The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is one of the best consoles for playing current-gen and classic role-playing games (RPGs). After all, the PS5 houses best-of-the-line hardware capable of running any RPG. So, if you own a PS5, you have come to the right place as we list the best PS5 role-playing games with challenging quests and engaging gameplay.
Let’s get started.
What Classifies a Game as RPG?
Role-playing games give you an immersive experience by offering you character progression and an explorable open or semi-open fictional world. It also has an expressive narrative storyline that imbues you with all the other game elements.
However, the RGPs genre is vast, with sub-genres such as Action RPGs, Massive-Multiplayer Open Game RPGs, Adventure RGPs, etc. Each sub-genre has its take on how you play the game.
For example, Japanese RPGs focus heavily on battle systems. Western RPGs, on the other hand, focus on world-building and story-telling (for example, Read Dead Redemption 2).
Overall, an RPG will always give you the means to act in a narrative-driven role where your decisions dictate the outcome.
Cross-Play Between PlayStation Consoles and Other Platforms
With the advancement of technology, you can now play your RPG adventure across cross-platforms. For example, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla supports cross-progression on all its available platforms. So, if you initially pick up the game on PC and complete a good chunk of it, you don’t have to start again if you continue your playthrough on PS5.
And, if you want to continue your progress from PS4 to PS5, you’ll be surprised that many RPGs support that, including Final Fantasy VIII Remake INTEGRATE.
Let’s get started with the best PS5 RPG games below.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is the latest installment in the popular Assassin’s Creed franchise. It builds upon the Assassin’s Creed Origins and Odyssey stories to give you an excellent RPG experience.
Until Origins, Assassin’s Creed is known as a tightly-packed combat-oriented game. But, Ubisoft changed its approach to giving a well-crafted role-playing experience in a more diverse open world.
In Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, you play as a legendary Viking warrior, exploring the beautiful world of England and Norway. You lead the Viking’s raid against the Saxon fortresses and troops, capturing land and increasing your political power.
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Assassin's Creed Valhalla PS5 | 2,956 Reviews |
$24.74 |
Buy on Amazon |
The RPG combat system is well-structured, ensuring that you always feel a sense of character progression. So, you must always keep tabs on your gears, weapons and invest in character points to upskill before taking on more challenging zones. However, this can lead to slow progression, which many players might not like.
Overall, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is an epic adventure that offers satisfying combat, RGP elements, a beautiful open world, and deep customization.
- Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
- Estimated time to complete: 61 hours for the main story and 142 hours for the completionist.
- Cross-progression save: Supported between all platforms.
- Release Date: November 10, 2020
Final Fantasy VII Remake INTERGRADE
Final Fantasy VII Remake INTERGRADE on PS5 lets you re-live the original Final Fantasy VII epic adventure, released in 1997. The complete remake brings multiple additions to the original with improved graphics, better loading time, and a new photo mode that you can use to capture amazing in-game wallpaper-worthy photos.
FFVII Remake INTERGRADE takes you on the same RPG story that it did in 1997. You play as Cloud Strife to fight and lead Avalanche resistance against the evil Shinra Electric Power Company to take over the mako creators powering the planet.
It also includes a new episode, “INTERmission,” where you can play Yuffie Kisaragi.
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FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE INTERGRADE | 1,524 Reviews | $104.99 | Buy on Amazon |
On PS5, the game renders at 4K high resolution with smooth 60 frames per second. Moreover, you also get to enjoy the action through the PlayStation 5 controller‘s haptic feedback.
- Developer: Square Enix
- Estimated time to complete: 33 -86 hours for the main story and 5-19 hours for the DLC
- Cross-progression save: Supports PS4 to PS5 save game transfer.
- Release Date: June 10, 2021
Horizon Forbidden West
The Playstation console is known for exclusives. And, if you played Horizon Zero Dawn, you’ll be waiting for the next adventure in the series, Horizon Forbidden West. The sequel builds upon the Horizon Zero Dawn world and refines storytelling. Additionally, you’ll find many interesting game mechanics, including the Machine Strike strategy game, clearly influenced by the Gwent board from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt game.
As a role-playing game, you’ll find Horizon Forbidden West doing many things correctly. Firstly, it improves storytelling, where Aloy finds herself in a machine world, fighting the spectacular big machines with time-tested combat mechanics. In Forbidden West, you continue to a new complete time-sensitive quest line. Secondly, it adds new combat elements that make combat more fun!
The story successfully grips the social and political turmoil. You’ll find interesting people throughout your journey. The visuals also bode well with the fantastic game settings, ensuring you can enjoy proper world-building at your own pace.
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Horizon Forbidden West Standard Edition - PlayStation 5 | 519 Reviews |
$38.88 |
Buy on Amazon |
Overall, Horizon Forbidden West is one of the best PS5 RPG games. It offers a strong storyline, a challenging yet engaging combat system, and a full-blown Aloy skill tree that you can customize according to your playstyle.
- Developer: Guerrilla Games
- Estimated time to complete: 30 hours for the main story and 88 hours for the completionist.
- Cross-progression save: Supports PS4 to PS5 save game transfer.
- Release Date: February 18, 2022
Scarlet Nexus
Scarlet Nexus is BANDAI NAMCO’s take on RPGs and a unique one too. It combines action-RPG and JRPGS, where you get the best of both worlds. It achieves it by offering free-flow Psycho-Kinetic combat sequences and an exciting story with excellent world and character-building.
In Scarlet Nexus, you get to play two campaigns of 20 hours each, where you get to explore the story of Kasane and Yuito, an overlapping journey. So, if you want to understand the whole story, you’ll need to complete both campaigns, exploring their journey with their squadmates and leaders.
Kasane and Yuito are part of the OSF (Other Suppression Force), where they fight against “Others.” During the journey, you get to create a special party of 8 memorable characters, each with unique powers, thanks to the psionic hormone in the human brain granting extra-sensory powers to everyone living there.
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SCARLET NEXUS - PlayStation 5 | 1,214 Reviews |
$19.03 |
Buy on Amazon |
Scarlet Nexus is a must-try for anyone craving a JPRG and action RPG. It renders at 4K dynamic resolution, targeting 60FPS for smooth gameplay.
- Developer: BANDAI NAMCO Studios Inc.
- Estimated time to complete: 25 hours for the main story and 62 hours for the completionist.
- Cross-progression save: Supported between all platforms.
- Release Date: June 25, 2021
Crusader Kings III
Crusader Kings III is a critic-favorite 4X RPG-strategy game. 4X games are profound strategic challenges where you must eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate, and eXplore. The end goal? To capture the world you’re in.
Crusader Kings III takes place in a historical space, where you can choose your noble house and live their history through generations. Like any 4X game, you can use your strategic skills to deal with opponents. However, what makes Crusader Kings III a top-notch historic RPG is its focus on people rather than things. It introduces new elements such as stress level, the ability to know about your opponent’s weakness (using secrets and hooks) during the conversation, and a cool status bar to give you real-time updates on the war so that you know whether to continue or retreat.
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Crusader Kings 3: Console Edition - PlayStation 5 | 128 Reviews |
$46.42 |
Buy on Amazon |
In addition, you also get to advance your civilization with research technology, constructing castles, or carrying out war on enemies. The game also offers a free-flow new religion system, allowing you to abandon rules that don’t suit you.
Overall, Crusader Kings III is an epic PS5 RPG game that lets you take complete control over your favorite faction in a historical setting. It runs beautifully on PS5.
- Developer: Paradox Development Studio
- Estimated time to complete: 71 hours for the main story and 704 hours for the completionist.
- Cross-progression save: Not supported
- Release Date: March 29, 2022
Persona 5 Royal
If you pick a JRPG to play on PS5, it must be Persona 5 Royal. It is one of the best PS5 RPG games that offers more than 100 hours of gameplay.
In Persona 5 Royal, you play as second-year high-school student Ren Amamiya. In the new Shujin Academy, he awakens his Persona powers to explore the mysteries in Tokyo city. During the daytime, you play as an ordinary student, but as the dawn hits, you start your mission — living a double life of a student and a phantom thief.
The change in tempo during the day and night makes the game more interesting. You get to do exciting daily tasks, trying to become a successful student. Furthermore, you can make field trips, attend cultural festivals, and so on!
But, the game unlocks at night, where you defeat corrupt adults as Phantom Thieves. The combat is similar to what you get in Personal 5. However, there’re new additions of abilities to spice up turn-based combat, where you get to control a four-person team.
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Persona 5 Royal: Standard Edition - PlayStation 5 | 325 Reviews |
$39.35 |
Buy on Amazon |
On top of all these, Personal 5 Royal offers an excellent story where characters, enemies, and combat plays a crucial role in giving you an all-around RPG experience. Exploration is also fun; you’ll always find something new and exciting!
- Developer: Atlus, P-Studio
- Estimated time to complete: 102 hours for the main story and 144 hours for the completionist.
- Cross-progression save: Not supported
- Release Date: October 31, 2019
Lost Judgment
Lost Judgment is a noir narrative-driven action RPG game that takes you into the lost mystery case. Here, you play Takayuki Yagami, who has the task of solving a murder mystery that starts when he finds a decaying body in an abandoned warehouse.
The main story is intriguing and will keep you hooked throughout the journey. However, it is the side quests that are more fun. If you have ever played the Yakuza series, you’ll know. And the impression of the Yakuza developers shows in how Lost Judgment represents itself. After all, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio made both Yakuza and Lost Judgment. For example, you can play Dance Club, Boxing Gym, Biker Gang, and become part of the Robotics Club.
Like the Yakuza series, the Lost Judgment combat is stylish, relentless, and fun! The main character Yagami can change his combat style between Crane, Tiger, and Snake to defeat his enemies. Apart from that, Yakuza also get access to gadgets to carry out his detective search. He can also use deductive skills and follow suspects. In case they flee, he can also chase them using parkour abilities!
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Lost Judgment - PlayStation 5 | 1,007 Reviews |
$29.99 |
Buy on Amazon |
So, if you’re looking for a Yakuza-style RPG game where you need to solve a murder mystery, then Lost Judgment is for you. Also, the game runs well on PS5 at 1440p 60FPS.
- Developer: Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
- Estimated time to complete: 24 hours for the main story and 102 hours for the completionist.
- Cross-progression save: Supports PS4 to PS5 save game transfer.
- Release Date: September 24, 2021
Ghost Of Tsushima
Ghost of Tsushima is an award-winning action RPG exclusive PlayStation game. With its PS5 release, it improves overall graphics quality and fidelity, letting you enjoy the game at its full glory.
Sucker Punch Productions, the developer of Ghost of Tsushima, did an excellent job in offering an open world action-RPG game set in Japan. The environments are beautiful and designed with care to showcase small intricate details. The game is set in a fictional world based on the Mongol Empire’s invasion of Japan in 1274.
In this game, you play Jin Sakai, a Samurai who learns about the Samurai Code hard. During the journey, you explore and fight the hero’s inner conflicts and use it to protect the homeland against invaders.
Besides impressive visuals, the combat is top-notch as you slice and dice through your enemies. And you’ll feel the skills tested when you fight tough bosses challenging you in every way. However, you’ll not feel overwhelmed with its combat system as it is easy to learn but challenging to master. The key actions include light, heavy, guard, and dodge attacks. In addition, you also get four stances that you can change on the fly.
As for the story, Sucker Punch offers an interesting main story. Additionally, you also get character-specific sidequests that are spread across the whole campaign.
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Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut - PlayStation 5 | 3,023 Reviews | $59.99 | Buy on Amazon |
So, if you’re into action-adventure games that offer slight touches of RPG elements and a heavy focus on combat, then Ghost of Tsushima is for you!
- Developer: Sucker Punch Productions
- Estimated time to complete: 25 hours for the main story and 62 hours for the completionist.
- Cross-progression save: Supports PS4 to PS5 save game transfer.
- Release Date: August 20, 2021
GreedFall
GreedFall takes you on an epic journey in the fantasy world where you meet new factions and forge your path through choices — making friends and foes along the way.
Spiders did an excellent job in offering a core RPG experience that keeps the old RPG formula intact while providing a polished new package for the new generation of PS5 gamers. For example, you’ll find it comparable to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt in many aspects during its 60-hour campaign.
The serene world is also well-crafted and is set in the 1700s. You explore the streets (inspired by London and Paris) and then move to more mysterious lands of the Island of Teer Fradee, full of surprises. During your journey, you can use your way of solving problems. You can use your spells, deception, stealth, sword, or diplomacy. And you can do it with complete freedom in exploration, character progression, and story.
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Greedfall: Gold Edition (PS5) | 125 Reviews |
$24.95 |
Buy on Amazon |
So, if you’re looking for a classic PS5 RPG experience, then Greedfall is the game you must pick. The game performs decently, and you can choose the quality mode that runs at higher-fidelity 30FPS or the Performance mode that runs at 1440p 60FPS.
- Developer: Spiders
- Estimated time to complete: 23 hours for the main story and 52 hours for the completionist.
- Cross-progression save: Supports PS4 to PS5 save game transfer.
- Release Date: June 30, 2021
Conclusion
PlayStation consoles have come a long way. Sony realized the need for a powerful console to deliver realistic graphics, especially for their story-driven RPG experiences such as Horizon Forbidden West or Ghost of Tsushima, an action-adventure with fluid-like combat and serene environments. Whatever you choose, you’ll always find role-playing games on PS5 perform at smooth framerates so that you stay completely immersed in the fictional world.
If you love RPGs and Nintendo, check out our picks for the best Nintendo Switch RPGs!
