PlayStation’s 100 best games get the PLAY cover treatment

PLAY #15 is out now online and on newsstands, and it’s sure to cause both sage-like nods of agreement and frowned shakes of the head. For the cover, we rank the Top 100 PlayStation games of all time. The best PlayStation games from PS1 to PS5 are all in there. We think you’ll agree that it’s a great list that celebrates some PlayStation legends, but also that fitting in only 100 games is pretty tough. Subscribers get treated to one of the top four games with special limited edition covers.

Read on to find out more about the list (and what cracked the Top 10), but there’s plenty more crammed into the new issue, from a deep dive into F1 2022, a look at Saints Row’s massive customisability, and even a retrospective on the EyeToy. Subscribe to PLAY Magazine here to save on the cover price, get exclusive covers, and have it delivered to your door or device every month.

Picking PlayStation's Top 100 – The Rules

PlayStation has been kicking around since 1994, when the original grey box of joy launched. At the time there was nothing like it. The 3D polygon gaming it delivered was revolutionary in a way that no generational leap has managed to match.

That was 28 years ago. The years since have been packed with brilliant games, so assembling a list of the 100 best is a tall order. It’d be easy to create a list twice as long, or maybe even ten times longer. Where do you even begin? You could try to look at things objectively, to quantify how well games have aged, the impact they had, or how good the visual design is. But games are basically collaborative works of art. Everyone’s response to one game or another is going to be unavoidably subjective. Thankfully, Team PLAY is rife with opinions, so we made sure each of us had a say.

We limited entries to one game per series, otherwise a quarter of the list would be every God Of War, Metal Gear Solid, and Naughty Dog hit. The exception, we decided, would be for games representing meaningful shifts in a series’ makeup – the difference between Assassin’s Creed’s RPG entries and its earlier iterations, say, rather than Uncharted adding a grappling hook to swing from PS3 to PS4. We put together a longlist, did a roundtable to make that a shortlist, voted on the top entries, then roundtabled our way through ordering the rest.

Alien Isolation — (Image credit: Future)

It hasn’t been easy. Debates raged over whether to pick Uncharted 2 or Uncharted 4, and whether you can really call all of FromSoftware’s individual soulsbornes different series. For older games, how do you balance the impact they had on release versus how well they’ve aged? Should a true great be as good to play now as it was when it was groundbreaking? And how long does it take for a recent release to settle in the mind as a classic? Deathloop might be one of the most impressive PS5 games we’ve played, but at only a few months old how can it compare to the likes of Dishonored 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3?

Doubtless, there will be picks here that make sense to you, and omissions you’ll be shocked by. But that’s fine. Everyone’s different, and this is a list that represents how Team PLAY is feeling right now. If you disagree, you know how to get in touch – play@futurenet.com – and keep an eye on our social media to contribute to reader-focused lists and features in the future!

The Top 10 PlayStation Games

The Witcher 3 and Uncharted 4 — (Image credit: Future)

The full list is a chunky 26 pages, and we get into why each one is great. But, here’s the Top 10 to give you a taste of what’s in store (we know you’d flick right to them anyway). Though if you want to know just why the list is as it is, you’ll need to read the full thing.

Bloodborne
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
The Last Of Us Part 2
Final Fantasy 12
Shadow Of The Colossus
God Of War (2018)
Metal Gear Solid
Red Dead Redemption 2
Disco Elysium: The Final Cut

If that’s not enough, the magazine has a full breakdown of all 100 entries, plus additional commentary and data (did you know that the 2010s appear to be PlayStation’s strongest decade to date?).

For more unrivalled developer access to the hottest PS5, PS4, and PSVR games, why not subscribe to PLAY Magazine? You'll save on the cover price and have your copy delivered to your door (or device) each month, complete with exclusive subscriber covers. It’s a big saving for a tome that covers PlayStation past, present, and future every month, so consider helping us keep the train going.

You can subscribe to the print edition, digital version, or save even more with the print/digital bundle – whatever you choose, you’ll be receiving an unprecedented trove of dedicated PlayStation coverage every month.

Games Editor Oscar Taylor-Kent brings his years of Official PlayStation Magazine and PLAY knowledge to the fore. A noted PS Vita apologist, he's also written for Edge, PC Gamer, SFX, Official Xbox Magazine, Kotaku, Waypoint, and more. When not dishing out deadly combos in Ninja Gaiden 4, he's a fan of platformers, RPGs, mysteries, and narrative games. A lover of retro games as well, he's always up for a quick evening speed through Sonic 3 & Knuckles or yet another Jakathon through Naughty Dog's PS2 masterpieces.