Best Action Games

Our take: The best superhero action game, and the most kinetic traversal in the genre — web-swinging across a bigger New York has never felt this fluid. You switch between Peter and Miles, each with their own powers, as Peter's symbiote abilities push the combat into aggressive new territory. Rated 4.74 from over 235,000 players, it's a PS5 exclusive, ESRB Teen, and included with PlayStation Plus Extra. The fair criticism is that it's shorter and lighter on content than some fans hoped after the first game — but moment to moment, nothing on this list is as purely fun to move and fight in.

Our take: The best soulslike on PlayStation and a genuine FromSoftware masterpiece, still a PlayStation exclusive a decade on. Bloodborne trades the studio's usual shield-and-caution for fast, aggressive combat that rewards attacking — its Rally system heals you for striking back — set in a gothic, cosmic-horror Yharnam that's still unmatched for atmosphere. Rated 4.74 from over 285,000 players, ESRB Mature, on PS4 (and via backward compatibility on PS5), with online co-op for the toughest bosses and included with PlayStation Plus Extra. The real caveat: it never got a PS5 remaster, so it's locked to 30fps — and like all FromSoft games, it's punishing. Worth every death.

Our take: The best open-world action game here, and the most-played game on this list — over 313,000 PlayStation ratings. You play a samurai defending Tsushima from Mongol invasion, choosing between honourable stand-up duels and the dishonourable "Ghost" path of stealth and fear; the swordplay is tense and lethal, with a one-button stance system that keeps fights readable. Rated 4.6, on PS4 and PS5, ESRB Mature 17+, with a separate online Legends co-op mode. The caveat is that the open world leans on familiar map-marker activities — but the wind-guided navigation and painterly art make it the most beautiful world here to simply ride through.

Our take: The highest-rated game on this entire list — 4.89 from nearly 130,000 players — and the benchmark for cinematic action-adventure. This ground-up PS5 remake of Joel and Ellie's journey across a post-pandemic America pairs tense, scavenging-driven stealth-combat with the storytelling that defined a generation of PlayStation games. It's a PS5 exclusive, ESRB Mature 17+, and included with PlayStation Plus Extra. The honest caveat: it's a full-price remake of a game many of you already own on PS4, so the upgrade is about presentation, not new content — but as a first-time experience on PS5, nothing here lands harder.

Our take: The best action-RPG of its generation and FromSoftware's most accessible epic — the soulslike combat you'd expect, set loose in a vast, open Lands Between you explore at your own pace. If a boss walls you, you can ride off and return stronger, which softens the studio's notorious difficulty without dulling it. Rated 4.71 from over 174,000 players, on PS4 and PS5, ESRB Mature 17+, with online co-op for summoning help. It's not on PlayStation Plus, and the caveat is real: it's enormous, demanding, and the PS performance can stutter in spots — but no action game here offers more to discover.

Our take: The best pure combat on this list — FromSoftware's most precise, rhythmic system, built entirely around posture and deflection rather than dodging. Sekiro turns swordfighting into a lethal duel of timing, and landing a deathblow after a perfect run of parries is one of action gaming's great highs. Rated 4.66 from over 64,000 players, on PS4, ESRB Mature, published by Activision. The caveat: it's the hardest game here, with no difficulty options and no co-op or summons to lean on — it's you against the boss until you master it. If that challenge appeals, nothing else feels this sharp.

Our take: The best hack-and-slash here, and the genre's high-water mark for stylish combat. Devil May Cry 5 hands you three characters — four in this Special Edition — with wildly different playstyles, and a scoring system that grades your combos S-to-D in real time, turning every fight into a performance. Rated 4.77 from over 44,000 players, this Special Edition is on PS5, ESRB Mature 17+, adding Vergil and the Bloody Palace gauntlet, with co-op support. The caveat: the over-the-top story is gloriously silly rather than deep, and levels are linear corridors between battles — but for pure combat expression and replayability, it's untouchable.

Our take: The best action-horror game on PlayStation — a ground-up remake of the title that reinvented third-person action. As Leon Kennedy you fight through a rural-Spain nightmare with tense, over-the-shoulder gunplay, a new parry, and constant resource pressure that keeps every encounter on a knife-edge between action and survival-horror. Rated 4.74 from over 144,000 players, on PS4 and PS5, ESRB Mature. The caveat: Capcom bolted on optional microtransactions for upgrade tickets, and a few beats diverge from the 2005 original — but as a remake it's near-flawless, and it carries the action-horror torch for this list.

Our take: The best story on this list, and the most unusual game on it — a 4.82-rated cult classic that fuses slick PlatinumGames action with one of gaming's most affecting narratives about androids, war and what it means to be alive. The combat shifts on the fly between hack-and-slash, twin-stick shooting and bullet-hell, and an exceptional soundtrack carries it all. Rated 4.82 from over 47,000 players, on PS4, ESRB Mature. The caveat: the story only fully reveals itself across multiple playthroughs, and the opening hours can feel slight — but stay with it and few games here will move you more.

Our take: One of PlayStation's defining new IPs, freshly remastered for PS5. You play Aloy hunting towering robot dinosaurs across a gorgeous post-apocalypse, and the combat is its standout — tactical and ranged, all about stripping armour and exploiting each machine's weak points with the right arrow. Rated 4.75 from over 210,000 players, on PS5, ESRB Teen, and included with PlayStation Plus Extra. The honest caveat: the human side quests and dialogue can feel formulaic next to the machine hunts — but the world-building and that core combat loop make it one of the most satisfying open-world action games here.

Our take: The game that made Spider-Man feel right — and the foundation the sequel builds on. This remastered original nails the fantasy: fluid web-swinging traversal, snappy combat that flows between gadgets and acrobatics, and a heartfelt Peter Parker story. Rated 4.69 from over 283,000 players, on PS5, ESRB Teen, and included with PlayStation Plus Extra. The caveat: the open world leans on repetitive collect-and-clear activities between story beats — but the swinging and the story are strong enough that it remains a must-play, and the natural starting point before Spider-Man 2.

Our take: The best action game for all ages, and the flashiest showcase of what the PS5 can do. Rift Apart blends frantic, weapon-driven third-person combat — an inventive arsenal that turns enemies into topiary or pulls them into black holes — with near-instant dimension-hopping the SSD makes seamless. Rated 4.74 from over 43,000 players, a PS5 exclusive, ESRB Everyone 10+, and included with PlayStation Plus Extra. The caveat: the story is light and the campaign runs on the shorter side — but as a dazzling, family-friendly action-platformer that hammers home the PS5's tech, nothing else here fits the bill.

Our take: The best roguelike action game on PlayStation, and the most addictive game on this list — its 4.84 rating trails only The Last of Us here. You fight your way out of Hell in fast, top-down hack-and-slash runs, and Supergiant's genius is weaving the story into the deaths: every failed escape advances the writing and your relationships back home. Rated 4.84 from over 18,000 players, on PS4 and PS5, ESRB Teen, and included with PlayStation Plus Premium. The caveat: it's built on repetition, so if run-based roguelikes aren't your thing the loop may wear — but for everyone else it's "one more run" for a hundred hours.

Our take: The best platformer here and a reigning Game of the Year — proof that great action doesn't have to mean blood or brutal difficulty. Astro Bot is a joyous 3D platformer that turns the DualSense into a co-star, every haptic buzz and trigger pull tuned to the action, with a parade of PlayStation cameos to find. Rated 4.79 from over 70,000 players, a PS5 exclusive, ESRB Everyone 10+. The caveat: it's fairly short and not very challenging — but it's the most purely delightful game on this list, and the best showcase of the PS5 controller you can buy.