This was a quiet year for PlayStation exclusives, all things considered. It had a couple of really high-profile releases, but Sony Interactive Entertainment ultimately published fewer games than Xbox Game Studios and Nintendo did throughout 2025. PS5 was really carried by third-party exclusive games this year, including Dispatch, Baby Steps, Lumines Arise, and Sword of the Sea.

That stood out compared to 2024, which featured resounding Sony-published successes like Helldivers 2 and Stellar Blade, as well as high-profile failures like Concord. Still, I wanted to give PlayStation's 2025 game lineup the same treatment that I gave Nintendo's and Xbox's by ranking every game published by Sony Interactive Entertainment this year. Putting this list together was an insightful way to reminisce about Sony's quiet 2025.

6 Midnight Murder Club

Released August 14

Did you know Sony Interactive Entertainment published another multiplayer game that flopped this year? Probably not, because Sony didn't market Midnight Murder Club nearly as heavily as they did Concord. Still, this multiplayer shooter from Velan Studios was published by Sony Interactive Entertainment on PC and PS5 and has failed to entice many players.

That's not due to a lack of originality, at least, as the gimmick of this game is that the mansion it takes place in is constantly shrouded in darkness. Managing the use of your flashlight while sneaking around and killing your opponents is a novel experience, but ultimately wears thin after a couple of matches. Midnight Murder Club lacks staying power, which is a death sentence for a modern multiplayer game.

5 Lost Soul Aside

Released August 29

Following the success of Black Myth: Wukong last year, I wondered if the Chinese action game Lost Soul Aside could replicate its success in 2025. Ultimately, it could not, as the development team's lack of experience really showed. At times, its combat could be fun, calling back to games like Final Fantasy XVI and Devil May Cry 5. Beyond that, though, Lost Soul Aside fails to impress.

Its narrative doesn't make much sense, and the central voice performances of its characters are bad. As such, there are not many compelling reasons to keep playing. While Lost Soul Aside shares problems with Ninja Gaiden 4, I would still ultimately prefer to play the latest Ninja Gaiden over this game. Sony took a chance on a Chinese studio here and, unfortunately, whiffed pretty hard.

4 MLB The Show 25

Released March 18

Every Spring, Sony's San Diego Studio releases a new MLB The Show game. Every Spring, that new baseball simulation impresses but doesn't wow. Like most modern sports game franchises, MLB The Show 25 is iterating on a working formula at this point, with its main improvements coming from Road to the Show, incorporating the high school and college experiences.

If you're a fan of baseball, there's no better video game simulation of the sport out there. That said, there's not too much for you to get excited about if that's not the case. As such, there are other games released for PS5 this year that I can recommend over MLB The Show 25, even in this lull of a year for Sony.

3 Days Gone Remastered

Released April 25

Days Gone is one of the more underrated games from the PS4 generation. Maybe that's because it feels derivative of other videos or because its writing is a little too silly and over-the-top biker-coded to be taken seriously. Still, for those who enjoy open-world games and zombie shooters, Days Gone offers up an entertaining blend.

Having to manage and maintain your motorcycle also adds a unique gameplay layer to what's otherwise a traditional experience. Days Gone Remastered improves the frame rate, performance, and accessibility feature offerings of the original while adding some new modes. Still, it's worth giving a shot if you've never played Days Gone before.

2 Death Stranding 2: On the Beach

Released June 26

Now, we're at the big two. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is the latest game from Hideo Kojima, and it improves upon its 2019 predecessor in almost every way. Narratively, it continues the story of Sam Porter Bridges and his child, Lou, offering more insight into the history of Death Stranding's world and posing questions about the positives and negatives that can come from connecting people around the world to each other.

From a gameplay standpoint, it iterates on the delivery mechanics from the original. There's a greater emphasis on vehicles here, as well as more varied terrain to venture across and cargo to carry. While I'm not the biggest fan of the original Death Stranding, I really liked its sequel. As such, it's worth playing if you own a PS5.

1 Ghost of Yotei

Released October 2

As you probably expected if you read XDA's game of the year list, Ghost of Yotei gets the top spot on this list. A sequel to 2020's Ghost of Tsushima, it offers yet another beautiful open-world rendition of Japan, this time focusing on the northern island of Ezo. It also tells yet another story of revenge, following a titular character as they hunt down a group called the Yotei Six that killed their family.

While much of the gameplay is quite similar to Ghost of Tsushima, this is truly one of the more freeing open-world games to explore, as its UI is minimal and there's always something interesting to discover on the journey between mission objectives. It's also just one of the prettiest games you can play on PS5, making it one of the few games this generation that makes the console hardware upgrade feel worth it. Ghost of Yotei is a must-play for PS5 owners.

Some good, if unimpressive games

Ultimately, I'm unimpressed with PlayStation's 2025. It prioritized quality over quantity, and that paid off, as Ghost of Yotei and Death Stranding 2: On the Beach made XDA's Top 10 list for the year. That said, nothing else published by Sony that year was that compelling, and those amazing AAA games weren't the most innovative on the market.

Looking to 2026, the potential of games like Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls, Saros, Marvel's Wolverine, and Marathon really excites me. I think 2025 will be remembered as one of the more boring years for first-party PS5 exclusives, even though two fantastic games came from it.