Two high-profile PS Vita exclusives, Freedom Wars and Soul Sacrifice, will have their servers deactivated on 24th December, 2021. Both titles, published by Sony in response to its loss of Monster Hunter exclusivity, were built around co-operative play, and maintained relatively dedicated communities to this day.
While you can still play both games locally using adhoc connectivity, you’ll obviously need to know someone who owns a PS Vita and a copy of the games in order to set that up. This will naturally make some of the release’s Trophies difficult to unlock. It’s also worth adding that the server termination applies to both Soul Sacrifice and its enhanced successor Soul Sacrifice Delta.
Curiously, the server discontinuation news has only been announced on PlayStation’s Japanese website at the time of writing, but we can’t imagine the Western titles will be kept online. We’ll check with Sony just to clarify and will update when we get word back.
Whatever the case, we enjoyed both these games when we reviewed them, describing Freedom Wars as “deliciously dystopian” in our 7/10 review and Soul Sacrifice Delta as a “grisly fairy tale that’s more than worth the nightmares” in our 8/10 review. We’re confident the servers will get one last hurrah of activity over the coming weeks, so if you fancy revisiting either of these, now’s the time to do so.
[source jp.playstation.com, via jp.playstation.com, twitter.com, psu.com]
Comments 38
I'm always surprised they never ported these games to PS4 to be honest. Especially in the early days of the PS4.
Always sad to see them shut down like that. Both were fantastic games for the Vita.
Similar to Sammy, im surprised these were never ported since people generally really liked them. A real shame.
Owned both, played both. Unfortunate that most people never got to try these games since hardly anyone had a Vita.
@ATaco I liked them both. I thought Soul Sacrifice in particular had a really great, unsettling art style.
Soul Sacrifice was so dope!
RIP
Would be nice to see a sale rn, but...I don't think the Vita PSN store has hosted any sales since 2018, no joke. Just full-price items from here on out (sigh).
still plan on playing freedom wars at some point
I really loved freedom wars. Was obsessed with it at one point farming materials. Wish it was ported. How much would that have really cost Sony & they would’ve had a 1st party monster hunter clone on a much bigger platform. Probably would’ve done well in Japan.
Really wish they'd just port them already! Surely, it can't be that expensive.
Soul Sacrifice is one of the most memorable games I've ever played. Definitely one of the highlights of psvita.
It's unfortunate that neither of these received console or PC ports.
Very sad to see this. Love both games! Really wish they would make a collection for them and keep those games alive on the PS4. Would love a sequel for them on the main consoles too.
A collection for other Vita games would be great too. Killzone: Mercenary, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Resistance: Burning Skies, Persona 4 Golden. Would hate to see all those games die off with the Vita forever when they could live on and be played on the main console, especially for anyone that never had the handheld
These need to be ported to PS4/PS5 asap. I am baffled it hasn't been done already.
Aw man. That's a shame. Guess it was inevitable, since their online weren't that popular but still it sucks. I'm hoping maybe the PSONE group could support PS vita games in the future.
Maybe once my classes ends, I'll jump in on multiplayer for both of these before they shut down. Regardless, RIP Freedom Wars and Soul Sacrifice. You were both some of Vita's great gems. Also Oreshika will also get its servers shut down, so to those who are yet to complete the game, you better scan those OP qr codes as fast you can.
Merry Christmas from Sony. Slightly poor timing.
@TheGamerNextDoor Agreed. Would personally love to see a Vita collection for the PS4. Could include Murasaki Baby, Oreshika, Freedom Wars, Soul Sacrifice, Unncharted GA, Killzone Mercenaries, etc.
Someone needs to pull the Doctor who’s giving CPR off this thing and call the time of death
The Soul Sacrifice games were some of the most fun I had on Vita, played them for hundreds of hours. Soul Sacrifice Delta in particular has a criminally underrated art style and soundtrack. Freedom Wars was pretty solid too. RIP
This is why trophies shouldn’t be locked to online stuff…
the fact they still have online communities is just awful for sony shutting them down. Sony isn't hurting for money, so sending a little goodwill would be great. Hopefully PSONE will fill the void. Sony is horrible with this kind of thing. There is no reason to shut all of these down when other, supposedly greedier companies, don't have any of these shutdowns.
@stinkyx Considering how much the physical games go for now, the digital prices are already cheap
@stinkyx It technically has one whenever cross buy titles go on sale as in right now. But you have to check the internet store for those annoyingly.
I love both franchises
Freedom wars in particular it holds a special place in my heart.
Drat. I always meant to play these two games. Is it possible to get a decent experience playing offline?
I miss those kind of games from Sony. RIP Sony Japan...
I have a small hope that with the servers going down, Sony has something planned for the future of these franchises. I could see a in house monster hunter type game fitting into their business strategy.
@Dodoo Soul Sacrifice allows you to get online trophies offline, I think.
@Th3solution I played Soul Sacrifice offline almost the entire time and greatly enjoyed it. I'd say give it a try.
@naruball Good to know. I have no one to blame but myself for dragging my feet playing these two games, but I just wish Sony would keep these servers open.
At least the myriad of previous server shutdowns has long contributed to my breakup with the trophy fever. As long as the single player mode remains fully functional (and hopefully doesn't have any major content locked behind online activity), I'm still getting both of these. With Freedom Wars being a higher priority so far.
@get2sammyb considering the things Sony has taken from Nintendo, higher first party game prices, less frequent first party sales, etc., you'd think they use the one that matters. Nintendo switch brought a ton of games from Wii u, to the switch. Sony should've brought a ton of vita games to ps4. But it's not like ps4 was lacking for titles.
@MidnightDragonDX Yeah, why choose Christmas of all times? Sony is Grinch confirmed. 😡😠😈👿👹👺💀
@naruball ah ok didn’t realise that. That’s good then!
Oof. Rip Vita. Again. And again.
Still way more time than Gravity Rush 2 got before its online features were disabled.
@Th3solution Same here - just sat on the shelf!
Thank goodness I managed to platinum´d both considering how grindy these games can be lol (looks at Freedom Wars). Still sucks tho. These games were one of the few reasons that I even bought a Vita in the first place. Sucks that Sony doesn´t care for them.
RIP Freedom Wars and Soul Sacrifice...it's a shame Sony never bothered to port them over to consoles or PC.
I always wished for a sequel to Freedom Wars, such a fun game with a good story.
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