I never thought I’d grow to love the PlayStation Portal like I do today. I recently wrote about how some very considered updates to the remote play device have transformed it into an extremely capable game streaming platform. I’ve spent hours now perusing PS Plus’s massive library for new games to check out without needing to download them to the PS5 console first.
The holiday season isn’t that long behind us, and if, like me, you picked up a PlayStation Portal because of its discounted price in the pre-Christmas sales, it’s easy to feel spoiled for choice at first. Especially if you have that PS Plus Premium subscription and a fully unlocked Game Catalog to explore.
With that in mind, I’m here to give you some pointers as to where to begin your journey with some personal PlayStation Portal game picks. We’ll go over everything from AAA hits and mid-budget delights to indie gems and stone-cold classics from prior console generations. As for criteria, the following games look wonderful on the Portal’s smaller 1080p display, and won’t turn into a crunchy bitrate nightmare over the cloud-streamed connection. Let’s dive in.
1. Sackboy: A Big Adventure
There’s a decent number of PlayStation Studios titles available via PS Plus streaming. The Last of Us series, Marvel’s Spider-Man, and Demon’s Souls are all available to play via cloud streaming on the Portal. However, I’ve elected to choose one that may have passed you by, and it’s a very impressive PS5 launch game.
Sackboy: A Big Adventure is a mesmerizingly colorful collectathon-style platformer that really didn’t get much buzz back in 2020. I always found that surprising, given the love many a PlayStation fan has for LittleBigPlanet. It looks tremendous on the Portal’s sharp display, and it’s a perfect game for short portable play sessions during your lunch break or right before bed.
If you (rightly) loved Astro Bot and you’re looking for a similar platforming experience – from PlayStation Studios itself, no less – then you must give Sackboy: A Big Adventure a try.
2. Red Dead Redemption
To this day, the original Red Dead Redemption remains my favorite game developed by Rockstar. There’s been a real push from the developer recently to have the open-world wild west drama available on many different platforms, including Nintendo Switch 2 and PS5.
It’s also available to play on the Portal via cloud streaming, and it’s a surprisingly brilliant fit for the device. There are no fancy particle effects here to throttle the bitrate, and the eerie, isolated nature of Red Dead Redemption’s map makes it a fantastic and capable streaming companion.
The PS5 port boasts a resolution upscale and runs at a silky smooth 60 frames per second. As a result, there are few platforms that offer a better play experience for this 2010 classic.
3. Earth Defense Force 6
Okay, it might not be the most immediately appealing game at first glance, but let me try to sell you on Earth Defense Force 6 and why it’s a great fit for the Portal.
If you’re unfamiliar, EDF is an incredibly simple series of third-person shooters with a staunch cult audience. As one of four varied classes, you choose weaponry and vehicles to bring into missions, and blast giant insects and aliens into smithereens. Said classes include a laser-shooting flying valkyrie – the Wing Diver – and a literal mech of a man in the Fencer, a terrifying walking tank able to dual-wield miniguns.
That’s EDF at surface level, but one seriously underappreciated aspect of the series is its mind-boggling sense of scale. A literal army of giant hornets is one thing; it’s another to watch a mothership the size of the moon slowly descend through the clouds overhead. What the series lacks in cutting-edge visuals, it more than makes up for in the sheer awe of setpieces like this. It’s a cheesy, lighthearted series to be sure, but one that can nonetheless strike the fear of god into you.
Earth Defense Force 6 is the latest in the mainline series, and its simple, coherent visual style looks great on the Portal’s display. It runs excellently, too, doing a great job of maintaining a high frame rate even during the most hectic missions. The rather short nature of most missions also makes it ideal to just hop in, upgrade your classes, and gather new weapons in a very time-efficient manner.
Seriously, I cannot recommend this one enough. Though maybe not if you’re arachnophobic. Those giant spiders are genuinely horrifying.
4. Skate Story
One of the most genuinely mind-blowing indie games I’ve ever played, Skate Story combines the sim-lite mechanics of the skate series with the hazy, dreamlike quality of killer7, Hotline Miami, or even a dash of Cruelty Squad.
Skate Story isn’t as graphically violent as those games, of course, but it sets a similarly somber mood and atmosphere as the player character – the Glass Skater (and yes, that’s literal) – kickflips, shove-its, and grinds through the underworld. Backed by a phenomenal soundtrack by Blood Cultures (seriously, you need to play this game with headphones), Skate Story is an experience I simply wasn’t able to put down.
Skate Story is a brilliant fit for the Portal. It can be beaten in a handful of handheld sessions, and I loved plugging in a wired headset, curling up in bed, and just vibing out to the immaculate visuals and soundtrack on offer here. It’s a real treat, and easily one of 2025’s best indie offerings.
5. Blue Prince
Now, from one critically-acclaimed indie to another, we have Blue Prince. A real ‘talk of the town’ game from last year, we at TechRadar Gaming ranked it as one of our top games of the year.
With simple, readable visuals that really pop on the PlayStation Portal, Blue Prince is a sprawling mystery game that’s fiendishly tough to solve as it is to put down. I’ve lost count of the times I burned the midnight oil getting closer to the center of the mystery of the Mount Holly estate. And it’s all been time well-spent.
Games like Blue Prince, Outer Wilds, and Lorelei and the Laser Eyes are some of my favorites. Exploring a vast space and slowly unraveling clues that lead to even greater mysteries and plot revelations is an endlessly satisfying feeling. And Blue Prince’s central room drafting mechanic lends it an air of roguelite and deckbuilders alike.
While not squarely falling into those categories by any means, it successfully borrows those playstyles to create something genuinely fresh. I still can’t stop thinking about Blue Prince in 2026, and it definitely feels like the kind of game its fans will be theorizing about – and potentially uncovering even more hidden secrets – for years to come.
6. Shadowrun Trilogy
Okay, yes, I’m cheating a bit here. Harebrained Schemes’ Shadowrun Trilogy is indeed three separate games: Shadowrun Returns, Shadowrun: Dragonfall, and Shadowrun: Hong Kong.
All three share the same isometric, turn-based strategy gameplay, and all have excellent stories, settings, and characters. As a result, if one of these games gets its hooks into you, you’ll more than likely fall prey to the others, as well.
The gorgeously sharp and gritty 2D visuals are a great match for the Portal. There’s a lot of text, and the user interface can feel quite busy, but it’s all surprisingly legible and very well-designed.
While I’ve played through all of them on PC, they’re all available via the PS Plus Game Catalog. If you’ve been a fan of turn-based strategy titles like XCOM 2 or Marvel’s Midnight Suns, it’ll be very easy to fall in love with Shadowrun.
7. Ridge Racer 2
Ridge Racer 2 is a pretty unique entry in the beloved arcade racing series. It feels like a compilation, or an anthology, throwing in tracks, cars, and music from all Ridge Racer games released up to that point into one content-rich package.
And boy, is Ridge Racer 2 stuffed with hours upon hours of things to do. It was originally released on the PSP, and those handheld chops are far better suited to the Portal than they are blown up on a 4K display.
I’m a huge fan of the series, but Ridge Racer 2 is one entry that escaped me, as I never owned a PSP growing up. It was a surprise addition to PS Plus a couple of years ago, though, and recently, I’ve loved diving back in for some quick-and-simple arcade action whenever I have a spare few minutes. They’re a little more streamlined here, but the drifting mechanics remain some of the most satisfying across the broader racing game spectrum.
Please, Bandai Namco, the children yearn for Ridge Racer 8…
8. Tomb Raider Anniversary
Tomb Raider Anniversary is a game I remember enjoying greatly when I owned it on the Wii way back when, but I didn’t know it was also available on the PS2 at the time. Now that it’s come to PS Plus (sporting a glorious performance glow-up, mind you), it plays better on the PS5 and Portal than it ever has before.
Above all, I’m quite stunned at just how well the Tomb Raider games in between the classic and modern era (those being Legend, Anniversary, and Underworld) hold up. Lara controls amazingly, feeling like a solid evolution of where the series came from, also without feeling as on-rails as the Uncharted series’ platforming – a series that was, at the time, almost singlehandedly airdropping PS3 consoles into people’s houses.
Anniversary is a remake of the original Tomb Raider. And funnily enough, we’ve got another one of those coming along this year in the form of Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis. If you’re excited for that, I strongly encourage you to give Anniversary a go. The series has always been in safe hands at Crystal Dynamics, and this entry is one of the developer’s finest.
9. Soul Calibur 3
A real monster of a game to close out on, and one I never in a million years thought would make it to PS Plus. Especially as it’s never – not once – had a re-release beyond its PS2 exclusivity.
Soul Calibur 3 is perhaps the best single-player fighting game of all time. What do I mean by that? Well, the game simply has a dizzying amount of content – both unlockable and available from the jump.
Story mode with branching paths for every character. Create a Soul mode for making custom characters, which in itself has unlockable clothing and playstyle options. A plethora of characters, stages, and bonus modes to unlock. And to top it all off, a full-blown real-time strategy side story that combines Soul Calibur’s excellent 3D fighting with base and unit management.
It’s a real looker for its time, too, further cementing the notorious leap in visual quality from the original PlayStation to the PS2. It holds up to scrutiny on the Portal’s modern display, too, looking effortlessly sharp on that 1080p screen – especially as Soul Calibur 3 offers native widescreen support in its settings menu.
Fighting games are best played with friends, of course, such is the nature of the genre. But if there ever was to be an exception, it’s definitely Soul Calibur 3.
The best PS5 controllers for all budgets
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!
And of course, you can also follow TechRadar on YouTube and TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp too.
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/oQRUWRQRc79NRWXj6K929H-2000-80.jpg
Source link
