PlayStation Store’s 20th Anniversary: Developers Pick the Games That Surprised Them
From Balatro’s score-building to Inside’s silent storytelling, developers share the games that won them over in unexpected ways.
What makes a game memorable can be the part you didn’t expect to love: a score that keeps climbing, a story that changes how you see a familiar hero, or a world that teaches you how to play without a word. For PlayStation Store’s 20th anniversary, developers from PlayStation Studios and other studios named games from the past two decades that surprised them with exactly that kind of appeal.
Their picks range from a 2005 PlayStation 2 adventure to newer card and rhythm games. Together, they show how different design choices can pull players in, whether through scale, emotion, mystery or the pleasure of mastering a simple idea. A 20 Years of PlayStation Store Showcase, featuring deals and a curated selection of games, is set to go live at 11:00am local time.
Small rules, big payoffs
Balatro | PS4 and PS5, 2024
Naoki Hamaguchi, director of the Final Fantasy VII Remake series at Square Enix, points to Balatro as a game that turned familiar poker rules into an absorbing progression loop. For him, the appeal came from building scores through combinations and watching the numbers grow. Its straightforward starting point made the escalating rewards especially satisfying, and reminded him of the basic pleasure of playing games.
Inscryption | PS4 and PS5, 2022
Arne Meyer, Naughty Dog’s head of culture and communications, expected a creepy card game when he started Inscryption. The interactions between cards and their modifiers held his attention, but the game’s gradual changes made the deeper impression: sticking with it reveals new layers of both play and story. Meyer also valued how much the game leaves for players to interpret themselves. One personal detail sealed the connection: a card built from his late cat, remembered in the game as “lil toot boi.”
Stories that changed expectations
Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age | PS4, 2018
Jonathan Burke, senior director of technology at Santa Monica Studio, was won over by Dragon Quest XI’s warm character designs, story and world. He remembers the adventure repeatedly upsetting his expectations: whenever the next turn seemed easy to predict, a twist opened a different path. That combination of charm and surprise made the journey stand out.
God of War | PS4, 2018
For Ramone Russell of San Diego Studio, the surprise was how effectively God of War paired its action with a more emotionally layered Kratos. The earlier trilogy had left him thinking of the character mainly through anger and rage. The 2018 game instead explored fatherhood, restraint, grief, identity and the effort to break harmful family patterns. Russell also singled out the technical achievement of delivering the experience on PS4. In his view, few games balance compelling combat and storytelling as well.
Inside | PS4, 2016
Marcus Smith, creative director at Insomniac Games, praises Playdead’s Inside for building an experience without dialogue, interface prompts or obvious instructions. Its carefully arranged visuals and sound guide players through an ambiguous story by letting them learn through action. Smith says that uncertainty lingered long after finishing the game, a testament to how much the experience trusts players to make meaning for themselves.
Style, scale and spectacle
Sayonara Wild Hearts | PS4, 2019
Bruno Velazquez, game director at Santa Monica Studio, didn’t usually gravitate toward games built around music and rhythm. Sayonara Wild Hearts drew him in through its vivid visual style, then kept him playing as its story, shifting settings and soundtrack came together. He found himself committed to completing the whole adventure, and recommends it to players who might not normally choose a rhythm game.
Shadow of the Colossus | PS2, 2005
Nicolas Doucet, studio director at Team Asobi, chose Shadow of the Colossus, a spare adventure built around a horse, a sword and the search for enormous foes. Its David-versus-Goliath battles gave scale to a journey about trying to save a loved one from a deep sleep. Doucet also points to the game’s sense of heroic solitude, technical achievement and influential soundtrack as elements that make its stripped-back world resonate.
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves | PS3, 2009
Gregory Louden, creative director at Housemarque, expected Uncharted 2: Among Thieves to live up to its much-discussed stage demonstration. The finished PS3 game exceeded those expectations with a run of cinematic set pieces, high production values and a charismatic cast. For Louden, it delivered the feeling of playing through a blockbuster adventure, matching the excitement he’d brought to it as a PlayStation fan.
These choices make the anniversary a useful snapshot of what keeps games surprising across generations: a familiar system pushed into new combinations, a story that reveals itself in layers, or a carefully staged world that leaves room for players to discover its rules. Which game from the past 20 years caught you off guard?
