If you own a PlayStation 4, you owe it to yourself to play "Bloodborne." It's very similar to the "Dark Souls" series — it's made by the same developer — but it's faster paced and has cosmic horror theme very reminiscent of H.P. Lovecraft. The deeper you get in the game, the more you feel like you're overcoming your fears. It's also a PS4 exclusive.
"Horizon Zero Dawn" might seem like a run-of-the-mill adventure title, but it's anything but. This is a Hollywood movie masquerading as a game, with perhaps the best plot or lore in any video game ever made, and incredible characters, dialogue, and visuals to boot. It's also a PS4 exclusive.
"Hohokum" is one of the most creative games you'll ever play. You play as a snake-like creature that glides through various themed worlds to solve puzzles. Each world is a surprise, and every character, puzzle, and moment is pure delight. It's also a PS4 exclusive.
This is one of those rare games that everyone seems to not just enjoy, but love. It's best not to describe the game or how it works, since discovering those aspects is the best part of the... journey. 😉 It's a game, yes, but it's more of an experience. And the music is sublime. It's also a PlayStation exclusive.
You don't need to have played the previous "Uncharted" games to enjoy "Uncharted 4," which is easily the most beautiful, cinematic game I've ever played, hands-down. It's also a PS4 exclusive.
Like "Overwatch," "Rocket League" — where you play a game of soccer, but with rocket-powered cars taking the place of traditionally human players — is a game everyone should own in case they can't decide what to play. It's a little bit of everything (racing, battling, and sports) with an incredible level of depth to it.
"Doom" is a fast-paced arcade-style shooter where standing still often means dying a gruesome death. The look, feel, speed, and attitude of this game is unparalleled — it's pure, unadulterated fun.
"Dark Souls 3" is an incredibly hard, incredibly rewarding game. There's also a rich backstory that explains the environments and enemies you encounter, with plenty of references to the first "Dark Souls" game.
Like all "Fallout" games, "Fallout 4" is packed full of memorable characters, crazy weapons and enemies, and some really wild missions. The expansions are worth picking up, too.
"Nioh" is very similar in gameplay to the "Dark Souls" trilogy and "Bloodborne," but with ninjas and samurai. It scratches that itch for fast-paced, satisfying action with a lengthy campaign and tons of ways to play. It's also a PS4 exclusive.
"The BioShock Collection" includes "BioShock," "Bioshock 2," and "Bioshock: Infinite," which are all excellent first-person sci-fi adventures. I highly recommend picking up the collection, especially if you've never played a "Bioshock" game.
The single-player campaign of "Titanfall 2" might be one of the best since the "Halo" trilogy. The multiplayer is pretty great too. If you like shooting games where you also have access to a variety of special abilities, "Titanfall 2" is an incredibly well-balanced game in this respect.
If you love the idea of having a ton of wild superpowers and unleashing them in a massive open-world environment — the city of Seattle, specifically — "Infamous Second Son" is for you. It's also a PS4 exclusive.
"Flower" is a tough game to describe, but incredible to play. You play as a flower petal floating in the wind, collecting other flower petals. It's one of those feel-good games everyone can and should play. It's also a PlayStation exclusive.
"Resident Evil 7" is a fresh breath of air for the long-running zombie series. This time, you play from the first-person perspective as you wander a dilapidated house near a swamp in Louisiana. The game is very focused and thankfully not too long.
Not all games need to be stressful. "Abzu" is great because you literally can't die, and it's all about puzzle-solving in a gorgeous ocean, playing with sea animals, and saving the planet. It's just a few hours long, but it's an incredible ride.
For anyone who enjoys a good adventure, "Rise of the Tomb Raider" is a beautiful and exciting game to play with a lot of satisfying mechanics and progression systems for your character, outfits, and weapons.
This game originally came out for the Xbox (yes, the original Xbox from over a decade ago), but there's a PS4 version with slightly upgraded graphics. Of course, the graphics are totally secondary to the story, dialogue, humor, and style of "Psychonauts," which are all top-notch.
"Destiny" is one of the most satisfying shooting games you'll ever play. Made by Bungie, the company behind the "Halo" franchise, "Destiny" has that same sci-fi feel as "Halo" — you're still killing aliens — but it's more focused on letting you customize your character through special armor and weapons. At this point though, it's worth waiting for "Destiny 2," which will release on September 6.
Another game that lasts only a handful of hours, "Inside" is a side-scrolling adventure with platforming and puzzles with a killer ending you won't see coming.
"Overwatch" is an online multiplayer game exclusively — meaning there's no single-player campaign — but the game has tremendous replay value through its number of characters, classes, settings, and match-ups. It's the perfect game to play when you can't decide what to play.
Unlike most other games on this list, "Gone Home" is a beautiful narrative-driven game you can complete in 1-3 hours. It's small in scope, but very memorable.
You will literally never run out of things to do in "The Witcher 3." The number of tasks, missions, and side quests is almost overwhelming — but it really speaks to the immersive level of this open-world fantasy game, which won several Game of the Year awards in 2015.
"The Last Guardian," like "The Witness," is also about solving puzzles, but it's also about love and friendship, too. Most notable here is the hand-drawn art style — it looks and feels more like a living Studio Ghibli movie than a video game. It's also a PS4 exclusive.
In "The Witness," you're alone on a colorful, serene island teeming with puzzles. Your job is to solve those puzzles. Some are easy, others will drive you to the brink of insanity — there's no other game like it.
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