Best PS4 Games of All Time 20 Greatest Titles, Characters & Why They Still Matter

The PlayStation 4 is one of the greatest gaming consoles ever made and that is not nostalgia talking. With over 117 million units sold and a library of more than 4,000 games, Sony’s eighth-generation console delivered an extraordinary run of titles that defined modern gaming. Many of the characters born on PS4 Kratos, Arthur Morgan, Ellie, Jin Sakai, Peter Parker are now among the most iconic in the medium’s history.

In 2026, the PS4 library remains fully playable through backward compatibility on PlayStation 5, and many of the greatest titles have since arrived on PC, making them more accessible than ever. If you have never played the best games this console has to offer, there has never been a better time to start. If you are a veteran PlayStation owner building the ultimate backlog, this is your definitive ranked guide.

This article covers the 20 best PS4 games of all time with full character breakdowns for the titles that earned their reputation through unforgettable protagonists, antagonists, and ensemble casts.

Why the PS4 Era Defined a Generation

Before we dive into the list, it is worth appreciating what made the PS4 generation singular. Sony made a strategic decision early in the console’s life to invest heavily in large-scale, narrative-driven single-player experiences. While competitors focused on multiplayer ecosystems and live service models, PlayStation-exclusive studios produced game after game centered on character development, world-building, and cinematic storytelling.

The result: a generation where God of War reinvented a franchise through fatherhood, Red Dead Redemption 2 set a new benchmark for open-world detail and character writing, Bloodborne and Elden Ring turned crushing difficulty into an art form, and The Last of Us Part II pushed interactive storytelling into genuinely uncomfortable emotional territory.

Many of these titles are also playable today on PC, PS5, and via PlayStation Plus meaning the PS4 era’s greatest games are still actively being discovered by new audiences. Our guide to best Xbox and PC crossplay games at PlayXArena covers multi-platform options for players building a cross-ecosystem library alongside their PlayStation catalog.

The 20 Best PS4 Games of All Time Ranked

1. Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018)

Developer: Rockstar Games | Metacritic: 97 | Genre: Open-World Action-Adventure

Claiming Metacritic’s number one spot as the greatest PS4 game of all time is action-adventure Red Dead Redemption 2. It is the highest-rated PS4 game by critic score and one of the highest-rated games of any generation a technical masterpiece and a story about the last days of the American frontier that has never been equaled.

Why It’s #1: Red Dead Redemption 2 is a game that rewards patience. Its open world a sprawling fictional version of 1899 America is the most detailed environment ever constructed in a video game. Every region, every stranger on the road, every town has layers of interactivity that most games never approach. The story unfolds slowly and deliberately, and the payoff is devastating.

Main Character Arthur Morgan:

Arthur Morgan is gaming’s greatest protagonist of the PS4 era, and the argument for him being the best-written video game character of all time is serious and defensible. He is the muscle of the Van der Linde gang Dutch’s most trusted enforcer, the man who does the jobs no one else will take. He is not a hero. He has done terrible things, hurt innocent people, and spent his entire adult life inside a system built on loyalty to a man whose ideology becomes increasingly unhinged as the world changes around them.

While it’s unfair to discuss what makes Arthur Morgan such a complex character, just know that Arthur Morgan will go down in history as one of gaming’s great protagonists.

What elevates Arthur beyond most gaming protagonists is his internal life. His journal which you can read at any time captures his observations of the world, his guilt, his dry humor, and his genuine love for people he would never admit to loving. His arc is one of atonement: the discovery of his own mortality forcing a reckoning with the life he has lived and the man he still has time to become.

Key Supporting Characters:

• Dutch van der Linde — The gang’s charismatic but unraveling leader, whose philosophy of freedom from civilization curdles into paranoid self-justification
• John Marston — The protagonist of the original RDR, whose family’s safety Arthur genuinely cares about protecting
• Sadie Adler — A widow who transforms into one of the gang’s most capable fighters, one of the game’s best-written secondary characters
• Micah Bell — The most effectively despised villain in recent gaming; every scene with him is designed to make your skin crawl

Availability: PS4, Xbox One, PC (Steam/Rockstar Launcher)

2. God of War (2018)

Developer: Santa Monica Studio | Metacritic: 94 | Genre: Action-Adventure

The 2018 God of War is a miracle of game development: a sequel that completely reinvented a franchise without betraying what made it beloved, adding emotional depth to a character who previously had almost none.

Why It’s #2: Director Cory Barlog and Santa Monica Studio took Kratos a one-dimensional rage machine who had slaughtered every Greek deity imaginable and recontextualized him as a grieving father trying to be better for a son who deserves more than the god he has. The shift to Norse mythology gave the world fresh canvas. The over-the-shoulder camera (one unbroken shot for the entire game) made every encounter intimate. The combat, built around the Leviathan Axe, is among the most satisfying in any action game.

Main Character Kratos:

When the spartan first appeared, he was much like other protagonists of the era, a character whose purpose was to defeat the enemy using his strength and violent tendencies without much character exploration beyond that. With the newest God of War, the formula shifted for Kratos by adding his son Atreus into the mix. As a result, Kratos evolved from a brutish hero into a man struggling to bury his past while keeping it from affecting his ability to be the father he needs to be to his son.

Kratos carries the weight of having murdered his first wife and daughter, of having killed every Greek god including his own father Zeus, and of having survived everything the universe has thrown at him through sheer will and godly power. His new challenge teaching Atreus to be a man without passing on the worst of himself is more terrifying to him than any boss fight.

His growth across the 2018 game and its 2022 sequel God of War: Ragnarök is one of gaming’s greatest character arcs. The old Kratos would never have admitted to love. The Kratos of Dread is learning, awkwardly and painstakingly, to be a father.

Key Supporting Characters:

• Atreus (Boy) — Kratos’s son, curious and compassionate where his father is closed and guarded. His relationship with Kratos is the heart of the game. Later revealed to be Loki of Norse mythology
• Mimir — A severed head attached to Kratos’s belt who serves as guide, historian, and comic relief. One of the funniest and most charming supporting characters in any game
• Baldur — The main antagonist, a Norse god who cannot feel pain or pleasure and wants only to die. A genuinely pitiable villain
• Freya — Baldur’s mother and initially Kratos’s reluctant ally, one of the series’ most complex characters

Availability: PS4, PS5, PC (Steam/Epic)

3. The Last of Us Remastered (2014) & The Last of Us Part II (2020)

Developer: Naughty Dog | Metacritic: 95 (Remastered) / 93 (Part II) | Genre: Action-Adventure / Survival Horror

Two entries together because the story demands it. The Last of Us Remastered brought the 2013 PS3 masterpiece to PS4 with enhanced visuals, and The Last of Us Part II remains the most emotionally ambitious game Naughty Dog arguably any studio has ever made.

Why They’re #3: The original The Last of Us redefined what video game storytelling could be. Part II pushed further, telling a story about cycles of violence, grief, and the cost of revenge with a structural boldness that divided players and was vindicated by time. Together, they represent the apex of Naughty Dog’s craft.

Main Characters:

Joel Miller — A middle-aged survivor who lost his daughter in the outbreak’s early hours and hardened completely, becoming a smuggler and survivor who trusts no one. His relationship with Ellie across the first game beginning as a transactional escort mission and evolving into something that terrifies him is one of the medium’s finest portrayals of reluctant parental love. Upon meeting a girl of a similar age to the daughter he lost, Joel’s heart begins to warm and he learns to once again be a father as he and Ellie survive a perilous journey together.

Ellie Williams — Immune to the Cordyceps infection that destroyed civilization, Ellie is the axis around which both games rotate. Ellie is a teenager with a destiny. She could save the world, if she were given the choice. She likes a good joke; she wants to explore and learn about the world. She wants to live a life of love and happiness, but that’s just not the world she lives in. She and Joel form a surrogate father-daughter relationship, one that changes them both forever. In Part II, she is older, harder, and consumed by grief and the game forces you to understand both sides of an impossible moral equation.

Abby Anderson (Part II) — The most controversial video game character of her generation. Abby is a member of the WLF (Washington Liberation Front) whose history with Joel sets the events of Part II in motion. Naughty Dog’s decision to make you play as Abby for a substantial portion of the game and to build genuine empathy for her is the structural gamble that defines Part II’s legacy.

Availability: PS4, PS5, PC (Steam) | HBO series (Season 1 and 2 confirmed)

4. Bloodborne (2015)

Developer: FromSoftware | Metacritic: 92 | Genre: Action RPG (Soulslike)

Bloodborne is FromSoftware’s masterpiece. Set in the Gothic, Victorian-era city of Yharnam during a night of spreading madness, it is simultaneously the most atmospheric game on PS4 and the most demanding. It is also and this is a genuine critical consensus a PS4 exclusive that has never arrived on any other platform, making it one of the most compelling reasons the hardware still matters in 2026.

Why It’s #4: Bloodborne takes the Soulslike formula established by Dark Souls and mutates it into something distinctly its own. Where Dark Souls rewards patience and defense, Bloodborne rewards aggression attacking enemies restores health, punishing passivity and rewarding the hunter who pushes forward. The cosmic horror of its Lovecraftian lore built through item descriptions, environmental details, and NPC dialogue rather than traditional exposition rewards deep engagement.

The Hunter (Player Character): You are a nameless hunter who arrived in Yharnam seeking something a cure, blood echoes, the truth. The Hunter has no fixed backstory; you project a character onto them through your choices. What the game does instead is build the world around you with such density that the Hunter’s motivations become secondary to the act of discovery.

Key Characters:

• Gehrman, the First Hunter — The ancient figure who welcomes you to the hunt. His tragedy, revealed in the game’s final act, recontextualizes everything that came before
• Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower (Old Hunters DLC) — One of gaming’s greatest boss fights and one of its most tragic figures a hunter who was so horrified by what she participated in that she sealed herself away forever
• Micolash, Host of the Nightmare — A genuinely unsettling scholar who sought to commune with the Great Ones and succeeded, to his own destruction
• The Moon Presence — The ultimate antagonist lurking behind the game’s events, one of gaming’s most effectively terrifying eldritch entities

Note on availability: Bloodborne remains a PlayStation exclusive as of May 2026. No PC port has been officially announced, making it one of the most requested game ports in the community.

5. Marvel’s Spider-Man (2018)

Developer: Insomniac Games | Metacritic: 87 | Genre: Action-Adventure / Open World

Insomniac Games delivered the definitive Spider-Man game in 2018 not just a good superhero game, but one of the best open-world action games of the generation. The web-swinging alone is worth the price of admission; the story is a genuine surprise.

Why It’s #5: Few games nail the fantasy of being a superhero as completely as Insomniac’s Spider-Man. Moving through Manhattan via web-swing is kinetic, joyful, and technically precise in a way that makes it hard to travel on foot even when you want to. The combat fuses acrobatics with gadget use and suit abilities into a system that scales elegantly across the game’s difficulty.

Main Character Peter Parker / Spider-Man:

Insomniac’s version of Peter Parker is 23 years old graduated college, already a veteran hero, living a complicated life between his superhero obligations and a scientific research career working for Otto Octavius. He is selfless to a fault, perpetually late to personal commitments because someone always needs saving, and genuinely good in a way that never feels naive.

The game’s emotional core is his relationship with Aunt May, his mentor-figure relationship with Otto Octavius, and his history with Mary Jane Watson. When Otto’s transformation into Doctor Octopus forces Peter to confront a mentor he genuinely loves, the story reaches emotional territory that most superhero media avoids.

Key Characters:

• Miles Morales — Introduced here as a teenager whose path toward becoming Spider-Man himself runs through Miles Morales (2020) and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (2023)
• Otto Octavius (Doctor Octopus) — A genuinely sympathetic villain whose betrayal hurts because you watched him be Peter’s friend and mentor for most of the game
• Mary Jane Watson — Peter’s former girlfriend, now a journalist, who gets substantial playable sections and a nuanced independent character arc
• Norman Osborn — The Mayor of New York whose darker side is seeded throughout for future entries

For players who enjoy Marvel’s gaming universe and want to explore crossplay options across platforms, the Marvel Rivals crossplay guide at PlayXArena covers how Marvel’s multiplayer titles handle cross-platform play in 2026.

Availability: PS4, PS5, PC (Steam/Epic)

6. Elden Ring (2022)

Developer: FromSoftware | Publisher: Bandai Namco | Metacritic: 96 | Genre: Action RPG (Open World Soulslike)

Elden Ring holds a Metacritic score of 96 the highest-rated PS4 game released after 2020 and the second highest-rated PS4 game overall (behind only Red Dead Redemption 2). It represents FromSoftware’s open-world evolution of the Soulslike formula, created in collaboration with Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin, who contributed the game’s lore foundation.

Why It’s #6: Elden Ring took everything FromSoftware had refined across Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro and applied it to a fully open world for the first time. The freedom to approach the Lands Between’s challenges in any order, combined with the series’ signature density of lore and challenge, created a game with virtually unlimited exploration depth. Its Shadow of the Erdtree DLC (2024) was independently acclaimed as one of the best game expansions ever released.

The Tarnished (Player Character): You are a Tarnished an exiled descendant of the Grace-blessed, summoned back to the Lands Between after the Shattering to claim the Elden Ring and become the Elden Lord. Like all FromSoftware protagonists, your character is customizable and silent, acting as a vessel for player projection.

Key Lore Characters:

• Marika / Radagon — The god-queen whose shattering of the Elden Ring set the entire story in motion; revealed to share a dual identity with Radagon, her own consort
• Malenia, Blade of Miquella — One of gaming’s most celebrated and feared bosses, an undefeated warrior whose Scarlet Rot infection makes her fight uniquely punishing
• Ranni the Witch — One of the most beloved NPCs in any FromSoftware game; her questline and ending are considered the game’s narrative high point by most players
• Godrick the Grafted — One of the first major bosses, a grotesque demigod who grafts the limbs of others onto himself as a compensatory display of power

Availability: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC (Steam)

7. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015)

Developer: CD Projekt Red | Metacritic: 92 | Genre: Open World RPG

The Witcher 3 set the benchmark for open-world RPG storytelling and side quest design that every game since has been measured against. Its world feels populated with history and consequence in a way that most games can only aspire to.

Why It’s #7: The Witcher 3 is approximately 50–200 hours of content depending on your completionism, and nearly all of it is excellent. Its main story Geralt searching for his adoptive daughter Ciri while a spectral army tears through the Continent is compelling. But what makes it exceptional are the side quests. “The Bloody Baron,” a questline about a deeply flawed man and a family torn apart by the world’s cruelty, remains the finest piece of side-content writing in any open-world game.

Main Character Geralt of Rivia:

Geralt is a witcher a genetically modified monster hunter who has been trained since childhood to kill for coin. He is deliberately emotionally muted by his training, designed to project neutrality. What the game and author Andrzej Sapkowski’s underlying novels actually reveal is a man who cares deeply and is perpetually choosing between bad options in a world without clean moral answers.

Key Characters:

• Ciri — Geralt’s adoptive daughter, an immensely powerful woman being hunted by the Wild Hunt. Her sections are playable and give her genuine agency within the narrative
• Yennefer of Vengerberg — Geralt’s primary love interest; a brilliant, sharp-tongued sorceress who refuses to be defined by her relationship with him
• Triss Merigold — A second romance option and a genuinely good person in a world that makes goodness expensive
• Gaunter O’Dimm (Hearts of Stone DLC) — One of the greatest video game villains ever written; a devil-figure whose contract mechanics make him genuinely terrifying

Availability: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC, Nintendo Switch

8. Ghost of Tsushima (2020)

Developer: Sucker Punch Productions | Metacritic: 83 | Genre: Open World Action-Adventure

Ghost of Tsushima was the PS4’s final major exclusive  and it was a perfect send-off. Set during the 1274 Mongol invasion of Tsushima Island, it is one of the most visually stunning games ever released on the platform.

Why It’s #8: Ghost of Tsushima succeeds by being exactly what it promises: a beautiful, contemplative open-world samurai epic where the fighting feels genuinely dangerous, the landscape is worth photographing at every moment, and the story is about honor, identity, and what you are willing to sacrifice to protect people who need protecting.

Main Character Jin Sakai:

Players live through the experience via Jin Sakai, samurai and head of his clan, and Jin’s character arc is so much more than the typical vigilante storyline. The weight of the samurai creed is a tangible, omnipresent burden in the game, and it is only with great personal sacrifice that Jin sets it aside to take up the mantle of the Ghost.

Jin is raised on the code of the samurai face your enemy openly, fight with honor, die with dignity. The Mongol invasion under Khotun Khan is winning precisely because it has no interest in honorable combat. Jin’s choice to adopt stealth tactics, poisoning, and fear-based assassination in order to actually protect his people costs him something real: his identity, his uncle’s respect, and his place in the social order he was raised to embody.

Jin Sakai was a noble samurai warrior who resorted to darker and bloodier methods to win the war against the Mongol invasion of his home at the cost of everything. Jin made the hard choice to renounce his samurai code and prioritized his home over his name and honor making him an endearing protagonist.

Key Characters:

• Lord Shimura — Jin’s uncle, the Jito (governor) of Tsushima and his adoptive father; a man of absolute honor whose conflict with Jin drives the game’s emotional climax
• Khotun Khan — The Mongol general antagonist, intelligent and strategically ruthless, who serves as a mirror to Jin’s warrior identity
• Yuna — A thief and Jin’s primary ally, pragmatic and self-interested in ways that complement Jin’s more idealistic approach
• Ishikawa — A master archer whose questline about his former student is one of the game’s best side narratives

Availability: PS4, PS5 (Director’s Cut), PC (Steam/Epic, 2024)

9. Horizon Zero Dawn (2017)

Developer: Guerrilla Games | Metacritic: 89 | Genre: Open World Action RPG

Horizon Zero Dawn announced Guerrilla Games as a top-tier open-world developer and introduced one of PlayStation’s strongest original IPs.

Why It’s #9: Horizon Zero Dawn’s premise a post-apocalyptic world where robotic animals have reclaimed the Earth and tribal humans have forgotten the old civilization that created them is one of gaming’s best original concepts of the generation. Its mystery, slowly revealed through audio logs, ancient ruins, and combat encounters, builds to a genuinely surprising and emotionally resonant conclusion.

Main Character Aloy:

Aloy is an outcast a child with no mother who was raised outside her tribe’s social structure by a man named Rost. Her determination to uncover her origin drives the game’s entire narrative. She is curious, resourceful, and combative in a way that feels earned rather than arbitrary, and her voice performance by Ashly Burch brings warmth to a character who could have felt clinical.

Key Characters:

• Sylens — A mysterious scholar who provides information for unclear motives; his arc spans into Forbidden West
• GAIA — The terraforming AI who created the world Aloy inhabits; her story is the tragedy underlying the entire setting
• Rost — Aloy’s foster father, one of gaming’s most quietly affecting parental figures

Availability: PS4, PS5, PC (Steam/Epic, free on Epic), Nintendo Switch 2

10. Persona 5 Royal (2020)

Developer: Atlus | Metacritic: 95 | Genre: JRPG / Life Sim

The definitive version of what many consider the finest JRPG ever made, Persona 5 Royal expanded the already extraordinary original with additional story content, a new semester, and mechanical improvements that have been called among the best ever released in an expanded edition.

Why It’s #10: Persona 5 Royal is about a group of high school students who discover the ability to change the hearts of corrupt adults by entering their “Palaces” mental manifestations of their distorted desires. It fuses dungeon-crawling RPG combat with a detailed life simulation in which your choices of how to spend each in-game day shape both your social bonds and your battle capabilities. The result is a 100+ hour game where almost no hour feels wasted.

Main Character Joker (Ren Amamiya):

Joker is silent in most scenes a classic JRPG blank-slate protagonist but his persona (literally, his manifestation of rebellious power, Arsène) and the social dynamics of leading the Phantom Thieves give him enormous implied personality. His arc from falsely accused student to the Phantom Thieves’ legendary leader is deeply satisfying.

Key Characters:

• Ryuji Sakamoto — The loyal hot-head best friend; his trauma at the hands of the first dungeon’s villain (coach Kamoshida) gives the opening arc genuine emotional stakes
• Ann Takamaki — A model and Phantom Thief whose storyline deals directly with coercive abuse
• Makoto Niijima — Student council president turned Phantom Thief, one of the game’s most beloved characters
• Goro Akechi — The most complex antagonist in the game; a brilliant detective whose relationship with Joker is built on mutual understanding and inevitable betrayal

Availability: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PC (Steam)

11. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (2019)

Developer: FromSoftware | Metacritic: 90 | Genre: Action-Adventure (Soulslike)

Sekiro is the most mechanically demanding game in FromSoftware’s catalog and, for many players, their most rewarding. The posture-break combat system built entirely around blocking, deflecting, and timing has no shortcut, no stat-based way to out-level encounters. You either learn to play or you do not.

Main Character Wolf (Sekiro): A shinobi scarred by failure, tasked with protecting a child heir while piecing together a mystery of immortality and divine succession. Wolf’s arc is subtle but affecting.

Availability: PS4, Xbox One, PC (Steam)

12. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (2016)

Developer: Naughty Dog | Metacritic: 93 | Genre: Action-Adventure

The definitive conclusion to Nathan Drake’s story a game about the relationship between adventure and the lives you leave behind to pursue it.

Main Character Nathan Drake: Gaming’s most likable action hero across four games, but best here: older, semi-retired, and confronting whether the life of adventure he idealized was worth its cost to the people around him.

Key Characters: Sam Drake (Nathan’s brother, long believed dead), Elena Fisher (Nathan’s wife and moral compass), Sully (their mentor and the franchise’s heart).

Availability: PS4, PS5, PC (Steam/Epic)

13. Death Stranding (2019)

Developer: Kojima Productions | Metacritic: 82 | Genre: Action / Open World (Strand Game)

Hideo Kojima’s post-Konami debut a deeply strange, deeply affecting game about delivering packages across a shattered America where the dead walk, civilization is fragmented, and connection is the only weapon against despair.

Main Character Sam Porter Bridges (Norman Reedus): A porter and pathologically isolated carrier whose gradual re-integration into human connection mirrors the game’s central theme.

Key Characters: Fragile (Léa Seydoux), Deadman (Guillermo del Toro’s likeness), Clifford Unger (Mads Mikkelsen) — one of gaming’s most genuinely moving antagonist reveals.

Availability: PS4, PS5, PC (Steam/Epic)

14. Resident Evil 2 Remake (2019)

Developer: Capcom | Metacritic: 91 | Genre: Survival Horror

The gold standard for video game remakes. Capcom reimagined the 1998 original in over-the-shoulder third-person perspective while preserving every element that made the source material terrifying.

Main Characters Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield: Two protagonists, two interweaving stories through Raccoon City during the T-Virus outbreak. Leon is a rookie cop on his first day. Claire is searching for her brother Chris. Both are extraordinary.

Key Antagonist Mr. X (the Tyrant): An indestructible pursuer who stalks you through the police station, creating ambient dread that defined survival horror for a new generation.

Availability: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, PC (Steam)

15. Nioh 2 (2020)

Developer: Team Ninja | Metacritic: 85 | Genre: Action RPG (Soulslike)

Team Ninja’s second entry in the Nioh series is the more refined and mechanically rich of the two a Soulslike set in Sengoku-era Japan with supernatural elements, deep weapon variety, and one of the most satisfying loot systems in any action RPG.

Main Character Hide: A half-human, half-yokai warrior whose supernatural heritage allows them to transform into demonic forms during combat a mechanic that opens entirely new offensive possibilities.

Availability: PS4, PS5, PC (Steam)

16. God of War: Ragnarök (2022)

Developer: Santa Monica Studio | Metacritic: 94 | Genre: Action-Adventure

While releasing on both PS4 and PS5, Ragnarök delivered the Norse mythology finale that 2018’s God of War set up expanding the world to all Nine Realms and pushing both Kratos and Atreus through their most demanding growth.

Key Characters: Kratos and Atreus’s father-son dynamic reaches its most painful point. Thor reimagined as a complicated, traumatized warrior rather than a noble hero is the game’s greatest character study. Freya’s arc from enemy to reluctant ally is handled with care.

Availability: PS4, PS5, PC (Steam, 2024)

17. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (2015)

Developer: Kojima Productions/Konami | Metacritic: 95 | Genre: Open World Stealth Action

The last Kojima-directed Metal Gear entry is both technically the most impressive game in the franchise and narratively its most deliberately incomplete an open world stealth sandbox whose unfinished final chapter became one of gaming’s great controversies.

Main Character Venom Snake (Big Boss): The twist of who you are actually playing has been known for years, but experiencing it contextualizes the entire game’s design in ways that remain remarkable.

Availability: PS4, Xbox One, PC (Steam)

18. Spider-Man: Miles Morales (2020)

Developer: Insomniac Games | Metacritic: 85 | Genre: Action-Adventure

A tighter, more emotionally focused Spider-Man story that introduced Miles Morales as a protagonist of genuine depth and a venom-blast combat style that rivals Peter Parker’s toolkit.

Main Character Miles Morales: A teenager from Harlem navigating his first winter as Spider-Man while his neighborhood faces corporate displacement and an energy crisis. His relationship with his late father a police officer and his best friend Ganke are the emotional anchors of a story that manages to be both more intimate and more joyful than the 2018 original.

Availability: PS4, PS5, PC (Steam/Epic)

19. Hollow Knight (2018)

Developer: Team Cherry | Metacritic: 87 | Genre: Metroidvania / Action-Adventure

The greatest indie game of the PS4 era a Metroidvania set in a vast underground kingdom of insects that builds one of gaming’s most melancholy and affecting atmospheres entirely through environment, music, and wordless characterization.

Main Character The Knight: A silent, nameless wanderer whose true nature is revealed across one of the most carefully paced mystery narratives in any Metroidvania.

Availability: PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC (Steam)

20. Grand Theft Auto V (2014)

Developer: Rockstar Games | Metacritic: 97 | Genre: Open World Action-Adventure

Still the largest and most commercially successful game on the platform a three-protagonist crime epic with a satirical vision of Los Angeles that has supported an entire online ecosystem for over a decade.

Main Characters:

• Michael De Santa — A retired bank robber living a miserable wealthy life in a house full of people who hate him, desperate to feel relevant
• Trevor Philips — Unhinged, violent, and somehow compelling a walking critique of gaming’s relationship with consequences
• Franklin Clinton — The straight man of the trio, ambitious and looking for a way out of Strawberry that doesn’t involve becoming his mentors

Availability: PS3, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC

Best PS4 Games by Genre Quick Reference

The Greatest PS4 Characters Full Breakdown

The PS4 era is defined by its characters more than any other generation. Here is a complete guide to the most iconic:

Kratos (God of War)

The evolution of Kratos from Greek mythology slaughterer to Norse mythology father is gaming’s greatest character redemption arc. He remains incapable of vulnerability for most of the 2018 game his love for Atreus expressed in correction, protection, and sacrifice rather than words and the contrast between who he was and who he is trying to be is heartbreaking and hopeful in equal measure.

Arthur Morgan (Red Dead Redemption 2)

Arthur is a man who knows he is not good and is trying to understand what being good would even look like while dying, while the world he knows is ending, while the man he gave his loyalty to burns everything down. His final act of ensuring John Marston’s family survives is among the most moving moments in gaming history.

Joel Miller (The Last of Us)

Joel is not a hero. His choice at the end of The Last of Us sacrificing humanity’s chance at a cure to save Ellie is made from the same place as every great tragedy: love, unchecked and absolute. He is a man who cannot lose another daughter, and the game does not forgive him for it while also making you completely understand it.

Ellie Williams (The Last of Us / Part II)

Ellie carries the weight of being the one who survived when she arguably should not have, of a childhood defined by loss, and of a relationship with Joel that Part II reveals could not survive the truth of how it was forged. Her pursuit of revenge in Part II destroys her relationships and almost herself and the game refuses to let the revenge feel satisfying.

Jin Sakai (Ghost of Tsushima)

Jin’s sacrifice is identity: he gives up the only value system he knows in order to actually protect the people that value system claimed to serve. His conflict with Lord Shimura his uncle who raised him as a samurai but cannot forgive the Ghost is the game’s finest emotional beat.

Geralt of Rivia (The Witcher 3)

Geralt’s deliberate emotional suppression is the character’s defining tension a man who has been modified to feel less, working to feel more. His relationships with Ciri and Yen prove the modification was never as complete as he pretended.

PS4 Games Still Worth Playing on PS5 and PC in 2026

The PS4 era is not merely historical. These titles are actively maintained, frequently on sale, and more accessible than ever:

On PS5 via Backward Compatibility: All major titles listed here play on PS5. Many have received free or paid PS5 upgrades with improved load times, resolution, and frame rates. God of War and Ghost of Tsushima both have free PS5 performance patches.

On PC via Steam/Epic: God of War (2018), The Last of Us Part I & II, Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Horizon Zero Dawn, Ghost of Tsushima, God of War: Ragnarök, Death Stranding, Uncharted 4 (Legacy of Thieves Collection), and more.

On PlayStation Plus: Rotating availability means many titles cycle through Extra and Premium tiers. Spider-Man 2 (PS5) joined the Extra catalog in February 2026, demonstrating Sony’s commitment to bringing flagship titles to subscribers.

For players who game across multiple platforms and want to keep up with what is available where, the Destiny 2 crossplay guide at PlayXArena covers one of the key games that bridges PlayStation and other platforms and is a useful reference for navigating cross-platform gaming ecosystems.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best PS4 game of all time?

By Metacritic score, Red Dead Redemption 2 (97) is the highest-rated PS4 game ever made. By critical consensus and community polls, God of War (2018) and The Last of Us Part II are the most frequently cited alongside RDR2 for the top spot.

What are the best PS4 exclusives?

God of War (2018), Bloodborne, Marvel’s Spider-Man (2018), Ghost of Tsushima, and The Last of Us Remastered. Note that many “exclusives” have since come to PC, but Bloodborne remains PS4/PS5 only.

Which PS4 game has the best story?

Red Dead Redemption 2 and The Last of Us Part II are most frequently cited. Ghost of Tsushima, God of War, and Death Stranding are strong alternatives depending on whether you prefer emotional character arcs or philosophical storytelling.

What PS4 games are on PlayStation Plus?

The lineup rotates regularly. As of May 2026, PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium include a substantial library of PS4 titles. Check Sony’s official PS Plus catalog for current availability.

How many PS4 games are there?

Over 4,000 titles were released for the PlayStation 4 across its lifecycle. The platform remains active for digital purchases, though physical retail support has wound down.

Final Thoughts: The PS4’s Legacy in 2026

The PlayStation 4 gave us a generation of games defined by the belief that single-player narratives could be the highest form of interactive art. The characters born in that era Kratos, Arthur Morgan, Ellie, Jin Sakai did not just entertain players; they demonstrated what the medium is capable of at its most ambitious.

In 2026, with PS5 firmly established and PlayStation games steadily arriving on PC, the PS4 library is more accessible than at any point in its history. Whether you play these titles on original hardware, a PS5, or a gaming PC, you are engaging with the finest work the medium produced in the 2010s. Start with Red Dead Redemption 2 or God of War and work outward. You will not run out of reasons to keep going.