Now that the PlayStation 4 cycle has ended, it's fair to say that Sony successfully bounced back after the PlayStation 3 failed to impress. The PS4 had huge sales figures of over 100,000,000 units, thanks in no small part to its fantastic catalog of games. A few examples include God of War, Bloodborne, and Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, which were all big hits among critics, and helped convince many gamers to join the blue brand thanks to their exclusivity.
Microsoft is clearly not taking the loss lying down, as they have improved their value for money Game Pass service with the addition of EA Play, as well as flexing their financial muscle to acquire ZeniMax Media, and subsequently Bethesda, for $7.5 billion. Potentially because they want to take the upcoming Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and Dishonored games away from PlayStation.
Sony will be keen to respond to this and to carry their success over from the PS4 generation to the recently released PS5. The Metascores for their launch titles have been posted, offering players the first insight into how successful Sony's initial response has been.
19 Godfall (63)
Godfall was the first game confirmed for the PS5, although Sony will be hoping that it's not a sign of things to come. Counterplay Games' high fantasy action RPG failed to impress with its repetitive gameplay and underwhelming story.
18 NBA 2k21 (68)
Competition between companies is always a great thing for consumers, which is why EA again dropping NBA Live from their large list of sporting titles spelled bad news for basketball fans. Fans' fears appear to have been realized, as NBA 2k21 offered little innovation, as well as an almost comical emphasis on microtransactions despite being a full-priced game.
17 Maneater (68)
The open-world RPG Maneater offered an interesting and unorthodox twist on the genre by choosing not to put players in the shoes of a human, elf, or dwarf, but a shark. Unfortunately, the idea wasn't well-executed, putting the game closer to Sharknado than Jaws on the shark media spectrum.
16 Watch Dogs Legion (70)
The third game in the Watch Dogs series takes players to a dystopian London. Unfortunately, Ubisoft's Watch Dogs Legion continues the series' tradition of struggling to turn its great ideas into great gameplay. The series is reminiscent of Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed in a way, as the first game was underwhelming, but had a ton of potential that was realized on their next attempt, Assassin's Creed II.
For this reason, it will be a shame if Ubisoft doesn't continue the series as there's still so much untapped potential, and it may have its Assassin's Creed II moment, although three attempts to make it work may understandably be their limit.
15 Planet Coaster (Unofficial 72.5)
At the time of writing this, Planet Coaster only has two Metacritic scores, so it doesn't have an official Metascore yet. Video Chums and Push Square are the two companies who've reviewed the game so far, scoring it at 75 and 70 respectively.
The game received an impressive score of 84 on PC though, with praise being directed towards its excellent career mode.
14 Bugsnax (74)
Bugsnax is the second game from independent game studio Young Horses, following 2014's Octodad: Deadliest Catch. The game provides players with some great puzzles and a surprising amount of story depth but does little more to impress.
13 Fortnite (78)
PUBG may have been the game that revolutionized the battle royale genre, though Fortnite is undoubtedly the one that strapped a rocket to it and shot it into the mainstream. The PS5 iteration of the game currently runs on Unreal Engine 4 but is planned to be upgraded to Unreal Engine 5 in 2021.
12 Borderlands 3 (78)
The much anticipated Borderlands 3 was released in September 2019 to a solid but somewhat underwhelming reception. Although the game had excellent multiplayer and some of the series' best environments, it received its fair share of criticisms, many of which came from PC Gamer who gave Borderlands 3 a score of just 63.
The PS5 and Xbox Series X|S re-release of the game added split-screen multiplayer to the mix.
11 Sackboy: A Big Adventure (78)
Sackboy has never quite been able to live up to his initial hype in 2008 of being PlayStation's future mascot, but the IP has still produced some excellent games in the past, in particular 2011's LittleBigPlanet 2.Â
Sackboy: A Big Adventure is a decent game with some solid platforming sections, but offers little more than that.
10 Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (81)
Ubisoft had a huge stroke of luck before the release of Valhalla, as Cyberpunk 2077's delay handed the latest Assassin's Creed game an influx of consumers.
Whether Ubisoft takes the tagline as a compliment or insult is unknown, but the Assassin's Creed franchise is increasingly being recognized as consistently producing 8/10 games, and Valhalla is no different.
9 Dirt 5 (82)
There was once a time when racing games were at the forefront of PlayStation consoles most important releases, though the golden age that included titles like Burnout 3: Takedown and Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec seems to have passed. Codemasters are clearly keen to reignite the genre though, as Dirt 5 is a solid game that will delight race fans.
8 The Pathless (82)
The PS4 generation was dominated by third-person action-adventure games, and Giant Squid looks to continue the tradition into the next cycle of console with The Pathless.
Giant Squid differentiates The Pathless from other games in the genre by replacing a standard mini-map with the unique feature Spirit Vision.
7 Overcooked: All You Can Eat (Unofficial 82.5)
Similarly to Planet Coaster, Overcooked: All You Can Eat doesn't have an official Metascore yet, as it has currently only been reviewed by PlayStation Universe, receiving a score of 80, and Video Chums who gave it an 85 mark.
Overcooked: All You Can Eat is a definitive edition of both Overcooked! and Overcooked! 2, along with their DLC's, offering a good value for money package.
6 Astro’s Playroom (83)
Astro's Playroom comes pre-installed and is essentially a tech-demo for the DualSense controller. The game does an excellent job of showcasing the controller and is a fun platformer in its own right.
5 Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (84)
The latest entry in the equal parts iconic and divisive Call of Duty series is one of its better entries. As the name suggests the game takes place during the Cold War of the 1980s between the United States, the Soviet Union, and their respective allies.
4 Observer System Redux (84)
Observer System Redux differentiates itself from the many sporting, action, and platforming launch titles by being a psychological horror. The re-release of Bloober Team's innovative 2017 game improves upon the visuals and adds additional story-content.
3 Spider-Man: Miles Morales (85)
As previously mentioned, Sony will have been keen to bounce back from Microsoft's double blow of EA Play and its Bethesda acquisition. Consequently, top Sony officials will likely have been nervously refreshing review sites to see what their AAA exclusive Spider-Man: Miles Morales scored.
A collective sigh of relief will have breathed, as the game successfully reached expectations. Sure, it likely falls short of being a game of the year contender, but it's an excellent exclusive title that picks up where the PS4 left off and sets a solid benchmark for subsequent exclusives.
2 Devil May Cry V: Special Edition (88)
A special edition of the 2019 Best Action Game-winning Devil May Cry V was always likely to score highly, and the game didn't disappoint, only narrowly missing out on the elusive 90 mark.
The PS5 special edition comes just under two years after the game's initial March 2019 release and adds Vergil as a playable character.
1 Demon’s Souls (93)
Remaking the cult classic Demon's Souls, which sparked the now-iconic Soulsborne series, was always a sure-fire way to sell consoles. Granted, the game had its fair share of skeptics when it was first announced, as calling the remaster of Dark Souls underwhelming would be an understatement. But from an early stage, it was clear that Demon's Souls was receiving far more work and attention.
As evidenced by the game's whopping 93 score, Bluepoint Games created a fantastic remake that has surpassed even the most optimistic fan's expectations. The game is now the highest-rated soulsborne title on Metacritic, followed by Sekrio: Shadows Die Twice and somewhat surprisingly Dark Souls II, which both scored 91.