The day when we say goodbye to PlayStation 4 draws ever closer. While there are still games being made for the last generation of Sony’s consoles, more and more developers are investing their time and resources in producing games strictly with PS5 in mind.
We thought we would look back at the previous generation of PlayStation games and choose some of the best of them. Since the console had offered us plenty of great titles representing different genres, in this article, we’ll focus only on action games. Here you’ll find out about the best and most popular action titles and see which of them are the games worth buying.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at our list.
Batman: Arkham Knight
| Release date: | 2015-06-23 |
| Developer: | Rocksteady Studios |
| Modes: | single-player |
We open our list with a game that the fans of the Dark Knight had been waiting for for years. Batman: Arkham Knight, the fourth installment in Rocksteady’s Arkham series, takes the player back to Gotham City, where the Scarecrow threatens to unleash his deadly fear toxin. As the city evacuates and Gotham’s most notorious criminals crawl back onto the streets, Batman’s most grueling mission begins.
Arkham Knight is the culmination of Rocksteady’s efforts to make the ultimate Batman game. This title has everything the fans of the previous games in the series and the Dark Knight himself would want. The open-world areas of Gotham City, “freeflow” battle system, the gadgets, the puzzles requiring the “detective vision” – all that returns better than ever. On top of that, the game adds new mechanics, the main of which is the Batmobile gameplay. Using Batman’s signature vehicle, the player will be able to trace around Gotham and take on motorized enemies using the “tank mode.”
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Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
| Release date: | 2014-09-30 |
| Developer: | Monolith Productions |
| Modes: | single-player |
Talion of Gondor used to be the Ranger of Black Gate, a member of an elite company of Gondorians, responsible for protecting the entryway to the dark lands of Mordor. His fate is forever changed when Sauron’s forces seize the gate and kill its defenders. Talion and his family are sacrificed in order to summon a wraith of Celebrimbor, the elf-lord who helped Sauron forge the Rings of Power. Celebrimbor’s spirit is bound to dying Talion’s body, and the two embark on a quest to seize control over Mordor from Sauron and his orc armies.
Shadow of Mordor could have been considered a typical representative of an Arkham-style action-adventure game: it featured an open-world with plenty of trinkets to find and “freeflow” combat mechanics, through which the player could fight several enemies at once. What differentiated it from other similar titles was the setting – the first LOTR game set exclusively in Mordor – and the innovative “Nemesis” system. Mordor’s orc society was built on a complex ladder, which Talion could influence by killing orc captains. In turn, being the one who kills Talion made the orc stronger and marked them as a target for the Ranger and his Wraith companion. The system was so unique to Monolith’s Production game that no other studio managed to replicate it, and that makes Shadow of Mordor worthy of a spot on our list.
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Assassin's Creed Origins
| Release date: | 2017-10-27 |
| Developer: | Ubisoft Montreal |
| Modes: | single-player |
Bayek is a Medjay warrior tasked with protecting the Siwa Oasis. A group of masked men attack the oasis and kidnap Batek and his son, Khemu. Forced to fight back, Bayek loses his son in the struggle. One year later, Bayek, exiled and disgraced, continues his mission to avenge his child’s death. The trail of the masked men leads him to Alexandria, where the peace between the Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Egypt hangs by a thread, and animosities are fueled by the mysterious group aiming to gain control over the ancient world.
After years of being criticized for implementing too few innovations to their flagship series, Ubisoft Montreal completely flips the script with Assassin’s Creed Origins…only to be criticized for it. Don’t get us wrong, the game is very good. The new action-RPG gameplay works surprisingly well, and the open world is even more “explorable” thanks to improved movement mechanics. However, due to the increased difficulty of many actions that AC players took for granted – e.g., instant-kill assassinations and parries – some players were apprehensive of this new direction for the series. Thankfully, later installments, AC Origins and Valhalla, figured out the balance between the old and the new, putting the series on the right track once again.
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Marvel's Spider-Man
| Release date: | 2018-09-07 |
| Developer: | Insomniac Games |
| Modes: | single-player |
Being a superhero is not easy, especially if your name is Peter Parker, otherwise known as the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. After dealing with Wilson Fisk, a.k.a Kingpin, Spidey thought that the worst was behind him. But getting rid of the largest (literally) crime boss in the city created a power vacuum, and plenty of criminals fixing to fill it. The most dangerous of them are the newly-emerged Demons, a superpowered gang led by a metahuman Mr. Negative. Peter will have his job cut out for him, juggling his Spider-Man duties, working for a well-meaning but desperate scientist Dr. Octavius and helping out his aunt at a local food shelter.
2004’s Spider-Man 2 can finally go on a well-deserved retirement – there’s a new best Spider-Man game in town! Insomniac’s Spider-Man has everything the fans of the NYC wallcrawler could desire. Swinging on webs is more intuitive and epic than ever; fighting criminals is fluid and exciting, and the story featuring many of Spidey’s friends and foes alike keeps the player at the edge of the seat from start to finish. One could argue that the game suffers from repetitive side-quests and being yet another open-world collectathon, but who cares about that when you can do them swinging around New York skyscrapers as Spider-Man!
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Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
| Release date: | 2016-05-10 |
| Developer: | Naughty Dog |
| Modes: | single-player, multiplayer |
After years of adventuring, Nathan Drake has settled into a homely life with his wife, Elena. He missed the world of adventure, though, so when his thought-to-be-dead brother shows up with a proposition of a search for the legendary pirate colony, Nate jumps at the opportunity and back into the world of danger, filled with lethal traps, deadly mercenaries, and old rivals. On his last escapade. Nate wi; find out that there’s more to life than chasing the adventure and that the family is a treasure more important than all the pirate gold in the world.
Excuse the overly sappy introduction, but if you’ve played the last adventure of Nathan Drake, you know that it is full of moments like these. They work well to counterbalance shootouts and epic action setpieces with tranquil moments where the players are allowed to witness the beauty of the world created by the developers or embrace the dramatic story beats. While it is;t the last game in the Uncharted series, A Thief’s End is a perfect finale to the epic adventure of Nathan Drake, one that has shaped the current action-adventure genre.
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The Last of Us: Part II
| Release date: | 2020-06-19 |
| Developer: | Naughty Dog |
| Modes: | single-player |
It’s been six years since Joel and Ellie’s harrowing journey through the post-apocalyptic United States. Now, living with a community of survivors in Jackson, Wyoming, Ellie adjusts to a normal life. But when a tragedy strikes, Ellie is thrown back into the world of violence and revenge. Together with her girlfriend Dina, Ellie embarks on a quest to avenge her loss. Going deeper and deeper into the darker recesses of human nature, the girl will find out the not-so-satisfying cost of payback.
Whatever you think of The Last of Us: Part II story, the controversies surrounding its production, and the general state of the gaming community, you can’t deny that the sequel to Naughty Dog’s acclaimed action-survival game delivered in terms of gameplay and graphics. While combat and stealth were more of the same in comparison to the previous installment, the visuals and physics were top-notch examples of what a killed, albeit overworked, development team can squeeze from a not-so-young console. The Last of Us: Part II is an excellent sendoff for PS4.
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God of War (2018)
| Release date: | 2018-04-20 |
| Developer: | Santa Monica Studio |
| Modes: | single-player |
With Olympus destroyed and Zeus buried under a hail of fists, Kratos’ quest for revenge was complete. He left Greece and moved to a new land, where he settled and had a family. With his wife’s passing, a new threat rises against the Ghost of Sparta and his son, Atreus. To honor his late wife’s wish, the pair embarks on a journey to scatter her ashes from the highest peak. As they travel through various realms of the Norse world, encountering allies and enemies alike, the bond between a cold and detached father and a lost son begins to forge.
Much like Assassin’s Creed Origins mentioned previously on our list, 2018’s God of War reboot took the series in a new direction. However, this time, the fans had nothing but praise for the combination of action and RPG elements introduced in the newest installment of the long-running series. The game was also more story-driven, with the father-son drama between Kratos and Atreus taking center stage. Compared to the revenge-fueled bloodfests of the previous games in the series, the plot of the reboot was almost Oscar-worthy writing.
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Devil May Cry 5
| Release date: | 2019-03-08 |
| Developer: | Capcom |
| Modes: | single-player |
Dante, Son of Sparda and a legendary Demon Hunter, accepts a job from a mysterious V. The job is fairly simple – stop Urizen, a wannabe demon king, from taking over control of the Underworld using the power of a demonic tree. Together with Nero, Dante’s protege, who has his own beef to square with the demon king, Dante takes on Urizen and suffers a total defeat. With the roots of the demon tree spreading further and demons taking over, it falls on Nero and V to save the world. But can Nero really trust his new ally?
After the “mild” success of Team Ninja’s DmC: Devil May Cry, the fans demanded the return of the real Dante. And return he did, with two new playable characters in tow. Devil May Cry 5 is more of the same breakneck, stylish action the fans of the series have grown used to, now with the added spice in the form of Nero and V. Both characters add new gameplay mechanics, with Nero using d9fferent variations of his Devil Bringer gauntlet, and V summoning demonic creatures to fight in his stead. However, the star of the show is still Dante, with his unique fighting styles and an array of new weapons he can collect from fallen enemies. If you have missed the good ol’ DMC, then you can wipe away your tears for the king of hack and slash action games has returned!
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Grand Theft Auto V
| Release date: | 2014-11-18 |
| Developer: | Rockstar North |
| Modes: | single-player, multiplayer (GTA Online) |
Michael, Franklin, and Trevor have big dreams. Michael, a former bank robber who took a deal with the FIB, dreams of reclaiming some of his former glory. Franklin, a gangbanger working as a repo man for a car dealership, dreams of making big money to afford life outside the confines of his ghetto neighborhood. Trevor, Michael’s former partner in crime, dreams of chaos and destruction, as well as making his ever-changing enterprise a household name. The paths of all three men cross in Los Santos, a city where big dreams come true, but not necessarily in the way they’d want.
Grand Theft Auto V is the largest, loudest, fullest, cheekiest game in the series. While one could go as far as claiming that GTA IV was more serious, with its themes of how hard it is to make it big in America, GTA V throws all seriousness out of the window, giving the player an instantly entertaining romp in a virtual sandbox of Los Santos and neighboring Blaine County. There, the player will meet corrupt agents, shady entrepreneurs, as well as all sorts of other weirdos and freaks. Throughout over 50 story missions and countless side-quests and random encounters, the player will get to enjoy the full scope of Grand Theft Auto V. And if the core game craziness isn’t enough for them, they can move online, where plenty more chaos awaits them.
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Red Dead Redemption 2
| Release date: | 2018-10-26 |
| Developer: | Rockstar Studios |
| Modes: | single-player |
Arthur Morgan is a member of the notorious Van Der Linde gang, led by charismatic Dutch. When a job-gone-wring forces the gang to change course, the tensions between Dutch, Arthur, and other gang members begin to rise. With the government agents on their tail, and the steady pace of civilization wiping out what’s left of the free country of the frontier, Arthur will soon realize that the time of Old West he believed in is coming to an end, and in the new world, loyalty is worth as much as one is willing to sell it for.
If we were to reduce our list of the best PS4 games of all time to only one position, one action game that encompasses all the years of PS4’s presence on the market, it would definitely be RDR 2. Often dubbed “GTA in the Wild West,” the Red Dead Redemption series has become a trademark in the world of gaming. With how well it represented the realities of living in the Old West, its second installment is closer to the simulation of life in the frontier, with all its good ad bad sides. If you’re interested in finding out the story behind the fall of Dutch’s gang and experience a true mastery in world-building and gameplay mechanics, by all means, give Red Dead Redemption 2 a shot. You won’t be disappointed.
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