Best Adventure Games on the PS3

Adventure Games are one of the things the PlayStation 3 is genuinely for. The ones worth playing start with The Last of Us, Uncharted 2, Red Dead Redemption.

The PS3 and Adventure Games

A difficult machine with an exceptional first-party run. Sony's studios spent the generation learning to make cinematic games, and by the end of it they were the best in the world at it.

This is one of its strengths. Narrative action-adventure — The Last of Us, Uncharted 2, Journey — and a handful of Japanese games that defined a decade, Dark Souls and Demon's Souls among them.

Filtering to adventure means the place and the story are what you want back, not the challenge. It is the right filter when the thing you remember is where you were rather than what you did.

The Adventure Games Worth Playing

  1. 1. The Last of Us

    Follow the link for hand-written recommendations if you want more like it.

  2. 2. Uncharted 2

    Follow the link for hand-written recommendations if you want more like it.

  3. 3. Red Dead Redemption

    Follow the link for hand-written recommendations if you want more like it.

  4. 4. Metal Gear Solid 4

    Follow the link for hand-written recommendations if you want more like it.

  5. 5. Journey

    Follow the link for hand-written recommendations if you want more like it.

  6. 6. Infamous

    Follow the link for hand-written recommendations if you want more like it.

  7. 7. God of War III

    Follow the link for hand-written recommendations if you want more like it.

  8. 8. Heavy Rain

    Follow the link for hand-written recommendations if you want more like it.

  9. 9. Ni no Kuni Wrath of the White Witch

    Follow the link for hand-written recommendations if you want more like it.

  10. 10. Catherine

    Follow the link for hand-written recommendations if you want more like it.

  11. 11. Yakuza 0

    Follow the link for hand-written recommendations if you want more like it.

  12. 12. Ratchet and Clank Future

    Follow the link for hand-written recommendations if you want more like it.

  13. 13. Flower

    Follow the link for hand-written recommendations if you want more like it.

What Makes a Good Adventure Game

A world with a reason to wander it, and writing that survives being read rather than skipped.

Mechanical depth. Several of the best adventure games have combat that is deliberately unsatisfying, because they want your attention somewhere else.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best adventure game on the PS3?

The Last of Us is the usual first answer, and there are 13 in the library we cover.

Was the PS3 good at adventure games?

Yes — it is one of the things the machine is known for, and there are 13 in the library we cover.

What counts as an adventure game?

Anywhere the story and the place matter more than the skill ceiling — point-and-click, walking sims, narrative thrillers and most open worlds. The label alone tells you very little, which is why each pick here says what it actually is.

Are adventure games long?

They split hard. Open-world adventures run to a hundred hours; the narrative ones are often finishable in an evening, and the short ones are usually the better written.

How is this list put together?

From the games this site covers on the PlayStation 3, matched against hand-mapped gameplay categories rather than a storefront's genre tag. A page only exists where there are at least four, which is why some console and genre combinations have no page at all.

Adventure Games on Other Consoles

More From the PS3

Or browse the whole PlayStation 3 library.