Naughty Dog are today one of the most highly respected development studios in all of gaming. The studio has been responsible for some of the best games on each generation of PlayStation console, such as the PlayStation 1’sCrash Bandicoottrilogy, PlayStation 2’sJak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, PlayStation 3’sThe Last of Us, and PlayStation 4’sUncharted 4: A Thief’s End.
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Naughty Dog have been at the heart of Sony’s continuous shift towardsstory-driven gamesthat see narrative as being equally or even more important than gameplay. Games are truly getting to the point where their stories and animations are comparable to Hollywood movies, and the ninth generation of home consoles looks set the push the standard of quality far higher than ever seen before.
Another one of Naughty Dog’s esteemed traits is how replayable most of their games are. The American studio clearly wants players to get their money’s worth out of their purchases, as Naughty Dog’s games often have collectibles to find, challenges to complete, or story moments that only make sense in retrospect. The games on this list stand above the rest as titles that are especially enjoyable to play over and over again.
5The Last of Us
As mentioned before, story-driven games aren’t generally known for their replayability, butThe Last of Usis certainly an exception to that rule. Thepost-apocalyptic gameis credited by many as being the game that kickstarted Sony’s shift towards narrative-centric experiences, as it proved that mainstream audiences would welcomedark, gritty, and emotional storieswith open arms.
The Last of Ushas great replay value for a handful of reasons. Firstly, the game is littered with collectible notes. These notes aren’t just for fun; they provide a fascinating insight into other survivors, many of who died or turned shortly after writing them. Such notes can be filler in some games, though the quality of writing makes them worth collecting inThe Last of Us.The game is also worth replaying for how many dialogue moments are missable and how many story sections are more powerful in retrospect.
4Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Like withThe Last of Us, Naughty Dog clearly worked hard to give theirUnchartedseries plenty of replayability, as every game in the series has collectible treasures scattered across the levels. Many games put collectibles in levels haphazardly, despite them often not making sense to the game’s story or world, just so they have another selling point. Thankfully, theUnchartedseries isn’t guilty of this, as it makes perfect sense for Nathan Drake to be looking for and finding treasures in the historic andfantasy placesthat he visits.
Any of theUnchartedgames could have made this list, thoughUncharted 2: Among Thievesgets the nod, predominantly because the game’s collectibles find a good balance between being tough but fair to find. Plus, it’s always worth replayingUncharted 2for its legendary opening.
3Crash Team Racing
Crash Team Racingwas Naughty Dog’s finalCrash Bandicootgame and was disregarded by many people at the time of its release as just a cash grab. However, thekart racing gameis now considered one of the genre’s all-time best releases and one that is still great fun to play today, thanks to Beenox’s remakeCrash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled.
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Crash Team Racingdifferentiated itself from other racers at the time with its unprecedented level of replayability in its excellent single-player campaign. The campaign has excellent variety, with standard races being accompanied by the CTR challenges, relic time trials, and crystal bonus rounds.
2Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
Platform games struggled on the PlayStation 2, with iconic characters likeCrash and Spyrostruggling to deliver and new heroes being few and far between. This was largely due to the PS2’s improved hardware making gritty and realism-focused action games far better than before, leading to them dominating the sales charts.
There were a few expectations, however, such asRatchet & Clank,Sly Cooper, and, of course,Jak & Daxter.The firstJak and Daxteris an obvious choice for this list, as the entire purpose of the game is to fully explore each level, finding various collectibles. As such,The Precursor Legacyis a game that many people still revisit every few years, even to this day, as once they’re forgotten where most of the orbs and scout flies are, they can relive the experience once more.
1Crash Bandicoot: Warped
The ’90s truly was the decade of the collectathon, a subgenre that is beloved for its replayability. The vast majority of collectathon games are platformers, though they’re hard to come by today, particularly from AAA studios. There are some exceptions, such asCrash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time,Super Mario Odyssey,and to some extent, theAssassin’s Creedfranchise,though they’re far less common now than in their golden age during the ’90s.
Crash Bandicoot: Warpedwas one of the decade’s standout releases, as it fine-tuned the gameplay mechanics of its predecessors, added far more variety to the levels, and implemented the relic time trial challenges that were influential in popularizingspeedrunning. The numerous boxes to break in each level, colored gems, and hidden levels all makeWarpeda great game to replay time and time again.
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