2006 brought the release of the powerful (and pricey)Playstation 3. The early days of the PS3 notoriously had very few games to play, but by the end of its lifetime, the console had grown avery respectable library.
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In fact, the seventh generation of consoles is arguably the best generation of all time — with the PS3 itself sporting somegenre-defining exclusivesthat are still being iterated on to this day. Looking back at this massive library, there arealmost too many great gamesto choose from.
Updated by Chad Thesen onDecember July 06, 2025:This article has been updated to bring it up to a higher level of quality. This will enhance the reader’s experience and make the article more engaging thanks to the inclusion of metacritic scores, bullet point facts, and special tags under each entry that readers can make use of.
10Catherine
Metascore: 79
Catherinewas a bizarre horror/romance/puzzle-platformer made byAtlus, developers of thePersonaseries. It was presented as a “Golden Playhouse” game, suggesting other one-off games could be released under the Golden Playhouse banner sometime in the future. Unfortunately, at the time of writing, Catherine is still the one and only.
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Players take control ofVincent Brooks, a twenty-something dude with a curse. In his dreams, he mustclimb a massive tower — or die. This is where most of the gameplay happens; Vincent must solve puzzles by moving blocks to create paths up the tower. The gameplay isextremely funfor some, anddeeply maddeningfor others. The narrative, reminiscent of Persona-like social situations, follows Vincent as he struggles with commitment issues as he is torn between his long-time girlfriend, Katherine, and a new fling named Catherine. Therecent remake is good too,if you can get over its weird handling of a new trans character.
9Fallout: New Vegas
Metascore: 84
Thoughpublished by Bethesdaand built using their engine,Fallout: New Vegaswaswritten and developed by Obsidian. Their excellent storytelling, combined with Bethesda’s more modern game design, made New Vegas thebest game in the Fallout series.
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Fallout: New Vegas contained interestingmoral dilemmas, political commentaries,funny characters, and fascinating quests. The game also had severalhuge DLCs, all of which wereworthy follow-upsto the main campaign. Fans of Fallout, Bethesda games, or just RPGs in general owe it to themselves toexperience this masterpiece.
Fallout: New Vegas
8Dark Souls
Metascore: 89
Although From Software’s first game,Demon Souls, was a moderate success (and exclusive to Playstation),Dark Soulswas the game that trulydefined a new genre. It has since become a gaming icon, the benchmark against which other difficult games are compared.
Dark Souls was so good, in fact, that it succeeded despite several shortcomings.Performancewas theworst offender, as some areas were plagued by framerate issues in the game’s original version (looking at you,Blight Town). However, its famously uncompromising gameplay andunparalleled level designmore than made up for it. Although Dark Souls could be extremely difficult, itrarely felt unfair. This created asatisfying sense of progressionwhere the player improved in skill alongside their character’s improving stats.
Dark Souls
7Uncharted
Metascore: 88
Unchartedis an unquestionably great series of PlayStation-exclusive games. Thefirst game in the series, which was released in 2007, set anew benchmarkfornarrative adventure games. It was a lighthearted, cinematic adventure with fun gameplay and ahandsome protagonist— and really, what more could you want?
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Drawing on inspiration fromTomb RaiderandIndiana Jones, Uncharted presented these time-tested archetypes in a polished, entertaining way. There’s a reason people were drawn to these familiar tropes. There’s no denying the allure of a good “popcorn movie”. Uncharted exemplifies the idea of a good “popcorn game.”
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune
6Persona 5
Metascore: 93
Persona 5was released in 2017, years after the PS4 had taken the world by storm. However, its PS3 version wasvirtually identicalto the PS4 one, and it’s the only Persona game playable on the PS3. In fact, this stylish title is arguably the console’s best JRPG — despite being released11 years after the console’s initial launch.
Persona 5 introducedpolished gameplayand graphics on top of beautiful art,funky fresh music, and slice-of-life storytelling. Itscharactersare (mostly)well-written and loveable. The story, while meandering at times, was entertaining and oftenheartfelt. Persona 5 delivers tons of content for its price tag, clocking in at anaverage playtimeof roughly100 hours.
5Grand Theft Auto V
Metascore: 97
The single-player story mode ofGTA Vdeserves its spot on this list based on its own merits, completely independent of theridiculous success of GTA Online. GTA Vrefined the series' core gameplaymechanics to a razor’s edge. Complete withbreathtaking graphicsthat still hold up to this day, the game has helped its developer,Rockstar, achieve astunning level of success.
GTA Vstill tops sales charts, despite the fact that it originally came outnine years ago. It stunned the world when it did so. Thestory is entertaining, but it trulyshines in addicting gameplay. The morearcade-like drivingin particular ffeels near-perfect, a major improvement over GTA IV’s somewhat realistic and unwieldy driving.
Grand Theft Auto 5
4The Last of Us
Metascore: 95
Released toward the end of the PS3’s lifespan,The Last of Usbecame thegold standardof thethird-person narrativeshooter genre.Naughty Dogtook all of their learning from theUnchartedseries and delivered a moremature and deeply emotional journeywith The Last of Us.
Although it takes place in a decaying world filled with monsters, it’s really a deeply personalstory about parenthood. It’s nearly impossible to discuss the narrative without spoiling it, but anyone who hasn’t already playedThe Last of Usowes it to themselves toplay it ASAP. It’sNaughty Dog at their best— fetching it a bump up in the rankings of this list.
The Last of Us
Like most Valve games, the originalPortalwas astroke of genius. When the sequel was released in 2011, players were ecstatic to find thatPortal 2was just as good as (if not better than) its predecessor.
I’m afraid you’re about to become the immediate past president of the Being Alive club
Portal 2 expanded on the first game with a more in-depth story, new gameplay mechanics, and aco-op game mode. It fleshed outAperture ScienceandGLaDOS, and it added some fun new characters as well like Wheatley andCave Johnson. The gameplay mechanics established in the first game were expanded upon with someunique twists— the blueRepulsion Gel(the bouncy stuff) was especially fun. The co-op mode, offering entirely new puzzles to explore in tandem with a friend, was also a fantastic addition.
2Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots
Metascore: 94
Metal Gear Solidas a franchise, isdelightfully insane—and shockingly poignant. Each game in the series is in some way groundbreaking, and MGS4 is no exception. In MGS4, the famed protagonistSolid Snakebecomes “Old Snake” due to a medical issue with accelerated aging. The game does awesome justice to Snake’s"final mission"in a war-torn world.
MGS4 introduced several new gameplay mechanics to the series, includingimproved third-person controls, on-siteweapon deployment and customization, and more. It was also the first game in the series to use theFOX Enginewhich became famous for itsamazing graphics. AlthoughMGS5may be the series’bestgame in terms ofgameplay,MGS4established a major impact with itsstellar narrative. Even with recent bundles and collections available on PC, MGS4 remains the only Metal Gear title that can be playedexclusively on the PS3 —meaning if you don’t own one, you’re out of luck. This exclusivity makes it a high contender for this list.
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
1LittleBigPlanet
The firstLittleBigPlanetwas arevolutionary game—and adorable to boot. This side-scroller was mostly known for its deep and engrossing level editor alongside the cute character customization that has become synonymous with the IP.LittleBigPlanetbuilt on the successes of similar games with level editors, such as Alien Hominid, to deliver a uniquely detailed experience. While it hassomewhat fadedin terms ofpopularity, other games like SuperMarioMaker andDreamshave followed in its footsteps.
By giving players the tools to design their own levels, the content in these types of games is virtually unlimited. Unfortunately, the servers forLittleBigPlanet1 and 2 have beenpermanently shut down. However,LittleBigPlanet 3’s servers remain up, and LBP3 is a perfectly serviceable option for fans of the series. This game’s exclusivity on the PS3 makes it an experience locked for those chosen few, and that puts it firmly at the number 1 spot of this list.
LittleBigPlanet
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