michaelf

It's not for my personal taste, however as a gesture, I think it's spot on.

I'm on Essential (it renews in November) and I can upgrade to Extra for £20.14, which is particularly enticing. I've already got a sufficiently large backlog, but for that price I'm sure I'd get through enough Extra-exclusive games to justify the upgrade fee until renewal. Hmmmmm

My PS3, PS4pro & PS5 have all been positioned vertically for the majority of their life (so far) and all still working and being used!

If this was a widespread issue that could occur through basic normal handling of the devices, surely this would've been more prominently noticed within the first few months of the PS5 launching?

Something serious would need to have happened for this to bypass Sony's QA team and potentially regulatory checks ... so I'm going to continue with how my machines are positioned and disregard.

It’s a good selection. I last played ME a few years ago on PS3 so playing on PS5 via BC will be sweet. Always fancied a go on Biomutant, so now I have the opportunity. For me, those four games are worth the £4.17 PS+ costs me each month. No idea about the final one, so even if it’s terrible, I’m happy.

I spent a very long time playing The Settlers on my Amiga, in both single player and versus mode. Brilliant. I hope this version captures what made that game so good. I haven’t played any of the sequels, so this could be an opportune time to jump back in!

The first two do hold up well; I’ve played them to death since they got rereleased on the Evercade. Never played TR3000 and as I already have played and enjoyed Horizon Chase Turbo, I can’t see me getting this collection, despite enjoying 3/4 of the games.

I have great memories of playing the Lotus games on my Amiga, mainly the third one as I spent far too long creating races on the level designer, which ended up on console for Lotus 2 I think?

Happy times 😊

Gotham Knights on PS5; 8 1/3 hours in, mainly pottering around on side mission things. Also playing Furwind on Switch and scratching my head playing Chip’s Challenge, the Atari Lynx version, on Evercade. Right mixed bag!

As an Essentials subscriber, this looks like a good month for me.

I got the first Nioh and the latter half of the HP games for Vita with old-skool plus, so I'm happy with being able to complete the whole Lego HP franchise without paying any more £££ on it, and to get to grips with both Niohs too, as I've not started #1 yet.

I know only what the Push Square review said of Heavenly Bodies and I'd be happy to give that a go.

@Flaming_Kaiser yes, where’s the phone competition? I agree; too much personal information is almost freely given out these days. I also remember paying for WhatsApp!

@Flaming_Kaiser a thoroughly recommended course of action, one not just limited to gaming!

As a data protection professional, this seems unnecessary, especially for solo campaigns. You’d also think if the solution was to tie in mobile numbers as a validation method, it would be widely tested as to ensure it works universally (with a small percentage of errors; nothing is 100% fallible).

I’d be interested to find out how they have incorporated Privacy by Design in this, which is a fundamental part of the GDPR and legally required. I guess not …

As a professional cynic, I also think this is just another way to monetise gamers, by selling their personal data on.

This had better not become a trend!

Currently working my way through Resi the First HD, via PS5. The SSD helps with the 'door opening' loading sequences. The camera angles are a bit mad now, compared to modern game expectations, but I'm enjoying it. Also got me some Dungeon hunter: Alliance action on the old Vita. Bit of basic handheld Diablo-ing is keeping me smiling.

Just biding my time until Gotham Knights arrives in three weeks.

I really like the dev kit version & would’ve been quite pleased with that as the actual model. The “v” shape syncs in with the 5 as well.

The actual retail model is okay. I have mine vertically and the “collars” are cool, with the machine glowing & pulsing. I think some purple sleeves & a matching controller will be next on the list (after a SSD!)

this looks like being a good solid month, purely from an objective perspective; I believe that all three were positively received at launch? Personally, I've not played any of these, but I have been tempted at buying Little Nightmares more than once.

I've been less keen on TH games as I've not shown any interest in the genre, but I'd certainly give them a go, just to try them out at least. I have the other Yakuza games from previous Plus offerings, so happily add this to the list.

All in all, looks like a good set of games to me.

I’m pleased this is happening. I’ve been playing the AC games from the beginning and Syndicate is next on my list. Unity was great on the PS5, so I may dive into the Chronicles games first on Vita whilst a patch corrects the issues.

@nomither6 no, this month isn’t really “hot garbage”

Other months have been particularly bad, certainly for people like me who prefer single player games.

If you only want plus for online gaming access, then surely it’s giving you what you want and the games are irrelevant? The world of free online gaming on PlayStation ended when PS4 came into existence, so we can’t do anything about that as it’s a cash cow for Sony.

If you don’t like the games but enjoy online gaming, you’re still getting something for your money?

The two roguelites seem decent and whilst I’m not a FIFA fan (give me Sensible Soccer any day 😉), I know the game has its’ fans, so my fear of this being an underwhelming month hasn’t come true.

Although I would still need to play either of the games I’m interested in to fully give it the thumbs up!

I would expect a multiplayer/heavily focussed online game for the PS5; it’s a justification for requiring plus for online and it’s been more obviously pitched for the Five than the PS4. The PS4 pairing will be a result of some random selection from the last 0-6 years I reckon.

I’m not being cynical, however to launch the new tiered system of plus, having ‘better’ games in June will only be made easier by having average-at-best ones in May. Still; could be entirely surprised!

Plus has released some excellent games over the last decade, so perhaps the final month could be an epic swansong? Hmmmmmm

@Ward_ting that’s a yes! My games purchasing has now ground to a halt, until Gotham Knights is released (and favourably reviewed).

The PS+ mid-tier will more than satisfy my gaming needs. And backlog, natch.

@Resi32 cheers. All sounds good to me 😃

Got mine ordered; first physical PS5 game I’ll own!

@Quintumply good review; cheers. Are there any use of the Dual Sense haptics? What’s the loading time like - not expecting to wait ages, nor expecting Digital Foundry measuring, but good to know

@Balosi yes, Your Sinclair “reviewed” Advanced Lawnmower Sim in their April issue (hmmmm… no coincidence PS “reviewed” it today at all - although it IS in the PS store!)

ALS spent a good few months / years as a running joke before ending up on a cover tape for all us Spec-Chums to enjoy.

When do we get this version on PS+? 😉

@IonMagi yup! Forgot about that bit! Tearaway also had that functionality as well.

@ShogunRok yeah - and that's "too costly". Much easier to say "no Vita games" than put in a bit of effort, ey?

/sarcasm.

But I do agree with you that Sony would have to put in resources to check each game they're uploading to the platform, so perhaps it wasn't deemed worthy

other than back panel controls, surely the DS4 or Dual Sense can emulate the gyro elements? Both controllers have a touch pad, so only those which have mandatory back screen functionality would suffer?

It's unfortunate if Vita is left out, but hey - I've got a real one. But it would be nice to have the system in the new service.

@Palleon indeed, I can only speak for myself and yes it will save me a lot of money too

@Apfelschteiner aye, I don't understand it either. After all, I will be getting hundreds of more games available in the two new tiers, however I still only have a finite amount of time to play them, so I am going to have to be choosy on what I play and buy.

It already takes me long enough to play the games I want (both in spare time and time to complete them), so whilst it's great to have a wider choice, it will mean that I'll be paying for the service (likely the second tier) first and significantly reducing new game purchases.

I reckon 2022 will have seen me buy three games - two physical and one digital. I know this as I've bought the digital (CP2020 as was £20), pre-ordered Lego SW and the other I currently want will be Gotham Knights. The rest will have to wait ...

Surely that's not good for other companies if this type of behaviour is replicated en masse, or am I just the exception here?

I liked the sound of Hood, but as a multiplayer only, (in all reality), it's not for me. The other two don't interest me, so for other audiences, these are good games and a decent month.

I'm not going to winge over how this is the 'worst month EVA' because qualitively speaking, they're not abysmal games, just not good for me and my subjective tastes.

Adding to my library 'just in case' is also not a good enough reason, as having PS+ for almost 12 years now, my PS+ backlog of half-decent games still to play is quite immense, so I'm still getting 'value' this month even if I don't like or add any of these offerings.

I have Plus ("essential") up until November. I wonder how they will deal with changes for people with current subs?

I'm tempted to go straight to the mid tier, as I can benefit from playing new(ish) PS4/PS5 games that I haven't bought yet. It does mean I'll be drastically reducing the number of existing games, cherry picking the odd AAA title from now on.

For me to go for Premium, it really depends on what the legacy games are like for it to be worth it for me. I still have my PS3 set up with a good selection of disc and digital games that I can easily access. I'm not too fussed about PS2 and I also have a good selection of PSP on my Vita, so hmmmm, decisions decisions!

But about time it was formally announced!

It’ll only be an ‘add to library’ for Planet Coaster, but which year I’ll play it is up for debate. For me, it’s in the did the same category as Farm Sim & Cities, as in ‘I’ll give it a go but there’s more fun stuff to play first’

Already have the Borderlands DLC & not interested in UFC. C-, Sony, must try harder!

it's been a good few years since I've played either, so for a tenner I think I'll upgrade. With the stripping out of multiplay (and associated trophies), I stand a good chance of getting two new platinums! (I'm really useless at getting them so this'll be a good opportunity for me).

I got through the mazes! Woooo!! Err, not really worth it. I didn’t want to see the global stats interspersed with my own (have them as a separate link please).

As I only got a PS5 last month, the amazing Astro Bot was my sole current gen game!

@thefourfoldroot yup that happened to me. Then I randomly got a verification code text’s to me, but no field to input it, so I gave up …

Did anyone else have to go through a torturous ‘pick the maze which the mouse can’t get the cheese’ verification “game”, before it looping back again?

I also purposefully failed to see what happened and the first time was definitely me getting all 20 tests correct. Still don’t know what my report card is … but it looks good for those that can see it!

@Bentleyma yes. It’s a poor state of affairs when that is the reduced price! Think I’ll hold off for another six months or so. And I’ve bought every Housemarque game since Stardust was released on the Amiga back in the nineties …

@AgentMantis that’s good news! I have been eyeing up P4 golden for the vita for a good few years, just never got around to playing any of them

@Old-Red that has just made my day! I totally forgot P5 was part of the collection! Woo hoo!

first reaction was "meh". However, I have read more about Persona Strikers and whilst I'm a wee bit wary about playing a game which (a) I've never played any of the series before and (b) being quite important to play P5, I'm still somewhat interested. Especially as P5 Ultimate Edition is currently £20 in the PS sale!

Still not fussed about Dirt (though will prob add to library) and unsure about the other one, but I think on balance a decent Jan for me and likely to be a pretty good one for a lot more.

It took a little bit of faffing around, but I’m happy to have the PS5 version downloading as I type. That’s my Christmas game sorted (and no doubt my ‘New Year into January game’ as well ..) !

Interesting colours! I prefer the purple and blue out of those five. Will I get one, with a corresponding controller? Probably not, but it’s nice to have the choice

I’ve tripled-dipped on Skyrim already (PS3, special edition PS4 and the Switch one), and as I’ve still to properly get into it, I’m not going to pay for this new one. Still; happy with what I have and any newcomers (if there are any!) will no doubt enjoy 😊

After a few months of ‘meh’ for me, this has really perked me up. That said, after watching last nights’ State of Play, I have no interest in First Class Trouble, however I will at least add Knockout City.

I also have Kingdoms of Amalur from the PS3 plus giveaway (still not played!), so the Re-Reckoning version will be played instead.

As a PSVR owner, I am very pleased with these offerings, as I’ve had The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners & The Persistence in my wish list for a while. Not heard of Until You Fall, so will give that a go.

So I’m pleased by this months’ offering!

@TwoLiter thanks for the additional information about which formats this interesting-looking game is being released on. It shan’t change my decision on which console I’ll purchase next, though.

Has certainly piqued my interest! May even be the game that pushes me into getting a PS5 earlier than anticipated*

*(usual stock availability caveats applied)

That’s quite generous, and unexpected. From a selfish perspective, I hope they’re not the same games as those given away during the summer as I nabbed them then. Even if they are, they’re great games and give others an opportunity to also get them for zero outlay.

Looking at the offerings from January to now, comparing the games I want to play v’s those I have no interest in, my PS+ sub has so far paid for itself - I rarely play online so I’m here for the games (current & those in my PS3/Vita library). July - Sept has been poor with only two games being worth it for me.

Based on this rumour, October doesn’t increase that number, so I’ll see what happens in November.

@Perryg92 I also have a stack of them, and have shrieked far, far too many times at the ones I’ve played. To be honest, I played Dead Space recently and I shrieked there. I don’t think it’s the games, it’s me. (Still adding this to my ‘wish list’ though!)

@huyi aye, it’s a bit of a pain, but some point we have to let go of the tech to move forward … not planned obsolescence, surely?

Although as an enthusiastic retro gamer, I’ve kinda got used to that notion (but will resist as long as possible!!)

Ahem.

this sounds brilliant. I love my PSVR, even if it hasn't been used in a while. I'm seriously considering keepting my PS4pro just to use as a PSVR1 set, for that fateful day when I not only get a PS5, but also VR2. It's a little gutting that games will need to be remastered (etc), but I guess that can't be helped.

It still brings a smile to my face remembering when I first played Batman Arkham VR and I looked over the initial balcony, next to the batsignal

@James_42 if I have no intention of playing them, that’s my decision isn’t it? Stupidity doesn’t come into it. Some people will think these games are great and tailored to their gaming habits. Just not mine, and I have enough of a backlog to play.