These are the best free PlayStation games available

Whether you’re on PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 5, this page is your one-stop shop for the best free PlayStation games.

Nathan Lawrence
May 27, 2021
Icon Time To Read3 min read

Maybe you’re lucky enough to own a shiny new PlayStation 5. Or perhaps you’re still getting your PlayStation fix on the PS4. The good news for PS5 owners is a lot of PS4 games are playable via backwards compatibility, so there’s a natural crossover between titles.

Sony was giving away free PS4 and PS5 games in early 2021, but scroll on if you’re looking for the best way to play totally free PlayStation games or those subscriptions that cost a little to give a lot.

Looking for other free games?
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We haven’t just created a list of the best free PlayStation 4 and PS5 games. Click on the corresponding link below to check out our lists of the best free games for Xbox, Switch and PC:

How to get free PS4 and PS5 games

When it comes to the best free PlayStation 4 games, these are your freebie options:

  • PlayStation Store free-to-play games
  • PlayStation Store demos
  • PlayStation Plus subscription
  • PlayStation Plus Collection for PS5
  • PlayStation 4 and 5 trial weekends

The best free-to-play PlayStation games

Not so long ago, there were only 30-odd free-to-play games listed on the PlayStation Store. Fast-forward to today and that number is at 125. Granted, some of those titles are free PS5 upgrades for PS4 games, others are the same game listed for PS4 and PS5, some are part of the EA Play and PlayStation Plus subscriptions, plus there are apps like Share Factory Studio. Still, there’s a fair chunk of free-to-play games, and some great ones at that.

At the time of updating, these were the top 10 free-to-play games on PlayStation 5 (the bottom of seven of which are also playable on PS4):

  • Astro’s Playroom
  • Enlisted
  • Call of Duty: Warzone
  • Rogue Company
  • Warframe
  • Auto Chess
  • World of Warships: Legends
  • War Thunder
  • CRSED
  • Fortnite

There are a lot more free PlayStation 4 games to choose from, some of which should be playable on PS5 via backwards compatibility. Below is our pick of the 10 best free-to-play PS4 games (outside of the seven cross-gen games above):

  • Rocket League
  • Brawlhalla
  • Apex Legends
  • Warface
  • World of Tanks
  • Fallout Shelter
  • Path of Exile
  • H1Z1: Battle Royale
  • PlanetSide 2
  • Hawken

The best free PlayStation Store demos

There are around 150 demos you can download from the PlayStation Store today, none of which were exclusive to the PlayStation 5 at the time of updating this page. That said, the two entries at the top of our pick of the top 10 PlayStation Store demos below are for PS5 and PS4 (remember, PS5 owners, backwards compatibility covers most PS4 games):

  • Immortals Fenyx Rising
  • Outriders
  • 9 Monkeys of Shaolin
  • Ghostrunner
  • Little Nightmares II
  • Destroy All Humans!
  • Desperados III
  • New Super Lucky’s Tale
  • Trials Rising
  • Moving Out

For PlayStation VR owners, we found just shy of 20 demos on the PlayStation Store. Below is our pick of the top 10 best PSVR demos to take for a spin:

  • The Last Guardian VR
  • Blood & Truth
  • Everybody’s Golf
  • Marvel’s Iron Man VR
  • Kitchen
  • Prison Boss VR
  • Tethered
  • Eden-Tomorrow
  • Apex Construct
  • Ancient Amuletor

The best free PlayStation Plus games

Unless it’s a free-to-play multiplayer game, you need PlayStation Plus to play multiplayer on PS4 and PS5. If you pay for PlayStation Plus, you also get access to a monthly rotating roster of games that are yours to keep as long as you stay subscribed. The only catch is you need to remember to add them to your library every month, but that’s even easier nowadays thanks to the PlayStation App.

At the time of writing, the included PlayStation Plus games were Wreckfest (for PS5), Battlefield V and Stranded Deep. Assuming you’ve been diligent with adding the monthly games to your library, here’s our pick of the top 10 best PlayStation Plus games for PS4 in recent times:

  • Days Gone
  • Hollow Knight: Voidheart Edition
  • Zombie Army 4: Dead War
  • Remnant: From the Ashes
  • Shadow of the Tomb Raider
  • GreedFall
  • Control: Ultimate Edition
  • Concrete Genie
  • Vampyr
  • Just Cause 4

There have been more than a handful of PS5 games, too. Below is our pick of the top five so far:

  • Oddworld: Soulstorm
  • Maneater
  • Bugsnax
  • Worms Rumble
  • Destruction AllStars

The PlayStation Plus Collection

To help expand the library for the launch of the PlayStation 5, Sony introduced the PlayStation Plus Collection, which is a list of 20 games that PS5 owners have access to as long as they have an active PlayStation Plus subscription.

Here’s our pick of the top 10 must-play PlayStation Plus Collection games:

  • God of War
  • Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
  • Resident Evil 7 Biohazard
  • Battlefield 1
  • The Last Guardian
  • Until Dawn
  • Fallout 4
  • Ratchet and Clank
  • The Last of Us Remastered
  • Infamous Second Son

The best free PlayStation free trials

Outside of Sony offering occasional free multiplayer weekends without having to have an active PlayStation Plus subscription, third-party publishers also offer free trial periods for particular games. Free trial weekends come and go (either for full-release games or as part of pre-release trials), but here’s our list of the 10 best free trial weekends on PlayStation 4 and 5 in recent times (which, fingers crossed, may come up again):

  • Knockout City
  • Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War
  • Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker
  • Rainbow Six Siege
  • Borderlands 3
  • For Honor
  • Street Fighter V
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
  • Marvel’s Avengers
  • The Elder Scrolls Online
Nathan Lawrence
Written by
Nathan Lawrence has been banging out passionate tech and gaming words for more than 11 years. These days, you can find his work on outlets like IGN, STACK, Fandom, Red Bull and AusGamers. Nathan adores PC gaming and the proof of his first-person-shooter prowess is at the top of a Battlefield V scoreboard.