A good shooter makes the world go around - or, at least, it makes owning a PS5 way more fun. Whether you're into grim military simulators, twitchy online deathmatches, third-person horror shooters or anything in between, there are so many to choose from on Sony's premier console.
We've played absolutely loads of them for reviews down the years, and have used that extensive experience to tailor-make you a list of the very best shooters on PS5 right now - check them out below.
Deathloop
Amazing freedom
An incredible, puzzling shooter that makes itself incredibly fun to play, at its heart.
- Great puzzles to solve
- Fun combat options
- Tense multiplayer
- Holds your hand at times
- Only one solution
Deathloop is a marvellous puzzle wrapped up in a great shooter - from the minds at Arkane comes a new trip entirely. You wake up in a timeloop, stuck on an island full of murderous psychopaths that you need to fight your way off.
Of course, it's much less simple than that and you'll find yourself zipping around the island figuring out clues to which of your key targets will end up where throughout the day, so that you can piece together a plan to actually escape. There's nothing else quite like this out there.
The Last of Us Part 2
Amazing tale
A simply incredible journey into psychological darkness and the cost of trauma.
- Accomplished storytelling
- Gorgeous to look at
- Incredibly immersive
- Pretty upsetting throughout
- Brutal scenes
Perhaps the greatest two-part story in gaming history, thanks to a PS5 re-release for Part 1 and a graphical patch for Part 2, both games in The Last of Us series look absolutely unbelievably good on PlayStation 5. The attention to detail lavished on them by Naughty Dog is second to none.
Across a few dozen hours, these games tell a phenomenal, upsetting story, but they're also very impressive stealth shooters that let you take each engagement in your own way, managing scarce resources to stay on top of inventive AI.
Dead Space
Crazy atmosphere
A superb remake that makes the USG Ishimura one of the most terrifying and memorable modern gaming settings, while also translating older levels into brilliant new playgrounds for tense shooting action.
- Graphically astonishing
- Incredible sound design
- Brilliant weapons
- Not that long
Dead Space is the remake we didn't know we wanted - it's a stunning update to an already pretty well-liked horror shooter, one that takes its spaceship setting and makes it unbelievably menacing.
The guns are a big part of the show, though, with chunky actions and terrific feedback as you plow through horrendous space zombies, and some intriguing alternate-fire modes to explore. It's dripping in atmosphere and a simply fantastic horror game.
Resident Evil 4 Remake
Fun adventure
This remake is just as accomplished, with some incredibly fun shooting to offer up and real precision for those who want to take the time to learn its intricacies.
- Some great action scenes
- Fun campy story
- Loads of extras to uncover
- Cuts some fun from the original
Another unbelievable remake, and it's a horror-shooter again - but Resident Evil 4 is even more of a cult classic than Dead Space (alright, there's nothing cult about it, it's a pure classic).
This remake recuts the game quite heavily to make it more grounded and less camp, but still retains some of that charming fun, and with loads of secrets and extras to discover it's got loads to offer. Even better, a superb DLC (Separate Ways) is there for those who want more when they're finished).
Resident Evil Village
Thrill-ride
Village is so good that it can come straight after Resident Evil 4 in our list without any awkwardness - it's a much scarier game in terms of pacing but has some excellent shooting of its own.
- So many thrilling moments
- Gets genuinely scary
- Fun action
- Might be too frightening
A game that fully commits to its increasingly deranged tone as things go along, Village just gets wilder and wilder. At times you'll be without weapons as you creep away from sights to horrific to name, but other sequences are just about as action-packed as the series has ever been.
Exploring a rural village and its surrounding castle, swamp, factory and more offers up a great variety of locations in which to get genuinely frightened, but it's a solid consolation that you'll have a fairly expansive and increasingly powerful array of weapons to help you out along the way.
Returnal
Bullet hell
Returnal is a precision shooter, one that you have to stick with and learn with real patience, but for those who do just that it offers up unbelievably satisfying moments.
- Beautiful and sounds great
- Uses Dualsense controller expertly
- Satisfying to progress
- Seriously difficult
From a developer that just keeps ascending, Returnal isn't a game that welcomes dilettantes - you're going to have to stick with it if you want to learn its systems and make it through a tough run to see the ending.
Another timeloop game, this time you're tasked with navigating a hostile alien world while piecing together your missing memory to figure out what's going on. As you do so you'll collect weapons and buffs to help you out, but also face down a series of extremely challenging bosses without much of a safety net.
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
Gorgeous action
With loads of weapons to choose from, this is a fun romp, and unlike most of the others on our list, it's completely fine for gamers of all ages.
- Looks simply stunning
- Huge variety of fun weapons
- Fun, zippy story
- Slightly repetitive combat late on
We're stretching the definition of a shooter here, but you will spend a LOT of your time in Rift Apart shooting weapons, even if some of them are closer to gardening tools than they are to guns. This gorgeous action platformer has a huge array of fun armaments to try out.
It sees Ratchet and his robotic buddy accidentally open a multi-dimensional portal rift that brings a whole bunch of baddies with it, and the planet-swapping action looks just beautiful on the PS5 with instant load-times helping to build some truly amazing set-piece moments.
Sniper Elite 5
Sniper's heaven
For those who like their shooters a little more long-ranged, Sniper Elite 5 is a really good time, and has a super fun new multiplayer mode, too.
- Satisfying sniping
- Great level designs
- Fun multiplayer
- Visually underwhelming
The latest Sniper Elite game is the biggest and best entry in the series yet, taking you to expansive levels that have multiple sections to work through stealthily or loudly, depending on your preference and objectives. The sniping is as satisfying as ever, too - that is to say, it's still the best in any game.
The story is another bit of fluff and the game could look fancier, but it's a brilliant sandbox that now features PvP multiplayer for you to test your skills in, so we think it's one that people will find more rewarding than they might expect.
Call of Duty: Warzone
Extreme stress
Warzone is still the best free shooter on PS5, even if it's basically a machine precision-engineered to cause you stress - a win in its Battle Royale mode is completely unrivalled.
- Free to play
- Huge rush if you can win
- Resurgence modes are more casual
- Pretty unforgiving
- Tough to level guns without MW3
Warzone is completely free to play, totally compelling and can be enormously frustrating - because it's so addictive. We've sunk hundreds of hours into its battle royale offering, which is the most rewarding balance of risk and reward in the genre, in our opinion.
It's best played with a squad of friends, but, even on your own, you'll be hard-pressed to find a game that offers more tension than Warzone when it comes down to a final circle scenario and you know that your next move could win you the match or see you come up agonisingly short.
DOOM Eternal
Frenetic blasting
A shooter that's so quick-paced you might get a bit stressed out, while it might not be a native PS5 game it looks and plays incredibly on the newer hardware.
- Amazing combat synergies
- Looks excellent
- Fun tone
- Quite a challenging game
The first modern Doom game was a superb return for a franchise that had been dormant for too long, and Doom Eternal expanded on it in spectacular fashion more recently, with new weapons and a host of mechanics to get to grips with.
A next-gen patch means that you can play it at smoother frame rates and higher resolutions, perfect for what is actually a really pretty game (or, at least, a high-fidelity one). You'll be slicing and shooting your way through a horde of demons in no time.
In conclusion
We've presented ten pretty stunning shooters for the PS5 and the reality is that you'd do brilliantly with almost any of them, but Deathloop is our top pick since it's so inventive and interesting in how it presents a puzzle-shooter that reacts all the time to your actions.
Deathloop
Deathloop is simply a brilliant time, and you can now pick it up really cheaply, making it our top pick if you want a shooter on PS5.
How we picked the best PS5 shooters
Picking the best games for a platform boils down to one simple method - play them! We've played countless shooters down the years and every major release since the PS5 arrived, so we've got a really good grounding in what makes a great shooting game.
We've judged them all against each other to create this list, bearing in mind genre differences and whether they have native PS5 versions or performance patches, all in service of bringing you the best list of games possible.
How to pick your next shooter on PS5
Even just a little while into the life cycle of the PlayStation 5, there are so many shooters of real quality to pick from on Sony's console. Here, then, are some questions to help you narrow things down a little.
Do you want a single-player or online game?
There's a big difference between what makes a game fun to play on your own, and what makes it compelling to play online. If you're looking to play solo things are a little simpler, in our view, but for those hoping to venture online, you'll want to double-check that your choice of title has an online mode, and that it's one where you can learn the ropes gradually.
Third or first-person?
A big difference between types of shooters comes in terms of camera placement - most are first-person, but some prefer an over-the-shoulder angle, like Returnal. We love them both, but if you have a particular affinity to one or the other that's worth considering as you choose.
How challenging do you like your games?
Another difference between the games on our list is how easy they are to learn. Some are challenging and will involve a cycle of defeats before you start to improve, while others are more relaxing and won't pose such a problem. If you want a tough but rewarding experience, check out reviews to see what's in store for you.