The PS5 Pro has arrived, offering the very best play experience possible across loads of the best PS5 games. In fact, Sony has confirmed more than 50 games that are PS5 Pro Enhanced from Day One (aka launch day, November 7). These PS5 titles have each been boosted by the Pro’s extra horsepower. That may be a framerate bump, a resolution boost or even new ray tracing features courtesy of PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR).
With so many PS5 Pro Enhanced games already confirmed (and the list is rapidly growing), you might be struggling to decide which to play first on your shiny new PlayStation console. I was lucky enough to get access to the PS5 Pro a little early, and have been working my way through the list of PS5 Pro Enhanced titles. While I’ve been generally impressed with (almost) every game I’ve tried on the PS5 Pro, these are the five that wowed me the most.
Before diving into my picks, I will note that these are the games that I think best showcase the additional power of the PS5 Pro — not necessarily my favorite PS5 games that are Pro Enhanced. But, in a happy coincidence, all five are pretty fantastic experiences too.
Demon’s Souls
Bluepoint Games' stunning remake of FromSoftware’s cult classic Demon’s Souls was the best showcase of the base PS5’s power at launch, and four years later, it remains a technical marvel that is now even prettier on the PS5 Pro.
One of the key reasons to try Demon’s Souls first on the PS5 Pro is that you get the resolution bump of the PS5’s Fidelity mode but at 60fps rather than the previous cap of 30fps. In a challenging game like Demon’s Souls, where every frame matters, playing in Performance mode was a near requirement, so the new Pro mode which offers the best of both worlds, is a chance to see Boletaria at its most visually striking, but without having to pay the price of a reduced framerate.
Alan Wake 2
Alan Wake 2 was already a highly cinematic experience with several sequences that looked darn near photorealistic, especially if you happened to play this game on an OLED television where the blacks could get really dark.
It’s fair to say that Alan Wake 2 didn’t exactly need an image quality bump, but it’s the perfect title to showcase the ray tracing capabilities of the PS5 Pro. Head to the Oh Deer Diner in Bright Falls town portion of the game, and you’ll find yourself losing several minutes just walking back and forth in front of the windows gawping at the lifelike reflections.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Speaking of the PS5 Pro’s ray tracing features, in swings Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. This superhero sequel is one of the very best PS5 exclusives, and the development wizards at Insomniac had already squeezed out seemingly every modicum of power from the base PS5. So they’ve taken the extra oomph of the PS5 Pro to make each reflective surface in the game’s New York City maps — and there’s a heck of a lot of skyscrapers wrapped in glass here — more accurately reflect the world around them. Plus, thanks to the PS5 Pro, we finally got the reflective puddles we were promised in 2017.
Spider-Man 2 was already a game I returned to often just to web-swing around NYC, and thanks to the PS5 Pro, virtual sightseeing as Spidey has never been more appealing.
The Last of Us Part I
The Last of Us Part I (or, alternatively, The Last of Us Part II Remastered) is a great game to choose to observe the image quality upgrade made possible by the PS5 Pro. During my initial testing session with the Pro, I selected the Bill’s Town section of the game and spent almost 30 minutes just aiming down the sights of my pistol and spotting all the places where textures had gone from slightly fuzzy on the standard PS5 to laser-sharp on the PS5 Pro. This was particularly notable on overgrown flora coming through cracks in the concrete sidewalks.
Of course, the only problem with dipping into The Last of Us Part I to check out the glorious upscaled 4K quality (a feat that comes courtesy of PSSR) is stepping back into this world will have you itching to replay the entire game again.
Horizon Zero Dawn: Remastered
The recently released Horizon Zero Dawn: Remastered is an unexpectedly fantastic redux of one of the best PS4 games. Arguably bordering on a full remake (rather than merely a remaster), Horizon Zero Dawn has never looked this good, regardless of whether you play on PS5 Pro or a base PS5 model.
While I’ve only briefly returned to the game’s future earth that has been reclaimed by nature, and overrun with robotic creatures, it offers some stunning vantage points that allow you to see the PS5 Pro’s additional power being put to good use. It’s also got some of the very best lighting effects I’ve seen on PS5 Pro yet.
