As the PS5's dorky looking shadow looms ever closer—possibly as close as November 13th this year—people want to know which of their current PlayStation games they can play on the new console.

PlayStation has been purposefully quiet on this topic.

Although the PS5's lead design consultant, Mike Cerny, said this March that nearly all top 100 PS4 games would be playable on the PS5, Sony hasn't specified exactly which titles will or won't be included.

So to try to break it down in plain English, here's all that's currently known about backwards compatibility with the PS5.

Will the PS5 Have Backwards Compatibility for All Previous Consoles?

The PS5 will likely only be backwards compatible with PS4 games.

The developer Ubisoft revealed on their online support page that any of their PS3, PS2, or PS games would not be playable on the next-gen console.

They since removed that specific claim from their site, but Sony hasn't come out to correct it, so it's likely that those older games won't be playable on PS5.

Which PS4 Games Will You Be Able to Play on PS5?

Most PS4 games should be compatible with the PS5.

There will be specifics that differ from game to game, like whether it's compatible only via the physical disk or only the digital download, but all signs point to Sony making as many popular PS4 games playable on the PS5.

Sony hasn't released a comprehensive list of all PS4 games you'll be able to play on the PS5, but here's a list of PS4 games that will definitely be playable:

— Assassin's Creed Valhalla

— Control

— Cyberpunk 2077

— Dead by Daylight

— Destiny 2

— DIRT 5

— DOOM Eternal

— Far Cry 6

— FIFA 21

— Hitman 3

— Kena: Bridge of Spirits

— Madden NFL 21

— Marvel's Avengers

— NBA 2K21

— The Elder Scrolls Online

— Watch Dogs Legion

— World Rally Championship 9

Best-seller PS4 titles like Grand Theft Auto V aren't on this list for now, but that's likely just because developers haven't announced how upgrades for these games will be rolled out.

For GTA V in particular, the game will have an updated version available for free on the PS5 for the first three months of the console's release. But it's unclear if there will be an upgrade you can download to play the PS4 version on PS5.

From Rockstar's perspective, GTA V will technically have a free upgrade on the PS5, but only if you buy the console within three months of its release.

Will Upgrades Be Free?

The cost of upgrading any PS4 games to make them playable on the PS5 varies from game to game.

Most games in the list above will have completely free upgrades, and many more backwards compatible games are expected to have free upgrades as well.

However, some games will only have "free" upgrades if you buy a more expensive deluxe version of the game to begin with.

These games all have certain hoops you have to jump through to access the free PS5 upgrade:

— Control - must buy Control: Ultimate Edition

— FIFA 21 - free upgrade only available until FIFA 22

— Hitman 3 - free upgrade only available for digital version

— Madden NFL 21- free upgrade only available until Madden 22

— NBA 2K21 - must buy Mamba Forever Edition

Wanna Keep Playing Old Games?

The best way to keep playing those older games is to just keep your older consoles.

But if you really want to boot up Ape Escape on your PS4, then you can try your hand at jailbreaking your console and hacking the mainframe.

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