Five years after its launch in 2025, the PlayStation 5 has amassed an enormous library of games from both AAA and indie developers alike. If you, a friend, or family member just received one as a Christmas gift, it might be intimidating when you see there are tens of thousands of titles to choose from.
If you’ve been lucky enough to receive a PlayStation 5 this year, or perhaps you’ve snagged one for yourself as a little treat, here are 15 games you can grab right now at a discount on the PlayStation Winter Sale to get you started on your new gaming journey! We’ve skipped out on some of the more popular titles you’ve definitely heard of, such as Horizon Zero Dawn and Marvel’s Spider-Man. As such, this list will cover many different genres, so you’ll absolutely find something that’s right for you!
Persona 5 Royal
As a teenager new to Tokyo, you’ll discover that you have the hidden power to control and summon demons to fight for you, and stumble into a world of demons overlaid on our own that feed on humanity’s worst impulses. By day, you’ll go to school, get groceries, do homework, and go to track practice. But when night falls, you and your friends don the stylish guise of The Phantom Thieves, and set out on the city to steal hearts back from the darkness. If you’re new to JRPGs, you can’t go wrong with this one – it’s a massive, sprawling adventure you’ll never forget.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits
Kena: Bridge of Spirits truly looks and feels like you’ve been dropped into a Pixar movie. This action-adventure game sets a young Spirit Guide and her adorable forest spirit companions on a path through an enchanted forest to uncover the truth of the sacred Mountain Shrine. With fast-paced combat, you’ll free the trapped spirits from the blight with the help of your cute little buddies and just maybe save the forest.
Returnal
Returnal is one of PlayStation’s most unusual and underappreciated games. This third-person shooter meets roguelike begins with Selene crashing on an alien planet full of horrors and monstrosities. She must grab what she can and fight her way out, but discovers quickly that every time she dies, she simply wakes up back at the ship. The planet changes with each cycle, offering new combinations and builds for Selene, until one day you’ll hopefully be able to push all the way through and escape.
Slay the Princess: The Pristine Cut
This strange narrative adventure begins as you, a knight, march through the woods and are told by a bodyless narrator that you’re here to slay the princess. Well that can’t be right… can it? Do knights slay princesses? Maybe you won’t even go up the hill to the shack where the princess is, maybe you’ll go the other way. Maybe that’s exactly what she wants. In this fantastic choice-based game that hearkens back to text adventures of old, hundreds of variations of the story await as you start over in the woods again and again – and perhaps you’ll figure out what it all means by the end.
Death Stranding: Director’s Cut
This massive open world game from Hideo Kojima, creator of Metal Gear Solid, is one of PlayStation’s absolute best. A post-apocalyptic mailman must travel across what is left of the United States on foot to rescue his sister who has been taken captive by an insane cult leader in California. Brave ghosts, monsters, raiders, and the literal ground beneath your feet to deliver packages along the way, rebuild the internet, and reconnect not only humanity to each other, but humanity to yourself. It’s a beautiful story you won’t want to miss.
Botany Manor
This cozy puzzle game is perfect for those looking for a little less action. In Botany Manor, a retired botanist named Arabella Green returns to the estate she grew up on. Learn all about amazing (fictional) plants with special properties and solve branching puzzles to coax these plants into unlocking their true potential. We love the artwork especially in this game, and with its powerful story about the battles women have endured to receive an education, there’s a lot to root for.
DOOM Eternal
First-person shooter fans aren’t going to do a lot better than DOOM Eternal, a fast-paced action game from Bethesda and many of the same folks who brought you the original DOOM games for PC in the 90s. You know DOOM, so you know the drill: blast, grapple, dive, rip, and tear your way across an alien-infested earth with extreme gore, extreme boss fights, and extreme prejudice. DOOM Eternal is one of the best first-person shooter campaigns ever, and the action starts from the second you boot it up.
What Remains of Edith Finch
A more solemn indie experience, What Remains of Editch Finch is a beautiful award-winning adventure game where a young woman returns to her home to contemplate the loss of her mother. While it sounds like a bummer, it’s actually a very sweet and compelling story, highlighting the complications, drama, joy, and sadness that arise from a big family. A dozen different mini-games accompany the stories that she learns, changing up gameplay frequently, and by the end of this two-hour experience we challenge you not to find a tear in your eye.
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
This explosive and comedic third-person action platformer pits classic PlayStation mascots Ratchet and Clank against an interdimensional force the likes of which they’ve never seen before. With an increasingly silly arsenal of guns, including one that turns enemies into plants and one that pixelates them, you’ll blast, jump, and hack your way through some incredibly expansive levels with tons of collectibles to find and secrets to uncover. The signature rift jumping pushes the PlayStation 5 tech to its limits, rendering multiple entire worlds on top of each other in an instant, so it’s a great way to make the most of your shiny new console.
Bugsnax
Find them hiding in the sand, tearing up a ketchup patch – it’s Bugsnax! In this PlayStation 5 launch title, indie developers Young Horses bring the player to the mystical Snaktooth Island. Here, the natives are a race of funny little creatures called grumpuses, and as an investigative journalist you’ll head to the island to learn about the titular bugsnax. These little weirdos are half-bug, half-snack, and when grumpuses eat them they temporarily become that food. This robust puzzle-adventure game is full of absurd humor, heart, and surprisingly some horror – and you will certainly learn a little something about the value of community along the way.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon
You’ve likely heard of the Yakuza series, but if you’ve no idea what it’s about, Yakuza: Like a Dragon is the perfect place to jump in. A soft reboot of the decades-old franchise with totally new gameplay and characters, it follows gaming’s most lovable idiot Ichiban Kasuga as he stumbles into a crew of fast friends and through the dangerous gang-ridden streets of Ijincho. This open world turn-based JRPG is not like any other on the market – you’ll interact with combat in real time, factoring in positioning, environmental obstacles, and elemental advantages that are changing every second. This hilarious game features just as much heart as humor, and is one of our favorite stories ever told in gaming.
PowerWash Simulator 2
PowerWash Simulator 2 does exactly what it says on the tin. Grab a variety of nozzles, your trusty powerwasher, and head to a huge variety of locations to simply roll up your sleeves and get to work. This first-person simulation game is perfect for winding down after a long day or relaxing on a weekend afternoon, and the satisfaction of seeing a once-filthy building all cleaned up is sure to be a balm on a weary soul. The first PowerWash Simulator has several crossover DLCs with franchises like Shrek, Tomb Raider, SpongeBob Squarepants, and even Back to the Future. PowerWash Simulator 2 promises to continue that trend with their upcoming Adventure Time DLC as well!
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
This metroidvania reboot of the classic Prince of Persia franchise has largely gone underappreciated since it released in 2024. In this 2D side scrolling high-intensity action game, you’ll learn to manipulate time and space to face down enemies from Persian mythology while solving puzzles, finding treasures, precision platforming, and investigating the secrets of the vast labyrinth you’ve found yourself in. The Lost Crown is perfect for those looking for challenging action games who would prefer a 2D environment.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
It’s unlikely you have not heard about 2025’s breakout hit JRPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – after winning a record nine awards at The Game Awards, and even more prestigiously GameObserver’s own Game of the Year award, it’s gaming’s worst kept secret. This beautiful epic feels like a brand new take on Final Fantasy , and differentiates its turn-based combat by mixing in live parrying and dodging akin to Elden Ring. With a deep RPG system that allows you to build your team however you like, a beautiful story about grief, unforgettable characters, and one of the best soundtracks of the decade, it’d be an absolute shame to miss out on gaming’s newest all-timer.
Citizen Sleeper
Citizen Sleeper is very hard to talk about, as it’s one of the most unique games we’ve found to date. Indie developers Jump Over the Age bring you a solemn story a long time in the future, in a galaxy far, far away. Citizen Sleeper can only be described as a video game version of a very robust dice-based tabletop game in the form of a rules-light RPG; players will take control of an escaped worker hiding on a lawless space station at the edge of society. Choose how to live your life in the face of late-stage capitalism – will you continue to battle against the gears of the machine until you are crushed between them, or accept your fate and become a gear yourself? Citizen Sleeper 2 is out now too and is excellent, but we really recommend you start with the first game.
In addition to these games, you may want to explore PlayStation’s PS Plus Extra catalog – by subscribing, you get access to a Netflix-like library of games including massive titles like God of War Ragnarök, Cyberpunk 2077, Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered, and many more! Did we miss any of your favorites? Let us know in the comments below!
