Best Post-Apocalyptic Games for PS5 & PS4

Why it's here: My first recommendation here, and the one I would hand a newcomer. The remake rebuilds the cordyceps outbreak with modern lighting, animation and a deep accessibility suite, and Joel and Ellie's cross-country walk carries it. Steam reviews are overwhelmingly warm on the storytelling and the presentation, and the complaints that recur are performance stutters and a combat loop some find repetitive by the back half. Rated Mature 17+, on PS Plus Extra, 4.89 from nearly 130,000 ratings, the highest-rated pick on this list. If you already own the PS4 remaster, the case for buying it again is thinner.

Why it's here: The best open world here and the cheapest way into one, since it sits in the PS Plus Extra catalogue. Aloy hunts machines across a wilderness that reclaimed our ruins a thousand years on, and the mystery of what ended the old world pulls harder than the combat does. The recurring complaint in Steam reviews is that the human fights never match the machine ones and the side quests repeat. Rated Teen, on PS Plus Extra, 4.75 from over 210,000 ratings. Start here if you want the machine world before the sequel.

Why it's here: Kojima's courier sim is the one pick here I would not hand to everyone. You walk cargo across a broken America, balancing a load, plotting a route and building roads that other players quietly inherit. Steam reviews split hard: the connectivity and the traversal draw real praise, and the same write-ups that bounce off call the walking tedious and the cutscenes endless. Rated Mature 17+, not on PS Plus, 4.61 from more than 90,000 ratings. Watch an hour of someone hauling cargo before you buy, because that hour is the game.

Why it's here: The 2025 sequel, and the one to reach for if the first game clicked. It widens the traversal and sharpens the combat without losing the contemplative tone, and the deliveries finally vary instead of repeating the same haul. Steam reviews are overwhelmingly positive, with a consistent gripe that the difficulty leans gentle and the exposition over-explains what the original left alone. Rated Mature 17+, on PS Plus Premium, 4.87 from 50,000 ratings. Play the original first, then come straight here.

Why it's here: An android war story that only shows its real shape on the second and third run, which is rare enough to be the point rather than a chore. Steam reviews put the soundtrack and the closing sequence near the top of anything here, and flag an early game that drags and enemy variety that thins out. Rated Mature, not on PS Plus, 4.82 from 47,000 ratings. Go in knowing the first route is the setup, not the game.

Why it's here: The best atmosphere on this list and the most divisive design change on it. Exodus trades the series tunnels for open Russian zones where you scavenge parts, clean your weapons and watch the light move over irradiated country. Steam reviews split along that exact seam: the environments and the gun upkeep draw praise while long-time fans miss the claustrophobia, and bugs and an unclear morality system come up repeatedly. Rated Mature, not on PS Plus, 4.54 from nearly 61,000 ratings. Pick it for the mood, not for a tight shooter.

Why it's here: The deepest sandbox here, and the roughest. The Commonwealth hands you settlement building, weapon crafting and a modding scene that has kept it alive for a decade, and Steam reviews single out exactly those systems while hammering the crashes, the updates that break mods, and a main story they call underwhelming. Rated Mature 17+, on PS Plus Extra, 4.56 from 163,000 ratings. Buy it to build; if you want a story to finish, almost anything above it on this list does that better.

Why it's here: The car is the character, and that is the whole reason to play it. You rebuild the Magnum Opus piece by piece, and the ramming, harpooning and convoy chases are better than the on-foot brawling around them. Steam reviews are warm on the world and the driving, and consistently note the map busywork wears thin once the story slows and glitches start to surface. Rated Mature, not on PS Plus, 4.47 from 54,000 ratings. Take it for the wasteland driving and let the map markers go.

Why it's here: Deacon's ride through post-outbreak Oregon found its audience late, and the PS5 release is the version to play. The hordes are the reason: hundreds of freakers pouring over a ridge is a different kind of pressure from anything else here, and the bike you maintain between camps carries the quieter hours. Steam and PlayStation Store reviews both praise the story and the horde tech, and both flag a slow opening and repetitive early missions. Rated Mature, not on PS Plus, 4.66 from over 173,000 ratings. Give it five hours before you judge it.

Why it's here: Bigger, prettier and more generous than Zero Dawn, and the rare sequel whose side content is the part that improved. Steam and PlayStation Store reviews both rate the visuals, the reworked combat and the drowned cities above the first game, and both return to a crafting and upgrade system carrying too many overlapping materials, plus storylines they find underwhelming next to Zero Dawn's central mystery. Rated Teen, not on PS Plus, 4.63 from 63,000 ratings. Play Zero Dawn first, because this one only lands if you care about the world it built.

Why it's here: The most technically accomplished game on this list and the most argued over. The combat, animation and encounter design are a clear step past Part I, and what divides players is the story rather than the playing. Steam reviews praise the mechanics and the world almost unanimously while splitting hard over the narrative's break from the first game, its pacing, and enemy design that thins out late. Rated Mature 17+, on PS Plus Extra, 4.52 from over 290,000 ratings, the most-rated game on this list. Go in unspoiled or not at all.

Why it's here: The only city-builder here and the least forgiving thing on the list. You keep a frozen population alive around a single coal generator, and every law you sign to buy another week costs something you would rather not spend. Steam reviews rate the atmosphere and the moral weight outstanding, and warn just as consistently that the learning curve is brutal and one bad call ends a run outright. Rated Mature, on PS Plus Extra, 4.59 from 6,400 ratings. Expect to lose your first city, then start again immediately.

Why it's here: A squad game wearing an open world, and the distinction matters before you buy. Snowbound Manhattan after a pandemic collapse is still one of the best-realised cities on this list, and the loot loop only holds up with three friends on comms. Steam reviews consistently praise the atmosphere and the co-op while calling the enemies bullet sponges and the side missions repetitive. Rated Mature, on PS Plus Extra, 4.39 from 183,000 ratings. Bring a group or skip it outright, because solo the endgame will not carry you.

Why it's here: The only game here you command rather than control, and the only one that runs two-player co-op through the whole campaign, couch or online. Turn-based squad combat sits under writing sharp enough to make frozen Colorado worth reading, and your choices visibly redraw who holds what. This is also the one pick where chasing everything backfires: Steam reviews flag quest timers that punish completionists, alongside bugs and uneven combat balance. Rated Mature 17+, not on PS Plus, 4.32 from 2,500 ratings, the smallest sample on this list. Plan your route before the timers decide it for you.

Why it's here: Bought for the gunplay and nothing else, this is a good time. The shooting and the vehicle chaos are genuinely excellent, and the abilities keep fights moving in a way the rest of the game never matches. Steam reviews are blunt about what surrounds it: a shallow story, repetitive open-world tasks and a wasteland with nobody in it worth meeting. Rated Mature, on PS Plus Extra, 4.06 from 6,900 ratings, the lowest-rated pick on this list. If it is already in your PS Plus catalogue, play the fights and leave the map alone.