If you’ve been playing games on the PlayStation for a while, there is a good chance that there’s a game that you really enjoyed but eventually had to stop playing because it just couldn’t match up to newer releases anymore.
Often, the differences between these games are in the form of visual updates, as newer-gen consoles usually come with better graphics support and smoother gameplay.
So, if and when those older titles get re-released with better graphics that make them competitive once again, it is often just as fun as playing a completely new game – if not more fun.
Re-releases that come in this form are called “Remasters”, and on that note, this guide discusses the best remastered games for PS5. But first, let’s talk about the difference between a “remaster” and a “remake”.
Remaster vs Remake: What’s the Difference?
A video game remaster is simply a revamped version of the older game. With remasters, there will not be a content overhaul, but additions are fairly standard.
Instead, the bulk of the changes is seen in repainted visuals, the addition of new-gen features, changes in in-game mechanics, and other performance-based updates.
An example of a video game remaster is the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition. The remaster included content from the trilogy of Mass Effect games, and the visuals were touched up to take advantage of the PS5’s better graphics.
On the other hand, a video game remake is more of a complete overhaul than a remaster. There will be many new additions to the game in terms of gameplay, content, characters, and even the environment.
However, while these are significant alterations, the game still remains true to the original source material. It does not change to the point where it is almost impossible to link it to the original release.
An example of a video game remake is Demon’s Souls. The original was released in 2009, and the remake was published in time for the launch of the PS5 in late-2020.
Now that’s out of the way, let’s get into the list of the best remastered games for PS5.
Dark Souls Remastered
- Genre: Action, RPG
- Developers: QLOC
- PlayStation Release Date: May 2018
- Buy from: PlayStation, Amazon
- Multiplayer: Online multiplayer
- Average Playtime (Main Story/Objectives): 29 hours, 30 minutes
If you’re looking for a game that’s relaxing and great for just passing time, I’ll recommend that you skip this review and move on to the next game on the list.
Dark Souls is a brutal RPG originally published by Namco Bandai Games in 2011 before the remastered version in 2018. The game follows the same pattern as other Souls games from the developer, often proving to be so difficult that playing it feels like torture at times.
It is set in a medieval fantasy world where you come up against knights and mythical creatures such as demons and dragons as you try to reverse the spread of the “Darksign” – a curse of undeath.
Dark Souls was the second game to be released in the Souls series, and it was originally intended for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
That version enjoyed a fair amount of success, which led to the idea of remastering it for the PS4 in May 2018.
The remastered edition has addressed some major performance issues, particularly an unsteady framerate, and it generally looks a lot sharper than the original edition.
Small effects such as the visual feedback from crushing a soul now look really intriguing, and animations from sunlight, flickering torches, flowing waters, etc. are all much improved too.
On the PS5, load times are significantly quicker, and the 60fps that launched with the PS4 update is even smoother than it was.
All of this makes the experience of playing Dark Souls much more enjoyable, and help the game to feel like a much more recent release than its original 2011 version would suggest.
Judgment
- Genre: Action-adventure
- Developers: Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
- PlayStation Release Date: April 23, 2021
- Buy from: PlayStation, Amazon
- Multiplayer: No
- Average Playtime (Main Story/Objectives): 27 hours, 30 minutes
Judgment is a 2018 spin-off of the Yakuza series. Well, it was actually launched in Japan in December 2018 but it took another six months for the global version to be launched, and then over two more years for a PS5 upgrade.
Judgment, at the time of its release, was intended for 8th-gen consoles, and it was a hit among existing fans of the series and new players alike.
The whole detective angle of the story was a wholly enjoyable and immersive experience, and the combat was pretty smooth too.
The main character, in particular, has a set of really cool combat moves that make beatdowns very enjoyable to watch.
That character, Takuya Kimura, is a former defense attorney who resigned out of guilt after his involvement in the acquittal of a guilty murderer.
He then becomes a private hand, forming alliances with Yakuza members to gain a strong foothold in the ways of the underworld.
This relationship peaks when a case of a series of murders rocks the Yakuza family, and Takuya is heavily involved in trying to bring the culprits to book. Here, he has a chance to find some level of redemption for his past misdeed, and it proves to be the biggest test of his life.
On the PS5 remastered edition, the character designs are fuller and more realistic. The display of emotions across their animated features looks closer to real life, and the details of the city of Kamurocho also look sharper and truer to life.
Load times have been slashed significantly, and the gameplay is smoother with a steady 60fps. All of these updates make Judgment arguably the most enjoyable Yakuza-style game out there, and arguably also the best-looking one.
Diablo 2: Resurrected
- Genre: Action, RPG, Hack and Slash
- Developers: Blizzard North
- PlayStation Release Date: September 23, 2021
- Buy from: PlayStation
- Multiplayer: Online co-op
- Average Playtime (Main Story/Objectives): 21 hours, 30 minutes
Diablo 2 is a game of a similar mould to Dark Souls in the sense that it is also set in a dark fantasy world where you encounter angels, demons, and all sorts of supernatural characters. However, it is even much older than the fromSoftware series as the original version was released in 2000.
At the time, the game was built for the Windows operating system and Mac OS alone, but it has since been expanded further to support consoles such as the PlayStation and the Xbox.
This remastered version for PS5 and PS4 was published in 2021, and now, the dungeon-crawling classic has been given a visual polish with a new-gen remaster that brings the game up to speed with games released in far more recent times.
Loading times on the PS5 are far quicker, the graphics, animation, and sound design are a beauty, and the introduction of DualSense controller features is some really next-level stuff for a game that is over two decades old.
The camera angles are not exactly the best for getting a close look at the visual changes in the finer details, but the difference is still light and day compared to the original version. If you enable performance mode – which you should – you will also be able to run the game at 60fps.
Compared directly to games that were made for the PS5, Diablo 2 still shows its age in many instances. However, if you’re a fan of the series and have played the original in the past, you’ll really enjoy the results of the effort put into this remaster from the developer, Vicarious Visions.
Nier Replicant ver. 1.22474487139
- Genre: Action, RPG, Hack and slash
- Developers: Cavia
- PlayStation Release Date: April 2021
- Buy from: PlayStation, Amazon
- Multiplayer: No
- Average Playtime (Main Story/Objectives): 19 hours, 30 minutes
Nier Replicant was originally launched for the PlayStation 3 in 2010 by publishers Square Enix. The updated version, Nier Replicant ver. 1.22474487139 was released in 2021.
Cavia was very particular about the fact that it was just an upgrade and not a remaster/remake, but it feels like a remaster so we’re calling it that.
The series is pretty popular among fans of the action RPG genre, but perhaps a less-frequently-discussed fact about it is that Nier is a spin-off of another series that was built for the PlayStation 2, titled the “Drakengard”.
The events of Nier Replicant are based on the ending of the Drakengard series, where the planet Earth has been reduced to a state of decay following an interplanetary invasion.
Your character is tasked with the job of finding a cure for an illness called the Black Scrawl, along with two accomplices and a talking book. The main motivation for the mission is that Yona, your character’s sister, has been infected with the Black Scrawl, and there is no known cure for it yet.
During your adventure, you will encounter the Shades – the creatures that invaded earth and now stalk the planet – and have to face off against them many times. There are also many side quests to serve as a distraction if you need one.
Combat is one of the major selling points of the Nier series, and it feels and looks much better on the PS5. There’s no 4K support on the PlayStation yet, but 1080p is still solid quality and combines well with 60fps to provide a smooth, detailed experience.
Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Remastered Collection
- Genre: Action-adventure, Platformer, Puzzle
- Developers: Naughty Dog, Iron Galaxy
- Release Date: January 28, 2022
- Buy from: PlayStation, Amazon
- Multiplayer: No
- Average Playtime (Main Story/Objectives): 20 hours, 30 minutes
Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Remastered Collection is a bundle of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, remastered for the PS5 with important visual upgrades and next-gen features.
This remaster offers a significant amount of content rolled into one, which already provides solid value for money even before you consider all the other updates.
Speaking of performance and visual updates, there are three modes to choose from in the remastered edition – Fidelity, Performance, and Performance+.
In Fidelity mode, you can play with 4K resolution at a framerate of 30fps which is the same framerate that the PS4 and PS4 Pro versions of the games ran with, albeit with a lower resolution.
If you’re more concerned about getting the crispiest and most detailed images, textures, and shadows possible, then Fidelity mode should be the option for you.
In Performance mode, as the name suggests, there is more focus on achieving smoother gameplay, so the framerate is boosted to 60fps and 4K resolution is sacrificed. However, the 2560×1440 resolution that you do get is the same as the PS4 Pro offers, and it is still plenty to work with.
In my opinion, Performance mode strikes the perfect balance between image quality and smooth gameplay.
Performance + is like Performance mode on steroids. The framerate is once again doubled to 120fps, but the resolution drops further to 1080p.
Not everyone has a TV that can take full advantage of a 120fps framerate and even if you do, I still think Performance mode offers a nicer balance, especially for a good-looking, action-heavy third-person game such as Uncharted.
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade
- Genre: Action, RPG
- Developers: Cloud Strife, Square Enix
- PlayStation Release Date: June 10, 2021
- Buy from: PlayStation, Amazon
- Multiplayer: No
- Average Playtime (Main Story/Objectives): 38 hours
Don’t be confused by the “remake” in its title, Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade is a remaster of Final Fantasy 7 Remake which, obviously, was a remake of Final Fantasy 7. Stay with me here.
Final Fantasy 7 itself is a pretty ancient game. It was first released in 1997 for the original PlayStation console as the seventh installment in the Final Fantasy series and is considered to have one of the greatest campaigns ever released.
This original got a lot of love from fans of the series, and they were soon clamoring for a remake years after.
We did have to wait a long while for the remake to arrive, but when it finally did in April 2020, it was pretty much everything that the fans had been begging for. Then, the developers took things further to build the “Remake Intergrade’ version for next-gen in 2021.
Square Enix had done a LOT of work on staying faithful to the key components that made the original so enjoyable while still managing to integrate enough modern advancements to the gameplay, graphics, and bits of the story to make it an almost completely new experience.
Two of the most notable changes to that end were a new combat style and the introduction of an episodic approach to the story. It was a bold move from the developers but it paid off immensely.
The success of the FF7 Remake must’ve given Square Enix the confidence to go on further and remaster the game when the PS5 launched, and that remaster was made available as an upgrade to the remake on the PlayStation Store.
FF7 Remake Intergrade comes with a variety of upgrades and new DLC that, frankly, does justice to the idea of being a “PS5 enhancement”.
The visual upgrades are obviously key, as you now get to choose between Performance mode and Quality mode, but the additions to the story are just as important.
FF7 Remake Intergrade‘s Performance mode lets the game run in 1620p at 60fps, while Quality mode brings the extra-sharp visual quality of 4K with a reduced framerate of 30fps.
This is unarguably one of the best remastered games for PS5 on the PlayStation Store.
Control: Ultimate Edition
- Genre: Action-adventure
- Developers: Remedy Entertainment
- PlayStation Release Date: February 2, 2021
- Buy from: PlayStation, Amazon
- Multiplayer: No
- Average Playtime (Main Story/Objectives): 11 hours, 30 minutes
Control is widely seen as one of the best games ever developed by Remedy Entertainment, and this 2019 release has only gotten better with the remastered edition for PS5 titled “Control: Ultimate Edition“. That version was launched in 2021.
While the game served up a lot of fantastic gameplay and action on the PS4, there was the feeling at times that the console was not powerful enough to help it realize its full potential. It is safe to say that that potential has now been unlocked on the PS5.
Control: Ultimate Edition is a definitive release that includes other expansions that have been published since the game’s initial launch.
The gameplay and main plot are unchanged, but these expansions add a bit more content to what was already a fairly loaded story.
With this PS5 update, the performance issues that sometimes plagued the original version are almost completely gone.
If you play the game in Graphics Mode, you get 30fps with 1440p including ray-tracing. Side note, if you want to play a game on the PS5 to fully enjoy a proper implementation of ray-tracing, look no further than Control: Ultimate Edition.
30fps was also the standard framerate on the PS4, but the game rarely managed to stay on that level consistently, especially during action sequences. On the PS5, it is pretty much locked.
If you play in Performance mode, you lose ray-tracing but gain 60fps performance with the same 1440p resolution. It runs buttery smooth and you really feel the difference from the original version that often struggled to hit 30fps.
Control was a game with a lot of unrealized potential on the PS4, and it is a credit to 505 Games and the developers that they’ve turned it around to become one of the best remastered games for PS5.
Nioh 2 Remastered: The Complete Edition
- Genre: Action, RPG, Hack and slash
- Developers: Team Ninja
- PlayStation Release Date: February 5, 2021
- Buy from: PlayStation
- Multiplayer: Online co-op
- Average Playtime (Main Story/Objectives): 44 hours
There’s no shame in admitting that Nioh 2 Remastered: The Complete Edition has made multiple entries in my “best of, for PS5” reviews.
This already shows a good degree of versatility in the gameplay, and with the extra perks that come with the remastered edition, Nioh 2 is in with a shout as one of the best games for PS5.
Compared to the original Nioh 2, this remastered edition comes with all three DLC expansion packs that were released after the original game was published.
The graphics are also crispier, and if you have a compatible TV or monitor, you can run the game at 120fps. Also, the load times are much snappier, and the use of haptic feedback with the DualSense controller is solid.
Death Stranding Director’s Cut
- Genre: Action-adventure
- Developers: Kojima Productions
- Release Date: September 24, 2021
- Buy from: PlayStation, Amazon
- Multiplayer: No
- Average Playtime (Main Story/Objectives): 36 hours
The Director’s Cut of Death Stranding comes with a decent number of updates and new content.
Compared to the original, you get steady 60fps performance instead of a locked 30fps. Although that 30fps was solid, the difference with 60fps is noticeable, especially with the stunning 4K graphics.
The developers have also found a use for the DualSense controller, and you can now really feel the difference between each gun that you handle when you pull the trigger.
Also, you can feel the weight of the heavier cargo as it drags on your freedom of movement, which is a pretty cool touch.
There have been a couple of additions to the combat system too. You have more options for dropping enemies, including a non-lethal Maser gun and extra skill moves.
Finally, if you use proper headphones, you can really feel the quality of the implementation of 3D audio here. The voices of characters speaking in cutscenes sound accurately placed and add to the whole immersive experience of the game.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon
- Genre: RPG
- Developers: Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
- PlayStation Release Date: March 2, 2021
- Buy from: PlayStation, Amazon
- Multiplayer: No
- Average Playtime (Main Story/Objectives): 45 hours
I know that I said Judgment is the best Yakuza-style game out there, but I recognize the fact that opinions will be split on the matter. In that case, Yakuza: Like a Dragon is a worthy alternative for the title.
The PS4 version of the game was released in January 2020, while the PS5 upgrade arrived months after the release of the console, in early 2021.
The plot of both versions is the same. You play as Ichiban Kasuga, a member of the Yakuza who admits to a murder that he did not commit just to protect the interests of the organization.
Ichiban spends almost twenty years in prison for the crime and by the time that he is released, he experiences the ultimate betrayal as the family that he sacrificed so much for want nothing to do with him.
From there, Ichiban has to work his way up the social ladder, trying to build valuable connections while confronting any opposition in his path. It’s a solid story that you can really get hooked into, and the gameplay and turn-based combat are very engaging too.
On the PS5, Yakuza: Like a Dragon now lets you choose between 30fps and 4K support or 60fps and a lower resolution.
Although the gameplay is noticeably smoother than the PS4 version, there is a feeling that the developers, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, barely put effort into maximizing the next-gen features of the PS5.
However, despite that fact, this remastered version of Yakuza: Like a Dragon is still up there with the best JPRGs for PS5.
Marvel’s Spiderman Remastered
- Genre: Action-adventure
- Developers: Insomniac Games
- PlayStation Release Date: November 12, 2020
- Buy from: PlayStation, Amazon
- Multiplayer: No
- Average Playtime (Main Story/Objectives): 17 hours
There has been a lot of hype around Marvel’s Spiderman: Miles Morales since the game launched in late 2020, which resulted in less being said about the remastered version of 2018’s Marvel’s Spiderman.
This remastered version was released around the same time as Miles Morales, and it served as a mostly visual revamp of the older game.
There are a bunch of relevant updates such as a framerate boost from 30fps on the PS4 Pro to 60fps. It’s a bit more complicated than that though as you actually get the option of choosing from three different visual presentations.
In Quality mode, you can play in native 4K most of the time, which is higher than the average for Performance mode.
The third option is ray-traced performance mode and it delivers hardware ray-tracing at an impressive 60fps, but the resolution is even more significantly affected and can drop as low as 1080p.
Compared to the PS4 Pro, twice the framerate plus hardware ray tracing is more than just a small step up.
There’s more to see too, but the experience is best seen when you actually launch the game and begin to play. If you played the 2018 version, you will notice many other small changes that have been made to the tiniest of details.
Apart from the fact that these changes can be fun “Easter Eggs” of sorts, they genuinely give 2018’s Spiderman a much-needed refresh that makes the game one of the best remastered games for PS5 out there.
The Last of Us 2 Remastered
- Genre: Action-adventure
- Developers: Naughty Dog
- PlayStation Release Date: May 2021
- Buy from: PlayStation, Amazon
- Multiplayer: No
- Average Playtime (Main Story/Objectives): 24 hours
The Last of Us 2 was released just months before the PS5 was launched, but it took another eleven months or so after that for the game to get a PS5 upgrade.
The upgrade came in form of a patch that automatically upgraded the PS4 version for people that already had it in their catalog, and with it came the option to play the game at 60fps for an overall smoother experience.
As far as remasters go, this is not the most robust of remastered games, but it is on this list because of the quality of the game itself. Although 60fps is now the default framerate, you can adjust it back to 30fps if you want to (for whatever reason).
For now, you only get the performance boost of a smoother framerate and quicker load times, but perhaps this means that the developers are saving their resources for a remake. Fingers crossed.
Devil May Cry 5: Special Edition
- Genre: Fighting, Adventure, Hack and slash
- Developers: Capcom
- PlayStation Release Date: November 12, 2020
- Buy from: PlayStation, Amazon
- Multiplayer: Online co-op
- Average Playtime (Main Story/Objectives): 10 hours
Devil May Cry 5 was originally published by Capcom in 2019, and it was hailed as one of the best action games at the time.
In November 2020, around the time that the PS5 was launched, an expanded version of the game was released for the PlayStation 5, titled “Devil May Cry 5: Special Edition“.
This expansion included the addition of Vergil as a playable character, alongside some other gameplay, content, and visual changes.
Let’s start with Turbo mode, which is a setting that allows you to run the game at 1.2x the regular speed. It’s a feature that has been implemented in previous versions of the series, and it’s nice to have it back here.
The developers have also taken advantage of the more powerful internals of the PS5 to re-introduce the graphically demanding “Legendary Dark Knight Mode”, which makes the “Son of Sparda” difficulty level the base option.
In that mode, you’re pretty much overrun by enemies, resulting in a constant flurry of on-screen action that the PS4 might’ve struggled to handle comfortably.
As far as graphics go, you can play DMC5SE in 4K resolution at 30fps plus ray tracing, 1080p at 60fps plus ray tracing, or 4K at 120fps with ray tracing disabled. You also get much faster loading times which is great as this was one of the major issues with the original.
Finally, 3D audio is also properly implemented here, and you can hear enemies approaching from the appropriate angles before you have a visual. It’s pretty neat and very well done.
Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut
- Genre: Action-adventure
- Developers: Sucker Punch Productions
- PlayStation Release Date: August 20, 2021
- Buy from: PlayStation, Amazon
- Multiplayer: Online co-op
- Average Playtime (Main Story/Objectives): 25 hours
Ghost of Tsushima is one of the best games for PS5, period. In fact, it is so good that the remaster tagged “Director’s Cut” struggles to significantly improve on the overall experience, despite including a handful of relevant updates.
The original version was published by Sony Interactive Entertainment in July 2020, and Director’s Cut arrived about a year later.
The biggest difference between the two versions is the addition of a new explorable area named “Iki Island” on the remastered cut.
It gives players the option to run through a never-before-seen part of the game, and I imagine that this would appeal most to people who feel like they’ve seen everything else there is to see in Tsushima.
The DualSense controller is also used to good effect with haptic feedback and adaptive triggers that come to the fore the most in action sequences.
On top of that, you get 3D audio for a more realistic sound experience, faster load times with the PS5’s SSD, and dynamic 4K resolution targeting 60fps.
Mass Effect Legendary Edition
- Genre: Action, RPG, Shooter
- Developers: BioWare
- PlayStation Release Date: May 14, 2021
- Buy from: PlayStation, Amazon
- Multiplayer: No
- Average Playtime (Main Story/Objectives): 60 hours
Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is arguably the best remastered game for PS5.
I mean, this is a brilliantly done merger of the Mass Effect trilogy including Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3, remastered and updated for new-gen features and graphics, and it looks fantastic.
If you’ve read through some of my other “best of, for PS5” reviews, you must have come across this title more than once, and it goes to show how popular it is amongst gamers, especially fans of the series.
Mass Effect: Legendary Edition contains all the DLCs that have been rolled out for all the included versions over time, and you now get to play them at 4K resolution with 120 fps.
The developers have done well to stay true to the original source material, which can be difficult to do when remastering one game, talk less of three rolled into one. Clearly, a lot of thought and time was put into this production.
If any game out there needs a reference point on how to remaster an aging game, look no further than Mass Effect: Legendary Edition.
Final Words
There you have it – the best remastered games for PS5 (at the moment, of course!). I expect that there will be a lot more remasters of other popular, aging titles as time passes, so I’ll be keeping an eye on that.
In fact, there are some specific games that I hope will soon get a second look from their developers/publishers at some point in the near future. Red Dead Redemption, for instance, has a lot of potential.
Meanwhile, if looks matter a lot to you when choosing which games to play, then you’ll enjoy our selection of the best-looking PS5 games. There are a bunch of stunning games on that list!
