Slayer’s range of motion, even including things like a grappling hook. These abilities work beautifully within combat, providing players with more options than ever before. Even with a fairly forgiving dodge function, Doom Eternal still packs a considerable punch, especially since ammo is reasonably limited. The campaign does include a few polarizing platforming and traversal sections, but they do not take much away from the overall experience.

15 Humanity

Fascinating Puzzle Game

Debuting directly on PS Plus Extra, Humanity might not make as wide of a Day 1 splash as Stray, but the puzzle game is nonetheless a big get for Sony’s service. Cast as a dog that must shepherd humans across dozens upon dozens of levels, players spend their time setting up directions to try and keep the crowd safely moving along. Although this might sound simple in theory, Humanity consistently introduces new mechanics, ideas, and options to maintain a steady challenge.

Ultimately, this 2023 release is an acquired taste that won’t hit the spot with everyone; however, any fans of puzzle games should give it a look. Humanity has an eye-catching look, deceptively deep gameplay, and surprisingly intriguing themes, especially for its genre.

16 The Plucky Squire

A Day One Delight

OK, this one is slightly premature since The Plucky Squire has just come out, so this recommendation is based on limited playtime. Nevertheless, these types of Day One PS Plus debuts are rare and exciting, especially since this project attracted some hype in the lead-up to its release. As a fairly small indie release, The Plucky Squire was likely to be one of those games that many people would postpone trying until it was available on a subscription service; consequently, launching directly on PS Plus could give the platformer a boost in terms of exposure and positive press.

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The Plucky Squire blends 2D and 3D action, with players exploring a storybook and the real world. This concept is neat and lends itself to an inspired presentation that oozes creativity and imagination. While platforming takes center stage, the game also incorporates puzzles and combat, so there is variety as well.

17 Night In The Woods

A Powerful Stroll Through Possum Springs

Night in the Woods immerses players in Possum Springs, a fairly typical small town that happens to consist of anthropomorphic animals. After a frustrating stint at college, Mae returns home and quickly settles into a routine, which mostly involves hanging out with old friends and exploring the town. While packed with silliness and boasting a slice of life tone at times, Night in the Woods dives fairly deep into its characters, and that goes beyond Mae. Cute animal designs aside, the story is defined by very human personalities who act in ways that make sense, and players get to make decisions that impact the narrative’s flow.

As far as platformers are concerned, Night in the Woods‘ gameplay is quite unremarkable, but it mostly feels fine and gets the job done. Ultimately, the focus is on the characters and their relationships, although there is an element of mystery as well. The 2017 game is fairly well known by this point, but if someone has yet to give it a try, they should take up the chance while it is on PS Plus Extra.

18 Uncharted: Legacy Of Thieves Collection

Naughty Dog’s Two-Part Conclusions To An All-Time Great Franchise

Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection

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Adventure

Third-Person Shooter

Systems

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Released

January 28, 2022

ESRB

T For Teen Due To Blood, Game Experience May Change During Online Play, Language, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco, Violence

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How Long To Beat

20 Hours

PS Plus Extra launched with the PS4 versions of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and The Lost Legacy, but the PS5’s Legacy of Thieves Collection was added as part of the subscription service’s March 2023 lineup. Now, the last-generation iterations are still absolutely fantastic, comparing favorably with most titles released over the last 5 years. Consequently, the “remaster” package does not bring too many changes, although the ones that are implemented make enough of a difference to establish the Legacy of Thieves Collection as the definitive way to experience these two stories.

Fueled by the power of the PS5, Uncharted 4 and The Lost Legacy now support multiple performance modes, allowing players to decide whether to prioritize 4K or 60 fps. The visuals have also been tweaked ever so slightly to give both games an overall cleaner and more immersive presentation. These improvements enhance two titles that were already considered masterpieces.

19 Kena: Bridge Of Spirits

A Rare Example Of A PS5 AA Game

AA gaming has been on the decline since the end of the PS3 era, and only a handful of modern releases fall within the bracket. However, a couple of projects do try to walk the line between indie and triple-A, with Kena: Bridge of Spirits serving as a prime example. Ember Lab’s action-adventure title is visually impressive by any metric, dropping players into a fully realized fantasy world that has some gorgeous locations. In fact, the art style and special effects are arguably the game’s strongest features.

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That said, the rest of the experience is by no means underwhelming. Gameplay-wise, Kena is cut from the same bow-wielding cloth as Tomb Raider and Horizon Forbidden West, although it also mixes in some staff-themed melee attacks. While somewhat repetitive, the combat is generally fun and surprisingly challenging, particularly when it comes to the campaign’s bosses. Alongside battles, the game relies heavily on puzzles and exploration, both of which are handled well.

20 Inscryption

Innovative Horror Game

Systems

Released

October 19, 2021

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Developer(s)

Daniel Mullins Games

ESRB

M For Mature 17+ due to Blood, Strong Language, Violence

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How Long To Beat

13 Hours

At a glance, Inscryption might appear to be a fairly typical card-battler, albeit one with a darker aesthetic than the norm for the genre. And, in some ways, the game is just that, but there is so much more to this package than meets the eye. Inscryption‘s card system might not hold too many surprises for people familiar with tabletop projects, but it is generally well-executed and addictive in a way that only these types of games seem to be.

Structured as a roguelite, players find themselves going up against a rather strange figure and a host of other opponents as they seek to win a series of matches. Each victory rewards new cards and upgrades, but multiple losses will send players back to square one. Inscryption does not stop at just a compelling battle system, and the game encourages players to explore beyond the table to piece together their circumstances. Yes, this is a card game with a story, and it is well done.