PS Plus Essential Games for December 2023 Announced

I like all these games.

Really weak month in my opinion. Nothing here interests me at all

Wow fantastic list. Honestly I can't remember a time where I didn't own any of the games, and legitimately would play all of them as well.

I think that's a dire month, personally. Especially for December. Exceptionally weak.

Nice, I was actually keeping my eye on Power Wash Simulator for a price drop… I love it when the plan comes together!

I tried 2k drive and didn't like it. Been wanting to try power wash and sable, pretty good month. Wish they would also announce the extra and premium on the same day as essential.

Been waiting for power wash simulator to get its VR mode before jumping in. Wife loves it in her laptop and it seems relaxing.

Man I think this month is awesome! As a racing fan I’ve had my eye on the Lego game. Not sure id play the power wash game but sable is definitely something I’d try out!

Out of 2023 with a huge fanfare it is then……

/sarcasm

Honestly, quite a decent list. I've been wanting to try out Lego 2K Drive and PowerWash Simulator for a while now so those are definitely ones I'll play, and I don't have a PS5 yet but Sable looks very pretty so I'll make sure to claim it on the store website. Quite happy with this month after the past few have been pretty lackluster for me

Didn't Lego 2k Drive just come out? I'm not complaining. I think its a good month. Most excited to try Sable out.

Was looking forward to play all three games so I’m over the moon ! That’s actually one of the best month in the year, in my opinion.

One man's treasure is another' man's trash

That explains why LEGO 2K Drive physical edition was heavily discounted for Black Friday! I have Powerwash Simulator but does mean I can sell my physical copy.

A pretty weak month for me (although I am glad to see there are things for others to like), but I would like to try Sable sometime.

Were the bugs and stuttering framerate noted in the Push Square review ever fixed?

All three of these games are on my PS Store wishlist. I'm very happy with this!

Happy enough. Games I'd probably play but not particularly want to purchase is kinda the sweet spot for the Essential service.

Haha! Powerwash is one of the games that grab your attention. Weird title and probably the only to interest me. I will not miss PS Essential and Extra-content, but it does diversify my gaming experience.

It would be cool if PS+ would have a month where there were no live service games. Lego 2K Drive is pretty much "Microtransactions: The Game".

Weak lineup. I have a few more months of PS Plus Essential left and I’m really starting to question why I should bother anymore.

Wooh! Christmas spring cleaning with Powerwash Simulator!
Still envious of Meta for having the VR version though! Still hoping it makes its way to PSVR2 eventually.

Actually fairly stoked for 2k Drive. Would never buy it myself so excited to give it a shot.

So, increasing the price to increase the quality. Where's the quality? Especially in a month where a lot of people take holidays and stay at home.

Genuinely excited about Powerwash Simulator. Perfect PS Plus fodder, same as Teardown.

Yknow what… objectively this might be kinda mid but I honestly really like this lineup. I’ve heard great things about Sable and Power Wash Simulator and seems like good flow state games.

Seems these games weren't even interesting enough to be leaked beforehand xD

Sable looks interesting. Lego could be fun. I thought they would give us something ace for crimbo though.

@gollumb82 because then you will miss out on visiting these articles every month

As soon as the price went up the quality of games plummeted! A dreadful month esp for December when lots of shiny new playstations will be getting unwrapped.

If you haven’t tried it yet, or simply think it’s not your thing, I highly recommend PowerWash Simulator. I didn’t think it’d be my thing, next thing I know, I’m one trophy away from the Platinum. Awesome time!

So glad I didn't pick up power wash and Lego drive in any sales.

These seem OK but is it my imagination or has the quality of monthly games dropped since the price increase was announced.

Not great but better than the last few months.

Most of these comments are sarcastic, right?

Right…?

I'll try all of those. Sable was already on my wishlist, and Power Wash will fit nicely on the Portal I'm considering.

Very excited to check out Sable. I might try Power Wash just because so many people have said it's fun. No interest at all in Lego Drive.

Couldn’t resist the Black Friday deal to renew my membership, having let it lapse after the price hike. Regretting it already…

Glad I didn't extend my plus!
Same old, old offerings.
Played sable ages ago, not interested in sims and a lego game lol

Sable has a great soundtrack by Japanese Breakfast. Really suits the game well. I personally think this is a pretty solid month. Too bad I didn’t get a promotional offer to renew my subscription at a discount over Black Friday.

I played Sable a few months ago, to put it bluntly - style over substance.
Quite easily the most boring game I've played this year. More so than Trek to Yomi, another game that's more style over substance.

Might try Lego 2K Drive at some point but I'm not expecting much.

@Areus
Haha. Good call. I’m just a single player guy and cloud saves aren’t that important to me. I’ll wait and see.

Awesome! Now I'm going to buy the Back to the Future DLC for PowerWash Simulator!

I was SOOOO close to buying Lego 2K Drive on Black Friday. I am VERY happy with this month for that alone.

Could be worse I guess

I'm happy with this selection to be honest. What I love about playstation plus, apart from playing worms wmd online with my mate and the occasional online on other games is it encourages me to try new games that I wouldn't bother with otherwise. I've been enjoying wreckfest on playstation plus and just a few trophies away from the platinum. I also quite fancy downloading and trying the ps5 golf game that was given the other month too.

Not terrible - I was actually thinking of buying Sable at some point

Best month in a long time for me.

I played the free trial of Lego 2K Drive and I did want to play more, just not enough to actually buy it so I held off in the hope it would come to PS Plus one day

I'm just surprised it's here so quickly

Power wash simulator is also a surprisingly good game, I played it on Xbox Game pass and it's very addictive

For me personally...this is a great month.

Wanted power wash and sable and Lego 2k looks decent. Well happy

I thought the whole point of the price increase was we would be getting better quality games these games are an outright disappointment

I’m angry. I spend £60 a year on essential and for that I expect at least 2 AAA GOTY contenders a month. Where was BG3 and Alan Wake 2? It’s Christmas FFS Sony. At the very least they should be comparing my library against my wishlist and curating three games that i personally haven’t played. Weak month, weak year, can’t wait to let my subscription lapse. Just depressed I am subscribed till 2031

@itsfoz sarcasm works so well in text so well you have to actually state it was meant to be sarcastic 😂

I genuinely shouted HOORAY! when I saw this list. Bangerz!

I could get down on some power washing and maybe sable. I absolutely won't touch the predatory pay to win mtx ridden lego racing game though.

Yep. I've been wanting to play all three. That hasn't happened in a really long time. 😌

Already have Powerwash Simulator and is absolutely superb for what it is. Be getting its Spongebob dlc soon and maybe the Back to the Future dlc too if that one also comes with extra trophies. Just seen a review for Sable which left me a bit empty tbh so I'll be staying with my Hogwarts Legacy December plans. 50/50 on Lego 2K Drive haven't made my mind up, if it's plat is below the 40 hour mark might try it?

Kids will love Lego 2k Drive - thats a great family game for the Xmas period (although I will just check password protection is on for purchases 🤣🤣)

Not too exciting. I'll ***** with Sable once I catch up on my 80 game backlog.

Is ps+ essential the basic tier or a higher or highest one ?

I already played sable on xbox, but its a good game. I also already played powerwash simulator but it's not for me, and I'm not interested in the lego game. So again, another lost month for me, thanks a lot sony.

How to put this bluntly. Most people do not give a ***** about Lego games, niche games, weird indie or jrpg/vnovel games. Your "this is fine" or "this is great" comments only pushes playstation to make more bad choices. I remember the time when PS had to change monthly line-up because of the critique, now its every month just games which are bad, not meant for majority or games which didnt sell (this months lego game) and sony getting hell of a deal.

Really?! I mean, REALLY? Bought a PS5 with tons of manyflops, dualsense which vibrates in a thousand ways so that you can feel the slightest change on the ground, 4k, supermegatupper sound, only to play a kartcher simulator... C'mon now!!
I see many comments saying that it's not so bad, I don't believe my eyes!
Yeah, I don't expect AAA games every month, but at least something that doesn't feel as if they were laughing at our faces.
Anyway... It might be just my total disappointment speaking, Lego driving may well be fun, and Sable could be one of those little hidden jewels, but the Karcher Sim just got me going! ;p

Finally Sony gives us something worth it. Those last two months of complaining paid of.

@rusty82 true but there was genuine fear people would believe I’m happy with power washing 😂

Im pretty sure some comments here should have a tag "Comment paid by Sony" on them...

@doublek 100% agree with your words! If those indulgent comments reach SONY they may think that they are doing ok, and will keep on adding ***** games and RISING the prices.

Sable is an excellent title and lego 2k is exactly the kind of game you want on extra - not good enough to spend money on, but youd like to play it.
Power wash didn't grab me, but Im sure many a person will be suprised to find its all they play over the hollidays.

Cant understand the negitivity on display here, people clearly expect too much imo, like they were gonna get 3 new aaa games?
Whatever, if they wish to go through life expecting too much, they will simply always be miserable, their choice.

My PS+ Ess expires in a couple of weeks so this lineup of games actually works for me:

They are good enough that I'll play them a bit and finish with them quick, but bad enough I'm happy I didn't renew. 👍

Horrible selection 🤮🤮🤮

enter entitled babies in comments

Excellent month.

Lego 2K Drive - decent, fun and 90% of Push Square readers haven’t played it.

Powerwash Simulator - GOTY

Sable - solid little experience that again most won’t have played or even heard of.

But words like “dire” are thrown about, get real.

@ShogunRok I see that extra PS Plus money is being put to good use, I think we were getting better games before the price increase 🙁

@itsfoz it's meant to be good. and now we can test it as part of our subscription and find a hidden gem or that you saved the money buying it. Win win for me

I tried my nephews copy of lego 2K drive and it was quite fun, like forza horizon but lego. Sable looks interesting but I'm definitely not interested in powerwash simulator, I don't think any of those "simulator" games have ever entertained me, I play games to escape real life/work not do more of it 😅

@Stickleman that a serious question? If so it's the lowest tier. Extra is mid and premium highest

I’m not interested in any of these games, but it does seem like a solid month. You’ll hear no complaints from me!

@Jacko11 "enter entitled babies in comments"

Dude if you use the ignore button you won't have to enter every article's comments section and cry about people crying, I do know that's your shtick here like word up son is for PlayStation1995 (his shtick is better than yours!)

Really interested in powerwash given all the buzz so will defo give that a whirl. Lego 2K drive might be fun with the kids. Sable looks interesting visually, although i seem to remember hearing the game is less memorable. Happy with this month overall

@rusty82 it is 🤷 I just pay for PS+ so I can play a couple games online and no idea what tier I've got or the names of the different ones

Well you obviously can't please everyone but I'm happy so 👍

Reactions are genuinely divided this month, which I guess is a good thing. Not like last month when pretty much everyone thought the selection was trash.

Great month for me!! First time I've said that in a long while...wanted to play all 3 of these!!

@Titntin "Cant understand the negitivity on display here, people clearly expect too much imo"

After a 35% increase I'm absolutely going to expect more and better, maybe one of the 3 being a AAA game? Show me what you're doing with all that extra money besides putting it into the execs pockets

@Tecinthebrain difference is I can write sentences with spaces and full stops so I beg to differ 😂

You could also take your own advice and click ignore?

Looks like mixed feeilings on here, for me a nice lump of coal from Playstation this christmas....

@TheMysticOne if you have Extra as well, those December Extra games will be playable a few days before Christmas too. All depends on what those Extra games will be, come middle of December's Extra reveals

Looks like a good month for me.

I was gonna get Lego Drive but then didn't because of the MTX, I'll give it a bash but won't be spending a penny on it.

The other two... Meh.

All in all a pretty meh month

@stBoa But one man's trash is still trash...

Well I'm happy in one regard in that for once it's 3 games I don't actually own!!

But then I realise why I don't own them in the first place...

Might give Sable a look though.

@Titntin I prefer it when the ps plus offers games that I'd actually like- or even pay- to play. They've offered plenty of great titles in the past, where the most divisive factor is simply that many people already have them, but the quality of the games is never debatable. In a year that's been packed with great releases, I'm sure sony could have chosen 3 games that, arguably, some of us would have played already, but that no one would be inclined to complain about.

After a price increase of about 30%, I'd say it's fair to expect a higher quality offering, and not just be happy to get games you wouldn't ordinarily buy.

@Beerheadgamer82 Sadly i don't it's not in my budget.
I have a heathly backlog though.

PS Plus is pretty much where i get all my games from. So i was looking forward to the improvement in quality.

@J2theEzzo can't argue with that logic!

Powerwash simulator - my current most played game of 2023 and the only game I've ever bought DLC for. Words I didn't expect to write in 2022.

Best month I've seen in a while now. I'll definitely spend some time with Powerwash, that looks so relaxing I love it

@Juanalf So cancel your sub? I mean honestly if you're that mad about it, just cancel it and save yourself the drama.

Maybe I will give Sable a try. But yes, I expected more from december line-up.

@TheMysticOne doing this thing now where every 5p, 10p and 20p loose change I have I put in a jar after every shopping trip, specifically for Premium Plus. Those silver coins especially the 20p sure do add up over time and by the time my yearly Premium sub needs paying I've already payed about 80% of it with just yearly spare change in a jar. I totally get the budgeting thing, balancing bills and other must have things with gaming can be very difficult. Sacrifices on some new must play games released every year have to be made for other must play new releases, unfortunately, having said that it really is nice when they get chunky sales 6 to 12 months later or end up on Plus down the road. Having the huge backlog build up can be annoying but at the same time can be so good when budgeting

None of these games will keep me busy during the holidays.

I was going to get Sable until I heard it had some pretty bad performance issues. I guess I’ll see in a couple of days. I’ve got about 3 weeks left on my subscription and I’m not seeing any reason to renew.

this is the quality of output they so desperately needed a 40% subscription increase for? they really did take their customers for a ride. there is absolutely nothing to show for the price hike of ps plus. nothing at all.

@J2theEzzo That's simply a matter of taste as to 'games you want to play', and as you can no doubt see, theres plenty of people posting who wish to play these.
Im genuinely sorry these are not to your liking, but with only three offerings its statistically likely there will be a few months of the year that you dont care for any game. Thats the nature of a service like this.
Value is of course subjective, and what I might expect of a £5 a month service is clearly not gonna to be the same for everyone.
I can only truthfully say the service seems reasonable to me, even though I experience 'barran' months too.
Hope you get more of what you want on the next spin of the wheel...

Seeing as how I have roughly 100 hours into PowerWash Sim on pc. I will gladly start all over on ps5. Was going to buy. Glad I waited. As for the other two. I’ll give Lego a try. Sable. Add to library but probably never install.

Maybe give lego racing a go but tried powerwash on gamepass and was bored after 10 minutes, made that lawnmower sim seem exciting. Poor month

-Lego 2K seems good, review says it's similar to The Crew 2.
-Powerwash, maybe I try one day,
-Sable I tried the PC version long ago and I did not like it.
Overall 1 out of 3 games I'm happy for so it's an average month

Not great, I mean lego 2k is decent, but i cant shake the feeling theyre only doing it to sell more ingame currency over the christmas.

If it wasnt for cloud saves id unsub off ps plus long time ago.

Power wash is fun, for a couple hours. Played on GP.
The rest meh

Mine expires 12-12 and I'm not renewing

Brilliant selection, really happy with these. Kids can play Lego and dad get to use the pressure washer game. Heard its great fun.

Powerwash Simulator makes this a great month for me. I’ve wondered what all the fuss is about with that game, but didn’t want to pay for it. 😄

It's a decent month

This was is a dud for me, but after reading the Sable review, I’m willing to give it a shot. I couldn’t care less about the other two, but maybe…JJJJJUUUUSSSSSTTTTT maybe Sable will be one of those diamon in the rough kind of discoveries.

Lego might be fun for a week but I've had Sable on my wishlist since it came out so this is a pretty good month

Technically not a very lucrative PS4 month for me between two titles available on Switch and one locked to PS5, but the general notion of TWO variably vehicular open-worlders in one month is definitely not the kind of PS+ batch I could scoff at in sound mind. And Powerwash might end up installed rather soon if it's small enough in size - those PS Stars points won't redeem themselves.😆

I am excited by Powerwash and interested in Sable. I can see a lot of people who don’t want games like this. Even more so for end of the year this seems like a weaker selection. People are going to hope for a AAA title or something similar.

That said, if every month was like this I would be delighted.

@gollumb82 My Playstation essential account expired a few months ago, just as the price increase came about. I have not missed it at all.

The way I see it is that I have accumulated a 100+ games over the years but only a dozen of them I will likely replay (if that!) But it's going to have to be a pretty decent discount price to lure me back and even IF I do, it will just be for a year to gain access to those games.
It helps that I am not that interested in multiplayer games but if like me you have a ton of back log games, save your money. You won't really miss Playstation Essential.

Lego looks like some fun.
Sable is a maybe.
PW Simulator? Nope.

Another consecutive month of Trash. Feburary is going to be a real boring wait

Not a PS+ sub but fair month. Lego 2K Drive has it's appeal.

Sable I had to look up as I forgot what it was, but had heard the name before, seems fine for people into it I think probably the stand out of the month.

Powerwash I mean sure..... I get why it's successful but eh. Not my thing of appeal whether as a simulator/cosy/do mundane things but it ends up being fun. The content they have added makes sense too I guess via DLC/updates or however their handling it.

Like I said a fair month. None of interest to me either.

Horrid. One of the worst yet.

Was really close to getting a PS5 physical copy of LEGO 2K Drive in the sales. Thankfully I removed it from the cart. Great getting both editions now, but its going to be tough doing the 12000 miles. Sable I completely forgot about, so glad to get it. I have power wash simulator already and it's great. Very relaxing and addictive!

Sable gave me extreme motion sickness when I tried it in gamepass, but the other 2 are worth trying I hope

@Ken_Kaniff If Lego get more players they make their money through the micro transactions especially with kids whom most don't have the self control. With Christmas coming up it will be "Money for games" and then the spend moola in the content shops.

I've not seen a reason why the price increase was 40% after all of these months. Thanks for the reminder Sony cause I absolutely will cancel the Extra tier sub and go for the base online play tier just because my wife regularly plays Tekken 7 even after getting Platinum in it. Absolutely hilarious. The latest Persona game was just put on Gamepass and even on PC you find that Assassin's Creed Syndicate is being given away for free. Between last month and this month, it shows that you really care about your fans during the holidays. My Ps5 will continue to collect dust as I play the Xbox Series instead. Thanks Sony.

Abysmal, no knack 2.

Dunno about the other two, but Powerwash Simulator is a nice surprise at least.

This is beyond ridiculous..
People like to clean virtual cars now..?
Are these kids who are paractising cleaning their mums car?
People who's hobbies are watching grass grow and watching paint dry..??
This is pathetic. Can we have a tier system that divides these lemmings from us functioning human beings and have decent games please? It's the holiday month for crying out loud!!
And this after the 35% price increase??
Get your head out of your ass Sony

I think I won’t extend my PS Extra, because of all that ***** they throw there during last months.

I bought Powerwash Simulator on sale and then learned it will eventually get a PSVR2 mode, and have left it to gather dust until then.

good list! sable is great y'all

No thank u not really anything interesting for me maybe power wash and that's with the ff7 dlc which is stretching it

I don't know what to say, that is some type of joke, right?
Sony, can you give us multiplayer for 20£ a year without free games, please? And you can keep your rubbish monthly and premium games

I think it’s great how there’re mixed opinions here. Nothing will ever be universally loved or hated. Me personally though, none of these games will be played. But, to those who will play them. Enjoy!

Edit: I remember when people clamored for Sony to add more Indy games and support Indy developers. Now, Sony gives Indy games monthly and people hate the service because there aren’t enough AAA games 🤣

Honestly, I think this is one of the better months for me. They are all games I don't own, wouldn't have bought otherwise, but look interesting enough to mess around.

Xbox gets remnant 2 on gamepass ,we get this load of old cobblers, I've got remnant 2 but that's besides the point. We had the price increase but not an increase in quality of games , well I've got Alan wake 2 & jedi survivor to finish off over Xmas no thanks to Sony 🙄.

I remember like a month or so ago, on another website, people mocking GamePass for having CarWash rofl.

I am PS player but.... c'mon...

Love the lineup! Games I’ve been wanting to play.

I'm only going to try Power Wash because I genuinely don't understand the appeal and need to see what it is myself. A couple hours should do it. Yes, I could look at videos online but that isn't the same. I swore off the buggy Lego branded games a long while back and I don't think I'll be changing that point of view. Sable looks cool.

i won't even bother claiming this crap.

Kind of sad when its been two yrs of about the samething they were doing before they merged both the Plus and Now together promising a better selection and this huge classics library and nothing has changed one bit except demos and they removed most of the PS3 and vita store to add into the service. Which we had so it was nothing special there, so really the only thing thats changed is that the price increased this crazy amount for nothing. So they figured they would throw in a few movies from their lineup to justify it. But they have all the ones who still sub going well I dont have any of these games that were marked as low as 5.99 on their storefront which is crazy because PS charges more than anyone, and they say at least these are better than most of the yr.

Anyone who enjoys playing power wash or job simulator or gum scrapper or any other "job" game. Has no real job and must leave there moms house immediately and go get one.

The price will increase the next time they get hit with a lawsuit aswell XD

The ones saying that this is one of the best months of the year and that’s a huge win… do you work for Sony? Are these Sony bots? What a sad life man.

@Titntin No need to apologise to me, my dude! Just engaging in open debate, haha. True enough, as you say, it's entirely subjective and clearly a lot of people are enjoying this month's offerings. I think, in lieu of conversations about digital prices, and the trend towards the subscription model, I'd just like to see more 'quality' games being offered, on a more regular basis- but I suppose that's what the premium tier is for... 🤷‍♂️
In any case- happy that you get to enjoy December's games! Appreciate the positivity!

i'm surprised by how many people like these games, personally all i can say is i hope extra is better and they dont get rid of anymore of the decent Rpg's 2 of which were why i subscribed to extra in the first place, this is garbage, seems like ps4 is getting dropped faster than ps3 did, anyone know the cutoff for games like fallout and elder scrolls, beth said indefinet but well thats Bethesda

@CAKESPECTRE999 This isnt PS extra. This is the equivalent service to game pass core, which provides no new monthly games at all. Comparisons are fair game, but at least compare the equivalent services!
You got some great titles for the hollidays anyway 😀

Remember when you used to get Call of Duty and triple A games in your so-called essential PS Plus subscription, I predict the extra games will be some obscure 10 yo games while premium will "enjoy" another dumpster diving bonnanza

@Jacko11 entitled ? those games aren’t free.

@nomither6 its mad cause google exist and you still came here to say this.

These three aren’t anywhere near any ‘must buy’ lists, and they’re totally not AAA (or arguably AA), but they are collectively worth the £5 this month’s PS+ has cost me (I stacked on the old price until Nov 2024), so I’ll add them. I added nothing last month.

So 2023’s PS+ Essential list has added around 20 games out of the selection to my library this year. These are the ones I will play, not adding for the sake of it.

So PS+ E has been worth the annual expenditure for the year for me. Hopefully 2024 will be ‘better’ !