What are the best arcade games on PS5? The arcade may not be the defining destination that it once was in the 80s and 90s, but the spirit of arcade games is very much alive - even on the latest crop of consoles.
This list has been determined by the Push Square community and will continue to grow and evolve with your ratings and votes. If you have a different opinion on the best arcade games on PS5, then it's up to you to do something about it: you can use the search box below to find your favourites, or simply click the star next to a game to submit your opinion.
Please do keep in mind that in order to appear on this list a game will need at least 20 ratings, so that may explain why your personal favourite is missing from the leaderboards. Of course, we encourage all of you to vote regularly for the games you've played, so that this page can continue to grow and evolve as the PS5's software selection expands.
With all that said, it's time to list out the best arcade games on PS5, as voted for by you. Which title do you think will take the top score?
Supermassive Games, the studio behind Until Dawn: Rush of Blood, returns to virtual reality with The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR. This PSVR2 house of horrors is a rail shooter, taking you through the varied locales featured in the developer's Dark Pictures Anthology. Making full use of PSVR2's new features, such as eye tracking to detect when you blink, this game delivers some nasty scares throughout its short campaign. While Rush of Blood is the superior game, thrill-seekers may still get a kick out of this.
A game that brings something a little different to the sports genre on the PS5, Riders Republic is a Ubisoft open world game with a cycling/skiing/wingsuiting skin. A massively multiplayer online sandbox, filled with both silly and serious challenges, this game is colossal in scale - something it underpins with its outrageous Mass Race competitions. It can look a little ugly and its too-cool-for-school style will grate, but cycling down mountains at 100kmph is still an exhilarating experience.
One of virtual reality's first breakout hits, Job Simulator remains a real treat on PSVR2. It's a lighthearted, comical game about robots attempting to simulate human behaviour in the work place, putting you in the shoes of an office worker, sales clerk, mechanic, and more. Featuring support for the new PSVR2 Sense Controllers, the game's excellent amount of interactive options will feel better than ever.
DIRT 5 comes from a Codemasters team made up of many Evolution Studios alumni, giving this off-road racer a slight MotorStorm flavour. The festival vibes are alive and well here, with colourful presentation and a great soundtrack providing the background for a varied and fun racing calendar. Unlike its DiRT Rally cousins, this game is unabashedly arcadey, putting the emphasis on sliding sideways through the mud, across the ice, and into clouds of dust. An unintrusive storyline featuring characters voiced by Nolan North and Troy Baker carries you through the single player, while a level editor and some neat multiplayer modes are waiting for you too. A slick, well presented racing game with real energy.
If you've ever owned a toy car or two, Hot Wheels Unleashed will hold some appeal. Coming from Milestone, the studio known for its motorbike racing titles like MotoGP and RIDE, this game sees the Italian team go in a brand new direction. This is a colourful arcade racer, pitting those die-cast vehicles against each other on that famous bright orange track across various settings. The handling is excellent and provides some surprisingly competitive and gratifying racing, while the courses are treacherous, winding things that see you driving on the ceiling and through the air. The game is impressively robust too, with a big campaign, split-screen and online multiplayer, a full track editor, and hundreds of cars to collect. If you're a fan of Hot Wheels, or just arcade racing games generally, this is worth checking out.
As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy has over 15 years of experience analysing the world of PlayStation, from PS3 through PS5 and everything in between. He's an expert on PS Studios and industry matters, as well as sports games and simulators. He also enjoys RPGs when he has the time to dedicate to them, and is a bit of a gacha whale.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 is a brilliant remake of two incredibly impactful games. The skateboarding series might have been scraping its knees for a while, but this new version puts it right on track, updating the PS1 classics to modern standards while keeping that old-school, arcadey magic alive. The PS5 version is a great update, too, enhancing the title with super smooth performance, 4K resolution, reduced loading, and some subtle usage of DualSense's features. If you're a long-time fan, this is pure joy.
The PS5's first native fighting game has set the bar very, very high. Guilty Gear Strive is a superb brawler, bolstered by jaw-dropping visuals and the best online netcode that we've ever experienced in a fighting game. A relatively small but brilliantly diverse character roster allows for a deep and hugely rewarding experience, while accessible gameplay mechanics on a base level pave the way for new players. A stunning beat-'em-up backed by an incredible heavy rock soundtrack.
Inspired by the many beloved TMNT games of yesteryear, Shredder's Revenge is a wonderful beat-'em-up that blends old and new for a turtle-y refreshing experience. You can of course play as the reptilian quartet, but Splinter, April O'Neil, and an unlockable Casey Jones all join the fight too, each with unique stats. The game features gorgeous pixel art with superb animations, as well as an excellent soundtrack and varied, enjoyable stages to fight through. With co-op either locally or online, this is an incredibly enjoyable game to play with some pals and pizza.
Not that it needed to, but with Returnal, Housemarque has proven itself an incredibly capable studio. This PS5 exclusive is a frantic, ultra-tight third person shooter dressed up with some rogue-like elements to add variety and unpredictability to the mix, and the result is wonderful.
Trapped in a loop on a hostile alien world, Selene is forced to relive her fateful crash landing each time she dies. There's an amazing sense of accomplishment as you slowly progress through challenging boss encounters and explore six diverse environments full of randomised weapons, perks, and power-ups. It feels amazing to play, especially with amazing support for the DualSense's features, and the addictive gameplay is complemented by an enigmatic story that will leave you guessing.
The best part is that's just the start. A slew of additional modes flesh out Returnal, giving you a few extra ways to play when you're done with the single player campaign. The daily challenge mode provides all players with a fixed loadout and room layouts, with the goal of amassing the highest score possible by exploring and playing skilfully. Beyond that is the Tower of Sisyphus, an endless arcade mode that similarly tasks you with getting the highest score you can, only there's more of a sense of urgency. You're rewarded not just for skilled play but for fast play - your multiplier will start to tick down if you loiter for too long. The Tower also contains additional story, adding more layers to the mysterious narrative the main game offers.
Finally, there's two-player online co-op. This allows you to join or invite another player and go through the main campaign with a companion, potentially alleviating some of the challenge. While it isn't the primary focus of Returnal, the co-op works splendidly; resources are shared between you, forcing you to make decisions on who gets what, and a revival mechanic lets you bring each other back into the fight. It's just as much fun taking on the world of Atropos with a friend as it is alone, if not more so.
Whether you're in it for the world class gameplay, the atmospheric sci-fi setting, the intentionally mysterious story, or the variety of extra modes, Returnal is among the most robust, rewarding, and addictive games on PS5.
Balatro puts an ingenious roguelike spin on poker, and it plays unlike anything else. Each run has you using poker hands to score a points target, but the real fun comes when you start to build upon your deck of playing cards with an enormous variety of modifiers, upgrades, and augmentations. The ways that all its various mechanics intertwine create huge potential for outrageously powerful synergies, and watching the numbers tot up as your regular hand is boosted by special Jokers and card effects is incredibly satisfying. There's lots of stuff to collect, difficulty levels to conquer, and challenges to complete. There's a reason it's one of 2024's breakout hits - it's a fantastic, unique roguelike.
Comments