You might end up missing out on an underrated gem in this month’s PlayStation Plus line up, as fans have highlighted one particular game that they believe has been slept on. Being an active subscriber to PlayStation Plus at any of the three pricing tiers means that you’ve always got three new free games to download and keep every single month. While they might not always be of interest to you at first, giving them a chance because you don’t have to pay a single penny for them might lead you to some surprising favorites, and certain PlayStation fans have expressed their excitement for one of the more underrated games in this month’s lineup.
Many have pointed towards The Texas Chain Saw Massacre as the highlight game for this month’s PS Plus lineup, as the horror movie inspired asymmetrical multiplayer experience is sure to provide you with equal amounts of fun and fear, yet another film tie-in hiding behind it might be worth checking out as well. RoboCop: Rogue City – based off of the film series of the same name – allows you to step quite literally into the body of the robotic police officer, taking down bad guys and delivering justice in the 80s environment of Old Detroit.
It currently holds a ‘Very Positive’ rating from the Steam community, an 8.0 on Metacritics user review score, and generally favorable evaluations from critics who point towards the fun that fans of the films are bound to have. Many have expressed their excitement for the game’s upcoming addition to PS Plus, especially in relation to their lack of excitement for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre: “Not one bit,” one user comments in reflection of their lack of hype for Texas Chain Saw. “However, I am really excited for Robocop.” Another added “same,” and other replies amped up the hype even further by writing “same ∞.”
“Robocop is an awesome game,” argued one user, explaining however that “if you don’t like Robocop or older sci fi/cyberpunk then it won’t do much for you.”
Robocop: Rogue City will likely be great fun for fans of the films and older sci fi in general (Nacon)
Some have contrastingly expressed their disappointment in the game’s actual quality though, as while it might seem exciting from the outside for an existing fan of the films, the gameplay leaves something to be desired for certain players.
“You’re welcome for my sacrifice a week ago,” explains one comment. “It’s fun, but not nearly as great as I was hoping it to be.” Another adds that they “also bought it a few months back on a sale and was pretty disappointed. Not a horrible game just not what I wanted it to be!”
In a sense, the best part about these contrasting opinions is that you can go and try it yourself to see what you think. With it being on PlayStation Plus at the ‘Essential’ tier, all you’d be spending necessarily is your own time so you might as well take the plunge.
The gaming world went into panic on April 7, as a rare error left the entire PlayStation Network down.
This not only disabled multiplayer services in your favorite games, but it also meant that many people couldn’t even play the games in their library due to PSN’s inability to verify the license.
Understandably this left lots of gamers frustrated and demanding compensation, and Sony ‘gave in’ once the network was back live, revealing that all active PlayStation Plus subscribers would get five free additional days on the end of their subscriptions.
This was considered a pitiful and unrepresentative reward by many online – especially as it only applied to PS Plus users, despite the fact that all PlayStation gamers were affected – yet Sony seems to have also struck a nerve with how they’ve distributed the extra days.
As reported by GAMINGbible, Sony have been adding the free days to applicable accounts in waves over the past month, which for active subscribers is completely fine and you’ve likely not even noticed, but this does pose an issue for a select set of gamers.
If you happened to have PS Plus when the outage happened but it has since expired before Sony handed out the five free days, there’s a strong likelihood that you’ve already missed them being added to your account.
Revealed by u/badman2791 on Reddit, Sony’s inability to send out a message or notification as soon as the subscription began has left many with only a few days left before it ends, or it might have passed them by completely.
“Just got an email (27th March) saying my free days started on the 24th,” they explain. “Great, so I’ve got one day left. Anyone else experience the same?”
As they might have guessed, they’re far from the only one who has ran into this particular issue.
“Same,” declares the top comment underneath the post, explaining how they’re “so annoyed about the late notification. My subscription ended like 2 weeks ago.”
“This sucks why the late notification Sony!!! Hit me too bro even when they give they gotta f*** us,” outlines another.
Frustratingly this all could have been solved if emails had been sent on the day that the subscription began, or if a notification had popped up on the console notifying users of the activated subscription.
While the number of users that had subscriptions end in the short gap between the PSN outage and the subscription activation will admittedly be small, it still means that they don’t get to take advantage of the already measly gift that they deserve
Across all three tiers of PlayStation Plus there are hundreds of games for you to choose from, including classic hits, indie gems, and the biggest new releases.
Often it can get a bit overwhelming as you’re stunned by choice paralysis, but you’ll want to make sure that you catch this instant classic before it leaves the service next month, as reported by ComicBook.com.
Landing day one on the service, Animal Well was developed solely by Billy Basso, who worked on the game for 10 years prior to it’s release last year. It was an instant hit, earning a 90 on Metacritic, ending up 9th on the website’s best games of last year.
Animal Well is considered by many to be one of the best games of last year (Billy Basso)
Praised for it’s nonlinear puzzle design and metroidvania influences, Animal Well deposits the player into a mysterious cave-like world with minimal direction and traditional story, giving them the freedom to explore at will.
You’ll find countless secrets upon your travels, and encounter puzzling challenges that’ll really make you think, and it’s most definitely an experience that’ll stick with you for a while and keep you up into the late hours of the night.
If you’ve somehow not managed to give it a go yet and it sounds like something you’d be interested in then you’re in luck, as it’s still free for PS Plus subscribers in the Premium and Extra tiers.
However, you’ve not got long left before it leaves the service, as it’s expected to depart around mid April – although there currently isn’t an official date.
This is due to the fact that games are always rotating in and out of the PS Plus library, often as a consequence of licensing agreements, so it’s understandable that almost exactly a year on from Animal Well’s release its time is up.
In good news though it’s a relatively short game, so it’s more than feasible for even casual gamers to complete it before it expires.
It’ll only take you between 7 and 10 hours to complete Animal Well, but you’ve got just a couple of weeks left (Billy Basso)
According to stat-tracking website HowLongToBeat, Animal Well takes roughly 7 hours to finish it’s ‘main story’, 11 hours if you do a bit of side stuff along the way, or 17.5 hours if you want to reach 100% completion – which is undoubtedly an essential for the platinum trophy hunters out there.
This might vary depending on how challenging you find the puzzles – and they are certainly head scratchers some of the time – but you’ve got more than enough time to get it done if you start now.
You might need to pull yourself away from some of the biggest releases of this year so far though, as if you don’t get it finished in time you’ll have to fork up $24.99 to buy it yourself
While Halloween might still be over half a year away, this month’s PlayStation Plus line up includes a ‘scare-filled’ cult classic that’ll have you hiding behind the sofa – and the best part is you can pick it up for free.
Having an active PlayStation Plus subscription is near enough an essential for any keen gamers on Sony’s platform, as it gives you access to free games every single month alongside a library of hundreds of must-play titles if you upgrade to one of the higher tiers.
While there have been some frustrating instances where the PlayStation Network has completely dropped out, and some top tier titles do eventually leave the service before you might get the chance to play them, it remains still a great way to try out games that you otherwise might have missed.
One such of these has arrived with the ‘Essential’ tier this month, and it’s absolutely perfect for horror movie fans or simply anyone wishing to add some scares to their life.
Any horror fans should jump at the chance to play The Texas Chainsaw Massacre this month on PS Plus (Sumo Digital)
Released back in 2023, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a game adaptation of the iconic Tobe Hooper horror masterpiece that places you on either side of the fight for survival.
Similar to other horror-inspired experiences like Dead by Daylight, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is an asymmetrical multiplayer game where four survivors attempt to escape the grasps of a player-controlled Leatherface by activating fuse boxes that power an exit.
The survivors can’t meaningfully fight back, so it provides a unique experience where you can either take the mantle of the killer and reign terror on your real life victims, or put yourself in the shoes of a survivor to experience the true horror of the situation.
One review in The Guardian described the experience as “an incredibly tense, scary, jump scare-filled face off between the hunter and the hunted,” and if that sounds up your street then you’d better jump onto the PlayStation Store and start the download.
It’ll become available for all PlayStation Plus subscribers (no matter what tier) on April 1, and you’ll be able to claim it for the entire month to keep for life – or at least as long as you have an active subscription.
You can also download games based on RoboCop and Digimon if they take your fancy too (PlayStation)
Joining The Texas Chain Saw Massacre this month too are RoboCop: Rogue City and Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth – Hacker’s Memory, so there appears to be a bit of a tie-in theme going on!
There’s certainly plenty to choose from no matter what you’re interested in, and you’ve also still got until March 31 to download last month’s offerings – which include the only recently released Dragon Age The Veilguard.
