In looking at the year’s best PlayStation 5 games, it shows once again that PlayStation has built a reputation for strong platform exclusives, with a combination of prestige first-party games and third-party offerings from developers like Square Enix.
2023 was no different, offering a wide range of games you can play first, or play best, on a PS5. This is also the year that PS5 came into its own, with many of its biggest games no longer sharing cross-generation releases with the PS4. That means we got to see the power of the new hardware really shine this year like never before.
As first-party offerings go, it doesn’t get much bigger than the blockbuster action of Spider-Man 2, which as an exclusive takes full advantage of the PlayStation 5 hardware. Similarly, Horizon Forbidden West’s PS5-exclusive Burning Shores expansion. Though Forbidden West also received a PS4 version, the PS5 exclusivity of the expansion let developer Guerrilla really spread its shiny metal wings. Third parties rounded out the PlayStation library this year with a number of great games that you can’t currently play on any other console.
This list does contain a few games available to play on PC as well, and that’s a good thing for getting these great games in front of the widest audience possible. But all of these games were console exclusive to PlayStation at the time of writing, making them well worth a look if you have access to the system.
