Ghost of Tsushima and The Last of Us 2 are making the wait for PS5 too easy

Opinion: with PS4 games this good, I’m in no rush to upgrade

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We’re just months away from the launch of thePS5and its competitor, theXbox Series X. The start of a new generation would, for me, normally be a moment of fanfare and heady anticipation. The piggy-bank would be broken, the launch-title wishlists drawn up and the calendar would be marked and counting down the days. But as the sun sets on the current gaming generation, I’m not that fussed. I’m in no rush to upgrade.

Why? ThePlayStation 4is still just so damn good – and its latest run of games likeGhost of TsushimaandThe Last of Us 2are even better.

11th-hour masterpieces

It’s not unusual for games released later in a generation to excel. Developers have had years to hone their crafts on then-familiar hardware, pushing console specs to their limits. We saw it with Rockstar’sGrand Theft Auto 5for instance, released in late 2013, a game so astonishing that it’s lived on in its remade form throughout the life cycle of the PS4 andXbox One.

And we’re seeing it again now with Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Tsushima and The Last of Us Part 2, two games that are so astonishing in scope and visual detail that they’re making me question what exactly the PlayStation 5 brings to the table that can tempt me to part with my cash.

As I stated in my review, Ghost of Tsushima is one of the most impressive-looking titles of this generation, a sweeping epic across the fields, mountains and battlefields of feudal Japan. It’s a huge game, with dozens and dozens of hours of play to enjoy. It sticks a little too closely to open-world gaming conventions, but it’s put together with such a beautiful eye that it’s easy to lose yourself in.

Onto The Last of Us. I’ve not had the chance to play Naughty Dog’s sequel yet – it’s my next title to hit – but you only have to read my pal Vic Hood’s 5-starThe Last of Us: Part 2 reviewto see that it’s something special. She goes as far as to call it “the game of the generation”, a sentiment echoed by many who have played it.

Then I take a look at the PS5 launch games line-up and, frankly, I’m still a bit underwhelmed. There are a couple of titles that take my fancy –Little Devil InsideandDeathloopspring to mind (and theSpider-Man: Miles Moralesgame would have, too, were it not essentially a remake plus extended DLC pack). But that’s about it. And, without experiencing the alleged hardware upgrades for myself, like theDualSensehaptic feedback control pads and SSD loading enhancements, I’ve not seen anything so far (Horizon: Forbidden Westperhaps being the exception) that couldn’t exist on the PS4. Indeed, some of the big third-party titles, likeAssassin’s Creed: Valhalla, Hitman 3 and the annual EA Sports titles are set to be cross-generation (which is causing its own set of headaches).

Mid-cycle malaise

Is that a failing of the PS5’s pre-launch buzz, or the success of the PlayStation 4’s late-cycle greatness? It’s a bit of both perhaps – launch line-ups are rarely stuffed full of must-play games, as devs get to grips with new tools and specifications. But, perhaps as equally important as the top-tier games coming through, has been the console manufacturers decisions to introduce mid-generation machines.

My go-to console is aPS4 Pro. With its extra horsepower,4Kvisuals andHDRdisplay options, it’s ticking lots of the boxes that many are specifically upgrading to a PS5 for. The jump, therefore, may be more significant for those that are still using the first wave of PS4 hardware. But if we can assume it’s Sony’s most ardent fans who double-dipped for a PS4 Pro (or joined the generation with its release), they may be less inclined to be among the early adopters for the PS5. We’ve had mid-generation hardware recycles before, but they were mainly aesthetic redesigns, slimming down or refining exteriors, rather than offering a palpable performance upgrade like the PS4 Pro does.

Add to that the perhaps-unintentional side effect of just how generousPS Plushas been over the years. Thanks to thePS Plus free games, I now have a catalog of games that number in the hundreds in my PS4 library, many that have gone untouched, despite being very appealing to me. In the admittedly unlikely case that I stick purely to games I already have access to on the PS4, I could easily have several more years of spare time sunk into games thatSonyhas ostensibly given away for free with its subscription offering.

And so, for the first time in a long time, I’m thinking about sitting out the launch window for this console generation’s kick off. Perhaps my mind will change between now and Christmas, when the first PS5 hands-on impressions of Xbox Series X reviews start trickling in. But for now I’m still waiting for a reason to give my PS4 Pro the cold shoulder.

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Gerald is Editor-in-Chief of iMore.com. Previously he was the Executive Editor for TechRadar, taking care of the site’s home cinema, gaming, smart home, entertainment and audio output. He loves gaming, but don’t expect him to play with you unless your console is hooked up to a 4K HDR screen and a 7.1 surround system. Before TechRadar, Gerald was Editor of Gizmodo UK. He is also the author of ‘Get Technology: Upgrade Your Future’, published by Aurum Press.

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