After spending hundreds of pounds or dollars on your brand spanking new PS5, you’ll want to make sure you use your remaining cash on a game you’ll be playing for a long time. Thankfully, RPGs are some of the biggest and most content rich games you can buy, meaning you’ll have plenty to sink your teeth into. The question is, what are the best PS5 RPGs available right now?
For this list, we’re compiling all the best RPGs on PS5 that have been enhanced for the latest hardware. Sure, there’s plenty of good PS4 RPGs out there that are playable on PS5, but if they’ve not been updated, they’re not on this list. We’ve also ranked them, so you know definitively which one is best. Here’s the 15 best RPGs you can play right now on PS5.
The Best PS5 RPGs
15. Greedfall
Developer: Spiders
Publisher: Focus Home Interactive
It’s hard to recommend Greedfall considering it’s developed by a team called Spiders, and spiders are just the worst, but Greedfall is definitely worth your time. With a medieval fantasy setting, Greedfall sticks players in the center of a magical faction war and gives players the tools and freedom to decide the fate of an entire island, whether that’s by being an honest hero or a conniving villain.
You take on the role of De Sardet, a noble of the Merchant Congregation who travels to the newly settled island of Teer Fradee to help the Congregation with the founding of its new city, while searching for a cure to a mysterious disease. However, the island is already home to a mystical group of natives, along with representatives from two other countries, and the decisions you make will have huge consequences.
14. Genshin Impact
Developer: miHoYo
Publisher: miHoYo
Exploring an expansive anime-inspired world is always an enticing prospect, so it’s not really a surprise that Genshin Impact has become as successful as it has. Sure, the gacha-style monetisation model isn’t going to be for everyone, especially if you’re not looking to throw bucket loads of cash at another free-to-play game, but if you want some addictive action RPG action, Genshin Impact is a solid bet.
Taking place in the fantasy world of Teyvat, you’ll play as an unnamed Traveller who becomes embroiled in a conflict between the world’s seven regions. Each region has their own element and god, giving the world plenty of unique identity as you explore. In order to see everything, you’ll have to swap characters and utilise a wide range of abilities to beat bosses, solve puzzles and more.
13. Cyberpunk 2077
Developer: CD Projekt Red
Publisher: CD Projekt Red
It’s fair to say that the original PS4 launch of Cyberpunk 2077 was heavily bungled. The game was even removed from the PlayStation Store for months due to the weak state of the finished product, leading to the developers spending over a year patching the game and releasing a next-gen update. Now that the next-gen version of the game is available, Cyberpunk 2077 can take its rightful place as one of the best PS5 RPGs you can buy.
You control V, exploring Night City and navigating a world where corporations rule everything and everyone is trying to make a name for themselves, usually at someone else’s expense. After a botched heist, your time is limited and your head is being inhabited by a rockstar terrorist who looks an awful lot like Keanu Reeves.
If that’s not exciting enough of a plot for you, you can also wander around the city and batter everyone with a baseball bat. If the role you want to play is a bit of a dick, Cyberpunk 2077 is a great RPG.
12. Tales of Arise
Developer: Bandai Namco
Publisher: Bandai Namco
For RPG connoisseurs, the Tales of series has been a reliable go-to for excellent RPGs for decades now, with such highlights as Tales of Vesperia. Tales of Arise could also be considered as part of the upper echelon of the long-running franchise, with its engaging story and characters and rewarding gameplay. The microtransactions might be a bit overboard for some players, which is why it’s not higher up on this list, but at least they’re optional.
Set across two worlds, Tales of Arise follows a plot where the planet Rena has subjugated the planet of Dahna. Alphen, a Dahna native, and Shionne, a Rena denizen, work together to travel across Dahna and liberate the planet from the oppressive hold of its various lords.
Along the way, you’ll encounter various other characters, kill plenty of monsters and even learn the meaning of friendship as you attempt to unite these warring worlds.
11. Scarlet Nexus
Developer: Bandai Namco
Publisher: Bandai Namco
RPGs have the potential to create some of the most interesting and captivating worlds in gaming history, and Scarlet Nexus might just take the cake in that regard. In fact, Scarlet Nexus earns its place as one of the best PS5 RPGs purely on how weird and unique it is.
Set in a retro futuristic alternate universe, with a genre lovingly referred to as “brainpunk”, you’ll enter a world where scientific advancement was based around the human brain. Basically, you get cool psychokinetic abilities, which is just lovely.
A dual narrative game, you control either Yuito Sumeragi or Kasane Randall, both of which are members of the Other Suppression Force. As OSF members, you’ll be tasked with protecting the city of New Himuka from the Others, monsters that will rain down upon the city periodically. Fortunately, your psychokinetic abilities will help you in your journey, as you upgrade the abilities of you and your party members.
10. Mass Effect: Legendary Collection
Developer: Bioware
Publisher: Bioware
Why settle for just one of the best RPGs ever made when you can have three at once?
As you’d expect from the name, the Mass Effect: Legendary Collection bundles together pretty much all the available content for the original sci-fi RPG trilogy and upgrades it all to make it the definitive version of some all-time classics. The ending to Mass Effect 3 might not have stuck the landing, but the journey is still absolutely worth taking.
The biggest selling point to this collection is the extensive overhaul given to Mass Effect 1, easily the most dated entry in the series. The new version includes overhauled gameplay and shooting mechanics, and the whole trilogy was streamlined to better allow players to carry their individual Shepard from one game to the next. With dozens of hours of content for each game, Mass Effect: Legendary Collection will keep you occupied for a long time.
9. The Nioh Collection
Developer: Team Ninja
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
For the RPG fans looking for a huge challenge on their PS5, The Nioh Collection should be right up their alley. Following the Soulslike formula that brought FromSoftware mountains of success (and we’ll get to them), The Nioh Collection bundles together Nioh 1 and 2 and updates them to take advantage of the PS5. If you want to experience the challenge of a Soulslike in a samurai-era video game, Nioh is for you.
While the core formula is retained throughout both games, there’s some key differences between the two. Nioh 1 tells the story of William Adams, an Irish samurai who attempts to save Japan from the rise of a Yokai menace, while Nioh 2 allows you to create your own character and make use of your inner Yokai powers to murder your enemies.
They’re incredibly tough games, but if you want satisfaction, The Nioh Collection is one of the best RPGs you can buy on PS5.
8. Lost Judgment
Developer: Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
Publisher: SEGA
Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio have pioneered creating excellent and compelling modern RPGs, with the Yakuza series offering excellent real-time combat and role-playing abilities in a contemporary yet ridiculous setting. While the Yakuza series has moved in a different direction, Judgment is still representing the classic beat ‘em up gameplay, and Lost Judgment is worthy of being considered one of the best PS5 RPGs you can play.
As private investigator Takayuki Yagami, you’ll travel between famous Yakuza series location Kamurocho and Isezaki Ijincho to investigate a complicated case involving suicide, bullying and even murder.
As you investigate, you’ll be able to utilise three different fighting styles that focus on different types of fighting, with Crane excelling in crowd control, Tiger dominating one-on-one fights and Snake relying on counterattacks. You’ll also go undercover at a school, and engage in plenty of varied minigames that’ll absolutely distract you from the game’s main plot.
7. Hades
Developer: Supergiant Games
Publisher: Supergiant Games
While Hades fits into the roguelike genre, it’s perhaps the most RPG inspired roguelike you could ask for, with heaps of personal progression between runs that make Hades a challenge that you want to complete. Also, it’s the greatest game where you get to play the role of a Greek God.
You control Zagreus, the son of Hades himself, the Greek God of the Underworld. The Underworld itself is run like a bureaucracy, and his mother has returned to the surface without Zag. Now he knows his mother exists, and he’s grappling with feelings of not belonging where he is, so now Zagreus has made an executive decision: he’s making a break for the surface world, and he’s going to learn the truth about his birth, even if Hell stands in his way.
Without a doubt, Hades is one of the best RPGs you can buy, and you could potentially sink hundreds of hours into this game alone.
6. Demon’s Souls
Developer: Bluepoint Games (previously FromSoftware)
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
From an obscure PS3 exclusive to a genuine console seller, it’s amazing what a decade of great games and a dedicated fanbase will do for a brand.
Since the original launch, FromSoftware’s games have become huge hits over the past decade, upping the profile for games like Demon’s Souls. While it might not have been the biggest hit on the PS3, Bluepoint have updated the game for modern hardware, making it one of the biggest titles you can own on PS5.
Fans of the original game will be pleased to learn that Demon’s Souls is practically the same game as it was on PS3, with some improved graphics, performance and sound design. However, Bluepoint has added a host of new features and modes to make Demon’s Souls a much more complete package than it ever was. It’s a challenge, but Demon’s Souls is an essential PS5 RPG.
5. Yakuza: Like A Dragon
Developer: Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
Publisher: SEGA
The decision to move the Yakuza series from a beat ‘em up to a more traditional JRPG style was certainly a unique one, but Yakuza: Like A Dragon is without a doubt a brilliant refresher for the long-running series.
If you’ve played turn-based RPGs like Dragon Quest, Yakuza: Like A Dragon will feel like something familiar, but Like A Dragon still retains enough of the trademark Yakuza flair and silliness to not feel like too much of a departure.
Moving away from regular series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu, Yakuza: Like A Dragon focuses on newcomer Ichiban Kasuga, who spends a long stretch in prison after taking the fall for a crime he didn’t commit. Believing his yakuza clan would be waiting for him when he got out, Ichiban is released 18 years later to find himself completely alone. That, of course, simply will not do, so Ichiban starts recruiting some friends to figure out what actually happened.
4. Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade
Developer: Square Enix
Publisher: Square Enix
Final Fantasy VII Remake already cemented itself as one of the best PS4 RPGs you could buy, so it stands to reason that the PS5 upgrade, titled Intergrade, would earn similar honours.
The core game remains mostly the same, retelling the story of Cloud and friends taking on the Shinra Corporation, but those improved visuals and loading times, along with features like Photo Mode, make Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade an essential PS5 RPG, especially if you skipped the original version.
On top of that, Intergrade adds some brand new content to the game, with the player able to take on the role of Yuffie in a special Intermission chapter where she tries to infiltrate Shinra in order to steal the “Ultimate Materia”. Without a doubt, Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade is one of the best PS5 RPGs out there.
3. Disco Elysium: The Final Cut
Developer: ZA/UM
Publisher: ZA/UM
The appeal of role-playing games is typically that they allow you to control the type of person you want to play as, and very few games give you as much control over that as Disco Elysium: The Final Cut. With 24 different skulls corresponding to the protagonist’s various skills, and a Thought Cabinet based on the different emotional and psychological features of your character, you can be pretty much whoever you want to be.
As an amnesiac detective, you wake up and are tasked with solving a murder mystery, but as the mystery unfurls, your memory returns and the forces trying to influence the city of Revachol begin to reveal themselves.
With no combat, you get to use your various skills and traits to solve the mystery in your own way, whether that’s by becoming a self-destructive “hobocop” or a paranoid drama queen. It’s your choice.
2. Final Fantasy XIV
Developer: Square Enix
Publisher: Square Enix
While most RPGs like to tell the story of a lone character saving the world, MMORPGs allow players to experience epic fights and narratives with their friends. There’s a few available on the PS5, but it’s no question that the best MMORPG available on PS5 is Final Fantasy XIV, which turns the iconic RPG series into a beloved MMO that’s been around for years. The PS5 version in particular rockets the game into the modern era.
Final Fantasy XIV does require a subscription in order to play fully, and there’s tons of expansion content there for extra money, but if you get the bug, you’ll be sucked into this game for hundreds of hours.
If you’re not fully convinced yet, there’s a free trial available that allows players to build characters up to level 60, and even includes the game’s first expansion Heavensward. FFXIV is a brilliant MMO, and almost the best RPG on PS5.
Almost.
1. Elden Ring
Developer: FromSoftware
Publisher: Bandai Namco
Elden Ring is nothing short of the culmination of FromSoftware’s incredible work for the past decade. While it’s still an incredibly difficult and punishing game, much like the previous Soulslike games from the legendary Japanese developer, it feels like a more welcoming and inviting adventure than titles like Dark Souls and Bloodborne, cementing its legacy as the best PS5 RPG you can buy.
Like all Soulslike games, you’re controlling a “chosen” character who has the ability to defy death, and in doing so, you’ll take down the various bosses that are wandering around the ruins of shattered landscape.
As an open world RPG, you have complete control over the adventure you want to have, and if that means going somewhere else to power-level so you can take out the harder bosses later, you can absolutely do that. It’s amazing how much that level of control can improve the Soulslike formula, but Elden Ring is simply the best of the best.
READ MORE: The Best PS5 Co-Op Games To Play With Friends
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