ThePlayStation 5has a sprawling video game library flooded with thousands of titles across all categories. While some are more notable exclusives likeHorizon Forbidden West,Final Fantasy 16, orMarvel’s Spider-Man, many equally fantastic selections from indie developers slip through the cracks and become harder to find. Some may not even be on your radar at all.
RELATED:The Best Xbox Exclusive Hidden Gems
PlayStation is definitely a console for rich world-building and narrative experiences, and many of the hidden gems here will provide you with just that. Whether you’re in the mood for more horror-mystery, sci-fi, or fantasy, these games are guaranteed to blow you away.
10Alfred Hitchcock - Vertigo
A choice-driven interactive narrative game that’s compelling as any Don’t Nod or Quantic Dream title on the PS5 is Aflred Hitchcock - Vertigo. It’s not an adaptation of Hitchcock’s 1958 film following a San Francisco detective, but an entirely new story with original characters and a similar mystery thriller concept involving the protagonist being affected by vertigo.
Here you’re a writer named Ed Miller, who must piece together his past by replaying critical memories to get to the truth of his condition following a horrible car accident. The mechanics and story are very reminiscent of games likeLife is StrangeorTell Me Why, and there’s an excellent mystery surrounding Ed that has many twists and turns.
9The Last Hero Of Nostalgaia
The Last Hero of Nostalgaiawas formerly an Xbox exclusive but is now available on the PS5. It’s a soulslike game with a humorous tone not really seen in similar games and is achieved quite well.
There’s a narrator who makes fun of the game world and some of the tropes in Soulslikes, bringing refreshing satire to a genre known for getting dark and serious.
RELATED:The Best Soulslikes On PS5, Ranked
Right from the character creator’s screen, you’ll see the satire kick in. With all those customization options, your character will remain a glowing white pixelated exoskeleton no matter where the slider lands.
You can select from classes and wear armor, itself a funny process, and the enemies and bosses are still as dangerous, plentiful, and out for your life as any other Soulslike.
8Sherlock Holmes The Awakened (2023)
While there may bea variety of detective games on the PS5, Sherlock Holmes often gets overlooked.
If you enjoyed the previousSherlock Holmestitles from Frogwares and are looking for your next adventure with the Victorian detective, The Awakened acts as both a remake of the 2007 game and a sequel to 2021’s Sherlock Holmes Chapter One, hence the same younger character model. And its graphics are perfect for the PlayStation 5.
This mystery is darker and more supernatural than any Holmes and Watson have faced before,tied to H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. Solving cases with the puzzle mechanics the series is known for, the atmosphere becomes much more terrifying, and the story revolves around an eerie cult whose motives have something to do with recent disappearances.
7Killer Frequency
Killer Frequency is a horror walking simulator and first-person interactive story that all takes place inside a radio station during the 1980s. And despite its premise of a serial killer known as the Whistling Man on a spree in the town of Gallows Creek, the writing is brilliantly comedic in parts and works well into the puzzles.
Because in this game, you play the host of the radio station, DJ Forrest Nash, and help potential victims of the Whistling Man on the other side of the line from your on-air booth. As you scour the various rooms and hidden passages of the building, you find more clues as to who the killer may be while relaying information from puzzle items to save as many lives as possible.
6Blacktail
PlayStation exclusives always give yousome of the most incredible open-world maps, but one equally vibrant from a lesser-known indie title can be seen in Blacktail. In this FPS mythological tale, you shape the origins of a much younger Baba Yaga, where you have moral choices that can make her the malicious figure she’s portrayed as or someone more benevolent.
RELATED:The Top Focus Entertainment Games, Ranked
Similar to Aloy in Horizon, you’re armed with a bow, and you must defend yourself from memories that have returned as hostile creatures roaming the colorful and radiant fantasy setting, including some giant boss types. It’s a genre-bending game with an excellent folkloric story complimented by its magnificent visual space.
5Dredge
A fishing game with a Lovecraftian influence is what you’ll come to love aboutDredge.Published by Team17, you will take your boat to set sail along the seas of an archipelago known as The Marrows, where the local marine life is not your standard catch of the day. The fish are strange and alien in appearance, which you must catch and sell as part of quests, but even more enormous monsters lie beneath the depths.
Using a day and night cycle, you’re tasked with completing as many quotas necessary for particular fish before outrunning the more giant Eldritch terrors that aim to destroy you and your boat. There’s also a detailed narrative amidst the fishing gameplay, where you find mysterious messages in bottles that reveal bits of lore and a character named the Collector having you in his sights.
4Bramble: The Mountain King
You may have played acclaimed horror platformersLittle NightmaresorInside, but Bramble: The Mountain King offers another unique experience with a more mature and gory Nordic folklore twist. You play as a young boy named Olle on a quest to rescue your sister through the vivid and gorgeous 3D fantasy land of Bramble, filled with scenic environments, giant mythological beings, and magic elements.
The horror is amplified, even though the character still carries the same charm and innocence as Six and Inside’s protagonist. And when you’re leaping past enemies from pads across a pond or giant mushrooms across a forest and navigating ominous dark cavernous settings, you’ll be entranced by the immersive sound design and musical score playing in the background.
3Star Trek: Resurgence
This less-talked-aboutStar Trekgame from Dramatic Labs, a studio successor to Telltale Games made up of many of its former designers, brings a cinematic branching narrative to the universe. With all the Star Trek films and Paramount+ spin-off television series, Resurgence lets you play one of the most gripping original character-driven Star Trek stories in games.
RELATED:Movie Franchises With The Most Games
Though you see the return of QTEs and the signature timed dialogue selection, the art style is distinct from the design of Telltale characters featuring more realistic character models and facial animations, and there are also new mechanics of flying spaceships and combat involving phaser battles. You’ll be playing as Starfleet personnel Jara Rydek and Carter Diaz on the USS Resolute, who interact with many unique characters, including the fan-favorite Spock.
2After Us
After Us is a visually striking puzzle platformer game set in an apocalyptic future that would look terrific on PS5. Aside from its stunning 3D landscapes filled with dangerous environmental puzzles and grotesquely beautiful imagery, the atmospheric sound design creates an overall ethereal and surreal experience.
Through its uses of rich environmental storytelling, After Us conveys the bleak narrative of a world where humans are gone, with only the spirits of animals remaining, and the luminous Spirit of Life, Gaia, there to help them. The character design of Gaia and the graceful flying mechanics feel reminiscent ofJourney, with Gaia leaving a trail of green behind her every step and having the power to change barren environments back to their original vibrant form.
1Tchia
Tchialaunched solely on PlayStation and is a cozy open-world island adventure following the titular character. While the game may portray a fictional sandbox world, it’s inspired by the indigenous culture of the Kanak group from New Caledonia, a French archipelago territory in the South Pacific region.
The main character is on a mission to rescue her father, and she has the fun ability to take control of anything scattered around the environment, whether animals like dogs or birds or inanimate things like tires. You’ll havemany exciting activities and minigames, including underwater traversal, but you can also just play your ukulele instrument and be like Ellie inThe Last of Part 2.
