The best free PS5 games May 2023

If you're not looking to spend a penny, here are the top free PS5 games for 2023, including Call of Duty Warzone 2, Fortnite, Apex Legends, and more.

Best free PS5 games: junker queen poses with her weapon over her shoulders in Overwatch 2

Are you looking for best free PS5 games? These budget-saving games are a great way to fill out your collection. Gone are the days of free games being glorified mobile games which can be completed in an hour – you can now get triple-A content without the price tag.

Free-to-play games come in all sorts of genres. While so many of the top-charting free-to-play PlayStation games are shooting games, you’ll find something for everyone in the mix: sports, platformers, RPGs, family-friendly games. It’s worth noting that free PS5 games mostly come with microtransactions, but we’ve opted for games that are not pay-to-win, so you don’t need to part with cash to get the most out of these best games.

The best free PS5 games are:

  • Call of Duty: Warzone 2
  • Rocket League
  • Fortnite
  • Astro’s Playroom
  • Apex Legends
  • Destiny 2
  • eFootball
  • Genshin Impact
  • Overwatch 2
  • MultiVersus

Best free PS5 games: Two Warzone 2 operators charge forward

1. Warzone 2

Call of Duty: Warzone 2 is a battle royale monolith. 150 drop in, only one can claim victory. Whether you play solos, duos, trios or quads, Warzone 2 is action-packed and has loads of levels to grind, all with that familiar CoD-combat feel.

Warzone 2 doesn’t require any Call of Duty main titles to play, and makes its money back through CoD Points and the Battle Pass which comes with each new Season.

To get a leg up over your competition, you’ll want to do your research on the best Warzone 2 guns.

Best free PS5 games: A red car hits the ball in the air in Rocket League

2. Rocket League

Sports with rocket-powered cars. It’s such a simple premise, and it’s made Rocket League wildly popular since 2015. Take a tiny car, a massive ball, and two teams, throw them into the arena and watch the carnage! Rocket League is cross-platform too, and can be enjoyed with pals from all consoles, or it’s just as fun solo. Matches are only five minutes, so it’s a great pick up and play title.

If you’ve been grinding the Rocket League ranks for years, your progress and inventory will carry over to PS5, plus it’ll run at 120fps if your TV can handle it!

Best free PS5 games: several Fortnite characters dance in the clouds

3. Fortnite

If you don’t know about Fortnite, you must be living under a rock. Fight to be the last one standing in one of the best battle royales, which is free-to-play on PS5 and a swathe of other platforms. Build and blast your way to victory royale solo or with squads, and enjoy show stopping live events, including in-game concerts!

Fortnite may have been around for a while now and, but the cult battle royale has been juiced up for PS5, taking advantage of the hardware inside to output at 4K and 60 FPS. It’s smoother, loads faster and added DualSense support allows players to feel closer to the action than ever.

Best free PS5 games: Astro skates on the ice

4. Astro’s Playroom

Built to show the best of the PS5’s capabilities, Astro’s Playroom is one of the best PS5 games, and it comes pre-installed on the console.

The charming free PS5 game is more than a tech demo; it’s a nostalgic trip through PlayStation history that also tricks you into learning the new capabilities of the DualSense controller. You’ll lead Astro Bot through this 3D platformer, solving puzzles and finding collectables as you hop between worlds that celebrate the best of the past 25 years of PlayStation. It’s short, sweet, and a straightforward Platinum Trophy too.

Best free PS5 games: Revenant looks menacingly over his shoulder in Apex Legends

5. Apex Legends

Apex Legends is another battle royale shooter, and EA’s flavour sees you take to the Apex Games on the edge of space.

No matter how you play your shooters, you’ll find a Legend to fit your playstyle. The Legends come with their unique abilities and personalities, which help with offence, defence, recon and support. Every season sees a new Legend released, too, so you’ll always have a new character to grind.

Thinking of giving Apex a go and not sure where to start? Make sure to read through our Apex Legends tier list and get up to speed with the Apex Legends ranks.

Best free PS5 games: Two guardians fire their weapons in Destiny 2

6. Destiny 2

Destiny 2 has grown into a live service behemoth, with Bungie’s FPS game boasting several huge annual expansions that dig deep into the Destiny universe’s impressive library of lore. You can check out our views on the most recent expansion over at our Destiny 2 Lightfall review. While expansions do require you to fork out some money, there’s still a great F2P experience to be had within Destiny 2.

As well as various difficulties of PvE activities, where you can grind to increase your power level and search for the best Destiny 2 weapons, there’s plenty of options for competitive players in the PvP Crucible as well.

 

Best free PS5 games: Members of Bayern Munich celebrate a goal in eFootball

7. eFootball

Ah, eFootball. While the game got off to a rocky start with silly bugs and game-stopping glitches, Konami has put in the work to turn it around to relative success.

Like many free-to-play games, Konami decided that if it couldn’t compete with the dominance of FIFA and its wildly popular FIFA Ultimate Team mode, it would simply aim for mass appeal by being everybody’s favourite price – free.

While the rebranded and free-to-play Pro Evolution Soccer isn’t number one in football games right now, it does hold loads of licences for teams you won’t see in FIFA.

Best free PS5 games: several Genshin Impact characters

8. Genshin Impact

Such a welcome change from the usual free-to-play genres, Genshin Impact is a vast open-world fantasy RPG with anime stylings. Players journey to Teyvat, a world full of conflict and puzzles, to find their missing sibling and discover the secrets of the kingdoms within.

There’s tons of content to complete and places to explore, as you can follow the plot at your own pace, using a variety of different characters with unique playstyles. If you like action explorers, you’ll spend hours in this, but you’ll need to know what Genshin Impact banners are before starting.

Best free PS5 games: Wrecking Ball in Overwatch 2 screams

9. Overwatch 2

If you love a good old hero shooter, you can’t do much better than Overwatch 2. Blizzard worked out what made Overwatch great in the first place and refined it for the second game.

With plenty of game modes, an Overwatch 2 ranked system to grind, and dozens of heroes to master, there’s never been a better game to play with friends online for free.

Best free PS5 games: Jake puts his hands on his hips in MultiVersus

10. MultiVersus

If you’re more of a fighting fan, MultiVersus is one of the best fighting games to release in recent years. With a roster of faces that you’ll recognise from hours of watching TV as a child, you can finally put to bed your arguments about which character would win in a fight.

With names like Bugs Bunny, Taz, Arya Stark, Rick and Morty, and more, the possibilities are endless with this free fighting game – just make sure you read our MultiVersus tier list for more on who to pick when you boot it up for the first time.

So there you have it, all the best free PS5 games in one place. If you’re also a keen PC gamer, you can also check this list of the best free PC games to download and play on your computer. While some games like Apex Legends or Destiny 2 can be found on both lists, there are plenty of PC-exclusive bangers to look into as well.

If you’re looking to splash some cash later down the line, make sure to check out our lists of all the upcoming PS5 games, as well as the best PS5 open world games, the best PS5 RPG games, and the best PS5 racing games. They might not be free, but they’re worth their weight in gold.

If you do want more free recommendations, there’s also our guide on the best free shooting games, which has a ton of great choices on it.