// PC GAMER — GAMING
I got my start writing for a PlayStation 2 magazine: These are my 12 PS2-pilled recommendations from the Steam Autumn Sale
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What's great about the PS2 back catalogue is that it's too vast to have an encyclopedic knowledge of everything in there. The defining 20 or so games on the platform—God of War, Gran Turismo 3, Final Fantasy 10 and so forth—are very well known, and maybe Millennial players can recall a weirdo game or two like Mr Mosquito or Global Defence Force. One look at the games in the Japan-only Simple 2000 series, however, shows you just how deep the library goes. When's Demolition Girl getting a HD remaster, eh?
Still, we're in an era where it's not hard to rediscover the key games of that generation, partly because many platform highlights have found their way to Steam in various forms. Intriguingly, we've also reached a point where developers who grew up with this generation are designing great new games inspired by the classics.
Below you'll find six modern games that are inspired by what's known as the 'sixth generation' of consoles, plus six ports of Dreamcast/PS2/GameCube/Xbox-era favourites. I've kept the latter to games that didn't get a PC release at the time (so GTA: San Andreas would be ineligible, for example). All of the games in both lists are discounted in the Steam Autumn Sale.
Promise Mascot Agency (40% off at $15/£13) is an open world game built around a novel management simulation layer. You send Japanese mascots off to various events while exploring an island that may or may not be cursed. It's actually one of the better open world games of recent years because every sidequest offers something meaningful, like additional mascots to manage or upgrades for your truck (culminating in flight capabilities, as pictured). It's also deeply PS2-pilled in its overall presentation, with its creators citing everything from Disaster Report to Persona 4 as its influences. "6 and 7 out of 10 PS2 games are what I live for," director Oli Smith told RPG Site. It shows in the marvellously unique finished product.
Hi-Fi Rush (55% off at £12.14/$13.49) is at the intersection of several great PS2-era phenomena: innovative rhythm action games, cel-shaded visuals and Devil May Cry-style 3D hack-and-slash combat. Tango Gameworks weaves in many other influences besides, including the way director Edgar Wright matches music to visuals in films like Shaun of the Dead and Baby Driver. It's not exactly at DMC or Bayonetta's level when it comes to hardcore combat credentials, but it's presented in an appealing and often breathtaking anime wrapping, and playing to the beat sets it apart. It captures the flavour of the PS2 era without being exactly like any single game.
A leading candidate for my top 10 games of 2026, Denshattack! (25% off at $15/£12) draws inspiration from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, but perhaps more crucially, blue skies Dreamcast classics like Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio. It's a speedrunning game of stunt jumping, grinding and rapidly boosting your train through regions of a corporate-owned version of Japan. Except the vision of it just keeps expanding, until you're eventually using said train to battle enormous robots and smash massive baseballs at bosses. Again, it's not exactly like any one of its inspirations—this is a special game because the developers draw something original from those sources.
Capcom's God Hand is one of my favourite PS2 games. It was a true cult classic, riffing on Fist of the North Star with ludicrous cutscenes, but having one of the best third-person combat systems ever (and getting an infamous IGN 3/10 review for its trouble). There aren't many games that have been able to capture the physicality of its hand-to-hand brawls or customisable combos, but developer Sloclap has specifically called the game out as an influence on 2022's wonderfully brutal Sifu (75% off $10/£8). It's tonally a far more serious proposition, but its enthralling and beautifully animated fistfights did reawaken my God Hand