There are a lot of games on the PlayStation 5 that you might have missed.
Some really great games have come out for the PlayStation 5. There have been brand-new games like Returnal, sequels to games from the last generation like Horizon: Forbidden West and Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and even a return to God of War and Final Fantasy 7.
With all this buzz, some computer games are bound to fall by the wayside. Many people may not have heard about these books at all, either because they were not well received or because they didn’t get the attention they earned. Let’s look at some of the PlayStation 5 games that were like diamonds in the rough but never got the chance to shine.
Haven
Haven came out soon after the PS5 came out in December 2020. It was a pretty unique sci-fi game. Instead of being picked to stop the ultimate evil, you played as a couple trying to get away from an authoritarian society in deep space.
Yu and Kay were in love, which the bad Apiary didn’t like because it forced people to get married. So, they get on a spaceship and run away to a strange planet. There, they have to deal with the results of what they did back home and what this new world has in store for them.
The game was fun because you could float around with anti-gravity boots and fight monsters in real time, but it had a turn-based look. This did make things busy sometimes, but the chemistry and writing of our main stars made up for it easily. Their relationship felt real and honest. Something for the title that really stood out.
Terminator: Resistance Enhanced
One could say that this is just an update to a PS4 game for the PS5, but Terminator: Resistance Enhanced also has brand new story content. In the world of Terminator, where most of the world has already been destroyed by Skynet, you play as Jacob Rivers, who starts out as just another foot man in the Resistance. Soon, he meets a group of survivors and finds out that he is much more important to their cause than he thought.
People have been nice enough to call Terminator: Resistance Enhanced “Fallout-lite.” It has simple levels and, yes, some junk, but there are lots of fun ways to explore, fight, and improve your character. But you don’t really feel trapped like you would if you were facing real Terminators, which may turn off some fans of the series.
Ghostwire: Tokyo
Ghostwire: Tokyo did not have a dramatic story like its predecessor, The Evil Within by Tango Gameworks. Ghostwire, on the other hand, did a great job of making a believable Tokyo that was filled with Japanese folklore.
You play as Akito, who is partly controlled by a spirit named KK. You use magic and martial arts moves to fight demons and other supernatural beings. With all the strange and scary enemies, a creepypasta author would have a field day.
Ghostwire: Tokyo is mostly about exploring a detailed map by flying, grappling, and looking for mysterious enemies and tasks. There is something about saving Akito’s sister, but that is not what the game is about. Happy Wheels game seems to be flying under the radar, which is odd given that it has both action and creepy parts.
Aragami 2
Aragami 2 may have lost some of its focus and changed some of the story, but playing as a shadow spirit with ninja skills was still as fun as ever. Sitting still and thinking about what to do next made every enemy feel like prey you were stalking, and it rewarded creative thought over brute force.
Even though maps got boring after the fourth time you played them, they were almost great for both solo and co-op play.
Bugsnax
The names Ape Escape and Pokemon Snap don’t get people as excited about games as they used to. If Bugsnax had come out almost a decade earlier, it might have been a well-known word because it is a strange and beautiful mix of the two.
The Muppet-esque Grumpuses live in Bugsnax’s world. A few of them find a strange island full of Bugsnax, creatures that are half insect and half food. The strange but friendly Grumpuses can eat these critters to get food for their body parts.
No one can say for sure how they would feel about such a change. For the rest of the game, you have to find different ways to collect these little buggers in colourful settings, until their cute, innocent ways lead to one of the biggest changes in tone in video games.
Arcadegeddon
Illfonic hasn’t always done a good job with video games. When it works in one way, like Friday the 13th, it doesn’t work in another way, like Predator: Hunting Grounds. This could be why Arcadegeddon didn’t get much attention, even though it came out in July 2022 on PlayStation Plus.
At its core, Arcadegeddon is a roguelike game with guns, power-ups, and a lot of lights. Tonnes and tonnes of light. You take control of a customizable version of Osmosis Jones and jump into a simulated simulation to save a store owner’s business. This world of the future has its money and, well, its whole economy, in these deep dives.
Then, you go through beautiful maps, both big and small, killing different kinds of enemies until you reach a boss. Even if you finish a run, you’ll want to play again and again because the game loop is interesting and the fighting is well-designed. It’s too bad that there hasn’t been much support for the game since it came out.
Hoa
Hoa is a simple puzzle game that won’t take you more than two hours to finish. The angelic music and beautiful art design are what make it worth your money. People have said that Hoa is like a Studio Ghibli movie, but it can stand on its own and then some.
The main person is very small. On your way to free an old friend, trees, bugs, fish, and even some grass will tower over you, but you never feel overpowered. Aside from that, Hoa doesn’t tell very many stories. The best way to enjoy this place is to just live in the moment and do one easy thing at a time.
Evil West
This is a linear, third-person action game set in the Wild West that is similar to early PS3 games. It was made by the same people who worked on the rebooted Shadow Warrior series. What else is there to say about this spoiled rebel?
Evil West doesn’t have the best graphics, but it’s a fun action-adventure game, which you don’t see very often these days. Its story is a straight-up B-movie, and the game lets you use unbelievable skills that wouldn’t even exist today. Evil West is a lot of fun and a great example of a vampire game that doesn’t take itself too seriously. After all, you will use metal gauntlets to hit vampires in the mouth over and over again.
Valkyrie Elysium
Valkyrie Elysium is the first Valkyrie Profile game for home consoles since 2006. In it, you play as a Valkyrie from Norse mythology who has just been born. As Ragnarok rages, Odin made Nora, and he needs you to go to Earth to find twisted souls and bring them back to him to stop the end of the world. Even though the story is simple, not everything is as it seems.
In a style similar to Devil May Cry, Valkyrie Elysium is best at giving you a lot of different places to explore and enemies to beat. There are a lot of guns to get and combos to learn, which keeps the fighting from getting boring.
It also has the same colour scheme as a Soulsborne game. If a few generic parts don’t worry you, Valkyrie Elysium is a trip you should take soon.
Outriders
This action role-playing game takes place on a planet in deep space close to the year 2200. The story of Outriders is interesting and sad enough that it would have been a hit as a TV show.
Even better, Outriders has good shooting and game features, some of which are similar to Destiny 2’s successes. Outriders should have been a bright star in gaming because of its fast-paced, chaotic gameplay and skill tree that you can change. It’s too bad that problems with the launch kept many people from taking advantage of everything the game had to offer.
