If you’ve been keeping track at home, you may have noticed that I haven’t added to the PlayStation First-Party Project lately. That’s because it’s dead. I didn’t end it out of malice or anything, but rather just that fact that I simply wasn’t feeling it.
When I did the Nintendo and Sega lists, those came easily. I grew up playing their games, plus most of the games on those lists are mercifully short as well. While I played a lot of PS1 and PS2 when I was younger, most of my time on those systems was spent on third-party games. I also have major gaps in PS3/PS4/PS5 first-party games, and unfortunately many of the most beloved games from those systems are extremely long open world games that I haven’t played and feel overwhelmed just thinking about.
So the project is dead, and I’ve returned to my wheelhouse for my Bluesky account and this blog (posting PC stuff). I doubt anyone is exactly heartbroken over this development, but if you were wondering what the top five games would have been, here is what I was leaning towards:
5. Resistance 2 (PS3, Insomniac Games / 2008) – Fun single-player campaign in an interesting world, plus some of the absolute coolest local / online co-op ever.
4. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS5 / Insomniac Games / 2020) – A massive glow-up from the original, Miles has more interesting characters, a better story, and feels like just the right length for a game like this. One of my favorite superhero games ever.
3. The Last of Us Part II Remastered (PS5 / Naughty Dog / 2024) – Gorgeous and audacious, this game managed to piss off people from every side of the political spectrum, and both fans and haters of the franchise. An incredible accomplishment, and a game that will stick with me forever.
2. ICO (PS2 / Sony Computer Entertainment Japan / 2001) – With its minimalist presentation and effective visual storytelling, ICO completely changed my perception of what a console game could be. Its influence is still being felt today, from indies to the biggest AAA games.
1. Astro Bot (PS5 / Team Asobi / 2024) – A celebration of PlayStation history and my favorite 3D platformer ever made, Astro Bot is a masterpiece.
See, even if I finished the list properly, you wouldn’t have liked it. Better that I quit when I did.
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