2025 was somewhat of a quiet year for PlayStation. Yes, we got the Game of the Year-nominated Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, and Sucker Punch’s exciting sequel to Ghost of Tsushima, Ghost of Yotei. But aside from that, there wasn’t really a lot of activity from Sony’s first-party studios. Instead, you had to look to developers outside of Sony’s stables, who thankfully kept the PS5 ticking over with an array of interesting games. Right at the back end of 2024, Infold launched the console-exclusive Infinity Nikki and has been delighting stylists around the globe over the past 12 months, and smaller projects such as Sword of the Sea, Dispatch, and Baby Steps have all been enjoyed on PlayStation 5.
Of course, the fact that there were not many console exclusives didn’t mean there weren’t a whole host of great games to play on our PS5s last year. Quite the opposite, in fact. Awards-sweeper Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the long-awaited Hollow Knight: Silksong, and acclaimed RPG Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 led the third-party offerings. Plus, 2025 really was the year of Xbox going fully multiplatform with its library, as Forza Horizon 5, Gears of War Reloaded, and The Outer Worlds 2, to name just a few, all made their way to PlayStation. And that’s showing no signs of slowing down in the coming year, either, with a certain Master Chief set to grace a Sony console for the first time.
The truth is, Sony has just been pretty quiet when it comes to exclusives of its own, with little new to shout about from a hardware perspective, either. And that’s before we even get into the problems Bungie (now a PlayStation Studio, remember) has faced with Marathon. So, are things looking more exciting in 2026? Well, Marathon will certainly be hoping so as it aims to combat PlayStation’s recent live-service travails. Let’s dig into it, as well as everything else to expect from Sony this year.
First-Party and Exclusives
Heading into 2026, all eyes are on Logan, as Insomniac aims to bolster its long winning streak of Ratchet and Clank and Spider-Man games by taking on another comic book hero. Marvel’s Wolverine is currently pencilled in for a “late 2026” launch, although we’ll see if those plans change at all due to a certain Rockstar game moving to a similar timeframe. Whenever it does release, though, we look to be in for a treat if our first look at gameplay during September’s State of Play is any indication.
While much is still yet to be revealed about its story, we’re eager to learn more and see just who else from the X-Men and the wider Marvel Universe will be popping into Logan’s world. Mystique and Omega Red have already been confirmed, but surely Sabretooth is a must, as well as a cameo at the very least from either of Insomniac’s Spideys, Peter Parker or Miles Morales. Which of the X-Men do you want to see most?
As for PS5 exclusives that actually have release dates confirmed, there’s only Saros, Nioh 3, and Phantom Blade Zero. The former is Housemarque’s follow-up to the acclaimed Returnal, and looks to be sitting in a similar mould of colourful, particle-filled, challenging shooter within an alien planet shell. Now arriving on April 30 after a slight delay, it will take players on an expedition to a lost colony as we step into the shoes of Rahul Kohli’s Arjun Devraj and kill and die our way to uncovering its mysteries through its repeating, roguelike structure.
Nioh 3 is a console exclusive for PlayStation, as it’s also arriving on PC when it launches on February 6. A chronological sequel to the events of the series’ first game, Team Ninja is back with a fresh dose of its own brand of punishing soulslike action in feudal Japan. Things are being shaken up this time, though, thanks to the introduction of a “ninja playstyle” which promises to control completely differently from the traditional samurai option. Trust a studio called Team Ninja, which is also responsible for the Ninja Gaiden series, to want to add ninjas to Nioh. That’s enough ninjas for one sentence, I think.
Phantom Blade Zero is a hotly anticipated wuxia action RPG coming from Chinese developer S-Game. The lead character is called Soul, so you can probably guess what genre this project also borrows heavily from, too. I can confirm this myself – after briefly going hands-on with it at gamescom 2025, I found that there is indeed a punishing combat system with a complex skillset to master. But there are other action game influences, too, so the combat tempo is much higher than in your typical Soulslike. Up for some punishment? Well, you’ll have to hold on a little longer yet, as Phantom Blade Zero will be released on September 9.
