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No longer is “free-to-play” thought of as the dirty phrase it used to be. This is thanks in part to a whole wealth of polished, AAA-quality console titles choosing the model to give a wider player base more reasons to jump in and play. Plus, it means PlayStation owners tightening their wallets or want to try a game out before they invest funds, can try something new without fear of taking a risk. Who would have thought that titan franchises like
Destiny and Call of Duty would have let players enjoy their delights for free? We’re truly living in a new age of gaming…
Wondering what are the best free PlayStation 5 games you can play right now in 2022? That’s lucky, because below you’ll find our top picks. From rock-powered miniature car football to third-person anime action, hundreds of hours await in these free PlayStation games that won’t cost you a penny. You also won't need a PlayStation Plus subscription in order to play these games online, you can simply download them from the PlayStation store and off you go.
If you're looking to drop some cash on some PS5 games then check out some of our other pages on-site:
Originally released free for PlayStation Plus subscribers back in 2015, the global success story that is Rocket League finally went free-to-play for everyone in 2020. Not only was this super appreciated during the height of the pandemic, but it also meant that everyone could get in on the remote-control vehicles-meets-football fun. Better yet, Rocket League is incredibly accessible thanks to the rules being essentially the same, except rather than kick the oversized ball with your feet you ram, smash, and boost against it while trying to score points against the other team.
Over the years Rocket League has enjoyed several free content updates, meaning that any PlayStation gamer who jumps in now as part of the new season has a meaty package to dive into. From countless vehicle designs, booster types, and customisable stickers, it’s not hard in Rocket League to infuse your own personality into this rocket-powered spin on football.
It’s the biggest game in the world, so if you haven’t already played Fortnite by now maybe you never will, but there’s never a bad time to try it out. One of the earliest examples of an online-focussed Battle Royale game (and by far the first breakout success) Fortnite has grown from a simple third-person shooter with light building elements to the ultimate test of patience and skill. You and 99 other players are dropped into a colourful map, forced to acquire weapons and perks in order to be the last person standing. It’s this simple premise that makes Fortnite painfully addictive.
Approximately 3 million players jump into Fortnite daily. However, if that sounds intimidating don’t let it put you off, because intelligent matchmaking will ensure first-time players are paired with foes who match their skill level. And if the third-person shooting isn’t really your thing, chance are you’ll still have a blast running around as a generous selection of pop culture characters (purchased via V-bucks) and taking part in in-game events like concerts and community get-togethers.
Finally getting to enjoy the Call of Duty experience doesn’t mean separating £60 from your wallet each year – thanks to the bombastic Battle Royale FPS that is Warzone. This free-to-play shooter platform is sure to eat up quite a bit of your PS4 or PS5’s internal storage, true, but it’s worth it for the ability to survive either alone or with friends in one of the grittiest competitive shooters out there. Warzone launched alongside the recent reboot of Modern Warfare in 2019 and hasn’t really let up ever since.
A big reason why Call of Duty: Warzone remains so popular is due to the sheer amount of variety its central map offers. The core concept of being the last person standing doesn’t change much compared to, say, Fortnite but Verdansk as a place to inhabit in roam is always full of surprises. The sheer dynamism found in its environments guarantees that no match ever plays out the same. Plus, Warzone supporting cross-platform play and progression means that you and friends can shoot it out together regardless of what system you play on. Warzone 2.0 debuts in 2022, but the original version is going nowhere in the meantime.
Super Smash Bros. is a great fighting game series that is more approachable than most, but a large problem with it is that it’s only available on Nintendo platforms. That’s why Warner Bros. took it upon itself to create a free-to-play alternative stacked populated by playable characters from across the gaming, TV, and movie multiverse. The basic premise of Multiversus is the same: land enough hits on enemies to knock them off the platform as much as possible. Now, however, you get to do so as characters like Batman, Arya Stark from Game of Thrones, and more.
The coolest characters will need to be unlocked by completing challenges, true, but that’s not hard to do when mastering each hero’s abilities proves so much fun. Shaggy from Scooby-Doo, for example, can blast people away using his Zoinks! Rage, while others like Wonder Woman can whip her enemies into shape using her lasso of truth. Rarely will you find a Super Smash Bros. clone as snappy as Multiversus, hence why it’s well worth a look for PlayStation owners.
More than just your average anime game filled with stylish third-person combat, Genshin Impact has been lauded for the generously large world it enables players to explore – completely free of charge. It’s action-based battle system is tight, rewards skill, and always renders hits impactful thanks to how great the game simple feels to play. Teyvat is the world standing before you, comprised of seven nations each belonging to a different element and god. Only by venturing to each of them can your character hope to fund down their lost sibling.
So what’s the catch? Well, true, Genshin Impact does include its fair share of “gatcha” mechanics to try and entice players into buying better, more luxurious characters, but if you don’t want to you can more than get by using the standard set. It’ll be a good 30 or 40 hours before you even hit any semblance of a paywall, and there’s plenty to see in this open-world environment before then. Genshin Impact was one of the biggest free-to-play surprises to come out of 2020, and it plays and looks great on both PS4 and PS5.
The original Overwatch was an instant smash success for Acitivison Blizzard, reinvigorating the hero shooter genre with a fun mix of strategic, fast-paced, and colourful first-person shooter gameplay. Characters like Doomfist, Bastion, and Tracer were immediately recognisable. In 2022 Blizzard decided to overhaul the online shooter platform in a big way by going free-to-play, slapping a big 2 on the end of the title and introducing a swathe of new maps.
Overwatch 2 represents the same frenetic FPS gameplay veteran players were familiar with, but a major change came from reducing the player count from 6-v-6 to 5-v-5. This gives players new and old one less team member to rely on, meaning that the pressure is really on when enjoying game modes like Capture the Flag, Deathmatch, and Bounty Hunter. The lootbox system has also been completed gutted in Overwatch 2 in favour of the much more popular (and fair) battle pass system, so you’ll always know what you’re time is being invested into getting.
Remember TV shows like It’s a Knockout and Takeshi’s Castle? Mediatonic, the developer behind the fumbling online multiplayer sensation that is Fall Guys certainly does, and PlayStation Plus subscribers have been able to experience its chaotic mini-games since 2022. This year saw it go free-to-play, which makes sense given that it’s a game where absolutely no skill is required. Your objective, as with so many of these free online games, is to again be the last Fall Guy standing, but doing that means competing a series of chaotic rounds based around even more chaotic games.
Fall Guys is markedly less serious than other Battle Royale games out there, purposely handling quite awkwardly and requiring a lot of luck. It is possible to get good at certain games the more you play, however, as getting that coveted crown at the end of each tournament gets easier with time. There’s a boatload of cool costumes and skins to dress your Fall Guy in that have been added overtime too, letting you personalise this online Battle Royale where jumping, bashing, and grabbing well is your only chance of staying in the game.
We’re rapidly reaching the stage where it’s Warframe’s world, and we’re just living in it. We say this because who wouldn’t want to play as a race of cyber ninjas traversing space? Jumping into Warframe means experiencing a fully formed third-person action game that is already excellently fully formed, undertaking a variety of different mission types that always keeps things feeling fresh. The cyber ninjas at the heart of it are referred to in-game as the Tenno, and regardless of the class you pick you’ll be able to indulge in lethal up-close combat.
Having launched as early as 2013 way back on PC, the PlayStation version has been around for a similar time period and continues to go from strength to strength. Over half a million players log into Warframe daily to tackle the wealth of PvP and story content that has been built up. Thankfully, a lengthy tutorial section in which your Tenno awakens aboard a spacecraft awaits to help ease you into this expansive universe. Warframe is easily one of the best supported free-to-play games on PlayStation.
Destiny 2 developer Bungie has since been acquired by PlayStation as a first-party studio, but even before then players were already singing the praises of this incredibly ambitious FPS MMO. You take on the role of either a Hunter, Warlock, or Titan, gunning your way across planets like Mars, Venus, and Earth in order to try and fight back against the darkness. It’s existed on PlayStation since 2014, receiving several new content updates and expansions that offers more story to play through and even more skills for your chosen Guardian class.
More so than a lot of other free-to-play shooters out there, Destiny 2 absolutely nails the sensation of what it means to pull a trigger on a space gun. Rarely will you find an FPS that handles and plays this well, so the fact that there is absolutely no cost barrier to entry is extremely impressive. Sadly, Destiny 2 does have a nasty habit of overwriting previously released content in favour of the new stuff, meaning that anyone thinking about jumping in should probably do so sooner rather than later.
The latest entry on this list to go free-to-play on PlayStation is EA’s classic simulation series, where family life is best described as anything but normal. It follows the same gameplay loop of letting you create characters, build your dream home, and watch how it all plays out, only now PS4 and PS5 players can do so entirely for free. True, cool DLC packs such as the Pet Lovers bundle, High School Years expansion pack, and Werewolves game pack must be purchased separately, but overall the base version of The Sims 4 contains everything you need to get started.
Those who haven’t revisited the series since its early days on PC will likely be impressed at how far its come in The Sims 4. The user interface has been completely overhauled for consoles, meaning that PlayStation owners playing for free on either a DualShock 4 or Dualsense will find it easy to lay out their ideal property, creating characters and fun scenarios in no time at all. This is the best-looking and fully customisable The Sims has ever been, and now there’s absolutely no barrier to getting started.
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