The best PS3 games to play on your PS5 in 2024
While the PS5 doesn’t natively let you play PS3 games by inserting a disc or downloading versions from the PlayStation Store, you can play nearly 400 games via the PlayStation Plus Premium’s game streaming service.
There are some heavy hitters from the third-generation PlayStation console available to stream now, so deciding on just a handful isn’t easy.
To cut through the confusion, we’ve rounded up the 10 best PS3 games you can play on your PS5 in 2024, which incorporates top-tier titles from PlayStation’s history. We have excluded games that have been remastered or remade for the PS4 and PS5 generations, as they are easier to play natively.
There’s no option to download the PS3 games, but you’re going to need a respectable internet connection to ensure smooth gameplay.
Best PS3 games to play on PS5 in 2024 10. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
The Castlevania series has seen a resurgence in popularity in recent years thanks to the popular Netflix anime series, and you can play one of the best modern entries in the franchise on PlayStation Plus Premium right now. This Castlevania game puts you in the shoes of Gabriel Belmont, who must defeat the titular Lords of Shadow to bring back his dead wife. The melee combat here is the main focus, being more linear in nature than the sprawling adventure titles seen previously (such as Symphony of the Night and Rondo of Blood before it).
The story of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is consistently entertaining, with good voice acting and a few surprising twists and turns which will keep you hooked. Set in an alternative timeline, this franchise entry isn’t afraid to mess with the established canon and show events from a new perspective for series veterans, too.
The bosses and character designs are amazing, too; you’ll never forget the first time you face off against Satan, Titan, or the Necromancer. These three encounters alone are worth playing through by themselves.
9. The Darkness
Loosely based on the comic book series of the same name, The Darkness is an absolutely brutal and thrilling first-person shooter that incorporates dark psychological powers into the mix. You play as Jackie Estacado, a young hitman for the Mafia who gets betrayed by members of his family and has his girlfriend die in front of his eyes. This unleashes his inner darkness powers, manifesting as two huge tentacles for him to seek revenge.
While the narrative is simple and straightforward, the core enjoyment of playing The Darkness comes from the amount of destruction you can cause with your newfound power. Impaling people, ripping out hearts, and using black holes never gets old.
The game is a little clunky by today’s standards and fairly drab graphically, but it delivers an FPS experience that we just don’t get any more in 2024. A remaster has been rumored for years, but until then, this is the best way to play the original.
8. MotorStorm Apocalypse
MotorStorm Apocalypse is one of the best racing games on the PS3, and it’s such a shame it was the last mainline entry in the franchise before it went dormant in 2012.
The fourth game in the series dialed the extremity up to 11 with dozens of vehicles you could ride/drive, from dirt bikes, ATVs, buggies, rally cars, trucks, choppers, supercars, and superbikes. As the name implies, it’s (seemingly) the end of the world, and that’s reflected in how the tracks are handled.
Destruction is all around you as the terrain breaks as you race on it. MotorStorm Apocalypse comprises 10 main tracks, such as BoardWalk, Good Herb, Terminus, and Skyline. However, there are two to four different versions of these maps that can show different variants; you could drive it in reverse, see new routes emerge borne of destruction, etc.
It’s a really fun and satisfying racer and one you should try out if you’re a PlayStation Plus Premium subscriber.
7. Mega Man 9
Mega Man 9 saw the series go back to its roots after years of so-so entries. It was released back in 2008 at a time when the Blue Bomber was primarily in handheld RPGs for the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS. Coming a staggering 11 years after Mega Man 8, this game returned to the classic NES 8-bit inspired art style (complete with corresponding cover art) for one of the best adventures you can play through.
Mega Man 9 features some of the best boss fights in the series and marks the first time a female antagonist was seen with Splash Woman making an appearance. There’s also the fearsome Magma Man, the stone-cold Concrete Man, and the mind-bending Galaxy Man to contend with, too.
The level design here is truly top-tier, and the music is thrilling and consistently memorable. It’s well worth booting up if you missed it when it first debuted.
6. Saint’s Row 2
Arguably the best open-world game on the PS3, Saint’s Row 2 was a massive improvement over its predecessor (a fairly straight-bat GTA clone), which leaned more into the over-the-top action without sacrificing the narrative grit. The game kicks out exactly where the previous entry’s ending cliffhanger left off; the recruit had become the boss and was then blown up and presumed dead. Well, they’re not, and it’s up to you to make up for lost time to reclaim your vice-like grip on Stilwater.
Whereas Grand Theft Auto 4 had taken the open-world genre into gritty realism, Saint’s Row 2 wasn’t afraid to have fun with its formula.
This is evidenced by the abundance of side content you can partake in, including Demolition Derby, Crowd Control, Drag Trafficking, and the fan-favorite Insurance Fraud. That’s to say nothing of the gripping 20-hour story, as the Boss, alongside main stays Johnny Gat and Shaundi, build street cred to fight back against their rivals: The Brotherhood, Westside Rollerz, Vice Kings, and The Ronin.
5. The Sly Collection
Instead of a single game, the Sly Collection sees a trilogy of releases available to stream via PlayStation Plus Premium, and it’s definitely worth it.
The three games included are Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus, Sly 2 Band of Thieves, and Sly 3 Honor Among Thieves, which were remastered in HD for the first time. Unfortunately, they still haven’t been re-released for either the PS4 or PS5, making this the best way to play the original series.
It’s debated which is the best Sly Cooper game in the collection (some will argue it’s either the second or third entry), but with them all here in one package, you don’t have to choose.
There are around 35 hours of content here (combining the three games), which means you’ll have a full week (or more) to enjoy them. As with MotorStorm, the series has been on ice for over a decade, and Sony appears to have no plans to bring it back any time soon.
4. Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time
There’s no shortage of amazing Ratchet & Clank games released on PlayStation hardware, with the franchise still going strong with the latest entry, Rift Apart, for the PS5.
It’s debated which is the series best, but A Crack in Time is frequently listed at (or near) the top of the pack. That’s for good reason, too. This entry features some of the best weapons and the most creative level design, as Insomniac Games (which would later make Marvel’s Spider-Man) was at its peak in 2009.
The third game in the Ratchet & Clank Future spin-off series following Tools of Destruction and Quest for Booty, A Crack in Time, feels like an evolved form of everything that came before, with exciting combat and the most ambitious story seen at that point. It involves Clank being kidnapped by Zoni on the orders of Dr. Nefarious, as Ratchet must go on a galaxy-spanning adventure to find him.
3. Fallout: New Vegas
You’ll have Heartaches By The Number once the credits roll on Fallout: New Vegas for the first time. Obsidian’s 2010 masterpiece took the groundwork laid by Bethesda’s 2008 Fallout 3 and injected more of the off-kilter identity seen in the original InterPlay and Black Isle Studios games. You play as the Courier, on your knees overlooking a shallow grave in the middle of the Mojave just outside of New Vegas, and must recover the Platinum Chip that is stolen from you.
With that said, you don’t necessarily have to do this, nor do you have to chase Benny (your executioner) down and take revenge. That’s the beauty of Fallout: New Vegas, and it has a level of player freedom that is simply not seen in many RPGs, even in 2024.
The story continues forth regardless of what you do, which alliances you make, who you kill, etc. If you’re sick and tired of having your hand held through an adventure, then you’ll want to give this classic a shot.
2. InFamous
Released at the start of the modern superhero boom, InFamous was a very different take to your usual story of good triumphing over evil. You play as Cole MacGrath, a courier who accidentally unleashes the power of the ray sphere and dooms Empire City as it plummets into crime. He awakes, realizing he is a conduit, able to control electricity, and must balance his morality to either become a force for good or flip the script and become a scourge on the city.
The black-and-white morality system is at the heart of InFamous as you make choices throughout the story. Do you help people or use them as living, breathing batteries? It’s a novel concept, but it ties into the overarching themes of responsibility and heroism.
The game also features an incredible parkour system as you can climb buildings and run around the city; it’s not quite as fast or over-the-top as Prototype (released around the same time) but still very satisfying to do. The franchise continued with the equally good InFamous 2 on PS3 and the surprisingly dark expansion, Festival of Blood, too.
1. God of War HD
While God of War still exists on the PS4 and PS5 generations, the new version of Kratos (and the gameplay in general) is a radical departure from the series’ original identity.
Nowadays, the saga takes place in Norse mythology with cinematic action; the first game from 2005 was more of a spectacle fighter with puzzle-solving elements as the Ghost of Sparta must defeat Ares, the God of War, to get revenge on the deity for tricking him into killing his own family.
It’s dark and regularly unflinching with some larger-than-life boss encounters, which makes the first God of War game stand out among the spectacle fighter crowd. Kratos isn’t the tender and caring soul we see in the 2018 game or its 2022 sequel, Ragnarok. Instead, he’s a brash and bullish man of sheer force who can (and will) destroy everything and everyone in his way.
The first game sees him tangle with not only Ares but also Hydra, Cerberus, and even Medusa. With remasters rumored for years yet to materialize, this is the best way to play the first game in 2024.
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