10 Near-Perfect PS4 Games Nobody Played: Infamous, Gravity Rush 2, and More Overlooked Gems

The PlayStation 4 launched in North America on November 15, 2013, and built a massive library over its lifespan — yet some of its most polished exclusives never found the audience they deserved. A new retrospective highlights ten near-perfect PS4 games that flew under the radar, many of which remain purchasable digitally or physically today. For players who missed these the first time around, this is a curated shortcut to some of the system's most distinctive experiences.

These aren't obscure indie titles or flawed experiments — each entry earned genuine praise for its design, art direction, or mechanical depth. The tragedy is that marketing timing, launch rough patches, or simple overshadowing by bigger franchises kept them from reaching the players who would love them most. If you've ever finished a generation feeling like you played everything worth playing, this list will prove you wrong.

Infamous: Second Son — A Franchise Finale That Deserved Better

Infamous: Second Son launched on March 21, 2014, just months after the PS4's debut, developed by Sucker Punch Productions and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The Infamous series was a cornerstone of the PS3 era, celebrated for its open-world superhero gameplay and moral choice system. Second Son carried that DNA forward with particle-based powers, each offering distinct traversal and combat styles that made moving through Seattle feel expressive and powerful.

Despite that foundation, the game received significantly less attention than its PS3 predecessors. The article notes a striking phenomenon: fans frequently post on social media wishing Sony hadn't ended the series after Infamous 2, genuinely unaware that Second Son exists at all. The article states: "It was a perfectly solid game that shouldn't have marked the end of a beloved franchise." The standalone expansion Infamous First Light followed on August 26, 2014, focusing on Fetch's neon powers, but the mainline series went dormant after this entry. For action-adventure fans who missed it, Second Son remains a complete, polished superhero simulator with no modern equivalent on PlayStation.

Gravity Rush 2 — The Decade's Best Game That Nobody Bought

Released January 18, 2017, Gravity Rush 2 stands as perhaps the most criminally overlooked title on this list. The consensus among those who played it is unambiguous: it ranks among the very best games of the decade. Sony handled publishing and marketing duties, yet most players didn't pay much attention to it at all. Its gravity-shifting mechanics — letting protagonist Kat fall in any direction — create a sense of freedom that few open-world games have matched, turning vertical traversal into a joy rather than a chore.

Presented with comic-book stylings that perfectly suited the gravity-focused gameplay, its look complements the large cast of female characters, and the open levels push players to try new angles. Yet the game falls short in a few places: some ground-based missions and tight corridors strip away that freedom, making the moment you regain the sky feel even more intense.

Driveclub — A Redemption Arc Cut Short

Driveclub launched October 7, 2014, early in the PS4 lifecycle, and its rough multiplayer state at launch damaged its reputation permanently. Evolution Studios didn't abandon it, though — they spent months adding dynamic weather effects, refining handling models, and polishing the arcade driving experience into something genuinely special. By the time the game reached its potential, the audience had moved on to other racing titles.

Driveclub met a brutal end when it was pulled from the PlayStation Store, multiplayer servers were shut down, and Evolution Studios merged with Codemasters. Still, the single‑player campaign lives on, fully playable on physical copies, and its weather system remains a highlight, with rain‑slick tracks

Erica, Zanki Zero, and the Rest of the Overlooked

The list continues with Erica (August 19, 2019), a live-action FMV thriller where branching decisions lead to multiple endings around a murder mystery — short but densely replayable. Zanki Zero: Last Beginning (July 5, 2018) from Spike Chunsoft and Lancarse blends dungeon-crawling with a post-apocalyptic narrative about cloning, loss, and family, offering a structure unlike almost anything else on the platform. Summon Night 6: Lost Borders (March 10, 2016) from Media.Vision delivers a colorful, accessible strategy RPG that's now only available via increasingly rare physical copies.

Rounding out the top five are The Tomorrow Children: Phoenix Edition (September 6, 2022), a server-free revival of Q-Games' shuttered social experiment; Exist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky (December 17, 2015), a tri-Ace/Spike Chunsoft JRPG with side-scrolling dungeon exploration and Valkyrie Profile DNA; Bound (August 16, 2016), a dance-driven 3D platformer exploring memory and art; and Concrete Genie (October 8, 2019), a heartwarming painter adventure with PS VR support that ends too soon. Each offers a distinct creative vision that the mainstream missed.

What This Means for Players Now

The common thread across these ten titles isn't quality — it's timing. Several launched during crowded windows or suffered early technical issues that reviews never fully reassessed. Others, like Summon Night 6 and Driveclub, are now trapped in physical-only limbo, their digital storefront presence erased. The Phoenix Edition of The Tomorrow Children proves that dead games can sometimes return, but that's the exception, not the rule.

For collectors and preservationists, the physical-only titles represent a narrowing window — prices on the secondary market only climb as supply dwindles. For everyone else, the digital storefront still holds most of these games, often at deep discounts during sales. The PS4's store remains active, but Sony's long-term commitment to legacy storefronts is never guaranteed. If any of these descriptions sparked recognition or curiosity, the practical advice is simple: buy them now, while you still can.

Sony's shift toward PS5 and a disc-less future means the PS4 ecosystem is entering its final preservation phase. These ten games represent not just missed opportunities, but arguments for what the platform enabled at its creative best — weird, ambitious, artistically distinct experiences that weren't built for mass appeal but earned devotion from those who found them. The next time you scroll the store looking for something new, check the back catalog. The best PS4 game you've never played might still be sitting there, waiting.

1. 2014-03-21 10 Infamous: Second Son Released: March 21, 2014 Infamous: Second Son only just barely makes this list because, after all, it is an Infamous game.
2. 2016-03-10 8 Summon Night 6: Lost Borders Released: March 10, 2016 Summon Night 6: Lost Borders was developed by Media.Vision, a team best known today for Digimon Story…
3. 2018-07-05 5 Zanki Zero: Last Beginning Released: July 5, 2018 Developed by Spike Chunsoft (Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island) and Lancarse…