Best Medieval Games for PS5 & PS4

Why it's here: The best medieval game on PlayStation, full stop: the highest-rated and most-reviewed pick on this list. You play Geralt, a monster hunter whose side contracts, a curse to lift here, a haunted well there, routinely outclass other games' main quests, and the PS5 edition adds an over-the-shoulder camera. The recurring complaint in player reviews is combat that feels clunky next to the writing. Accept that trade and this is the one to play first.

Why it's here: The best RPG here and the deepest game on the list: fifth-edition D&D where a botched dice roll or a shove off a parapet genuinely rewrites the plot, playable solo, four online, or two in split-screen. Player reviews praise the reactivity above all; the honest gripes are turn-based combat some find slow and an inventory that needs housekeeping. If you want a medieval world that remembers everything you do, nothing else on PlayStation comes close, and it is on PS Plus Premium.

Why it's here: FromSoftware's open world hands you the whole Lands Between with no map markers and no directions, and it is this list's consensus masterpiece for players who want to earn every discovery. Player reviews rave about the exploration and the bosses, and are just as consistent about the caveats: brutal difficulty spikes and quests you can fail without knowing they existed. Keep a wiki within reach, or go in blind and treat being lost as the game. Either way, essential.

Why it's here: The best pure action game on the list and its biggest production: Kratos and Atreus across the Nine Realms, with combat player reviews rank among the genre's best and performances the medium rarely attempts. The recurring reservations are pacing: long cutscenes and stretches that steer you down a corridor while the story talks. If you want spectacle and a father-and-son epic with your medieval myth, start here. It is on PS Plus Extra.

Why it's here: The most-reviewed game on this list, and the samurai pick: Tsushima in 1274, where a gust of wind replaces the minimap and exploring means reading the landscape instead of a HUD. Its player reviews are among the cleanest we aggregate, stunning art, fluid combat, with only minor gripes about unskippable cutscenes and the odd traversal snag. If the fantasy entries here feel too busy, this is medieval Japan played straight, and it is gorgeous.

Why it's here: Best for exploration, still: the snowbound province opens in every direction at once, and the dragon prophecy will happily wait years while you join a thieves' guild instead. Worth knowing how the reviews split: Steam players still adore its freedom, while PlayStation reviews of this edition are far harsher on bugs and dated visuals. Come for the wandering, not the polish, and the freedom holds up. It is on PS Plus Extra.

Why it's here: The best historical pick: 15th-century Bohemia with no dragons and no magic, simulated down to blacksmithing, alchemy and courtly manners. Player reviews are passionate and split along a single line: the demanding swordplay and resource-gated saving that immersion-first players call the whole point is exactly what frustrates everyone else. Decide which camp you are in before buying. If it is the first, this is the richest Middle Ages on PlayStation.

Why it's here: Best for a challenge, and the strongest pure Souls game on the list by player rating: crumbling gothic cathedrals, hollowed knights, and a boss roster FromSoftware sharpened to a point just before Sekiro and Elden Ring. Player reviews praise the combat and bosses almost without qualification; the recurring debate is level design that runs more linear than the series' interconnected best. If you want the fights above all else, this is the one.

Why it's here: The purist's pick: one shinobi, no builds, no summons, no easy mode, and combat that rewards deflecting a blow at the last instant instead of dodging clear of it. Player reviews call it a masterclass in exactly those words, and the same reviews are blunt that the learning curve filters people out; there is no way to make it gentler. When it clicks, players report nothing else in the genre feels as sharp. If you bounce off, that is the design, not you.

Why it's here: Worth playing a decade on for one system nobody has matched since: kill an orc captain and he stays dead, but the orc that kills you gets promoted, remembers, and comes back scarred to gloat by name. Player reviews still single out the Nemesis system as the reason to play, and are equally clear that missions get repetitive and the plot is forgettable. Come for your own private war stories, not the scripted ones.

Why it's here: The statecraft pick: rule the rebuilt Inquisition from the fortress of Skyhold, judge prisoners, and steer a realm-wide mage-templar war from a literal war table. Player reviews love the companions and the sweep of the story; the steady complaint is padding, grindy zones and fetch work between the good parts. Skip the busywork ruthlessly and mainline the story and characters: there is a great forty-hour medieval epic inside this ninety-hour game.

Why it's here: The couch pick of the medieval list: an isometric loot storm through the gothic cathedrals of Sanctuary where four players share one screen, with no PS Plus needed for local play. The Eternal Collection is the complete package, Reaper of Souls and the Necromancer included, and its colour-coded loot chase is engineered to keep a group clicking for one more dungeon. It works solo, but it is built to be shared.

Why it's here: The one entry here drawn from Chinese myth rather than European folklore: a Soulslike retelling of Journey to the West, where the Monkey King's staff shapeshifts mid-combo and beaten foes surrender their forms for you to wear. Player reviews rave about the visuals and boss fights, and consistently flag invisible walls and linear stretches between them. Treat it as a spectacular boss gauntlet in an action-RPG's clothes and you will love it.

Why it's here: The most cinematic game here and the most divisive: Final Fantasy rebuilt as a character-action game in grim Valisthea, where enslaved magic-users and warring crowns settle scores through city-sized Eikon battles. Player reviews split cleanly: real praise for the story, spectacle and soundtrack, real mourning for the thinned-out RPG systems and filler side quests. For medieval intrigue staged like a blockbuster, it delivers. For builds and systems, pick Baldur's Gate 3 instead.

Why it's here: The climb-the-monster game: bringing down a griffin means grabbing its leg as it takes off and driving a blade in mid-flight, while borrowed AI Pawns from other players' worlds fight at your side. Player reviews adore the combat and the scale of the fights, and are equally frank that the story is weak and the pawn chatter grates. Nobody plays it for the plot. For fight-first medieval fantasy, it still has no real substitute.

Why it's here: The systems-lover's Soulslike: yokai-slaying across Sengoku Japan with three stances per weapon, Onmyo magic, and a Burst Counter that swats aside a boss's heaviest swing. Player reviews from genre veterans rate its combat depth above FromSoftware's own, and the same reviews warn that the system stack overwhelms newcomers and the difficulty curve is merciless. Come to master a fighting system over hundreds of hours. As a first Soulslike, start elsewhere on this list.

Why it's here: Best for newcomers, and the gentlest entry point on the list: a castle-and-grounds fantasy where spellcraft, potions and beast-taming do the work swords do everywhere else, with no real difficulty wall. Player reviews are glowing about the world itself; the common comedown is repetitive side content and a story that never risks anything. Roam it for the castle, not the plot. On PS Plus Extra, it is an easy first medieval-fantasy game.

Why it's here: The nostalgia pick, with the list's biggest asterisk. Cyrodiil rebuilt in Unreal Engine 5 keeps the classless freedom that lets you become a swordsman, an assassin, a mage, or a blacksmith and ignore the main quest entirely, and reviewers who grew up on it love seeing it again. But the recurring theme in player reviews is blunt: crashes, performance problems and thin post-launch support, with some recommending the 2006 original instead. Wait for patches or a sale unless nostalgia is doing the heavy lifting.

Why it's here: The origin point: the game the whole Soulslike genre traces back to, rebuilt by Bluepoint into one of the PS5's showcase lookers. Fog-choked Boletaria still runs on ideas the series later refined, five branching realms from one hub, and a hidden world tendency that shifts each area's difficulty by how you die. Player reviews call the remake stunning while ranking it below the later games it inspired. Play it for the history and the visuals, after Elden Ring rather than before.