Top PS4 titles to play on PS5 for enhanced framerates and resolution
OPM test which games make best use of the console's backwards compatible boost
Even though there are plenty of the best PS5 games that make use of the new console, plenty of old favourites get nice upgrades even without dedicated patches. Too many to count (we’ve checked over 60), but generally if a game has an uncapped framerate, then it’ll jump up to a smooth 60fps on PS5. Want a quick fix? Here are ten of the best leaps we’ve found so far…
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
FromSoftware’s single-player focused ninja game is all about timing, fights a back and forth of blocks and parries. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice massively benefits from the increased frame rate, feeling like the kind of thing we’d pay for in a remaster in previous generations.
Monster Hunter: World
Not only does the PS5 SSD speed up the original’s long loads, but the smoother action makes each hunt feel brand new, the responsiveness giving us reason to go toe to toe with our favourite monsters in Monster Hunter: World.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
If you’ve not explored all the planets for hidden secrets yet, it’s time to blast off. Bringing the Star Wars universe to life in a fun, adventurous story, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is even greater on PS5 with smooth, lightsaber combat and Nathan Drake-esque leaps (just make sure you turn on Performance Mode).
Furi
This hardcore boss rush becomes even more electric with frame rates this slick, making it clearer than ever that when you get stomped by these enemies it’s YOUR fault.
Nier: Automata
PlatinumGames’ work on the combat in Nier: Automata is what elevated it from its predecessor, and it’s a pleasure to see 2B dancing around enemies and dodging disgusting amounts of projectiles with ease all in super-smooth motion.
Final Fantasy 15
Compared with it running on PS4 Pro, the difference is day and demon-filled night in Performance Mode, feeling like a remaster. Final Fantasy 15 is visually stunning, and perhaps for the first time, you can really appreciate just how much.
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Days Gone
Hitting 4K/60fps, you can really appreciate the uniqueness of this open world, which truly feels alive thanks to the way the infected work. On PS5 it runs so well and works so good that it feels like a remaster already, like Bend Studios secretly made a PS5 game a year early.
Genshin Impact
This free-to-play Breath Of The Wild-like took the world by storm. We don't have a native PS5 version yet, but in backwards compatibility it gets a massive improvement. Jumping from 30fps to a smooth locked 60fps, the huge world feels great to explore.
Ghost of Tsushima
While the graphics don't get much of a boost in terms of sharpness, the visual design still looks fantastic. Perhaps more so simply from the jump to 60fps, which makes the beautiful environment feel more alive just as much as it makes the rhythmic parry-strike combat feel more responsive in Ghost of Tsushima.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
With two resolution modes, Shadow of the Tomb Raider is one of the few that ekes out an improved resolution on PS5 compared to the PS4 Pro, though minor. But, in Performance Mode, it runs at a locked 60fps. This seems to have been the intention on Pro, but it frequently dipped. Here, everything is buttery smooth, making Lara's currently final adventure an impressive one indeed.
The rest...
Above are our pick of the bunch, the cream of the crop, the softest of the software. But there's some others that also get a nice boost we enjoyed revisiting. They just don't benefit from a huge enough leap to make the full list. Though, even these extra games aren't everything:
- Knack and Knack 2 (really, they run really smooth now)
- Dark Souls 3
- Dark Souls 2: Scholar Of The First Sin
- Aragami
- Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time
- The Last Guardian (unpatched from a disc - the current only way to get 60fps, but oh my it's gorgeous)
- Bulletstorm: Full Clip
- Cities: Skylines
- Control
- Ni No Kuni 2
- Tekken 7
- Hitman and Hitman 2
- Dishonored 2
- Cyberpunk 2077 (a big step up from base consoles, but still buggy as hell though)
- The Evil Within 2
- Kingdom Hearts 3
- MediEvil
- Dreams
- God Of War
- Gravity Rush 2
Games Editor Oscar Taylor-Kent brings his Official PlayStation Magazine and PLAY knowledge to continue to revel in all things capital 'G' games. A noted PS Vita apologist, he's always got his fingers on many buttons, having also written for Edge, PC Gamer, SFX, Official Xbox Magazine, Kotaku, Waypoint, GamesMaster, PCGamesN, and Xbox, to name a few.
When not knee deep in character action games, he loves to get lost in an epic story across RPGs and visual novels. Recent favourites? Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree, 1000xResist, and Metaphor: ReFantazio! Rarely focused entirely on the new, the call to return to retro is constant, whether that's a quick evening speed through Sonic 3 & Knuckles or yet another Jakathon through Naughty Dog's PS2 masterpieces.