Since trophies were first introduced on PlayStation 3 back in 2008, trophy hunting has become a popular pursuit for hardcore gamers. Of course, Sony weren’t first to the punch here; Microsoft’s revolutionary achievement system was one facet of Xbox Live and the Xbox 360 that had them whooping the PS3 when both platforms first launched.
On PS5, trophies are back and Sony have made some noticeable changes. But first some of you may be wondering: will my PlayStation trophies carry over from the PS3, PS4, and even PS Vita? Of course they do! If you were in that first vanguard of trophy hunters blasting away at Super Stardust HD, those (star)dusty accolades are still accounted for.
If the PS5 is your first PlayStation console in a while, then here’s a super quick primer on trophies. Each game will have a shopping list of challenges to cross off, each one bagging you a bronze, silver, or gold trophy depending on their difficulty. Most games will reward you a platinum trophy once you’ve earned all the others in a game’s list.
It’s not surprise that PS5 trophies use this same template. Not only do your unlocked trophies appear in a list, each one will also funnel into an overall level that appears on your PSN profile. When flicking through player IDs, it’s an easy way of seeing how experienced they are – or how much time they have on their hands! Sony recently rolled out a trophy update that increased this level cap from 100 to 999.
So, what else has changed about trophies with the PS5? On a system level, trophies no longer have their own menu icon – they’re tucked away within your player profile, as well as in the hub section for each individual game. From here you can view a trophy list, though the individual cards for each one are bigger and slightly more awkward to navigate through thanks to a new horizontal scrolling layout.
At the same time, individual trophies are made more visible thanks to the PS5’s Activity Cards. When browsing through your game collection, most will present cards tied to trophies you may be close to unlocking, or simply ones you haven’t collected yet.
As for the actual trophies themselves, they’ve undergone a bit of a redesign. In truth, there’s not a huge amount of difference, though purists may prefer the chunkier original trophies. As if that wasn’t enough to rile them up, Sony has only gone and changed the classic “ping” for something more inline with the PS5 UI’s more subtle sound effects.
One new PS5 feature that is sure to please trophy hunters is Game Help. This is an extension to the Activity Cards system and one that can attach helpful tips, images, and videos to cards to help PS5 players complete certain in-game objectives. Sony first showed off this feature with Sackboy: A Big Adventure, showing Game Help pop open a collectable guide video for a specific stage. However well and often we see this implemented will rely on developers – hopefully it’s not just first party games that make use of it.
Also, if you’re someone that just wants the trophies and isn’t fussed about spoilers? Well, hidden trophies can now be unveiled. Select a hidden trophy from a game’s list, open it up with a tap of the cross button, then press Options and choose to Show Hidden Information.
Rounding out our PS5 trophy guide, let’s talk about rewards. Sony have yet to confirm this, though it was recently reported that earning trophies can unlock in-game content. In Destruction AllStars (which will now be launching next year as a PlayStation Plus freebie) you can unlock cosmetic items by popping specific bronze and gold trophies.
