As a long time PS Plus subscriber, the announcement of PS Plus Extra back in 2022 was quite exciting to me. I already had a backlog of more than enough games from the monthly titles, but as someone who has never been able to use Game Pass from my couch, the idea of a new catalogue did make me feel very enthusiastic.
I try not to read too much into console wars internet chatter, but based on whatever the algorithms feed me, I don’t see a whole lot of love for PS Plus Extra. Underwhelm was the general vibe I was sensing at launch and despite numerous fantastic months of additions, I still don’t see a lot of hype. I find this to be a shame because for me, the service just keeps on giving.
The ability to be able to try out so many games without having to commit to them has been so fantastic. Not enjoying it? No biggie, time to move on to the next one. And trying games I never thought I would always brings me joy. Even if I don’t get along with whatever I am playing, it gives me the opportunity to examine why. Not only that but a lot of the games that had their launch on the service have been games that I particularly wanted to play. Stray and Tchia spring to mind immediatly, so I am especially grateful to have been able to play them much earlier than I would have otherwise.
Below, I have gathered together a full list of the games I have played since PS Plus Extra launched. I am doing the same with Game Pass to see if I find any interesting trends, differences, and mostly to have a visual reminder of how lucky we are to get to try out so many different games.
What I have played since PS Plus Extra launched
Games Tried: 25
Games Completed: 17
Games Abandoned: 6
The first thing that I notice in the chart above is that I haven’t done a lot of experimental content with PS Plus (hence no paused or dropped online games). On one hand that is funny as one of my very first deep dives into content creation were covering the PS Plus games. Whether I liked them or not, we discovered as I went. However, as time has passed and I now have a PC, my PlayStation has swerved into more of a personal machine. My capture card became unreliable so if there is a game that I specifically want to stream I do so with Remote Play, otherwise, it is a little bit of a pain so I tend not to.
Secondly, I notice the variety in games played. While there are a lot of indies, there are plenty of AAA’s in there too. I even dropped 2 of them, where as if I had bought them outright I probably would have forced myself to continue (not that I was ever going to buy Demon’s Souls, I was just curious how I would do 😅). Then even among the indies, some of the titles are instantly recognisable while some you may never have heard of. I really do feel privileged to get to play them as my gaming budget is so limited, I wouldn’t be able to try even half of what I have if they weren’t on the service.
The best part is how many games I still have the opportunity to try. Being the list nerd that I am, of course I am keeping track of what looks interesting to me, and there are a few! (Accurate at the time of writing, games leave the service each month so I won’t get to play them all but new games will be added consistantly too)
Still to play – Offline
- 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
- Carto
- Civilization VI
- Cloudpunk
- Cursed to Golf
- Dead Cells
- Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories
- Empire of Sin
- Evil Genius 2: World Domination
- Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age
- Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster
- Forager
- Ghost of Tsushima
- I am Dead
- Immortals Fenyx Rising
- Kingdom Heards HD 1.5+2.5 ReMIX
- Kingdom: New Lands
- The Last Guardian
- Life is Strange 2
- Rain World
- Returnal
- Rune Factory 4
- Scarlet Nexus
- Sea of Stars
- Skyrim
- Slime Rancher
- Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town
- Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town
- Two Point Hospital
These are the games that I will try/play for myself without making content (probably).
Total Games: 29
Games started: 5 (Dead Cells, Returnal, Rune Factory 4, Sea of Stars, Skyrim)
Still to play – Online or Offline?
- 11-11 Memories Retold
- A Hat in Time
- Chicken Police – Paint it RED!
- JETT: The Far Shore + Given Time
- Journey to the Savage Planet: Employee of the Month
- Last Stop
- Spirit of the North
- The Talos Principle
- Undertale
These are games that I haven’t quite decided whether I should make content for or not.
Total Games: 9
To sum up, PS Plus extremely valuable to me. While I adore the service, I do have a creeping worry about how subscription services might affect game sales. Particularly the indies, and particularly with the recent price hike, eating further into peoples budget. But as a consumer, it allows me to play so much more than I otherwise would have been able. For now, I am going to continue working my way through my list, enjoying and appreciating every second of it.
If you have enjoyed this post keep an eye out as I am working on a similar post about Game Pass soon!
GG App is where I do my tracking. Feel free to follow along here.
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CtrlAltNoob 