From action RPGs to first-person shooters, there is an undeniable fact about PS4 games: Many titles come with fantastic graphics that can satisfy your eyes and keep you excited for hours! This year will be full of charismatic games, so don’t miss out on the roundup of the best graphics PS4 games we’re going to share below.
1. Horizon Zero Dawn
- Platform: PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows
- Game genres: Action RPG, open world adventure
- Game mode: Single player
Gorgeous landscapes and appealing soundtracks are what makes Horizon Zero Dawn stand out from the crowd, particularly when there are a lot of cinematic effects going on in all scenes. Throughout this game, players will have great chances to explore epic lands where snow-covered mountains, broad valleys, and windy fields look amazing.
To nail the aesthetic, artists of Horizon Zero Dawn decided to generate 80% of the game’s natural landscape procedurally. This means they defined rules and drew maps on where they want objects to appear instead of placing every single tree or rock by hand. Briefly, everything you admire in Horizon Zero Dawn was fine-tuned to look incredible.
This game was highly recommended by GameSpot (9/10) and IGN (9.3).
2. Gran Turismo Sport
- Platform: PlayStation 4
- Game genre: Racing
- Game modes: Single-player, multiplayer
Among the best graphics PS4 games on this list, Gran Turismo Sport has left many gamers speechless. “Great look” and “realistic driving experience” are two phrases we use to describe this game. Not just that, the opening cut-scene of Gran Turismo Sport is captivating and the entire beauty can’t be limited to any cinematic clip.
You will love to spend hours watching and contemplating all racing replays. It feels like watching the real-life race, where you’re the only one who can control the camera and the car you’re driving. From tires, engines, brakes to collisions, they all appear and sound authentic. They also mix well with the visual attraction that the game delivers.
3. Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
- Platform: PlayStation 4
- Game genre: Action-adventure, open-world
- Game modes: Single player, multiplayer
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy brings gamers to an open-world atmosphere set in India. Above all, its graphics quality is stunning, which can steal anyone’s heart from first glance. Having the name in the roundup of 20 best graphics PS4 games, the game draws more attention from all gamers.
The game show offs realistic character models, magnificent landscapes, and fluid animations. Everything from the sweat on the characters’ face to the foliage in the forest is remarkably in-depth. If you play it on your PS4 Pro, the game resolution stays at 1440p, which is very high.
4. Infamous: Second Son
- Platform: PlayStation 4
- Game genre: Action-adventure
- Game mode: Single player
Sucker Punch Production’s Infamous: Second Son has emerged as an open journey game that does a much better job in terms of image design than most others of the same genre. Throughout the game, you will have great chances to get the feeling of awesome lighting in the city at night.
The full 1920×1080 framebuffer delivers remarkably sharp and clean imagery. Every lighting effects: car explosions, water on the streets, glistening lights on buildings, etc. are all processed meticulously and realistically. Briefly, this game owns the greatest visuals that we’ve ever seen in a next-gen console game.
5. Drive Club
- Platform: PlayStation 4
- Game genre: Racing
- Game modes: Single player, multiplayer
Graphics effects of this game are just phenomenal. Every race is full of lighting and reflection effects. The weather is stimulated excellently, offering you the overall impression of whatever time of day it is in real life. Especially, the game is compatible with PlayStation VR headset so that you can feel immersed in every race!
Besides, Drive Club excites all car lovers by giving them great chances to explore brand new sets of recently-launched cars. And you can freely have your cars customized as much as you want. Also, sounds created by cars (engine, braking, turning, etc.) and rock songs could satisfy any gamers during their long races.
6. Monster Hunter: World
- Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows
- Game genre: open-world, action RPG
- Game modes: Single player, multiplayer
Monster Hunter: World is gorgeous and inspiring no matter how you play it. All creatures seem majestic and outrageous. The whole world is illustrated delicately with mysterious forests and frightening dinosaurs. The monsters look amazing with well-made skin, detailed textures, and natural movements. The resolution is up to 1080p.
Besides, Monster Hunter’s gameplay is also impressive. Throughout the game, you have to complete the most important mission: hunting monsters by seeking signs of them from little things, such as their marks and footprints. When locating, you can start fighting against the most terrible beasts.
7. Killzone: Shadow Fall
- Platform: PlayStation 4
- Game genre: FPS
- Game modes: Single player, multiplayer
Killzone: Shadow Fall makes use of the maximal storage of a Blu-ray disk (40GB) to show off its incredible graphics. From skyscrapers, character models, lighting, weather simulation to gun battles, they’re all impressive. For most parts, the game is full of glowing scenes and majestic vistas. This takes your whole journey much further and more interesting.
It’s a linear game genre, which has the clear path that it wants you to follow. It might take you 20 minutes moving back and forth to finish your mission. Each route you go through feels real to explore, but you should be very careful if you don’t want to get lost too soon.
8. Far Cry 5
- Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows
- Game genres: Action-adventure, FPS
- Game modes: Single player, multiplayer
After released for the PS4 platform, Far Cry 5 makes a stir in the graphics industry. Quite similar to the Monster Hunter: World, magnificent landscapes and lively creatures serve a big role in drawing gamers to the game.
The texture details are impressive. Trees, rocks and fog appear naturally. The world introduced in the game is dynamic, and sunlight and shadows are too. Depending on the time of day, their size and intensity will change.
Turning Far Cry 5 on and you can stand in the Himalayas and enjoy snowy mountains that look amazingly brilliant. When you stalk a foe through the lush underbrush, you might be amazed at how textures on tiny leaves look so lively. Honestly, you could walk around just taking pictures all day.
9. The Order: 1886
- Platform: PlayStation 4
- Game genre: Action-adventure
- Game mode: Single player
Thanks to the extensive use of global illumination and physically-based rendering, The Order: 1886 offers more volume to the environments and objects. By this way, every single building can interact with the lighting most naturally and have their own property.
As a member of elite knights, you have to take part in a war against horrible threats. The game is rich in detailed settings that show off the grand vista of London. At the same time, a lot of breathtaking cutscenes are displayed with the aim of delivering a decent historical and fantasy storyline.
10. Middle-Earth: Shadow of War
- Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows
- Game genre: Action RPG
- Game modes: Single player, multiplayer
Middle-Earth: Shadow of War has up to 6 graphical quality presets, ranging from Low to Ultra. You can choose to stick with the 1080p, or you can go up to 8K (7680×4320) resolution.
At such ultra setting, the game is pleasant to look at. Ground textures are meticulously drawn with stones and shrubs. The depth of images and flourish lighting together create lovely vistas that can make you fall in love at first glance.
In overall, Shadow of War is a good balance between visual quality and performance. For the fans of the original game, it can surprise any of them by how unique the gameplay is. From character’s strengths, weaknesses to their personality, every small stuff will be apparently shown off in fierce battles.
11. The Last Guardian
- Platform: PlayStation 4
- Game genre: Action-adventure
- Game mode: Single player
The Last Guardian is not only about solving puzzles but also about love and friendship. The whole story circles the adventure of a little boy named Fumito Ueda – also the one you must accompany throughout the game.
However, the best part of this game is its unique hand-drawn art style, which might make you feel like watching an anime. Besides, The Last Guardian comes up with an elegant sense of discovery in beautiful and heartfelt landscapes. They together put it in the roundup of the best graphics PS4 games.
12. Bioshock: The Collection
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows
- Game genre: FPS
- Game mode: Single player
PlayStation game BioShock: The Collection drives you into fascinating science fiction journeys. It’s a great chance to discover big cities of Columbia and witness epic adventures in the BioShock Universe at 1080p.
Gaming experience is improved further thanks to magnificent visual animations. From lively extermination machines to smooth effects of fire and water, they all make the game more convincing for the players. New textures are also added to make the black deeper and colors more vibrant.
Compared to previous BioShock versions, the world of The Collection has been completely reskinned with new textures, melodies, voiceovers, and controls. There are many moments in which you can feel significant improvements. For example, the blood is more gelatinous instead of looking lacquered like the BioShock 2.
13. Bloodborne
- Game genre: Action RPG with focus on strategic fight options
- Platform: PS4
- Multiplayer: YES! Connecting to other players in a cooperative session
- Network connection: required in both online and offline mode
- Age rating: 16+
- Ease of play: Tutorial available in-game but it’s easy to miss. It’s recommended to read through the game manual to know how the basic things work.
Bloodborne amazes players with its horror theme, artistical presentation, and beautiful compacts. The game is far more accomplished than its longtime competitor – The Dark Souls – on the visual front. Character models, lighting effects and contrasting colors are better made to effectively describe scary yet exciting vistas of hunters, beasts, coffins and gravestones.
For that reason, Bloodborne is not just one of the best graphics PS4 games but also the greatest one trying the best effort to scare you. The deeper you immerse in this game, the more you addict to it. And this happens when you have to face unpredictable sights beyond your present hurdle.
14. Nioh
- Platforms: PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows
- Game genre: Action RPG
- Game modes: Single player, multiplayer
Pretty similar to the Bloodborne in terms of gameplay, Nioh is worth to give a try. This RPG action game brings you back to the 17th century in Japan where you have to defeat super-strong bosses along the journey.
Nioh is pretty attentive when offering gamers the selection of which graphics setting they want to play in: Movie Mode, Action Mode or Variable Mode. While the first choice keeps you in 30fps with adaptive resolution, the second one locks you to 30fps but with the best possible adaptive resolution. And the third choice gives the best of both worlds. Depending on each mode, the resolution would switch anywhere from 1080p up to 2K pixels.
15. Rocket League
- Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Linux
- Game genre: Sports
- Game modes: Single-player, multiplayer
For those who love football, Rocket League is the right choice. But this game is extremely special because the players won’t play soccer using their feet but their cars. Apart from the superb level of uniqueness, Rocket League feels a bit of engaging and pretty when it comes to racing, sports, and battling.
All players are equipped with powered-fighting cars that can crash into the ball for goals. They also get to enjoy extensive car customization with over 10 billion possible combos. Using a well-designed physical system to drive the most realistic interactions, Rocket League relies mostly on the mass and momentum to bring players the real sense of control – both the car and the ball.
16. Journey
- Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3
- Game genres: Adventure, art
- Game modes: Single player, multiplayer
Out of the best graphics PS4 games, Journey can be seen as a rare choice. Its clean design is pretty much like The Last Guardian. However, Journey is even more minimized. Textures are flat and soft, which are almost like objects cut out of a heavy paper. The composition is very simple or highly geometric. The extensive use of bloom shading and charismatic lighting improve the visual quality and gaming performance significantly.
The game gives us a chance to immerse ourselves in the mystical world where we can soar through the ruins and sands to explore unexpected secrets. Not only having stunning visuals, but Journey also offers us a spectacular experience like no other.
17. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
- Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, Android
- Game genres: Action-adventure, stealth
- Game modes: Single player, multiplayer
Compared to Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, The Phantom Pain looks and plays significantly better thanks to the improved Fox engine and the higher resolution of up to 4K pixels. All details, from facial expressions to object textures, are of very good quality.
Another technology called Ambient Occlusion (AO) boosts the visual effect by enhancing contact shadows where two objects meet or when they block light from reaching other nearby objects.
The MGSV is not just a good action-adventure game series but also one of the most decent game titles of all times. By perfecting all respects of these two genres, it lets us finish all objectives in any certain way that they find the most necessary and rewarding.
18. Call of Duty: Black Ops VI
- Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows
- Game genres: FPS, Battle Royale
- Game mode: Multiplayer
Call of Duty is a first-person shooter game series by Activision that has spread its reputation throughout the world. This time, the new Black Ops VI not only has great gameplay (just like other Call of Duty’s games) but also owns outstanding visual quality.
With this version, a new technology called “reveal mapping” has been used to enhance texture blending. Lighting is also much better thanks to the adding of HDR lighting and the improvement of self-shadowing, intersecting shadows, and numerous other innovations.
For the best visual experience, you should play the game at 1920×1080 pixels. Also, don’t forget to activate a couple of advanced features and enhancements that made COD: Black Ops VI one of the most-wanted video games.
19. Ratchet & Clank
- Platform: PlayStation 4
- Game genres: Platform, shooter
- Game mode: Single player
Taking advantage of PBR (Physically-Based Rendering) technique, Ratchet & Clank is a real animated blockbuster and undoubtedly one of the best graphics PS4 games. The character model designs retain great-quality visuals. Firework performances, multicolored explosions and oversized gun effects also look fantastic.
Moreover, Ratchet & Clank is full of cinematic motion blur, giving it a real cinematic experience which gels perfectly with the film. The more you play it, the more vibrant backgrounds and richer color palette you will discover.
20. Hitman
- Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac
- Game genre: Stealth
- Game mode: Single player
Let’s take a deep breath with this final brilliant action-adventure game: Hitman! The famous franchise has now transformed into an addictive stealth game comprising of six levels. It will take you through the most realistic cutscenes and amazingly good-looking locations.
In terms of graphics, Hitman has satisfying visual effects. It’s rich with details in 4K resolution. Textures and shadow contribute to highly realistic scenes, allowing players to see details from far distances. Also, Hitman’s animation feels intense, which makes you feel like being a real assassin who moves through every vast area for seeking targets.
Summary: 20 best graphics PS4 games
- Horizon Zero Dawn | Get Horizon Zero Dawn for PS4
- Gran Turismo Sport | Get Gran Turismo Sport for PS4
- Uncharted: The Lost Legacy | Get Uncharted: The Lost Legacy for PS4
- InFamous: Second Son | Get inFamous: Second Son for PS4
- Drive Club | Get Drive Club for PS4
- Monsters Hunter: World | Get Monsters Hunter: World for PS4
- Killzone: Shadow Fall | Get Killzone: Shadow Fall for PS4
- Far Cry 5 | Get Far Cry 5 for PS4
- The Order: 1886 | Get The Order: 1886 for PS4
- Middle Earth: Shadow of War | Get Middle Earth: Shadow of War for PS4
- The Last Guardian | Get The Last Guardian for PS4
- Bioshock: The Collection | Get Bioshock: The Collection for PS4
- Bloodborne | Get Bloodborne for PS4
- Nioh | Get Nioh for PS4
- Rocket League | Get Rocket League for PS4
- Journey | Get Journey for PS4
- Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain | Get Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain for PS4
- Call of Duty: Black Ops IV | Get Call of Duty: Black Ops IV for PS4
- Ratchet & Clank | Get Ratchet & Clank for PS4
- Hitman | Get Hitman for PS4
