So You Bought a PlayStation 5; Now What?

A complete guide on getting started with your Sony PlayStation 5 game console, including storage space, best games, Playstation Plus & more.

Sony PlayStation 5
Sony

Image via Sony

Sony PlayStation 5

Congratulations! Somebody in your life either pre-ordered early, paid a scalper, or broke through the bots with Twitter notifications on in order to get you a PlayStation 5. Maybe you got lucky and just happened to be at the right store at the right time, but regardless of whether you went retail, or met someone in a back alley, you are now the proud owner of one of the most coveted and hard to get presents of 2020. Now what?

In your hot pursuit of this console, you never stopped and thought what you’d do once you got it. Well, you’re in luck, we’ve got you covered with this guide to getting started with your PS5.

Storage space

Seagate PlayStation 5 hard drive

Controller

PlayStation 5 DualSense controller

PULSE 3D Wireless Headset

PULSE 3D wireless headset

PlayStation Plus

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PlayStation Plus is Sony’s online multiplayer offering. It’s necessary to play any game that has multiplayer that isn’t free-to-play, meaning you don’t need PlayStation Plus for Fortnite, Apex Legends, or Call of Duty: Warzone. You will need a PlayStation Plus subscription for Call of Duty multiplayer or Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate. Typically, PlayStation Plus comes with a few free games per month that are available as long as you are still subscribed to the service, along with discounts on other games. PlayStation Plus will run you $9.99 a month, but can often be found for cheaper when purchased in 12-month increments, or as a part of one-month trials.

In addition to PlayStation Plus, Sony has an offering called PlayStation Now, which is best described as the Netflix of Playstation. There are 800+ games from the PS4, PS3, and PS2 back catalogs that can be streamed to the PS5 or Windows PC. Your games are all saved to the cloud, so the service can be played across multiple platforms. In addition, 300+ PS4 titles can be downloaded directly to the PS5. The cost is $9.99 per month or $59.99 per year.

Interestingly enough, games aren’t such an important thing to buy straight off the bat with the PlayStation 5. Bundled with the console itself is Astro’s Playroom, a game that is one part tech demo, one part PlayStation historical lesson. There are also free-to-play games such as Fortnite, Apex Legends, and Call of Duty: WarZone that you can download and play for free. Sony is bundling PlayStation Plus Collection Games on the PlayStation 5. These are some of the greatest hits of the PS4 generation, including Batman: Arkham Knight, Call of Duty Black Ops III Zombies Chronicles, Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, Detroit: Become Human, Fallout 4, God of War, The Last of Us Remastered, Mortal Kombat X, Persona 5, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, and Until Dawn, and more!

That’s a lot of added value from the get-go, but the PlayStation 5 has far more exclusive titles that make purchasing the console appealing.  Here are a few to check out.

PlayStation 5

Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales

If you liked the amazing animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, here’s another chance to learn more about Miles Morales. This game allows you to be Spider-Man swinging through New York. In addition to the purchase of the Ultimate version, it comes with a remastered version of the PS4 classic Marvel's Spider-Man game.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

Ubisoft helped define open-world gaming with the Assassin’s Creed series. There are currently eleven main games, seventeen spin-offs, and a movie starring Michael Fassbender. This one has Vikings! If you like open-world gaming and loose Norse mythology, this is the game for you.

NBA 2K21

NBA 2K21

If you’ve played a sports game in the last 20 years, then you know what to expect with each installment: Minor gameplay improvements, micro-transactions, updated rosters, locations, animations, and music. Give the gameplay trailers a look; there is a huge graphic upgrade over previous generations, that may be enticing to many. 

SackBoy: A Big Adventure

Sackboy: A Big Adventure

If you’ve been a big fan of the Little Big Planet series, Sackboy: A Big Adventure may be your cup of tea. The gameplay switches from the typical 2D platforming seen in most of the Little Big Planet series to the semi-isometric gameplay seen in Super Mario 3D World for the Wii U. It looks like a fun multiplayer platformer that leans closer to the fun side on the fun-to-challenging scale.

Demon's Souls

Demon’s Souls

If you are familiar with FromSoftware Games then you are aware of their crushing difficulty.  Demon's Souls, which was originally developed for the PS3, and is no exception to that rule.  If you are into crazy difficult games, this is for you. If you tend to lose your temper while playing games, you may want to steer clear, or your $70 dollar may be spiked out of frustration.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War

This has all the markings of a Call of Duty game with a fun and action-packed single-player mode that doesn’t overstay its welcome at about five-to-eight hours. The meat of this game, though, is in its multiplayer modes, zombie modes, and warzone. You always know what you’re getting with a Call of Duty, it’s the comfort food of the FPS genre.

PlayStation 4 games you may have missed

Sony has done a great job of making almost the entire back catalog of PS4 games available to play for the PS5. If you missed out on the previous generation of gaming, then playing through some classic PS4 games may be a great place to start.

The Last of Us

The Last of Us: Remastered

It is not an exaggeration to say that The Last of Us is one of the finest games I’ve ever played.  To be honest, this game was so good that it redefined the scale of what makes a game good. The gameplay is solid and suspenseful, the character development is amazing, and this game is a master class in storytelling. A zombie-story of survival in a world that has long been ravaged by clickers (the game’s version of zombies). If you haven’t played this game, you need to play this game.

Persona 5 Royal

Persona 5 originally came out on the Playstation 3, was later updated to the PS4, and then given an extended edition called Persona 5 Royal. This is easily one of the most distinct and stylish RPGs I have ever played in my life. The art direction is on point throughout. Transitions from screen to screen are elegant and make you want to look at the details of every single frame. The story follows several teenagers in high school trying to rid the world of people in power that take advantage of others. Royal also comes with extra characters, dialogue, story, and more, with gameplay clocking in at about 130 hours. Even if you don’t consider yourself an RPG person, or haven’t picked up an RPG since Final Fantasy 7 for the original PlayStation, I still recommend giving this game the time of day. The original Persona 5 is available via PlayStation Plus Collection on the PS5, so if you’re still on the fence, just give that version a try.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The Witcher is the predecessor to Cyberpunk 2077.  Part of the reason Cyberpunk 2077 was hyped beyond belief is due to The Witcher 3 being one of the best games of the PS4 generation. If you like a Game of Thrones-esque open world, action-adventure,and RPG elements, this may be a game for you.

Uncharted

Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection / Uncharted 4

Uncharted is an extremely cinematic game. It's like watching and playing an Indiana Jones film. Each game in the series gets exponentially better, all concluding with the epic Uncharted 4. If you like adventure, exploration, and great characters you’ll follow through four games, I suggest giving these a try before the film, which stars Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg and is set to (hopefully) hit theaters in 2021.

There is plenty to do as soon as you get your PlayStation 5, with a huge backlog of games to play as well as some stand out exclusives and third-party cross-platform games. That being said, the biggest plus for the PS5 is its biggest curse: There may be too many games and not enough storage. Be conservative with your storage space—hopefully, the storage issues will be fixed and allow true variety with your game selection.

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