2025 is the year PS5 came into its own with fantastic exclusives, but is it too little too late?

I have to admit that PlayStation has had a fantastic 2025, even if in some ways it's been a bit of an odd one. Glancing over our Year in Review: The Best of 2025, many of my own favorite gaming moments have taken place on the console this year. My own PlayStation Wrap-Up 2025 has also made it clear I've spent hundreds of hours immersed in fantastic adventures this year – many days worth of play in PS5 exclusives like Death Stranding 2 and Ghost of Yotei, and current-gen only releases like Silent Hill f (alongside some huge cross-gen RPGs as well).

PS5 exclusives dominating conversation around my favorite white obelisk might seem like a no-brainer on the surface. But, historically, that's not quite the case with many releases up to this point still arriving across both PS4 and PS5. This year, PS5 celebrated its fifth birthday (time flies when you're having fun), but it only feels like the console generation is finally getting started, new games making full use of the power under the console's curvy hood without being restricted by last-gen technical limitations.

Next gen?

As far as PS5 exclusive games go, Death Stranding 2 and Ghost of Yotei, as sequels, are fascinating examples to look at for how far PlayStation has come in recent years. Both the original Death Stranding and Ghost of Tsushima were late-in-the-generation releases on PS4 that pushed the boundaries of that console's technology, and were also both early adopters of PlayStation's 'Director's Cut' format for enhanced PS5 ports.

Both Death Stranding 2 and Ghost of Yotei are huge open world experiences that really allow players freedom to simply set out and explore, environments rich with detail yet wonderfully stylized, and filled with points of interest that reward player curiosity outside of simply following quest markers. They're testaments to just how expansive an adventure on PS5 can be.

Graphical ambition is the most obvious way both titles stand out as making full use of the console, especially on PS5 Pro (which has easily become the best way to play these blockbuster releases). But, rather than simply being about visual fidelity, it's how the console can balance being a looker with excellent framerate performance, games running silky smooth in a way that feels marvelous to control as well as simply looking amazing. I'd go as far to say that's become the defining feature of PS5 for me when it comes to these big budget games.

Don't get me wrong, I like the other gimmicks of the console, especially the DualSense's features like haptic feedback and adaptive triggers – but these days they can feel more like bonuses than truly additive. Ghost of Yotei's campfire-starting touchpad and blowing-into-the-mic controls feels distinctly Nintendo DS-like. It's almost curious that the best utilization of the controller comes from the likes of the former Xbox Series X-exclusive Forza Horizon 5, which released back in April on the platform. (Seriously, the DualSense is made for racing – it's been a great year for Gran Turismo 7 as well).

Because, yes, when it comes to third-party releases on PS5 this year Xbox has delivered some of the best, their strategy of doling out their own first-party games to other platforms meaning that PlayStation is being drip-fed its biggest competitors' best games. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle remains one of the best action-adventure games in years, and it came to PS5 a little over four months after its Xbox release just ahead of its DLC chapter. Similarly, Gears of War: Reloaded – a re-release of the justifiably iconic Xbox 360 exclusive sci-fi shooter – also dropped on PS5 this year. Next year, PS5 is also getting the Unreal Engine 5-powered Halo: Campaign Evolved. Some of PS5's best games are Xbox games. That's no complaint, but it remains unusual and novel to type out. What a world!

Widening the net, other third-party releases are beginning to follow a similar cadence to first party when it comes to ditching last-gen versions, focusing on what the newer hardware can bring. For me, Assassin's Creed Shadows (yes, I rinsed two huge Japan-set open worlds this year and no, I'm not OK) exemplifies this, the first time in three entries that Ubisoft's series hasn't also been released on PS4. Likewise, Silent Hill continues to show how great horror came from leveraging PS5's power, with Silent Hill f following up Silent Hill 2 remake to take the series in a fresh direction – in our Silent Hill f review we said that it has "the legendary horror series' most unsettling atmosphere and writing to date".

Indies have continued to flourish on PS5 as well. While PC is still the place to be for the cutting-edge and most out there releases, PlayStation has continued to prove itself capable of platforming some fantastic releases from small teams. Sword of the Sea, for instance, is one of my favorite games of the year, a transcendent spiritual successor to Journey that has you drifting across dunes on a hoverboard. Baby Steps and The Midnight Walk have also been standouts that have been console exclusives on PS5, and continue to make the console feel like a home for unique styles of play beyond what some might call the 'PlayStation house style' of its top franchises.

Hard(ware) to ignore

PS5 might have had a great 2025, but you'll have to be willing to pay up to enjoy it. The biggest hardware news for PlayStation this year – besides an extremely vague PS6 tease – has been the PS5 $50 price hike that hit back in August because of the "challenging economic environment". Confusingly, Black Friday deals and beyond have seen the consoles dip back to and below the old prices anyway, so it's not been entirely doom and gloom.

But PlayStation is still correct when it comes to the economy – this is a tough time for hardware at the moment, with material availability alone beginning to have just as much of an affect on the future of gaming as the games themselves. Baldur's Gate 3 developer Larian Studios have already said that the RAM shortage is having an impact on production for Divinity: Original Sin 3, and it's sure to shape upcoming hardware as well.

The future of PS5, and of gaming in general, is at an odd crossroads as numerous factors converge. Hardware costs may see gaming become an even more expensive hobby than it already is. On the other hand, it could also usher in an era of lower-spec-by-necessity innovation (which fits alongside rumors of some kind of PlayStation supplementary handheld device). We also wait with bated breath following a series of cancelled PS5 live service games – will extraction shooter Marathon and co-op heister Fairgames finally give PlayStation the online gaming leverage it (at least at one point) craves? And just how many costumes will Wolverine be able to wear in his solo adventure? Will he be shirtless?

But, these vital questions can wait for another year while we all take a break to take a DualSense to our hefty backlogs, all while gorging on holiday tins of choccies. Throughout 2025, PlayStation has released some great games that finally makes the PS5 feel like it's coming into its own after five years, moving beyond being simply a souped-up PS4. The gaming industry as a whole has been undergoing some challenges, but the console has remained a great place to play, whether that's first party blockbusters, Xbox's own library that it continues to bounce across to its rival, innovative indies, or simply the best RPGs gaming has to offer – I'm sure I'll continue to clock up high double digit hours in The Legend of Heroes in the years to come.

Take a look at our big ol' best games of 2025 ranking to see how PlayStation fared in the line-up this year!