PS4

[sevendaughters]

I just got a PS4. This is my first ever console. I am an idiot. *twangs lips with index finger*

anyway: name five ESSENTIAL games for it. no more. no less. no dross. I don't intend to become a 'gamer', but it would be nice to have an indors waste of time that didn't involve social media.

[Jerzy Bondov]

Depends what you like I suppose but the correct answer is:

Bloodborne
Uncharted Lost Legacy
Spider-Man
Nier Automata
Yakuza 0

[Chedney Honks]

The Last Of Us Remastered - kind of like a small-scale Walking Dead with a great central relationship and pretty much best in class acting performances. It's probably the best example of 'cinematic gaming' that there is. If you enjoy it, the sequel is also excellent.

Bloodborne - A genuine contender for the greatest PS4 game and, for plenty of people, this is the best game ever made. It's an action horror with light RPG elements. It has an incredible atmosphere, world and visual designs and really satisfying, brutal combat with a range of fantastic weapons. Beyond the surface, the world design and lore and back story stuff is rich and deep and can really get under your skin. It's hard but when it clicks, there's very little as satisfying as this game. If you enjoy it, try Dark Souls Remastered by the same developers. Another candidate for the best game ever, to some people.

Rez Infinite - This is a remake of an old Dreamcast (and various) musical kind of shoot em up game. It's got psychedelic visuals, great break beat and techno soundtrack and one you need to play to really understand. You just have to experience it for yourself with headphones and a darkened room, preferably. It's one of the best games ever, maybe the best music related game everyone made. If you like this, try Tetris Effect which is a kind of synaesthesia take on Tetris. It's another masterpiece, quite frankly.

Wipeout Omega Collection - If you ever played the original Wipeout on the first PlayStation, this will blow you away. If not, it will blow you away. It's a very fast and smooth futuristic racing game with weapons and so on. It feels incredibly tight and smooth and looks brilliant. There's nothing else really which compares but if you enjoy straighter racing games, GT Sport is unbelievably polished and plays really well with a pad.

Journey - PlayStation 'indie' games at their very best, in my opinion. A short and fairly simple, beautiful game which is also a touching parable to many things, including what it means to play games. It doesn't require online play but it's enhanced by it. The graphics and music are absolutely gorgeous. I've played it through perhaps a dozen times and it never fails to move me. If you enjoy this, I'd recommend What Remains of Edith Finch for some more 'arty' indie gaming, a touching and creative 'walking simulator'.


Enjoy!

[madhair60]

Hahahahaha The Last of Us, amazing troll Chedz mate

[Chedney Honks]

I wouldn't say they're my favourite five but they're a varied and representative five of PS4 belters.

I really enjoyed TLOU on PS3 and I enjoyed the Remastered edition on PS4, as well as TLOU2. It's not my favourite type of game but it's the best example of that type.

[Ferris]

CyberPunk 2077

[Jerzy Bondov]

Uncharted Lost Legacy and Spider-Man are (for me) the best Big Budget Western Block Busters on the console. Then my other three picks are more culty Japanese games which may or may not click with you, but if they do you'll love them more than anything else on there.

[Ferris]

Red Dead Redemption 1&2, and probably GTA 5 are era defining as well. I think it's mandatory that you play those.

[JamesTC]

Uncharted Trilogy - A remaster of the first three Uncharted games. Dirt cheap these days.

Gravity Rush Remastered - A Vita game remastered for PS4. You play as a gravity bending young girl who has an inter-dimensional cat and fight monsters. Great if you like collectathons.

Red Dead Redemption II - Slow start but eventually is the best story in any Rockstar game. You will get very attached to your horse.

Spyro Reignited Trilogy/Crash Nsane Trilogy - Can be bought together. Six full games in one. A wonderful collection of platformers.

GTAV - Not as good as the previous three main entries but still a top quality single player experience.

[Ferris]

I like those "visual novel" story games because I'm a twat, so I'll recommend Gone Home and What Remains of Edith Finch.

I liked The Unfinished Swan too. Chedney's shout for Journey is another good one.

[ImmaculateClump]

Spelunky
Nex Machina
Curious Expedition
Don't Starve
Stardew Valley

The ones I've bolded there take the least gamer skillz if you wanna ease yourself in gently.
Stardew Valley might be a little fiddly if you're new to everything.

I resisted the urge to just post five shmups, because I know most people don't like to play those :D

You can play a demo of curious expedition right in your browser if you want to try it - https://demo.curious-expedition.com/

Slay the spire you might like, you won't need to be good at using a controller or anything for that.

edit: sorry, you did say ESSENTIAL. I think you could whittle my list down to just spelunky in that case.
Sorry.

edit: Hang, on, chaos engine avatar, I think I've overestimed how new you are to all of this :D

edit: actually, I might take off don't starve, it's a rough diamond, but the rough bits are pretty rough. The combat is gash.
Gah. I'm rubbish at this.
Just get spelunky.

[Ferris]

Far Cry 5 and Just Cause are great fun if you just wanna run around and blow things up. So there's that to consider.

[Ferris]

The BioShock series is worth playing as well.

...Hang on, has no one recommended playstation pass or whatever it is called? It's an online service thing that gives you a load of free games for 7 quid a month. Get that, Red Dead Redemption 2 is there now. Download and start playing, and it'll make a load of games available free every month.

I'd bet the majority of the recommendations in this thread will turn up on there soon if not already and it'll save you a fortune.

[Jerzy Bondov]

The vast majority of the games mentioned in this thread are boring

[sevendaughters]

I have a Chaos Engine avatar because the last games I played regularly were on the Amiga 1200. Treat me like a n00b.

[sevendaughters]

oh I actually HAVE

- RDR2
- GTAV
- Fifa 20
- MLB 18

also Mrs 7D's brother has lent a load of games that look not my thing (Just Cause 4?)

[Jerzy Bondov]

OK, Bloodborne is the game you need.

[Ferris]

- MLB 18

Ok you're actually all set. I talk big but this is basically the only game I play.

[sevendaughters]

Ok you're actually all set. I talk big but this is basically the only game I play.

fuckin skipped Triple A with my power corner third baseman, thought I'd become the best gamer in the world, turns the Orioles are shit and need anyone they can get

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Burnout Paradise - Race around a city at ludicrous speed. You earn turbo boosts by driving deliberately dangerously - it's a perfect risk/reward mechanic.
Doom - The 2016 one (although you could get the original on the Playstation Store, if you want). Completely different to Burnout in genre, tone and most other criteria, but uses similar mechanics to promote fast, frantic fun. It was a real breath of fresh air after the decade or so of stodgy military FPS games.
Horizon: Zero Dawn - Robot dinosaurs...
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice - Game developers do like their colons[nb]as in the punctuation mark, not bum guts[nb]As far as I know[/nb].[/nb]. A simulation of psychosis, via the adventures of a Celtic warrior in the norse underworld. One of best looking games ever made and also one of the most frightening I'd played in years.

I will (grudgingly and half-heartedly) endorse the recommendation of Bloodborne but, be warned, it's not for everyone. Also Dark Souls is tripe. Neither are anywhere close to best game ever status.

[druss]

Also Dark Souls is tripe.

It's a fantastic game. Not as hard as it's made out to be either, nor is its difficulty the main USP. Avoided Dark Souls for years based on the fact people only ever spoke about its difficulty, finally played it and there aren't many games I've enjoyed more. Perhaps not the best game ever but easily one of the best games of the 2010s.

[Chedney Honks]

It doesn't matter what one person's opinion is, including mine, let alone a caitiff. Dark Souls and Bloodborne are widely considered two of the best games ever by the gaming media and audience. I was contextualising for the benefit of sevendaughters, someone new to modern gaming.

[wooders1978]

Top 5 absolute MUST players:

Red dead redemption 2
Ghost of Tsushima
God of War
Grand theft auto 5
Horizon zero dawn

Honourable mentions to journey, Senuas sacrifice and the far cry series, 4 was my fave.

[Ferris]

fuckin skipped Triple A with my power corner third baseman, thought I'd become the best gamer in the world, turns the Orioles are shit and need anyone they can get

I'm still putting up 25 WAR seasons with the Cubs despite the rest of the roster being absolute dross (which is fucking annoying because baseball is a team sport - I've been playing various incarnations of the game for years but don't think I've won a World Series since 2015 because the teams I'm out on are always, always dog dirt).

I'm also playing 3B (because it's the best) but alternating between 1B and 2B to keep it interesting. I should really play SS just to round out the infield.

[Inspector Norse]

I just got a PS4. This is my first ever console. I am an idiot. *twangs lips with index finger*

anyway: name five ESSENTIAL games for it. no more. no less. no dross. I don't intend to become a 'gamer', but it would be nice to have an indors waste of time that didn't involve social media.

If it's your first EVER console then you are probably good to go with the games you already have which will keep you occupied for ages, RDR2 in any case. I can't speak for PS specifically as I've only had an XBox1 but most classic games are available for both.

Then it is a question of taste as other people's answers here show.

Dark Souls may well be one of the most acclaimed and influential games EVER but not everyone likes dying over and over again to seemingly endless hordes of apparently invincible enemies in a gloomy, eerie, incomprehensible fantasy world. It took me three or four tries over several years to get any further than the first area BUT once I figured it out I really got drawn in to the atmosphere and challenge (and remember if you're stuck, confused or frustrated there's always the messages people leave on the scenery, or just Google). You should certainly give it a go - you can pick up the remastered trilogy fairly cheap. Bloodborne and Sekiro are from the same stable with different settings (respectively gothic Victoriana and samurailand rather than medieval fantasy) but I haven't played them.

Also for easier fantasy adventuring the biggies are The Witcher 3 (more story- and character-focused) or Skyrim Remastered (more exploration-based).

Or if you prefer spaceships to skeleton archers then the remastered Mass Effect Trilogy is a must.

If you like sneaking around and being violent try the Dishonored or Hitman games. Or an Assassin's Creed but I find they get dull quickly due to the combination of Massive World and Limited Gameplay.

The Far Cry games are popular if you like driving around a big map shooting things.

If you want a quicker gaming fix then you have a Fifa already, the next one will be out Sep-Oct if you want up-to-date players and if you want to get sucked into the online mode.

If getting shot by foulmouthed German teenagers is your thing then the latest Call of Duty and Battlefield games could be tried. I've played a couple of the recent Battlefields and though I'm not an all-action trigger-happy KILLER I find you can do well in the team things by learning the maps and using your brain, good intense fun.

But then perhaps you prefer strategy or platform or arcadey games in which case ask someone else, they know better.

[Chedney Honks]

Set up a Japanese PSN account, buy some Yen PSN credit off PlayAsia and buy Battle Garegga and Ketsui. This is actually the best thing you can do but only the happy few will appreciate it.

[Jerzy Bondov]

Don't feel bad if you find yourself thinking RDR2 is boring, you've got loads else to play

[sevendaughters]

I will check all of these out (on youtube, obv). Thank you.

I find the controls on RDR2 quite difficult to be honest. I'm more of a 3 buttons and a d-pad man. Hope it'll take.

[Operty1]

Do you like first person shooters? Try Apex or Warzone, both free to play.

Prey is also very much a great game.

[Steven88]

Assassin's Creed Black Flag
Days Gone
The Witcher 3
Horizon Zero Dawn
Mad Max