The Best PS4 Games for 2021

The PlayStation 5 may have dropped, but getting your hands on the device is still as difficult as it was on launch day. As such, you shouldn't abandon your faithful PlayStation 4. Right now, the device has one of the best catalogues in console history. You should definitely take advantage of that with a new PS4 game or two.

There's a rich library of AAA games exclusive to the PS4: Spider-Man, Bloodborne, The Last of Us Part 2 and God of War, to name a few. And then, of course, there are the cross-platform titles and indie games. It's an embarrassment of riches.

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So, you're ready to start gaming. However, before you buy, consider the following:

• We've included links to the digital version of each game at the PlayStation online store, if you don't want the disc version, which are sold at linked retailers via the red buttons.
• Apex Legends is free to play (for PlayStation Plus subscribers), just use that digital link to download it.
• Fall Guys is currently free for PlayStation Plus subscribers.
• In addition to freebies like Apex Legends, Fortnite and Call of Duty: Warzone, subscribers to PlayStation Plus get two free games per month. It's fine, but comparatively stingy when put up against the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate collection, which offers subscribers open access to dozens of games.
• Nearly all PS4 games should be playable on the PS5, so any investment you make in these games should transition easily if and when you upgrade to the new console.

With those caveats in place, on to the games.

Ghost of Tsushima

Sucker Punch/Screenshot by Sean Keane/CNET

See digital version at PlayStation Store.

Ghost of Tsushima is yet another open world banger from Sucker Punch Productions, one of the most consistent first party studios under Sony's vast umbrella.

Set in Japan during the first invasion of the Mongols in 1270, Ghost of Tsushima may borrow heavily from open world tropes seen in other, superior titles - but it's still a gorgeously made video game. A real visual swansong for the PS5.

See Gamespot's Ghost of Tsushima review.

Fall Guys

Devolver Games

Fall Guys is a battle royale game unlike any you've ever played before. 60 players start, but after a cut-throat series of insanely fun, but bafflingly unfair, mini-games, there can only be one winner. Think Ninja Warrior crossed with Peppa Pig.

This game has taken the internet by storm, and while I expect the hype to die down in a month or so, right now Fall Guys is the most exciting game on the planet. It's also free on PlayStation Plus right now.

See Gamespot's Fall Guys review.

Guerilla Games

See digital version at PlayStation store

Horizon: Zero Dawn is like Video Games: The Greatest Hits.

It has the sprawling mission structure of The Witcher 3, Metroid Prime-style scanning, Tomb Raider-esque bow and arrows and survival.

And it has fricken' robot dinosaurs with fricken' laser beams.

It also - somehow - weaves its ludicrous high concept into a story that not only works, but is actually incredibly compelling, affecting and features great writing and layered characters.

It's arguably the best game on the PlayStation 4.

See GameSpot's Horizon: Zero Dawn review.

Kojima Productions/Konami

See digital version at PlayStation store

From a storytelling perspective Metal Gear Solid V is a brutal, unfinished mess.

But that doesn't even matter.

Because the absolute core of Metal Gear Solid 5 - the sneaking, the moment-to-moment cat-and-mouse game of evading guards - is just so mechanically dense and polished.

Metal Gear Solid is simultaneously the most accessible Metal Gear game ever made and the most complex. I'm still scratching my head as to how they achieved that.

Play this video game.

See GameSpot's Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain review.

Warner Bros./Screenshot by CNET

See digital version at PlayStation store

Mortal Kombat is still kicking and, some might say, is better than ever. Ignore. Once upon a time Mortal Kombat was a gimmicky ultraviolent competitor to the sublime Street Fighter II. Now it's a spectacular fighting game in its own right, with its own set of strengths. This is the best Mortal Kombat game to date.

See GameSpot's Mortal Kombat 11 review.

The Witness

Jonathan Blow

See digital version at PlayStation store

The Witness is designed to make you feel like a complete idiot.

In a good way.

You know how games like Metroid and Zelda sort of guide your progress by slowly giving you items that act like keys to unlocking brand-new areas?

The Witness is sorta like that, only it upgrades your actual brain. With puzzles.

This game is extremely good.

See GameSpot's The Witness review.

See digital version at PlayStation store

Doom is extremely good. This is established fact. This reboot had no right being as good as it is. It harks back to a different kind of first-person shooter. It's about getting up close and personal with monster-demons and spilling their innards on blood-stained floors.

See GameSpot's Doom review.

See digital version at PlayStation store

Every so often Resident Evil becomes awesome again. There's a cycle.

Resident Evil 2: awesome. Resident Evil 4: very awesome.

Resident Evil 5 through to 6: not awesome.

Resident Evil 7: extremely awesome.

It's great to see the granddaddy of video game horror series back to its best. This game is wild. Brace yourself.

See GameSpot's Resident Evil 7 review.

Inside

See digital version at PlayStation store

Inside is short, disturbing and stays with you long after you're done.

It really is one of those unforgettable gaming experiences. To explain more would spoil it. Just know that it is polished, smart, unique, interesting: It's a well-made "thing" that you should experience. (Note that the retail version, linked below, comes packaged with Limbo, another excellent - albeit short - game.)

See GameSpot's Inside review.

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