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SharpEmu PS5 Emulator: Playable Games, Requirements, Mac and Steam Deck Support (2026)
A PS5 emulator written from scratch in C#; a batch of smaller games hit 60 fps, PS4 support in progress
- Emulates
- PS5 / PS4
- Latest
- v0.0.7-pulse · 2026-11-01
- Team
- par274
- License
- GPL-2.0-or-later
- Started
- 2026-03
Key points
- SharpEmu is an open-source PS5 emulator written from scratch in C#, led by Turkish developer par274 (Berk). The repo dates from March 2026; press coverage took off in July.
- The latest version is v0.0.7-pulse (2026-11-01). Since September, a new release has landed roughly every two weeks.
- As of 2026-11-01, its compatibility database lists 100 PS5 games tested on Windows: 44 playable and 26 in-game. The playable ones are mostly 2D or small games like Dreaming Sarah and Hollow Knight.
- Demon's Souls, Astro Bot, Gran Turismo 7, GTA V and Elden Ring reach gameplay, but the project itself flags them as 'performance heavy.' None are really playable yet.
- It runs on Windows and Linux, with a separate sharpemu-mac edition (Metal, macOS 15+). PS4 backward compatibility is in development. Android only has the unofficial sharpdroid.
SharpEmu is an open-source PlayStation 5 emulator written from scratch in C#. It runs on Windows and Linux, has a separate Mac edition, and is adding PS4 backward compatibility. As of November 2026, the latest version is v0.0.7-pulse (2026-11-01). It does best on smaller games: Dreaming Sarah and Hollow Knight already play at 60 fps. Big games like Demon's Souls and Astro Bot reach gameplay, but the project itself marks them "performance heavy," and they're not really playable yet.
Background
- The lead developer is par274 (Berk) from Turkey. The repo was created on 2026-03-11, and 0.0.1 shipped the same day. License: GPL-2.0-or-later.
- In July 2026, SharpEmu and KytyPS5 took off almost at the same time. Tom's Hardware's 07-15 story called it the most prominent PS5 emulator in the news cycle. On 07-17, the project launched sharpemu.app with a compatibility database covering every PS5 game.
- It's framed as a research and learning project with no commercial goals. Why C#? "Because we like it, and it makes iteration fast," and to see how far a managed runtime can take console emulation.
- The credits list Kyty, shadPS4 and Ryujinx.
Releases
| Date | Version |
|---|---|
| 2026-03-11 | 0.0.1 |
| 2026-07-16 | v0.0.2 |
| 2026-07-28 | v0.0.3 |
| 2026-09-25 | v0.0.4-release.2 (six games playable at 60 fps) |
| 2026-10-03 | v0.0.5-nexus |
| 2026-10-18 | v0.0.6-mono |
| 2026-11-01 | v0.0.7-pulse |
What runs now (as of 2026-11-01)
The compatibility database tracks 9,307 PS5 games and 16,070 PS4 games. On Windows, 100 PS5 games have been tested: 44 playable and 26 in-game. Linux, macOS and PS4 results are listed separately.
| Game | Status | Report date |
|---|---|---|
| Dreaming Sarah and five others | Playable at 60 fps | Announced 2026-09-25 |
| Hollow Knight (Voidheart Edition) | Playable, 60 fps | 2026-10-14 |
| Demon's Souls | In-game, performance heavy | 2026-10-05 |
| Astro Bot | In-game, performance heavy | 2026-10-06 |
| GTA V (PS5 version) | In-game | 2026-10-03 |
| Gran Turismo 7 | In-game | 2026-10-19 |
| Elden Ring | In-game | 2026-10-21 |
The six 60 fps games announced on 09-25 were Dreaming Sarah, Void Terrarium, New Joe & Mac, Tetris Forever, Hoa and Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered. At that point 55 games had been tested and 12 reached gameplay (Tom's Hardware, 09-27). Nobody has played these start to finish yet. Every report in the database names the exact build, and results vary a lot between versions.
Platforms
| Platform | Official support | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | Primary target | x64; Windows on ARM PCs (Snapdragon and others) can run the x64 build through Windows' built-in emulation |
| Linux / Steam Deck | Supported | x64 with Vulkan; on Steam Deck, Astro's Playroom ran at 0.5–1 fps (Tom's Hardware, 08-13) |
| macOS | Separate sharpemu-mac edition | Native Metal rendering, macOS 15+, Rosetta 2 on Apple silicon |
| Android | None | Only the unofficial sharpdroid (FEXCore running the Linux build); the author said release 8 on 2026-10-20 may be the last |
| iPhone / iPad | None | — |
SharpEmu is a single desktop program. Run it with no arguments and you get a game library, settings, a log console, a built-in updater and 15 interface languages. Pass a game's eboot.bin as an argument to run it from the terminal, which is handy for capturing logs.
Requirements
There are no published minimum specs. What's known: 64-bit Windows or Linux (macOS 15+ for the Mac edition) and a Vulkan-capable GPU on Windows and Linux. The PS5's CPU is an x86-64 Zen 2, so SharpEmu runs the game's CPU instructions directly on a PC; the hard parts are the system kernel and the GPU.
PS5 game files
SharpEmu loads a game's eboot.bin, meaning a decrypted game folder; you point the library at those folders. The FAQ says the project doesn't provide games, firmware or keys, and that compatibility reports based on pirated dumps are removed.
PS4 backward compatibility (experimental)
SharpEmu started as a PS5-only project and is now adding PS4 support, with PS4 games tracked in their own list. The README shows Bloodborne and the Uncharted collection booting. The FAQ puts it plainly: for PS4, the mature shadPS4 is the project to look at, and SharpEmu isn't a replacement for it.
How it compares
| Project | Approach | Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|---|---|
| SharpEmu | Emulator written from scratch in C# | High share of playable small games; desktop app and official Mac edition; steady releases | Big games only reach gameplay, with poor performance |
| KytyPS5 | Translation layer based on Kyty | Most games in-game, most big-game demos | Official builds crash often; high frame rates mostly come from forks |
| AnyPS5 | Relinks game executables into native PC programs | No emulation, so in theory the lowest overhead | Very few playable games |
Who it's for
FAQ
What PS5 games can SharpEmu play?
As of 2026-11-01, its compatibility database lists 100 games tested on Windows: 44 playable (completable with few or no issues) and 26 in-game with major issues. The playable ones are mostly 2D and small games. The six 60 fps games the developer announced on 2026-09-25 were Dreaming Sarah, Void Terrarium, New Joe & Mac, Tetris Forever, Hoa and Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered. Hollow Knight (Voidheart Edition) was also marked playable at 60 fps on 10-14.
Can SharpEmu run Demon's Souls or Astro Bot?
They reach gameplay but aren't playable yet. The database lists Demon's Souls (10-05) and Astro Bot (10-06) as in-game with the note 'performance heavy.' Gran Turismo 7, the PS5 version of GTA V and Elden Ring are in the same tier.
Does SharpEmu work on Mac?
Yes, through a separate edition, sharpemu-mac. It tracks the main project, renders natively with Metal (no MoltenVK), needs macOS 15 or later and runs under Rosetta 2 on Apple silicon. The Windows and Linux builds render with Vulkan.
Is there a SharpEmu Android version?
Not an official one. sharpdroid is an unofficial project that runs SharpEmu's Linux build on Android through FEXCore. Its latest release, sharpdroid-8, came out on 2026-10-20, the author said it may be the last, and very little runs on it.
Can SharpEmu play PS4 games?
PS4 backward compatibility is in development as an experimental mode; the README shows Bloodborne and the Uncharted collection booting. The official FAQ itself recommends the mature shadPS4 for PS4 games and says SharpEmu isn't a replacement for it.
Does SharpEmu work on Steam Deck?
It boots but isn't usable. Tom's Hardware reported on 2026-08-13 that Astro's Playroom ran at 0.5–1 fps on the Steam Deck.
SharpEmu vs KytyPS5: which is better?
Both are very early. SharpEmu has a higher share of playable small games, a built-in desktop app with 15 languages and a steady release schedule. KytyPS5 gets more big games in-game and has more forks and demo videos. For 2D and indie games, try SharpEmu first.
What is the official SharpEmu website?
sharpemu.app. The README says only sharpemu.app and the links listed in the GitHub repository are affiliated with SharpEmu; any other sites, accounts or donation pages are unofficial.