Katy is widely considered one of the best PS4 emulators for PC, thanks to its speed and user-friendliness. As an open-source program that uses Vulkan, OpenGL, and DirectX API renderers as its APIs – Kyty can even run some exclusive PS4 titles on higher-end systems!

To use it, it requires jailbreaking your PS4 and possessing a USB drive formatted as exFAT or FAT32. After this is accomplished, quickly download a PKG file using debug mode.

RPCS4

PCSX4 is a top-rated PS4 emulator available for Windows, Macs, and Android that has a high frame rate and supports various input devices including mouse/keyboard combos as well as controllers. Available for free use on high-end computers with GPU support capabilities it also enables gamers to experience different frame rates when playing games.

EmulationScape is a collaborative project among various popular emulator development groups. Powered by x86-64 CPUs and SSE4.2 graphics cards, the emulator can currently emulate PS4 games; support for Vulkan and OpenGL is also provided along with encryption of game cache images using 256-bit protocols.

However, RPCS4 is still in its infancy and will not support commercial games; Sony may remaster Bloodborne before fully emulating on RPCS4. Other emulators such as Kyty, fpPS4, Orbital, and GPCS4 are in similar stages of development while Spine has more advanced architecture and can already boot some 2D titles.

KyTy

Developer InoriRus has unveiled an update for Kyty, their in-development emulator that supports PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 games on PC. Although still early stages, some commercial PS4 titles, and homebrew programs can already be launched using this emulator; however, performance may vary significantly and be subject to graphics glitches, crashes, freezes, or low frame rates.

Katy is an exciting piece of software to watch develop. Scene member BrutalSam recently showcased it running commercial PS4 titles Blackhole and Worms WMD with low framerates on an i5-7400 and GTX 1050 Ti system.

There are countless emulators claiming to run PS4 games, but most contain harmful viruses and malware that could compromise your system. Some also feature fake YouTube videos displaying gameplay footage from PS4 titles; instead, we recommend Orbital as a trusted emulator with years of history behind it.

Orbital

There are numerous PS4 emulators claiming they can run games, yet are filled with viruses and malware which could compromise your computer. As such, it is wise to avoid downloading such software in favor of using the official PS4 Remote Play service which offers free streaming from consoles directly onto PCs or mobile devices.

Orbital was created by renowned developer Alexander and uses virtualization technology to simulate the PlayStation 4 console operating system. For optimal performance it requires a powerful computer with 16GB RAM and a CPU that emulates PS4’s x86-64 architecture; unfortunately, however, it cannot currently play commercial games.

Ghaststeam introduced PS4 EMX, another popular PS4 emulator, in 2014. Unfortunately, this program is currently unusable but developers are working on it; its debug setting enables you to quickly install PKG files from an exFAT or FAT 32 USB drive.

Spine

The spine is the first PlayStation 4 emulator capable of running games, though it remains in development. Recent updates to Spine show some promising progress: 2D indie titles like Stardew Valley and Megaman Legacy Collection running, along with 13 Sentinels are currently supported – not a perfect emulator for use for piracy but nonetheless an important milestone forward.

The emulator is currently under development by private and closed-source developers and released as a flatpack package in 2019. Unfortunately, however, it is incompatible with Windows since its libraries can only be found on Linux platforms.

The compatibility list shows that approximately 35% of games work; unfortunately, these tend to be small 2D indie titles with graphical glitches and bugs. Developers are working on improving the performance of the emulator; hopefully, within two or three years it should be capable of supporting intensive AAA titles.