Trophy hunting — the practice of working through a game's trophy list to earn the platinum — is one of the most rewarding things you can do on PlayStation. It pushes you to explore games fully, builds a visible record of your progress, and creates a long-term hobby that spans your entire library. It also has a reputation for being intimidating, which puts a lot of players off before they have even started.
That reputation is mostly undeserved. You do not need to be a skilled player to start trophy hunting. You need a method. This guide gives you one.
What Trophy Hunting Actually Is
At its simplest, trophy hunting means playing a game with the intent to earn every trophy in its list, culminating in the platinum trophy. The PlayStation trophy system assigns bronze, silver, gold, and platinum trophies to tasks within each game — finishing a level, defeating a boss a specific way, finding collectibles, completing side content. Collect all of them and the platinum unlocks automatically.
For a detailed breakdown of how points, levels, and trophy grades work, the trophies explained guide covers the full system. What matters here is the practical side: a platinum trophy means you have seen and done everything that game's list requires. For some games that is a 30-minute walkthrough. For others it is 200 hours of grinding. Choosing well is the skill.
Why People Do It
The obvious answer is the PSN profile — a public count of your platinum trophies and trophy level that other players can see. That is real, and some hunters are genuinely motivated by the leaderboard aspect.
But most hunters cite something else: trophies make you engage with games you would have skipped past. They expose side quests, hidden mechanics, and entire game modes that most players never see. The constraints are part of what makes it interesting — a trophy list is effectively a curated tour of the game's full content.
There is also the satisfaction of a completed list. A 100% completion rate on your PSN profile, or a stack of platinums on games you genuinely enjoyed, is a concrete record that has real longevity. Games you platinumed years ago stay on your profile permanently.
How to Pick Your First Platinum
This is where most new hunters go wrong. They start with a game they love — an 80-hour RPG, a demanding action game — get overwhelmed by the list, and conclude that trophy hunting is not for them.
Start with something short, clean, and guide-friendly. Your first platinum is about learning the process, not proving anything. A well-chosen beginner game teaches you how to read a guide, how to sequence trophies, and what the cleanup stage feels like — all in two or three hours rather than two hundred.
What to look for in a first platinum:
- Estimated completion time under 4 hours. Shorter is better for learning. You will play the whole thing before the novelty wears off.
- No missable trophies, or clearly flagged ones. Missables are trophies you can permanently lock yourself out of. Beginners should avoid lists that require perfect knowledge of when to trigger specific events.
- No online or multiplayer trophies. Online servers close. Online player bases thin out. A list that requires finding other players online adds friction you do not need at the start.
- A complete guide exists. Before committing to any game, search for it on PSNProfiles. If there is a rated, walkthrough-style guide, you are in good shape.
The PlatPrices easy platinum hub and the easiest platinum trophies guide both list well-regarded beginner options with difficulty and time data. Start there rather than guessing.
How to Read a Trophy Guide
A good trophy guide has a structure. Learn to read it efficiently and you will never need to play a game twice for trophies.
Most guides on PSNProfiles follow a roadmap format:
- Overview section — completion time, difficulty rating, minimum playthroughs, online requirements. Read this first. If anything here conflicts with your criteria (too long, online required, three playthroughs needed), find a different game.
- Step-by-step section — the guide breaks the game into phases (Step 1, Step 2, and so on). Each step groups related trophies together. Follow the steps in order.
- Individual trophy entries — detailed instructions for every trophy. Use these as reference when you reach each point in the walkthrough.
The "before you start" or Step 1 section is the most important part. It tells you what to do before you begin your first playthrough — which difficulty to select, which choices to make, which collectibles to grab on your way through. Skipping this section is the single most common beginner mistake.
Read the overview and Step 1 before launching the game. Keep the guide open on a second screen or a phone while you play. Do not rely on memory — trophies have a way of requiring specific triggers you will not remember at the right moment.
Missable Trophies: What They Are and How to Avoid Them
A missable trophy is one you can permanently fail to earn without realising it — usually because a story event has passed, a character is no longer available, or a choice you made earlier locked you out. In the worst cases, the only remedy is starting over.
Avoiding missables is straightforward: use a guide before you start, not after you are stuck. Look for the "missable trophies" or "warning" section in any guide. If the guide does not mention any missables, the list is clean and you can play more freely.
As you gain experience, you will get better at recognising missable patterns in trophy lists — dialogue-choice trophies, trophies tied to specific NPCs, trophies in time-limited events. For now, let the guide handle this. That is what it is there for.
Using Difficulty and Time Data to Choose Games
Not all easy-looking trophy lists are created equal. A game might be rated 2/10 difficulty but have a 20-hour time investment — or it might be 5/10 difficulty but completable in 90 minutes. Difficulty and time are both variables you should control for separately.
Here is a practical framework for evaluating a game before committing:
| Factor | Beginner target | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Difficulty rating | 1–3 / 10 | Above 5 usually means skill-gated trophies |
| Time to platinum | Under 5 hours | Keeps first attempts manageable |
| Minimum playthroughs | 1 | Multiple runs multiply the time cost |
| Online trophies | None | Server closure and matchmaking risk |
| Missable count | Zero, or guide-covered | Missables cause replays if missed |
| Guide quality | Rated walkthrough exists | No guide = discover-as-you-go risk |
PSNProfiles provides difficulty and time estimates crowd-sourced from real completers. Cross-reference this with the PlatPrices easy platinum hub, which surfaces completion data alongside current pricing so you can evaluate both the trophy list and the cost in one place.
Doing It Cheaply: The PlatPrices Angle
Easy platinum games are often short indie titles — and short indie titles go on deep discount regularly. You almost never need to pay full price for a beginner-friendly platinum.
A few habits that keep the cost down:
- Check the price history before buying. On PlatPrices, every game page shows the full price history and the lowest-ever price. If a game has hit 80% off before, it will likely hit that again. Waiting costs nothing.
- Watch the recurring sales. The PS Store runs reliable annual promotions — Days of Play (typically June), the Summer Sale, Black Friday, and the January Sale all tend to include cheap indie games. Check the live sales tracker during these windows.
- Browse by discount, not by title. The PS Store discounts page surfaces what is on sale right now. Sort by discount percentage to find games at their deepest cuts.
- Check PS Plus first. If you have a PS Plus Extra or Premium subscription, check whether a game you are considering is already in the library before buying it outright.
For context, many of the most popular beginner platinums — Ratalaika-style platformers, short narrative games, licensed titles — regularly drop to under £3/$3 during sales. For what is a platinum trophy and whether it is worth chasing, the short answer is: at those prices, almost always yes.
Building Good Habits From the Start
A few habits will serve you for as long as you hunt trophies.
Follow the guide's sequence, not your instincts. It is tempting to just play and mop up trophies later, but cleanup is slower and less satisfying than getting everything in order on your first pass. Trust the roadmap.
Do not start more games than you finish. A long list of incomplete trophy stacks is demoralising. Early on, commit to one game at a time and see it through before starting the next. A completed list — even a short, easy one — is more useful to you than five half-finished ones.
Note your cleanup trophies as you go. If a guide says "collect 50 things and you will naturally get 40 by following the story," keep a rough count. Do not assume you have them — verify when the guide says to.
Track prices before you spend. Add games you are interested in to your PlatPrices wishlist. When one drops to its historical low, you will be notified. This costs no extra effort and meaningfully reduces what you spend across a year of hunting.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is trophy hunting?
Trophy hunting is the practice of deliberately earning trophies in PlayStation games — working through a game's full trophy list rather than just completing the story. The ultimate goal is usually earning the platinum trophy, which unlocks once you have collected every other trophy in the game.
What is a good first platinum trophy?
Short, guide-followable indie games are the best starting point. Look for games with no missable trophies, no online requirements, and a completion time under three hours. The PlatPrices easy platinum hub lists well-regarded beginner options with pricing data alongside difficulty ratings.
How do I avoid missable trophies?
Read a trophy guide or roadmap before you start playing, not after you are stuck. Look for a "before you start" or "step 1" section that lists all missables and the points of no return in the game. A five-minute read at the start of a playthrough prevents the need for an entire second one.
Is trophy hunting expensive?
It does not have to be. Many beginner-friendly games with accessible platinum lists cost under £5/$5 on sale. PlatPrices tracks price history across 70+ regions so you can see when a game is at its historical low price before committing. The live sales tracker makes it easy to find these at the right moment.
The best starting point is the PlatPrices easy platinum hub — browse games by difficulty, check the time estimate, and confirm what the current price is before you buy.
Never overpay for a platinum again
Add games to your wishlist and get a free price-drop alert the moment they hit your target price — across every PSN region.
