Loading Speed Matters
Few things test a gamer’s patience like a loading screen. One moment you’re hyped to dive in, the next you’re stuck watching a bar crawl at snail speed. But not every game slows you down—some barely give you time to blink before the action begins. Ready to see which titles nailed it and which ones tested patience? Let’s begin with the games that load with impressive speed.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - State of Play | PS5 Games by PlayStation
1. Death Stranding 2: On The Beach
While fans joke that Hideo Kojima struck bargains with supernatural forces, the reality behind Death Stranding 2's seemingly impossible load times lies in the Decima Engine's raw power. Players witness saves loading in under a second, so many call this one of gaming's fastest loads ever.
Death Stranding 2 On the Beach Gameplay Demo (No Commentary) 4K by GamersPrey
2. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 shows off the PS5’s SSD at its best, delivering near-instant fast travel across New York. Insomniac Games even turned loading into part of the fun by using slick animations that keep the immersion seamless as you swing between boroughs.
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 - Story Trailer | PS5 Games by PlayStation
3. Resident Evil Village
Next-gen consoles redefine loading performance, and Resident Evil Village on PS5 takes this leap forward. Save files and menu transitions take mere seconds, while shifts between major areas happen almost instantly. This technical achievement preserves the horror atmosphere by eliminating downtime that breaks immersion.
Resident Evil Village Gold Edition - Winters' Finale Story Trailer | PS5 Games by PlayStation
4. Returnal
Originally launched as a PS5 exclusive, Returnal showcased Housemarque's mastery of the console's SSD capabilities through instantaneous loading and fluid biome transitions. The technical achievement is important for the game's roguelike structure in maintaining its performance benchmark when expanding to Windows in 2023.
Returnal PS5 Pro Gameplay Review [Ray Tracing] by Skycaptin5
5. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Where the original Final Fantasy VII Remake confined players to Midgar's steel corridors, Rebirth stretches across sprawling lands that dwarf its predecessor. Yet Square Enix achieves the impossible: this vastly larger world loads even faster on PS5, eliminating barriers between you and seamless exploration.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - State of Play | PS5 Games by PlayStation
6. Ghost Of Tsushima
When Sucker Punch Productions crafted their sprawling feudal Japan adventure, they didn't just master PS4 load times—they accidentally created a speedster for PS5. The open-world game zips between locations so rapidly that developers had to slow down just to keep tips readable.
Ghost of Tsushima - Brutal Combat, Stealth & Free Roam Gameplay by DKGames
7. Final Fantasy XVI
Gone are the days of lengthy loading screens interrupting immersive gameplay. Square Enix's Creative Business Unit III has achieved a remarkable technical milestone with Final Fantasy XVI. It delivers virtually instantaneous transitions between cutscenes and battles.
Final Fantasy XVI - Revenge Trailer | PS5 Games by PlayStation
8. Gran Turismo 7
This game takes full advantage of the PS5’s ultra-fast load times, giving players instant access to its vast lineup of cars and tracks. It also handles over 2,600 photo mode backgrounds with impressive ease. That level of technical finesse is the work of Polyphony Digital, the seasoned studio behind the iconic racing series.
Gran Turismo 7 - PlayStation Showcase 2021 Trailer | PS5 by PlayStation
9. Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Building upon Marvel's Spider-Man, this standalone expansion by Insomniac Games leverages the PS5's advanced SSD architecture to redefine open-world traversal. Players can transition from dashboard to gameplay in under ten seconds, experiencing New York City's vast lands with unprecedented continuity and zero loading interruptions.
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales - Launch Trailer | PS4, PS5 by PlayStation Asia
10. Elden Ring (On PS5)
Where previous-gen consoles forced players to sit through lengthy load screens, Elden Ring showcases FromSoftware's technical mastery through near-instant transitions. The dramatic upgrade transforms the Bandai Namco-published open-world action RPG, enabling fluid exploration and removing the sting from frequent deaths.
Elden Ring PS5 Gameplay [4K 60FPS] by KingHans
After the quick-launch champions, it’s time to confront the titles where loading feels like its own side quest.
1. Anthem
What started as eager anticipation quickly turned into coffee-brewing opportunities as Anthem players faced the game's notorious loading screens. Even top-tier hardware couldn't save players from minute-long waits, which prompted widespread complaints that eventually pushed developers to patch these patience-testing delays.
ANTHEM - GAMEPLAY TRAILER E3 2017 4K by EurogamerPortugal
2. Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3
While Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3's ambitious open-world design promised vast tactical playgrounds, it also delivered marathon loading screens that could stretch beyond five minutes—long enough to catch your favorite sitcom's ad break. Developers acknowledged the issue, vowing to trim these epic wait times.
Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 - Official Dangerous Trailer by GameSpot
3. SimCity (2013)
SimCity's mandatory always-online feature turned out to be its digital Achilles' heel, as it revealed a cascade of loading headaches at launch. Server congestion left frustrated mayors locked out of their virtual kingdoms, with some waiting agonizing hour-long waits before an offline mode finally saved the day.
Is SimCity 2013 As Bad As I Remember? by OVERCHARGED EGG
4. Kingdom Come: Deliverance
Kingdom Come: Deliverance earned notoriety for its demanding load times, a technical consequence of its realistic simulation and expansive world design. The loading burden manifested most severely on consoles, where players faced two-minute waits during fast travel.
Kingdom Come Deliverance Review 2024 - Still Worth it Today? by Game Grader
5. Duke Nukem Forever
After gaming's longest-awaited release finally landed, players' initial excitement quickly dissolved into loading screen limbo, with console sessions grinding to 40-second halts between levels—sometimes dragging past a minute. Duke Nukem Forever traded one legendary wait for another, more frustrating one.
Duke Nukem Forever -- Gameplay (PS3) by GamePlayStation
6. Wipeout 2048
For a game about blazing through the future at breakneck speeds, WipEout 2048's PlayStation Vita debut ironically forced players to master the art of waiting. Its notorious minute-long loading screens transformed this launch title into an unexpected exercise in patience.
VITA Wipeout 2048 Gameplay by Eurogamer
7. Red Dead Redemption 2
As your screen fades to black, the wait for Red Dead Redemption 2's vast frontier begins. Those initial minutes stretch like desert horizons while the game's intricate open world assembles itself, a common experience across platforms as massive assets load into memory.
Red Dead Redemption 2: Official Gameplay Video by Rockstar Games
8. Mass Effect 2 (PS3 Version)
Initial enthusiasm for Mass Effect 2's PS3 debut, with its enhanced graphical capabilities, gave way to widespread player frustration as documented loading times significantly exceeded those of other platforms. Technical analyses confirmed these extended delays, which consistently disrupted gameplay flow and dampened the overall experience.
Mass Effect 2 PS3 Video Review by IGN
9. Fallout 76
While Fallout 76 boldly ventured into uncharted territory as the franchise's first multiplayer experience, players soon discovered an unexpected nemesis. Loading screens that seemed to grow longer with each passing session, and reached truly epic proportions during major updates and events.
Fallout 76 Review (2024) by IGN
10. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (PS3)
Technical analysis of Skyrim's PS3 performance revealed a critical correlation between save file size and load time degradation. As players progressed and save files expanded, loading screens escalated from brief interruptions to multi-minute delays, ultimately rendering the game nearly unplayable for numerous users experiencing these severe bottlenecks.
