December 2020's free PS Plus games have been announced. As has been the case since the PlayStation 5's launch earlier in the month, three titles are up for grabs — one of which is available on Sony's new console.
The PS5 game in question is Worms Rumble — the latest entry in the long running series, which will also be playable on the PS4. Meanwhile, on PS4, subscribers are getting open world chaos simulator Just Cause 4 and arena shooter Rocket Arena. All three titles will be available to download from Tuesday, 1st December.
In our 6/10 Just Cause 4 review, we praised aspects of the title, but found its mission design fell short:
Just Cause 4's traversal system can be wonderfully entertaining, and the chaotic, explosion-sim physics in play are frequently exhilarating, but they're manacled to a game that has absolutely no idea how best to use them.
It's worth noting that if you're planning to play Just Cause 4 on your PS5 via backwards compatibility, then you'll benefit from a much more stable framerate, which was a problem when the title first released on PS4 Pro and PS4.
Rocket Arena's another game that we didn't instantly adore, mostly because of its price point. In our Rocket Arena review, we suggested that it may have fared better as a free-to-play title. Maybe it'll now finally find an audience as part of PS Plus:
Despite the handful of enjoyable hours Rocket Arena has to offer, it's not an investment worth considering. With microtransactions already up and operational alongside a premium price tag, it’s likely to find itself without a player base before too long. Rocket jumping can only take it so far.
Across all free PS Plus games in 2020, we estimate that subscribers received just shy of $800, which is a good return on the membership fee.
What do you make of December's lineup? Is this a strong end to the year for the subscription service? Don't shoot the messenger in the comments section below.
Comments 93
I mean a little underwhelming for the Christmas month but not too bad I guess.
Ehh not for me, but you can't get lucky every month.
I’ll take Worms Rumble. One of those games I wouldn’t mind playing, but would probably never actually buy.
Oh I never even finished Just Cause 3. Oh well...
JC4 has been on PS Now before. Not a surprising pick.
PS Now Game? Check
(worthless) EA Play game? Check
It's like clockwork now. Rubbish to be honest.
I'll take Just Cause 4. Might add Worms to my library, but they can keep that failure of a game Rocket Arena.
Just Cause 4 wasn't very good the first time so I'm probably not going to play it again.
Not bad, though I doubt I'll play any of them.
PS Plus games tend to offer little value and this month's no different, so it's a good thing I don't pay for it. I'm more interested in what's in store for PS Now.
@Ken_Kaniff you mean Rocket Arena?
Yeah. That looks like the most cynical, hackneyed, vile, DOA, Fortnite knock off I've seen in a while.
JC4- meh. 3 was boring so I've no urge to play this.
Worms- yeah. It's Worms. Yawn.
Well I suppose it's not that Cities Skylines month!
Sounds good to me.
It's not quite a lump of coal, but it's no tin of Quality Street either
Definitely downloading Just Cause 4 - I had some fun with the previous game even despite the control issues (the feuding impressions that led me to give the game a shot on my laptop as well... alas, despite the machine's quite passable performance on stuff like Prey, JC3 proved taxing enough to leave the framerate noticeably slow even by my standards), and I've been enjoying the franchise overall, even the currently cultivated JC1 with its rather peculiar driving physics.
Rocket Arena, on the other hand... I appreciate it as another PS4 library item, but it sounds like a strictly online multiplayer game, and I don't even tend to those much even on Switch, let alone when I have to stream the thing.
Like almost every month a disappointment again. PS Now has been improving and Plus degrading. They need to change their model of business.
Be interesting to see how JC4 runs on PS5. If it runs anywhere like series x it could be like a different game
if i'm not mistaken, just cause 4 ran like crap on ps4 (cpu bottleneck couldn't handle the physics). come december, you would think sony would end the year on a high note but alas, we are left with scraps. i like the worms franchise, but some 25 sequels later it is very difficult to get excited about yet another worms game...
Absolutely no interest in anything there. Ah well - hopefully I'm not on Santa's naughty list this year and will get something decent to play.
JC4 is a decent choice (I quite enjoyed 3) and I am happy to get another PS5 game so lets hope that continues!
Tired open world adventure with average at best reviews and online shooter that absolutely bombed its way to the bargain bin... merry Xmas gamers
I called Worms Rumble being free on PS5 in that article the other day on this site while everyone else was saying we probably wouldn't get a new game b/c Bugsnax was sticking around until January.
@Barryburton97
Indeed. For erstwhile PS Now owners like myself it’s terrible they keep duplicating games. I only picked Plus up as the sale on for the year combined with the PS Collection, and my PS Now just running out in Jan, made it valuable in itself, but I’d still like to get half decent games I haven’t already paid for on PS Now.
Ouch, a pretty awful month really. The Worms Rumble beta was dreadful
Not bad. I still need to play Just Cause 4 even though 3 was a big step down from 2.
I'll take them all because they are free... And probably end up only trying just cause 4
I mean, realistically everyone's going to be play Cyberpunk thus month anyway. And sony just dropped enough first party bangers to last the rest of the year so, who really cares?
Add to library, play Cyberpunk 2077. Repeat for the next few months.
To summarize this month in one word Mediocre, meh games that no one cares to play not even for free
Not bad at all. People complaining just can't be happy with anything lol
@nessisonett Just Cause 4 is an even bigger step down from 3 unfortunately
@Cornaboyzzz Oh dear. From what I saw, the weather mechanics looked pretty cool. I dunno, 2 had a really interesting and vast map whereas 3 felt like a tick the box exercise like most other open world games.
R.i.p.diego maradona the legend.definetly playing just cause 4.word up son
@nessisonett. 4 is good .both 3 and 4 is cool.word up son
It really isn't the best selection for me personally but I don't think it is bad overall. I will probably try JC4 at some point.
For those that are complaining about overlap with PS Now keep in mind the vast majority of Playstation owners don't have PS Now.
If your choice is to subscribe to all the big subscription services like PS Now and EA Play you probably aren't going to get as much value but I don't really think that is the target audience for PS Plus games.
Am I the only one who thinks this is a decent month?
@evan23 Oh yeah, I forgot Just Cause 4 was on Now. Never mind, nothing for me this month 😂😂
This is a shockingly bad month.
I guess theyre thinking the plus instant library will nab the new Christmas subscribers.
No thank you, already own JC4 but I'm not about to touch the others, oh well 🤷🏻♂️
Not for me, I guess I'll try worm rumble.
@get2sammyb afraid so Sammy, consensus is, its tosh 🙈
@get2sammyb I am with you, I think it is OK overall. To be honest, I am not really sure what people are expecting.
@playstation1995 Indeed, a legend of sport not just football. Took Argentina to WC glory almost single-handedly (hehe) and Napoli to the Serie A title.
Better than Messi imo, there I've said it!
Be worth £300m if playing today.
RIP
As for next month's offerings, nothing of interest for me.
I’d go with fine. Not fantastic, not bad, just fine. I’ll prob give worms a go but that’s it.
Am i the only one who's feeling deja vu, almost like we already got these games?
I for one will not be in any rush to download these. I think Sony have saved themselves with the PS Plus Collection as there are plenty of titles in there to keep me busy (super excited to play Days Gone - when I get round to playing it that is).
@God_of_Nowt Astro is a cracking little game. Not had a chance to play Bugsnax yet. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about Destruction All Stars, although the fact it’s now going to be free will no doubt mean I download it and see what it’s all about.
You'll need a PS5 to play a Just Cause game just because of their notorious frame rate drops.
Nothing much for me this month, did try the beta for worms it was pretty bad, didn't even finish one game after the tutorial. Ah well not a bad thing got enough games to be getting on with, getting into Valhalla atm took a while to click but enjoying it now about 20hrs in and got the new cod to try with the dualsense controller 😁
@PlayStationPlayer
Me too, although be careful of the weird save structure until you get your bike. I tried it, just until around 30 minutes in or so, but apparently the manual save doesn’t work until you get your bike (or if I’m a mission , which you are never sure of) and I’ll have to replay the beginning again. Oh well, it looks and plays fantastically from what I experienced.
Not bad for me. Need, need, need.... Usually for me it's got, got, got. PS5 game very welcome to grace my new console.
@Col_McCafferty. I 100 percent agree with you.not only he is better than messi he is better than ronaldo also.the only player i would put ahead of maradona.is the g.o.a.t pele.word up son
Not bad, not great. Worms Rumble is a pleasant surprise but can't say I'm too fussed about Just Cause or Rocket Arena.
My comment would be next: I never asked for this)))
I tried Just Cause 4 on PS Now and it was a dull mess. Might give Rocket League a short blast.
sounds great to me 👍👍
Just cause 3 was a really pleasant surprise when it was on PS4, had no idea it was going to be as good as it was so I'm looking forward to just cause 4!
This is a good month despite the lack of knack 2.
Another reason why I'm not renewing my ps plus in May. Once I get those red dead 2 trophies of course .
Pile of garbage.
Meh... Don’t have a PS5 and I already have Just Cause 4 on physical media.
It’s alright though, Cyberpunk 2077 is going to keep me busy.
I haven't played Just Cause 3 yet, but I'll take it for later
I'll play around with just cause 4 and add it to my library but I don't think I would play the other two 😏😏
Lame, but I'm looking at at least 5-7 games on PS Collection that I've yet to play, so I'm good.
@get2sammyb yes, you are alone. 😕
I just add JC4 because I have JC2 on ps3.
Feel so sad for Worms. How did they ruin them...
And that Rocket something... even for free it is too expensive.
Not too bad.Still not tried the last few months games yet so I'm not bothered.
I'm never gonna catch up with backlog so no point worrying what were gonna get on Plus.
Oh wow, that's terrible
Worms Rumble looks kinda meh for a Worms game, but since it's free, I guess I'll bite.
I honestly have way too much to play as it is so I'm just going to ignore this slight.
More shooting things. How original.
I'll play Worms Rumble. Played a whole lot of Worms back in the day, so even if it's a new genre for the series, I'm willing to give it a try. =)
Does anyone know if it has local multiplayer modes?
I think Rocket Arena could be fun. It looks colorful, and it could be some fun with friends. Had a feeling it'd be free in someway eventually.
Can't stand the Just Cause series. Just not for me honestly.
Worms I might try. I dunno.
It's an OK month. As I've always stated, I would rather just pay for online than for the free games. They're almost always a wash.
Just Cause 4 actually had a much better framerate than 3, but it suffered in terms of resolution and pop in on base PS4 where I played it. I never completed it but I'll download it as was kind of fun.
Seems a bit off having an extra game on PS5 when it runs on PS4 too and everyone is paying the same for the sub. I have so many games to play it's almost a relief to get a month of games I'm not that bothered about. Just Cause 4 might be worth a bash one day, but I doubt I'll realistically get round to playing any of these.
Trash, they could not even shake out a indie game for PS5! While PS4 got 2 games every month at launch.
Have PS5 so I guess it's just Worms Rumble then. Oh well, to be expected with a new console I guess. Just hope they are not going to just release 1x PS5 game each month, should be 2x.
@Digit2021 there aren’t really two to release yet, devs have to get paid too.
Not great, but jc4 was a big release at the time, opinions be darned, that's not too bad. I wish the series was better but it is what it is. (Own it on xb fwiw.)
I can forgive worms since it's kind of a bonus, bugsnax only had half a month.
Yeah, there's nothing there that really grabs my interest. I'll probably leave rocket arena well alone, but download the other 2 and let them sit in the backlog for eternity.
Utter rubbish.
People do like to overreact. There isn't really anything here for me, but Worms is day 1 to Plus, Just Cause a triple A release, and Rocket Arena is only a few months old. The only real complaint is Worms and Rocket Arena may be a bit too similar in terms of audience. Its a meh month for me but on the right track, I doubt that will continue though.
I'm actually quite happy with these. Worms rumble seems like it might be a little bit of fun just to play with friends whereas Just Cause 4 is supposed to just be the same as just cause 3 but slightly worse so I'll take that. Whatever the other one is looks rubbish though. Glad worms is for ps4 as well as PS5 though
If you don't know, you can add PS5 games to your library even if you don't have one yet. I just added Bugsnax (November's PS5 free game) to my library via the web browser store and I don't have a PS5 yet. (I found out via Kotaku)
Another month another round of complaining. Im sure if you give RDR 2 and GTA 5 people would still complain. 🤪
I do find it weird how they seem to generally steer clear of a lot of Japanese games (at least overtly Japanese games, it's different when it's something people may assume is western, like RE). I know they gave away Persona 5 with the PS Collection but the typical thing for PS+ is that they'd rather put in some half-assed games like JC4 that try something like Tales of Berseria or Catherine or whatever.
So many months would've been better and less forgettable with, say, Trails of Cold Steel rather than some generic TPS. Talking of the PS Collection, that was more how they should do it - a better mix between genres and regions of origin. I remember that period of time where every month seemed to be some generic retro-themed indie game that no one wanted when surely it couldn't have cost much more to do something like a PS2 Classic like Rogue Galaxy; that would probably make more people happy than Pixellated Shooter 5: Retro Boogaloo.
The PS5 is just out so we can't expect the best PS5 games yet. Its library needs to build up. We also just got the PS Plus collection which are some of the very best games ever made.
A turd of a month once again...
I'll claim Just Cause 4 but won't be playing it until 1 and 2 are remade/remastered or ported to PS4/PS5.
Rubbish as always, it's Sony after all.
@playstation1995 he was a cheat on a global stage.
Its decent compared to what Xbox Gold has to offer on December. Although Just Cause 4 is probably the worst in the series.
If i hadnt got half a year of plus still subbed id cancel it. Only reason i still sub is for the games and i cant really remember the last time the service was worth it (to me) good on anyone lookng forward to the games tho.
@ApostateMage I was going too get it but i thought why not wait i have a massive backlog and it didnt capture me as much as The Witcher 3.
i got jc 3 3 weeks ago sony y r udoing this to me i had plans for the weekend
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