PS5 players have long had one big obstacle when it comes to revisiting the PlayStation 3 era: without cloud streaming, most PS3 games have effectively been out of reach. That’s why a new breakthrough is turning heads among retro gaming fans. For what appears to be the first time, a PS3 game is running on a PS5 using a custom emulator called RedoEngine from RedoApps, rather than relying on cloud-based access.
The early proof comes from Cloudberry Kingdom, a famously unforgiving 2013 platformer built around procedurally generated levels. Multiple versions of the game are set to launch globally on the PlayStation Store, and one of those options allows the original PS3 version to run on PS5 through the developer’s emulator. It’s a noteworthy milestone, even if it’s only the beginning of a much larger challenge.
Why this matters is simple: PS3 backward compatibility has always been difficult. Traditional PS3 emulation solutions can be complicated to use, and official support has never materialized in a straightforward way. At the same time, there have been reports that Sony is exploring its own route to PS3 support in partnership with Implicit Conversions, suggesting that the demand for a better solution hasn’t gone unnoticed.
RedoApps says its approach is different from the best-known community-driven PS3 emulation projects. According to the developer, RedoEngine is built with commercial goals rather than community development, and it leans heavily on High-Level Emulation (HLE). The idea behind HLE is to reproduce system behavior efficiently enough that software runs as if it were on the original console hardware. A major sticking point for PS3 emulation has always been the PS3’s SPU architecture, which has historically made accurate performance and compatibility much harder to achieve than on other classic consoles.
Even with this progress, RedoApps is clear that not every game will be this smooth. Cloudberry Kingdom is believed to be a more manageable test case because it doesn’t lean as heavily on the SPU as many complex titles do. The developer has acknowledged that getting big-budget, graphics-heavy AAA PS3 games running properly on PS5 will likely be extremely difficult, though they don’t rule it out entirely. Many games may require special attention and custom work, which means RedoEngine may not become the universal “run everything” PS3 emulator PS5 owners have been waiting for.
Still, the early results sound promising for players who care about authenticity. The game reportedly renders at 1080p, with only minor glitches observed. Players also get a built-in on-screen menu explaining how classic DualShock controls map onto the PS5’s DualSense controller, reducing the friction that often comes with emulation. In addition, save states are included, offering a convenient feature that lets players suspend and resume gameplay more flexibly.
For now, Cloudberry Kingdom running through RedoEngine doesn’t automatically solve PS3 backward compatibility on PS5 across the board. But it does show real momentum: a PS3 game playing locally on Sony’s current console, without cloud streaming, and with modern comfort features. For anyone tracking PS3 emulation progress, PS5 backward compatibility developments, or the future of retro gaming on modern PlayStation hardware, this is an important step—and a sign that bigger PS3-on-PS5 ambitions may no longer be just wishful thinking.
