Rather than being jam-packed with new AAA releases every week, multiple delays have led to a fairly quiet first quarter of 2020, allowing players to chip away at their backlog or take advantage ofPS Plus' latest. ForFebruary’s PS Plus free games lineup, Sony followed a theme of giving player’s unique and exciting worlds to explore from the underwater depths ofBioShock’s Rapture to the cloud city of Columbia inBioShock Infiniteor jumping intoThe Sims 4to create something entirely their own.
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Days Gone
Best known forUncharted: Golden Abysson the PlayStation Vita,Days Gone was Sony Bend Studio’s first shot at a AAA game for the PS4. Set two years after a global pandemic killed millions of people worldwide and turned the rest into zombie-like creatures known as Freakers, players take on the role of outlaw-biker Deacon St. John, played byStar Wars: The Force Unleashed’s Sam Witwer. In a nutshell,Days GoneisThe Walking DeadmeetsSons of Anarchy, only it’s an open-world action game instead of a TV show.
In many ways,Days Gonefelt very similar to games like the originalAssassin’s CreedorWatch Dogs; a promising first entry with a lot of great ideas that didn’t live up to its full potential. Freaker Hordes are exhilarating to fight. but they only appear toward the end of the game. Deacon and Sarah’s love story was interesting. but the main character was bland. The open-world is beautiful and fun to explore but ultimately full of repetitive missions. There is a lot to love aboutDays Gonedespite its flaws, particularly after free updates addedSurvival Mode and New Game Plus, and it’s clear that Bend Studio is more than capable of creating a brilliant sequel now the foundation has been built.
Admittedly, this hasn’t even been out a year yet, so it’s a very unlikely inclusion. There’s no doubt though that it’s inclusion in March or sometime this year would do a lot to bolster the service moving into the PS5.
Days Goneis available now on PS4.
The Messenger
One common trend that a lot of developers follow for open-world RPGs is to open the game with a linear first mission before it expands on the world and mechanics to ensure players don’t feel too intimidated. And while that works for an open-world RPG, it caused many players to step away fromThe Messengerbefore they gave it a chance and saw its full potential. Releasing to critical acclaim,The Messengerwas nominated for a number of awards for music, gameplay, and more, going as far as winning the “Best Debut Indie Game” award atThe Game Awards 2018.
Inspired by theNinja Gaidenseries,The Messengeris initially presented as a linear level-based action game, yet around the halfway point, developer Sabotage Studio takes a drastic turn for the better and opens the world up into a Metroidvania. Featuring two different timelines known as the ‘Past’ and ‘Future,’ players are able to go back and freely explore previous levels, allowing for instant transitions between each of the timelines to open up new locations, new abilities, and to find collectibles. Not to mention that one timeline is presented using8-bit graphics and audio, whereas the other is done entirely in 16-bit.
The Messengeris available now on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.
Batman: Arkham VR
While most look atBatman: Arkham Knightas the last game from Rocksteady Studios, it’s often forgotten that the team releasedBatman: Arkham VRthe following year as aPSVR launch title. Removing the series iconic combat system,Batman: Arkham VRis an adventure game where players take on the role of Batman and must complete a series of puzzles to solve the mystery of who killed Nightwing. It’s relatively short, but between the opening mission where players put on the Batsuit or when they use Batman’s utility belt and Batarang as the world’s greatest detective, it’s clearArkham VRlets players become Batman in a way no other game has before.
Back during the launch of the PSVR, many of the initial release titles were closer to short interactive experiences than full games. The technology was still relatively new and developers were still trying to figure out what worked best with the hardware and what types of experiences players were looking for. With the possibility that PSVR games could be added to PS Plus from time to time,Batman: Arkham VRis the perfect fitfor anyone that’s even remotely interested in trying out VR.
Batman: Arkham VRis available now on PSVR, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and Valve Index VR.
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Tacoma
Fullbright’s 2012 debut,Gone Homeis arguably one of the most influential and impactful games of the last decade, right next to the likes ofGrand Theft Auto V,Journey, andDestiny,andpaved the way for a new generation of adventure games from Telltale GamesThe Walking Deadto Campo Santo’sFirewatch, Giant Sparrow’sWhat Remains of Edith Finch, and so many more. Fullbright released its second game in 2017, and whileTacomawas received well critically, it failed to meet the sales numbers of its predecessor due to the sheer volume of games that year, particularly in the AAA space.
Much likeGone Home,Tacomais a game about exploration and drops the player into an uninhabited environment, allowing for the world to become the most important character of them all. Set on theTacomaspace station, the player must explore the space station and use in-game AI to discover what happened to the missing crew. Tacoma’s greatest success and it’s reason for being so important comes down to the level of polish and attention-to-detail when it comes to world-building and character development, all of which feature complete voice work. While Fullbright’s next game could benefit from being a little longer,something akin toWhat Remains of Edith FinchorEverybody’s Gone to the Rapture, they’re a developer to absolutely look out for.
Tacomais available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Whether Sony chooses to continue addingPSVR games to PlayStation Pluseach month remains to be seen. Sony has chosen its words carefully as to not commit itself to anything just yet and it’s a smart decision to make. With the release of the PlayStation 5 at the end of the year and rumors of PS5 backward compatibility with all previous generations, the future of PS Plus and PS Now is very important and needs to be done right.
Does Sony combine the two services? Does it start with two free PS4 games for the first year, then expand to one PS4 and one PS5? How about keeping it at two free PS4 games and including a rotating bonus third game each month from its massive library ofPSVR, PS1, PS2, and PS3 games? February was just the beginning of a very exciting future in the world of PlayStation, but for now, finger’s crossed that there’s an on-going trend of great PS Plus games each month.
PlayStation Plusmembers receive two free games every month with their subscription.
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