PS5 Games Critics Were Completely Wrong About

The PlayStation 5 has marked a strong continuation of Sony's presence in the home console market, outshining the disappointments linked to the Xbox Series X|S, its most direct competitor. Many of Sony's biggest franchises have been revamped for the fresher PS5 hardware and the console stands as an absolute powerhouse in the modern gaming industry. Just looking at the best PS5 games so far and it's clear that the console is leading the way for gaming studios worldwide. But there's more to play than just Sony's widely acclaimed titles, there are a whole host of games hiding just under the critical radar to enjoy.

This time around, we're looking at games available on the PlayStation 5 that didn't get the accolades that they deserved. Some of these games earned a modest amount of critical praise, but actually stand among the console's most underrated titles. With that in mind, we're going to give them each their due and why they should've been better received. These are the PS5 games critics were completely wrong about, or at least have changed their opinions significantly since the initial criticism.

Among the launch titles for the PlayStation 5 was "Bugsnax," a whimsical indie game with a catchy theme song by the band Kero Kero Bonito. The first-person adventure has players search a remote island for a missing explorer, discovering that the island is populated by creatures resembling sentient food. The game has players study and capture the island's Bugsnax as they delve into each of the locale's biomes. Upon its launch, critics praised "Bugsnax" for its absurdist humor but noted that it wasn't as fun as it should be and lacked basic features like fast-travel.

Well, in a free update just under two years after its debut, "Bugsnax" finally got that fast-travel mechanic along with other quality of life improvements. The update also features a display area for captured Bugsnax and adds more challenging Bugsnax to capture. If middling reviews kept you away from "Bugsnax" when it first launched, the game's post-release support proves that its developers were keeping an eye on feedback and responded accordingly. "Bugsnax" is a reminder of the importance of whimsy and it's improved significantly since its launch. The game is well worth a second look today.

Bloober Team is best known these days for its 2024 remake of "Silent Hill 2," but the studio has been developing games in the horror space for years. One of the most under-appreciated original titles that the studio has worked on is 2021's "The Medium." The game is named for its protagonist, a psychic medium named Marianne working in Poland as the country recovers from its time oppressed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Played from a third-person perspective, we follow Marianne as she travels between the mortal and spirit realms while investigating the mystery surrounding her powers.

Being a Polish studio, "The Medium" feels like a particularly personal project for Bloober Team, given its setting and subject matter. The game also presages the studio's work on the "Silent Hill" franchise by bringing in composer Akira Yamaoka to co-write the title's haunting score. But reviews were largely middling at the time of release, with Destructoid calling it "weirdly low-key" and GamesRadar+ referring to it as "a misstep". But "The Medium" really stands out precisely because of its subdued atmosphere, with the Bloober Team weaving a much more intimate scary story with this title.

For better or worse, first impressions go a long way in determining how a game's legacy will be judged, post-launch support or not. The 2022 game "The Callisto Protocol" is a prime example of this, with "Dead Space" creator Glen Schofield trying to create a brand-new sci-fi horror title. The game's story follows Jacob Lee, a starship captain who crashes on a Jovian moon and is locked up in its maximum-security prison. A mysterious contagion has transformed many of the inmates into grotesque monsters and Jacob must search for a way to escape in one piece.

Early reactions to "The Callisto Protocol" were all over the place ahead of its wide release during the 2022 holiday season. The general consensus was that the game was an inferior retread of Schofield's past work on "Dead Space," marred by inconsistent difficulty and numerous technical bugs. After the game's launch, it received several patches to correct the issues present in the preview builds, but the damage to its reputation was already done. While it admittedly still doesn't reach the same heights as "Dead Space," "The Callisto Protocol" is a much better game now than it was at launch.

Another game that struggled with a lukewarm reception during its launch, 2023's "Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora" didn't start with its best foot forward. An adaptation of the blockbuster movie series by James Cameron, the game follows a Na'vi resistance fighter battling humans trying to recolonize Pandora. The game is an open-world experience, with players able to explore the various biomes around Pandora as they build favor with the Na'vi clans. Initially played from a first-person perspective, a third-person perspective was added in a post-launch update as well as other fixes and content.

The initial reception to "Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora" was so bad that it was discounted immediately at several retail outlets. Through post-release support, the game's technical performance was improved and its open-world scope was expanded upon considerably. Three years after the game's debut, Ubisoft has an ambitious open-world experience that rivals some of its "Far Cry" titles. A must-play for fans of the franchise, "Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora" has definitely outgrown whatever growing pains were present at launch.

With asymmetrical horror games all trying to become the next "Dead by Daylight," one of the most fun titles to follow in its footsteps is "Halloween: The Game." Developed and published by Illfonic, the studio behind "Friday the 13th: The Game," the 2026 game lets players choose between controlling masked killer Michael Myers or one of the citizens of Haddonfield. While Myers brutally kills anyone who crosses his path, the residents of this Halloween-cursed town try to warn others to escape and make it out in one piece themselves. The game provides fans with a detailed recreation of Haddonfield on Halloween night, 1978, capturing the vibe of the movie to serve as the players' playground.

We've been open about how we think "Halloween: The Game" is one of the best horror games of 2026 so far. We stand by that assessment, but only 31% of critics recommend people play the title on review aggregate site OpenCritic. While there are admitted issues behind the game's technical performance, the patches that it's received have noticeably improved the experience. And with more patches and hotfixes on the way, "Halloween: The Game" is shaping up to be a much better title than what was reviewed.