I’m obsessed with collecting PlayStation Trophies. At time of writing, I currently have 3,899 of Sony’s in-game achievements. My collection would be even larger if I hadn’t ditched my old PSN profile, but I couldn’t stomach being burdened with the moniker “geared4foxhound” when PS4 launched. In my defense, that terrible name came about because I was unbelievably hyped for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots on PS3 back in the day.
As someone who does most of their gaming on a powerful desktop, the news that PlayStation Trophies are coming to PC is a huge deal to me. Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut will be the first game to get the Trophy treatment via a new PlayStation overlay.
This hub system will be rolled out when the samurai hack-and-slasher sandbox launches on May 16, and will allow you to view your PS5 Friends List, Trophies, Settings and overall PSN profile. Sony has also confirmed Trophies will carry across platforms, meaning any virtual pots you earn on your PlayStation account will pop up on your PC.
According to the PlayStation Blog, the overlay can be accessed by pressing “Shift + F1”. As a gamepad guy, I’m really hoping there will also be a way to access this new menu system on my DualSense Edge when I connect my PS5 controller to one of the best gaming PCs.
Overlay and out
While I have some interest in earning achievements while playing the best Steam games, Trophies have always been more of my bag. That’s partly because nothing quite compares to the hard work and dedication that comes from unlocking a platinum Trophy — the ultimate achievement for any PlayStation gamer that pops with an ear-arousing sound effect when you collect every Trophy in a game.
I’m old enough to remember unlocking my first one in the online dogfighting title Warhawk all the way back in 2007. Trophies initially appeared in Super Stardust HD earlier that year as Sony’s response to Xbox Achievements that debuted on Xbox 360.
Over the years, I’ve gone to some truly unhinged lengths to unlock platinum Trophies
Over the ensuing years, I’ve gone to some truly unhinged lengths to unlock platinum Trophies. My current haul stands at 34 and has involved more Resident Evil playthroughs than I can count. I adore Capcom’s legendary survival horror series and have unlocked the platinum in the Resident Evil remaster, Resident Evil 7, Resident Evil Village and the remakes of Resident 2, Resident Evil 3, and Resident Evil 4 — the latter involving six separate playthroughs to unlock its top-tier Trophy. And apologies, I promise I won’t type “Resident” again for the rest of this article.
Away from my rambling zombie-related anecdotes, I do believe that the PlayStation overlay and Trophies appearing in a PC port is a big deal. To me, it’s further evidence of Sony’s commitment to the platform, which has been steadily growing since it released the first ever formerly exclusive PlayStation game on PC back in 2020 with Horizon Zero Dawn.
Holding down the port
While the quality of Sony’s PC ports have ranged in quality over the past few years, the general trend is that they’re becoming more accomplished. The recent PC release of Horizon Forbidden West is excellent, sporting advanced features like frame generation and support for Nvidia DLSS image upscaling.
Though The Last of Us Part 1 launched in a shameful state last year, it’s now an strong port thanks to a series of post-launch patches. God of War, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection all perform extremely well on my gaming rig, too — something that strengthens my belief that Sony is now trying to court players outside of the PS5 ecosystem like never before.
I’d love to see the PlayStation overlay inserted into those titles I just mentioned, though it’s unclear whether Sony has any intention of retroactively placing this new system into these older ports. It certainly seems like future PS5 games that arrive on PC will be treated to Trophies, though. If that’s the case, you better believe I’m unlocking the platinum pot in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 for the second time if and when Insomniac’s sensational sequel turns up on Steam at some point in the future.
You better believe I’m unlocking the platinum pot in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 for the second time if it comes to PC
Console-style rewards appearing in PC games is hardly a new concept, of course. Ever since the Xbox app launched on Windows, you’ve been able to unlock Achievements in Xbox Game Pass titles. Sony may be late to the party on this front, but that doesn’t make me any less excited about Trophies popping on PC.
As a dude who literally used a rubber band on the left stick of his DualShock 4 to make Naked Snake gently walk up then subsequently slide down a large rock (it’s a looooong story), for ten straight hours in his quest to unlock the platinum in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, the prospect of Trophies appearing on my PC is making me unreasonably excited.
