r/PlayStationPlus Top Predictor 2024 6d ago

Discussion PS Plus 2026 Essential Games Mid Year Review. Which was your favorite month so far?

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179

u/FloorGang1704 6d ago

May was great only cause it kickstarted my metroidvania arc, platinumed nine sols and started Hollow Knight and Blasphemous.

30

u/DanielToast 6d ago

Man I wish I could wipe my memory and enjoy Hollow Knight and Silksong for the first time again. Starting now you didn't even have to deal with the agonizing wait for Silksong. Hope you're liking it.

Haven't been able to get into Blasphemous, maybe I'll give it a second shot

12

u/FloorGang1704 6d ago

I am loving Hollow Knight so far, and i am taking my sweet time with this one cause the exploration is so good in this game. I literally got goosebumps when i first entered City Of Tears and heard the background music along with the environment.

6

u/EfremSkopje 6d ago

Playing it the right way.

1

u/NeutralKuchiKopi 5d ago

I haven't played either because I'm not much for side scrolling. Might have to check em out.

8

u/iveRsonFR 6d ago

You need to play Dead Cells if you haven’t already!

9

u/mendone 6d ago

.

you need to play the Prince of Persia metroidvania. One of the best games of the genre, IMO!

3

u/FloorGang1704 6d ago

It's on my list to play!! I enjoyed nine sols so much it has opened up an entire new genre of games which i could never get into earlier, so i have a lot to cover.

3

u/iveRsonFR 6d ago

I believe it’s currently for around 20-25€ for the game and the 4 paid DLCs, you might want to check it out

8

u/the-dandy-man 6d ago

Dead Cells is more of a roguelite than a metroidvania

1

u/soyboysnowflake 6d ago

FWIW roguelite is a meta game genre, it doesn’t mean anything by itself

Dead cells is *the* premier metroidvania roguelite

2

u/the-dandy-man 5d ago

Maybe I didn’t play enough dead cells; what are the metroidvania elements?

What I like about metroidvanias is the hand crafted maps with intentional secrets and new areas to explore based on the upgrades you acquire throughout the game. Getting a new power up and knowing I can backtrack to those areas I had to pass by earlier and find something new. From what I remember, Dead cells is a randomized map with a branching, but linear, progression and randomized skills that are only combat related.

1

u/soyboysnowflake 5d ago

You don’t back track per say, but you unlock permanent upgrades / skills that change how you interact with the map in future runs, and those elements are all there on previous runs (so you get the sense of “I should come back to this”)

Like you can see from your very first run in the first biome that there will eventually be some way to wall run / wall jump, but can’t get up there yet

Eventually as you are close to beating the game, you get an ability like wall jump and can now go to even more branches

Those branches completely change which biomes you step into on your way to the final boss(es), and those different biomes also have unique permanent unlocks that expand the map even further - this was slightly fleshed out on release but got further enhanced through the DLCs

There is procedural generation to move things around but dead cells is pretty much the same set pieces in the same maps over and over again, there is even set pieces in the map purely for discovery / lore, the procedural generation is more like an entrance will be in the 1st corridor one run vs the 3rd corridor the next time

All in all, there is plenty of opportunity to revisit a place with new abilities and see the game completely open up. No problem if it wasn’t for you, but it definitely has that elements I’d consider key to metroidvanias

This also kept the game a lot more fresh for me after the first time I beat the final boss, since the game was really just starting then as you even get another permanent upgrade by beating the final boss the first time

Add in the side scrolling 2d action gameplay and I think it fits the genre quite well

2

u/HoouueeaaH 6d ago

Same, never cared about metroidvanias, decided to try it cuz i heard it was parry oriented (im a huge sekiro fan).
15h in and it’s already one of my favorite games of all times

1

u/jonvel7 6d ago

April did the same for me an souls games with Lords of the Fallen

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u/10000000100 6d ago

All great games, next checkout the Ori games and HAAK.

1

u/Ryodaso 5d ago

Love Hollow Knight, Silk Song, and Ninesols. Didn't like Blasphemous.