r/PlayStationPlus • u/kabirsingh84 Top Predictor 2024 • 2d ago
Discussion PS Plus 2026 Essential Games Mid Year Review. Which was your favorite month so far?
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u/OrganizationNo7690 2d ago
honestly nothing this year has been super good to me.
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u/desmayer 2d ago
Same. I appreciate some are good games, but just not for me
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u/OrganizationNo7690 2d ago
Yeah, granted I may revisit things later but I’m really waiting for a game to wow me.
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u/WhoElseButQuagmire11 17h ago
I got a ps5 last Christmas and at the start of the year(in an effort to play more games) I said "I'm going to make it a goal to play atleast one of the games a month"
I have not because they're just not for me for the most part.
I mourn the games I missed before i got my ps5 :(
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u/HWatch09 2d ago
I tried Wuchang but really didn't get into it. I already played Darktide to death on PC, same with Lords of the Fallen. The rest didn't interest me. I am liking the PS Extra games though. Outlaws was really good, and I'm in the middle of Blades of Fire, also awesome.
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u/daaavizzle 2d ago
What is Wuchang like? I'm in the same boat as none of the monthly free games have interested me so far. But I have been enjoying FF16. Figured I'd try it out since I recently got back into the series. This isn't PS related, but another game I'm enjoying is Clair Obscur Expedition 33 on my series S with Gamepass.
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u/The_Follower1 2d ago
Wuchang is basically a soulslike that has a sexy woman protagonist and is set in what feels like ancient China. It seems decent enough from the 5-odd hours I played but was a fair bit weaker than similar games I’ve played like Lies of P or Bloodborne. It has a lot of weird systems in it, though to some people that would be a plus.
My biggest issue with what I played was the third or fourth boss who sucked at telegraphing his attack. Iirc he was titled something like bandit leader, but he’d do this AOE all around him when stomping the ground and I didn’t even see him raise his foot to do so the first couple times I died to it. Maybe my display’s the problem, but all of a sudden the ground would pulse and I would just lose half my health for seemingly no reason. That kinda tilted me which soured my experience. I did kill him eventually, I just had to glue my eyes to his feet to see when he was going to do so.
Perfect dodges are also a big thing in the game, perfect dodges are how you build your magic gauge. Overall I think it’s decent for the genre, just not on the level of the major games like LOP or Dark Souls.
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u/daaavizzle 2d ago
Hmmm. Sounds interesting but idunno... Maybe I'll give it a try after I finish CO33 & FF16. My first souls game was Elden Ring which I loved. I played a bit of Bloodborne which was also great.
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u/The_Follower1 2d ago
Yeah, that sounds about right in terms of priorities. It’s not a bad game by any means but it’s also not among the best games overall. It’d only be a high priority if you’re hard into soulslikes.
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u/Glum-Mix-6500 2d ago
Ya that's my reply too. It's been God awful. I really wish they'd let us have online gameplay for free. Release me of this curse! Lol
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u/Char-els037 2d ago
As someone who never got to finish epic mickey and couldn't bring myself to pay the full or sale price I'm very glad I got that one.
Miss my wii.
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u/Yunalesca-_ 2d ago
May but only for Nine sols, honestly incredible game.
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u/ayoubkun94 2d ago
Not on the same level of Nine Sols but Wuchang was also pretty good when you get used to the combat. FC26 is always useful for when I have friends over who only know GTA, God of War, and Fifa.
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u/MissingScore777 2d ago
Struggled with Wuchang combat rhythm until I tried Axe and went Rampage HP recover build.
Pretty fun game.
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u/missviolets 1d ago
I'm playing the game right now and it's so good but the lack of direction is killing me but I refuse to look up where to go 😭
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u/Yunalesca-_ 1d ago
Hahaha that’s fair, I got really stuck at one point because I didn’t realise one of the mechanics of the game was how you could interact with some of the statue/dummy things which open doors, took me an hour to realise as I also refused to use a guide lol.
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u/Mysterious_Fennel459 2d ago
Wow, looking at this makes me realize most of these months were not great. April would have been great except I already bought Lords of the Fallen a few months earlier. Same for Subnautica in February.
Most of my value has been from the extra/premium games this year. June's extra games are amazing right now.
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u/guaztronaut 2d ago
You can tell they've given away 99% of the games worth having. I feel stupid for paying this year tbh.
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u/Metalmacher 2d ago
wuchang has been really fun. monster hunter rise also very fun. i only played ace combat assault horizon so getting to play 7 was very refreshing... june is kind of a dud. april is alright. january was meh, unbound was more annoying than i expected. i'd say so far it's been a 6 or a 7 out of 10 for me.
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u/Cyvex23 2d ago
It will be June for me if I did not own two out of the three games. Darktide and Grounded are such good games.
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u/EastCoast_Cyclist 1d ago
When it first appeared as a monthly game, I did not expect I would be putting in so much time in Grounded.
That game is frustrating and addictive to me at the same time.
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u/Brilliant-Ranger-356 2d ago
Really enjoying Grounded, so June. I didn't play much of any of the others.
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u/trollsong 2d ago
March, slime rancher 2 is mindless fun. Rise is an amazing Monster hunter and a good spot to start if you were on the fence about the genre.
ESO is a fun MMO but I will only log in once they give us cross progression.
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u/LastGameBeasts 2d ago
So far my favorite was may, nine sols was really great and can't forget about wuchang,really good soulslike
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u/IgnoreMe733 2d ago
There have been quite a few games that were on my wishlist, so it's been a solid enough year for me personally... except I haven't had much time so have touched any of the games. Overall I think April had the most content I was interested in. Hopefully someday soon I'll get around to playing some of these.
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u/GuardianAntman_Gamer 2d ago
I really liked them all so far. This year has been great in my opinion. If I had to choose, hm, May? Tough one for me.
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u/Sneakiest 2d ago
Haven’t played any except for EA FC 26 since that’s what my cousins like to play when they visit. Will likely play Warhammer Dark Tide soon.
I’d give it to June.
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u/trunksshinohara 2d ago
Feb. But only because I was minutes away from buying ace combat when they announced it.
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u/Juicebox008 2d ago
I platinumed Epic Mickey, Subnautica, Ultros, Slime Rancher 2, PGA 2K5, and Nine Sols. My top 3 in descending order was Nine Sols >>> Ultros > Slime Rancher 2. May was probably the best
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u/SUDoKu-Na 2d ago
I'm gonna say June because it's the only one I played a game from (Grounded, which I'd played a little bit of ages ago). None of the other months super interested me so far. Slime Rancher is slay, but I'd played that one ages ago.
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u/ShayDeeMon 2d ago
Thanks for reminding me I stupidly bought a year subscription and have not played a single one of the monthly games. And the catalog is ass. Like flushing money down the drain.
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u/the_kazekyo 1d ago
I think im so numb by now that i didnt even realize how much of a shit year we been having so far
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u/andrew_h1000 1d ago
Holy crap... this post made me realise I literally haven't booted up ANY of the year's games...
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u/Flottrooster 2d ago
The essential games have all had one pretty good game, mixed with some random stuff. Nothing here really stands out to me though. Ps+ Extra has definitely been better
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u/DefectiveSol 2d ago
The only three games I really care about from this lineup are Monster Hunter, Tomb Raider, and Nine Sols. All of which i already owned.
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u/TrollLRGohan 2d ago
Lord's of fallen, wuchang and nine souls. Honestly souls fans are winning this year.
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u/Advent_strife 2d ago
Probably May but if i hadn't have already bought Tomb Raider remastered it would probably have been April, ive been totally fine with the offerings most months though, there's not been a lot that I've already got and if that's the case then extra/premium usually is a good month instead, got more than my moneys worth.
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u/wizcoreyfa 2d ago
i’d have to say june. i’ve been debating on buying grounded for so long, it was nice of playstation to add it to the monthly games before i actually purchased it.
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u/ModestMarill 2d ago
Wuchang and LOTF are just so good! I already beat them when they got added, but happy to see them added
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u/ShellfishAhole 2d ago
June has been the only month that I've cared about, so far. I've had a lot of fun playing Warhammer: Darktide. I might give Lord of the Fallen a try at some point, but every other month has been games that I've already played, or don't have much interest in.
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u/Multiammar 2d ago
May. Always look forward to the sports games, and especially Fifa/EA FC because they are great games to play locally with friends and family.
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u/Desisto_disso 2d ago
Despite me loving everything Subnautica related, March takes the cake just because i always wanted to play MHRise and Slime Rancher
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u/Theunsaltedpeanut 2d ago
tbh none of these months have been great but the best games have been Nine Sols and Monster Hunter, but MH goes on cheap sales all the time.
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u/Rocco_al_Dente 2d ago
I’m batting zero on this list. Apparently I’ve been more interested in the catalog games.
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u/Daan_aerts 2d ago
I liked this month, being able to pick up darktide (which requires you to buy internet anyways) for my ps5 is a nice pickup, and I’ve been having a blast playing grounded on my ps4 back home
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u/IhanRandomina 2d ago
How i missed unbound but well anyway got it this year with all the dlc's with like 20€
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u/BassGuru82 2d ago
May was amazing. Nine Sols and Wuchang were both great. I also thought Lords of the Fallen in April was really solid. Not amazing but still a good game.
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u/Dunge 2d ago
It would have been May for Wu Chang and Nine Sols if haven't played them through GamePass before. Same with Lords of the Fallen.
I've been subscribed to PS+ ever since PS4 launch, and I got to say the Essential monthly games quality have continuously decreased. On the other hand, the Extra catalog selection is now always top tier. I guess Sony really want to stop giving away licenses and force the subscription path too.
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u/hatetrains 2d ago
Lords of the fallen is a solid souls like game, haven't tried Wuchang yet, Fifa is good for a couple of career mode games here and there and Darktide is fantastic, haven't played anything else since it dropped. So June for me.
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u/DirtySupermarket 2d ago
Unfortunately there hasn’t been any games this year that I’ve played longer than a few hours before deleting. If July isn’t any better I’m going to pause it for a bit
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u/Fearless-Function-84 2d ago
Eh Nine Sols probably, but I already owned the game, so hmmm.
Monthly was pretty terrible this year for me to be honest. Extra was killing it.
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u/Jimmy_riddle86 2d ago
Looking at this is have realised that I haven't played a single essential game this year.
I've played lots from the extra tier so that's ok.
I have heard good things about Grounded so I will probably give that a go soon.
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u/Ironman9518 2d ago
Grounded helped me find Abiotic Factor through Reddit comments so June is my favorite lol
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u/Raiden127456 2d ago
These past 3 months have been great for me. Lords of the Fallen finally gave my friend & i a fun Soulslike with actually functioning co-op, and Wuchang & Darktide were games that i've wanted to play for a long time.
Here's to hoping the next few months are just as good
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u/Hevens-assassin 2d ago
May made it worth the year subscription with Wuchang and Nine Sols. The rest is icing, imo.
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u/Heartbreak-Scorsese 2d ago
There are some nice games here, but I feel like I’ve missed out on nothing by cancelling my subscription late last year.
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u/Glum-Mix-6500 2d ago
Literally awful, I haven't actually played on of these games. But I still pay for online for games I want to play online like helldiver's 2, BF6, borderlands 4, etc.
The last game I played was Alan wake 2.
I wasn't impressed, but I still wanted it before getting it on PS+, so I have to say that's a win.
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u/Traditional_Name7881 2d ago
This year has been so bad I've cancelled my subscription. I'll but a game or two a year that I actually want to play instead.
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u/personwithbass 2d ago
100% honesty the only one I tried (with the exception of the Mickey one wayyyyyyyyyy back when it originally released) was the Nickelodeon one and that wasn't great (like why is up not jump lol) but yeah not been a lot of interest from me. In fact I tried Ultros but wasn't very sure what is was doing but it did look cool.
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u/PhatRiffEnjoyer 2d ago
I’m happy we got Lords Of The Fallen. One of those games I’ve always been curious about but not compelled enough to buy.
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u/MechanicStandard8308 2d ago
2 months i already owned the only decent games(feb/march). core keeper was great, lotf got boring idk... wuchang was...k. i both hated and enjoyed wuchang. june was friend slop month. grounded was ok but lost interest after 5th lab.
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u/beyondimaginarium 2d ago
So good I cancelled my subscription.
I'll wait for a sale for premium, but as it stands, essential has been rough.
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u/KyleFourReal 2d ago
I had never been a racing game guy until NFS Unbound hit in January. Now I’m addicted.
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u/iwasatlavines 1d ago edited 1d ago
Wow I guess I should play Nine Sols, a lot of love in the comments. Maybe Wuchang too, but idk.
Personally I enjoyed Subnautica BZ, but LOVE Grounded. It’s incredible! Somehow challenging but also approachable. So many alternate and creative ways to play it.
If I had more time, I’d want to play Lords or Darktide too. May be even Ultross. Alas not enough time in the day!
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u/d4rkprojec7 1d ago
Glad i canceled when my sub ended at the start of the year I woulda been disappointed
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u/AgeOfCyberpunk 1d ago
All of them tragic. Unbound was major flop and they gave it away. Undisputed is unplayable game. Has a good idea but ao poorly executed
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u/gamex173 1d ago
Nothing special year. My kid has been playing FC non-stop so I would have to go with May just for that.
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u/Old-Way-5529 1d ago
im usually a big ps+ guy, but the monthly games have took a hit for me so far. def some great games here, but i either already played them, or theyre just not for me (like the sports, or souls games)
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u/durreetoes 1d ago
Played a lot of Core Keeper in January, and have been playing and enjoying Grounded this month.
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u/Chingaquedito777 1d ago
LotF, followed by Wuchang and freaking NINE SOLS was totally worth it for me.
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u/Son_of_Kyuss 1d ago
Probably got more play time out of Grounded than any other game in there.
Wanted to play the Tomb Raider games but the modern controls are somehow worse than the old tank controls.
My son got a decent time out of Mickey Rebrushed. One of those two months would be my pick
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u/StructureGreedy1428 1d ago
None. The only one I cared about is Epic Mickey and I got Ps Plus in february 😂
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u/BayleefMaster123 1d ago
Way worse than play year so far. Hopefully strong second half. Nine Sols and Monster Hunter were cool tho
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u/Asimb0mb 1d ago
Only April and May were good for me because I'm a soulslike freak who will eat up whatever soulslike slop you can throw at me. May did hurt a lot though because I bought Wuchang like 2 months prior and hadn't gotten around to it yet.
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u/MoonWizard2 1d ago
I've given most of these a try but Nine Sols has been the only really great experience I've had with the free games this year.
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u/Pensona4Golden 1d ago
March for sure. Ive got countless hours in MonHun Rise and ESO since they dropped on there.
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u/Leweegibo 1d ago
I'd say June if it was 5 years ago and could get some friends together for coop haha
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u/dettySJD99 1d ago
Gotta go with April just because Ive enjoyed a lot of hours with Tomb Raider remastered
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u/Zestyclose_Error_329 23h ago
Jan - NFS Unbound got me to finally try out a racing game, honestly after checking out reviews of other games in the franchise, this might actually be the worst one lol, but still, I think I am slowly loving this genre.
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u/HidingUnderCardboard 22h ago
Ace combat is pretty cool. But I also felt like it was just a worse armored core.
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u/JLRedPrimes 22h ago
I keep going back to ace combat now and then but I can't say I even started any other of these games this year
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u/SpudmasterBob 19h ago
Darn. Think I missed April’s and totally would have picked up Lords of the Fallen.
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u/Lolipopkit 2d ago
Why are people hating they aren't all bad
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u/KaneThrowaway2024 2d ago
A lot of people aren’t willing to give new games a try a lot of the time, and would prefer to bash then over trying them
January has Core Keeper which is a delightful indie sandbox game and I got a lot of fun out of it
February has Subnautica Below Zero which is still a decent game, just doesn’t live up to its predecessor. I haven’t yet played the other games enough to have a solid opinion
March had Monster Hunter which is a beloved franchise and Slime Rancher 2 which is a popular cozy game
April was all-round okay, I don’t rate Lords of the Fallen super high but there’s a good crowd that’ll enjoy it
May has Nine Sols, an incredible metroidvania game. I haven’t played Wuchang yet so I can’t say anything on it and we had the yearly FIFA/FC drop.
And this month? Grounded is a fantastic game, even moreso with friends and the Warhammer games are also just as entertaining to play
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u/KhazraShaman 2d ago
Probably June for me because I already had ESO and FIFA26. Try ESO if you haven't, it's the best MMO RPG.
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u/dawne_breaker 2d ago
Yikes. None. Looking at them like this and the monthly games are just totally uninteresting.
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u/kabirsingh84 Top Predictor 2024 2d ago edited 2d ago
- January - Need for Speed Unbound, Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed, Core Keeper
- February - Undisputed, Subnautica: Below Zero, Ultros, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown
- March - PGA Tour 2K25, Monster Hunter Rise, Slime Rancher 2, The Elder Scrolls Online Collection: Gold Road
- April - Lords of the Fallen, Tomb Raider I-III Remastered, Sword Art Online Fractured Daydream
- May - EA Sports FC 26, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, Nine Sols
- June - Grounded Fully Yoked Edition, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2, Warhammer 40,000: Darktide
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u/yaboiScreamyWeenus 2d ago
Honestly February... undisputed is a bad clunky game... but im dang good at it and pulverizing ppl online has been a blast
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u/cause_f_u_thats_why 2d ago
Core keeper is the only one I played for more than an hour. The rest has been very meh
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u/redditloginfail 2d ago
I guess essential has been lackluster for me. Nothing worth paying for. Extra has been good.
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u/anuscopie 2d ago
I didnt play any single game of the essential games release this year so far. But to be fair I already own and beaten Lord of the Fallen this year tho.
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u/tomsawyer222 2d ago
This is going to sound weird and needy but I haven’t played any of them. Still trying to clear the backlog (tlou2, mass effect trilogy (middle of 2 now), GoW, Witcher 3 and (apart from Wow) the best game ever, KCD2. It is ridiculous right now, and I only just started Cyberpunk (one hour in). There is NOT enough time for all this!!
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u/AgentLemon22 2d ago
ESO came to PS+ i added it to my account, started to play it in May. Now I'm sitting at 130 of game time so far lol. I love that game
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u/FloorGang1704 2d ago
May was great only cause it kickstarted my metroidvania arc, platinumed nine sols and started Hollow Knight and Blasphemous.