Sony offers some of the best free-to-play games on the PlayStation 5 that you will be able to boot up and try without any additional charges (apart from perhaps a PS Plus Subscription). However, with new free-to-play live service titles dropping for the console every few months, it can be rather hard to pick the one that you wish to be spending a considerable amount of time in.
Our list today will therefore look to go over some of the best free-to-play games on the PlayStation 5 and which one you should be picking up.
5 best free-to-play games on the PlayStation 5
Here are some of the best free-to-play games on the PS5 that you should not be sleeping on:
1) The Finals
- Release Date: December 8, 2023
- Genre: First-person Shooter
The Finals came out swinging when it finally got its official release during the 2023 Game Awards. Another reason for its tremendous success is the fact that it dropped at a time when Modern Warfare 3 was being heavily criticized for its campaign and overall gameplay.
The Finals was developed by Embark Studios, who previously worked at DICE and the older Battlefield titles. This is one of the reasons why the gunplay in The Finals is very reminiscent of those games, and to complement it, the shooter also comes with one of the best environment destruction mechanics and movement.
Moreover, The FInals is an exclusively PVP game, a 3v3v3v3 shooter with two main game modes. The first mode revolves around collecting bank vaults and then taking them to the deposit spot, protecting them till they cash out. The second mode is a free-for-all where you will have to collect coins that can either be obtained from the map or by killing other players.
There is no PvE mode in The Finals (atleast at the time of writing this article) so if you are looking for a free, fun, and casual shooter on the PlayStation 5 then you might want to give The Finals a try.
2) Omega Strikers
- Release Date: April 27, 2023
- Genre: Sports, Action
If you are looking for a unique, colorful, and free-to-play sports game, then Omega Strikers might just be the title that you are looking for. Inspired by some of the popular MOBAs out there today, Omega Strikers is a 3v3 soccer-style game with an over-the-top gameplay mechanic, featuring colorful characters and matches that do not go on for too long.
Omega Strikers has received a fair bit of positive response on every platform, and the developers at Odyssey Interactive are likely to keep updating it with more features, content, and game modes in the coming months.
The title initially dropped on mobile, Nintendo Switch, and PC, and it was only after its initial success that was it later ported to both the Xbox and PlayStation consoles.
Omega Strikers is one of the more casual-friendly free-to-play games out there on the PlayStation 5. So if you are looking to take a break from your daily EA FC grind, then Omega Strikers might be something you can pick up for a while.
3) Fortnite
- Release Date: July 25, 2017
- Genre: Battle Royale, Survival, Third-Person Shooter
With the massive December 2023 update and the arrival of Lego Fortnite, the Battle Royale is now more popular than ever. It was able to break all of its previous player count records with over 44.7 million users logging into the game to try out the new content.
Even though Fortnite has enjoyed constant content updates ever since its release, it continues to have a low barrier of entry and is a perfect pick for those who are not looking to have a competitive Battle Royale session.
On the PlayStation 5 version of the game, Fortnite comes with Dual Sense controller support, which adds an extra layer of immersion. It also plays in a targetted 4k resolution at 60 FPS which is carried over to the split-screen mode as well. It’s one of the best free-to-play battle royales on the platform for couch co-op.
4) Apex Legends
- Release Date: February 4, 2019
- Genre: Battle Royale, First-Person Shooter
Respawn Entertainment’s Apex Legends was sort of an answer to Epics Fortnite. However, the former turned out to be a much more competitive experience without a building component to it.
Apex Legends is a hero shooter game where you will drop onto a map with 60 other players, and look to be the player/team standing. Each heroes in the game come with their own specific set of skills and abilities, which works at bringing a fair bit of variety to gameplay, especially when you play in a 3-member team.
Another attractive feature of Apex Legends is its pro-scene. The ALGS or the Apex Legends Global Series was instrumental in helping the BR have a successful Season 19, with the tournament culminating in the league announcing a 4-year partnership with 12 teams.
The competitive scene of Apex Legends is one of the bigger reasons behind its popularity today. While a fair bit of the content in the shooter is casual-friendly, it’s still a bit more tailored towards those who wish to put considerable time and effort into climbing the rank ladder.
5) Smite
- Release Date: March 25, 2014
- Genre: MOBA
Smite is one of the few MOBAs that is actually available on the PlayStation 5 and is free to play on top of that. The title has been receiving a fair chunk of new content and updates every now and then ever since its official release back in 2014.
While the game itself might not be as popular as Riot Games’ League of Legends or Valve’s DOTA2, as a MOBA fan it’s honestly very slim pickings when it comes to the PS5.
Apart from Smite, you will have other choices like Clash Team Rumble, Battleborn, and Paragon, however, they are not as popular and their roadmap was not something that kept the player base engaged.
Smite currently has 129 playable gods, each boasting unique skills and abilities. Hence, as a PS5 owner, if you are having a MOBA itch, you cannot go wrong with Smite.
