Sony PlayStation 4

When you narrow a console’s library down to its ten best games, the bigger story is often about which titles didn’t make the cut. This list could very well have been dominated by Sony’s first-party offerings, but big budget cinematic masterpieces like God of War, Ghost of Tsushima, and Spider-Man are nowhere to be seen. A side-scrolling action game like Shinobi: Art of Vengeance might seem like an odd choice for this countdown, but I maintain that it’s truly something special. The hand-drawn graphics are breathtaking, and the game will still look amazing several decades from now. Although the Shinobi franchise has been around since 1987, the stylish combat in Art of Vengeance feels contemporary. It could be likened to character action games like Devil May Cry or Bayonetta, and it’s a lot of fun to chain your attacks together. You have a tremendous amount of techniques at your disposal, but everything feels intuitive. The movement is great too, and you’ll be jumping off walls, dashing through the air, rolling over obstacles, gliding through air streams, and latching onto grappling points. Most of the trickier platforming challenges are completely optional, but I felt compelled to go back and complete them since the gameplay was so satisfying. Art of Vengeance is the third Sega IP that Lizardcube was entrusted with – following the Wonder Boy III remake and Streets of Rage 4 – and they obviously gave the series the respect it deserved. I loved all the callbacks to previous games. The surfboard level is an obvious nod to Shinobi III, for example, and one level requires you to rescue kids like in the original arcade game. Art of Vengeance is the most recent game on this list, and I already have nostalgia for it.

Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is the best Metroidvania to grace a PlayStation console since the original Tomba! The game feels like a direct sequel to Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap in many regards, and it features the same transformation gimmick. In order to reach new areas, players will have to take the form of various animals. The snake will be able to slither into confined places, the dragon can take to the skies, and the pig can literally sniff out hidden clues. The frog is easily my favorite form, and it feels awesome to use your tongue as a makeshift grappling hook. Some of the puzzles require you to take advantage of multiple animal forms, and the inter-connected worlds are fun to explore. The Wonder Boy series helped define the Metroidvania sub-genre in the 1980s, and Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is easily the best game in the franchise. It obviously doesn’t push the PS4 as hard as any of the other titles on this list, but the hand-painted backgrounds are gorgeous and the character designs are endearing. The soundtrack is also superb, and it features contributions from many industry legends like Yuzo Koshiro and Michiru Yamane. (The “Green Fields” theme is a standout track that always makes me feel like I’m starting an epic adventure.) Monster Boy is filled with hidden Easter eggs and references to past Wonder Boy games, and the pacing is flawless. It takes its time to ramp up, but it’s one of those rare examples that keeps getting more an more exciting as you venture further into the game. A side-scrolling adventure game might seem out of place on this list, but Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom has more soul than most AAA titles could ever dream of.

Many fans consider Elden Ring to be FromSoftware’s magnum opus, and it’s easy to see why. If you’ve played Dark Souls (or any of its spiritual successors) then you basically know what to expect from the combat system. It’s exceedingly difficult at times, but the battles always feels satisfying due to the responsive controls and impeccable hitboxes. If the challenge ever becomes overwhelming, you can simply change course and find something else to do. The open world in Elden Ring feels completely organic, but it’s also meticulously hand-crafted. You can stumble into adventure without even trying, and the vastness of the world never ceases to amaze. There are castles and fortresses scattered throughout the land, but there’s so much more going on beneath the surface. Hidden catacombs and curated legacy dungeons effectively double the size of the game, and I was taken aback by how vertical the exploration was. The whole thing feels daunting at times – there are no exposition fairies or objective markers to guide you – but this ensures that each player will have their own unique experience. There’s no one there to hold your hand, and the world is yours to discover. Whether you’re slaying dragons, exploring ruins, or simply chatting with the locales, it’s amazing to watch the fabric of world slowly unfold before your eyes. Elden Ring is relentlessly challenging and uncompromising in its vision, and this is ultimately why the game is so rewarding.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain was so ambitious that Konami felt the need to release a separate prologue game to ease players into the new format. Although Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes gave players a taste of a true open world experience in 2014, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain defied all expectations the following year. Kojima Productions wanted to address the restrictive nature of previous Metal Gear games, and the result was one of the most liberating stealth-based games I’ve ever played. Whether you’re charging into battle on horseback or sneaking around enemy bases in cardboard boxes, there are endless ways to approach each situation. You can potentially find shortcuts by going rock climbing, but maybe you’ll prefer rushing your enemies and neutralizing them with your bionic arm! You can incapacitate enemies with tranquilizers or distract them with racy posters, but sometimes its more fun to knock them out with a well-placed supply drop. Even the comedic items have multiple purposes. The water pistol seems like a joke at first, but you can use it to cool down, distract guards, put out fires, clean up blood, or destroy electronic equipment. The game also has a dynamic weather system and a proper day-night cycle, and this allows for even more variety. Nightfall makes it harder to see, sandstorms will impede your vision, and rain will mask the sounds of footsteps. The guards are affected by those variables just as much as you are! The cinematic elements are dialed back in The Phantom Pain, but my own experiences were just as dramatic as any scripted event. (At one point, I strapped explosives to a Jeep, tied a balloon to it, and used it to take down an enemy helicopter!) Some of the plot points are left unresolved and I’ll concede that the story is incomplete, but the play mechanics are ahead of their time. The Phantom Pain is yet another Hideo Kojima masterpiece, and it’s a shame that he and Konami parted ways shortly after the game was released.

Like its predecessors, Shin Megami Tensei V is an provocative RPG that’s largely defined by its surreal setting and philosophical themes. As players explore a post-apocalyptic Tokyo, they’ll be able to enlist help from a multitude of unnerving demons. It’s a lot of fun to bargain with your foes and bribe them into joining your cause. Once they’re in your party, you can use the magic of demon fusion in order to create entirely new allies. Shin Megami Tensei V is more ambitious than previous entries and the world design is more involved, but there was still room for improvement. This is where Vengeance comes into play. The original game was a Nintendo Switch exclusive, but the updated version was a multiplatform affair. PS4 owners had to wait a while to get their hands on the game, but their patience was rewarded. Vengeance runs perfectly on the PS4 and doesn’t have any of the slowdown issues that plagued the original Switch version. Significant changes were also made to the compendium, and 40 new demons were added. (This brings the total demon count to over 300, if you include DLC! It’s never been easier to assemble a harem of demons.) Vengeance also introduces a new unique skill for each and every demon, and this adds tremendous depth. The ability to fight alongside other cast members adds even more possibilities, and it’s fun to experiment with the new combo system. The improvements to the narrative structure are even more significant. Your choices didn’t really seem to matter in the original version, and the story felt incomplete in certain regards. Vengeance addresses these issues by including an entirely new story path that effectively doubles the length of the game. The quality of life improvements are also worth noting, and I was especially fond of the auto-battle option. Shin Megami Tensei III was a big hit on the PS2, but the fourth and fifth entries were exclusive to Nintendo’s platforms. Persona became a big deal within the PlayStation ecosystem during this time, but the series that spawned it was missing in action. Vengeance feels like a homecoming celebration in this regard, and PlayStation fans certainly have reason to rejoice. The game is dripping with atmosphere, and it’s easily my favorite SMT game to date.

After testing the MMORPG waters with Dragon Quest X, Square Enix went back to their roots for the sequel. Dragon Quest XI is a traditional JRPG with a straightforward storyline, a silent protagonist, and a simple turn-based battle system. The game makes no effort to revolutionize the genre, but it’s one of the most enjoyable RPGs I’ve ever played. Its biggest strength is its cast of likable characters, and Akira Toriyama’s designs are as charismatic as ever. Your party members include a young woman trapped in the body of a small child, a martial arts expert who uses sex appeal as a weapon, and a dirty old man with a penchant for porn magazines. The game relies heavily on familiar archetypes and you’ll probably see some of the plot twists coming from a mile away, but it’s a lot of fun to watch the story unfold. You’ll have to invest a lot of time if you want to see the true ending, but it’s worth the journey. Dragon Quest XI was well-received upon its release in 2017, but the aptly-titled Definitive Edition offered many significant improvements. There was an orchestrated soundtrack, an optional 2D mode based on the 3DS version, and new scenarios for each character. There were also numerous gameplay tweaks, including adjustable battle speeds and a dynamic battle camera. While other RPG franchises took bigger risks during the PS4 era, none were more fun than Dragon Quest XI.

FromSoftware changed the face of gaming with Dark Souls, and Bloodborne takes a similar approach with respect to its world building and unrelenting difficulty. This isn’t to say that the game doesn’t bring anything new to the table, however. While the Souls games embraced a high fantasy motif, Bloodborne is set against the backdrop of a decrepit city inspired by the Victorian era. This is a plague-ridden world of werewolves and Lovecraftian monsters, and you’ll fight all sorts of fantastic beasts as you unravel the city’s cosmic mysteries. The combat takes cues from Dark Souls and it still rewards you for patience and tenacity, but Bloodborne is a much faster game that incentivizes aggression. Your character is surprisingly agile, and you’ll be encouraged to take an offensive approach when dealing with enemy hordes. Players are still given a high degree of freedom, thanks to the wide assortment of weapons available. You’ll be armed with axes, whips, torches, hammers, Molotovs, pistols, cannons, and everything in between. Certain weapons are useful in cramped areas, others are appropriate for crowd control, and some will be more effective at long range. When you’re not battling abject horrors, you’ll likely be exploring the twisted alleyways of Yharnam and stumbling upon endless secrets. The game feels cruel and uncaring at times, but it’s easy to immerse yourself in the Gothic atmosphere. Although Bloodborne didn’t make as big of an impact as Dark Souls, it surpassed the genre codifier in many regards.

It Takes Two is a once-in-a-generation experience, and the genre-bending platformer was specifically designed with a co-op experience in mind. (There’s no single-player mode to speak of, in fact.) The story focuses on an estranged couple who have to work together to overcome their differences. All the while, players will need to hone their real-world communication skills in order to progress through the game. In this capacity, the narrative and play mechanics are in conversation with each other, and this makes it easy to relate to the anxious protagonists. The husband and wife spend most of the game as hand-crafted dolls, and the levels wouldn’t be out of place in a Honey, I Shrunk the Kids sequel. You’ll venture through an assortment of fantastical places – like a cozy pillow fort or the interior of a clock – and benign gardens will seem like vast forests due to your diminutive size. Each stage brings new objectives and abilities, and the game does a great job of keeping both players involved. During the adventure, the wife will be given the opportunity to walk on walls, create holographic clones, and manipulate the environment with her harmonic singing voice. Her husband has a completely different set of skills, and he’ll be able to use his hair as a grappling hook, control the flow of time, and inflate himself like a balloon. New powers are introduced in every chapter, and the variety of gameplay styles is staggering. At times, it feels like a platformer. In other instances, it’s more akin to a puzzle game. One of the levels could even be likened to a dungeon crawler, and the game draws inspiration from multiple genres. Hazelight Studios founder, Josef Fares, was so confident that he offered a $1,000 guarantee to anyone who could honestly claim to be bored by the game. It Takes Two is one of the most inventive co-op games I’ve ever played, and I was ecstatic to see it rake up so many Game of the Year awards.

There are many multiplatform games on this countdown that have already been discussed on our list of best Xbox One games. NieR:Automata requires multiple playthroughs to see the full story, so it’s fitting that I’d end up writing multiple recaps about the game. Yoko Taro is one of the industry’s most creative storytellers, and PlatinumGames brought his vision to life in a way that no other company could. At its core, NieR:Automata is an epic RPG with a massive world, a complex narrative structure, and an emphasis on customization. At the same time, it’s also a stylish action game that could be likened to Bayonetta in many regards. The genre-bending doesn’t stop there, however, as NieR:Automata also borrows elements from platformers, shoot ’em ups, and even text adventure games! It always keeps you on your toes, and you can never be sure what to expect next. One minute, you’ll be rummaging through the remains of concrete office buildings in a desolate cityscape; the next, you’ll be stepping through the gates of an amusement park that’s still operational. I could wax poetic about the beautiful art direction or the poignant sound design, and there are so many little details that are worth discussing. I love the fact that you can mount wild boars and drift them around corners, for instance. I’m also fond of 2B’s meme-worthy ass. If there was an award for “Best Use of Ladders in a Game,” NieR:Automata would be the clear winner. On a more serious note, NieR:Automata is a true masterpiece that will be fondly remembered several decades from now.

The 2019 Resident Evil 2 remake is one of the best games of its era, and I give Capcom all the credit in the world for updating the 1998 classic for a new generation. Resident Evil 4 wasn’t nearly as dated as its PS1 predecessors, however, so I didn’t think the game warranted a proper remake. I was wrong. The original version ranks among my favorite games of all time, and Capcom somehow met my ridiculously high expectations. The remake features state-of-the-art graphics and updated play mechanics, but it somehow captures the atmosphere of the original game. The environments are more interactive this time around, and your crazed enemies have more tricks up their sleeve. Fortunately, Leon’s repertoire was also expanded. He has more weapons than ever before, and the new trading system allows players to customize their items to suit their play style. Leon isn’t entirely reliant on firearms, of course. He can still obliterate his foes with roundhouse kicks and German suplexes, for example, and there’s even a new parrying system in place. This effectively allows you to block chainsaw attacks with a knife! There’s a greater emphasis on action in the remake, but it’s still a survival game at its core. You’re encouraged to conserve ammo and avoid enemies, and you’ll have to carefully plan your routes as you move throughout the environments. The remake has big scares, imposing bosses, and the best cast in any Resident Evil game. Resident Evil 4 is everything a remake should be. Although the PS4 version lags behind its PS5 brother in terms of fidelity and performance, it’s still one of the best looking games on the system. The art direction, play mechanics, and level design are just as incredible on the PS4 as they are anywhere else, and the core experience is amazing regardless of what hardware generation it’s being played on.