Navigating PlayStation’s subscription service PS Plus can be a daunting task. There’s an extensive list of games available for download that both grows and shrinks over time. Games are added and removed constantly, so keeping track of them is not easy. In fact, some of these may very well disappear between me writing this and you seeing it.
However, there are a lot of great games on PS Plus if you know where to look. Or if you take the time to look at every single one. This is essentially a sequel to a list I made on 10 Great Games Free on PlayStation Plus. With this list focusing on games you may not have heard of before. Or maybe all you know about it is the name. Regardless, you’ll hear about at least one new game while reading this.
I can’t play every game ever made, so there are undoubtedly some hidden gems that are still hidden from me. This is by no means a definitive list. It just provides a list of ten very different games in hopes you’ll find one to check out.
Paradise Killer
Have you experienced the psycho fun that is investigating the strangest murders known to man in Danganronpa? Did you ever wish someone essentially took one chapter and made a whole game out of it? If you answered yes to either of those questions, and even if you didn’t, Paradise Killer is the game for you. And it’s free on PlayStation Plus!
Paradise Killer follows the exiled Lady Love Dies being brought back to investigate a murder on the eve of a very important day. You are then treated to essentially an open world mystery game. As you explore the island, uncover secrets, and interrogate the colorful inhabitants. Finding discrepancies in their stories to slowly weed out the dark truth behind everything.
However, the game is not for everyone. Especially if you like a lot of action in your video games. Since a lot of this game is simply walking around between the same locations to talk to the same people over and over again. But putting the pieces together and solving the mystery is a blast. And that credits song is worth your time alone.
LEGO City Undercover
Some people look at LEGO games and assume they’re only made for children. Those people are wrong. The standard LEGO games are fun puzzle games simple enough for kids to play, but fun enough for adults to enjoy as well. And LEGO City Undercover takes that general concept and flawlessly inserts it into an open world. Without basing it on a pre-existing IP like Batman, Marvel, or Star Wars.
LEGO City Undercover is essentially a PG Grand Theft Auto where you play as a cop instead of a criminal. You play as Chase McCain, a police officer who goes undercover in different criminal operations to take them down. Unlocking new costumes with different abilities along the way that allow you to solve more puzzles in the open world. Both the game and the world are filled with classic LEGO charm that everyone can appreciate.
Everyday Police activity
You might not enjoy LEGO City Undercover if you like your games filled with violence and bloodshed. But you can’t go wrong here if you enjoy games filled with charm that don’t provide much of a challenge. It’s a good game to just sit back and have some fun with.
A Hat in Time
Speaking of charming games that don’t provide much of a challenge. A Hat in Time is a colorful 3D platformer that is occasionally challenging. Though it is mostly focused on being a fun time with great art and character designs.
The game follows an unnamed girl in a hat who must explore different worlds to recover all of the time pieces that power her ship. The story itself does not evolve much beyond that. But the stories in each of the worlds, and how different they are from each other, is the main focus here. Each world is completely different from the other in terms of design, atmosphere, and plot. Including one that is genuinely quite scary for a time.
Groovy
3D platformers like A Hat in Time are not everyone’s cup of tea. But you will certainly find something to enjoy about it if you do enjoy platformers. Or if you are looking for a newer one to try out and somehow haven’t heard of this one. You can’t go wrong with a free PlayStation Plus game.
Dodgeball Academia
Someone had the idea to make an action RPG where all the combat is dodgeball. All the plot is dodgeball. The world is dodgeball. Everything is dodgeball in Dodgeball Academia. Somehow, it all works very well.
Dodgeball Academia follows Otto as he enrolls in a school with dreams of becoming a great dodgeball player. And he assembles a ragtag team of students to join his team as the school becomes grounds for constant strange conflicts. And all of them are somehow resolved with dodgeball. You won’t find RPG combat like this anywhere else.
Just remember: Dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge
I even recommend this game for people who aren’t big into RPGs. Or think the turn-based style of some of the biggest RPG franchises is too slow for their liking. All the combat in Dodgeball Academia is fast paced from start to finish. And there’s good variety in the teams you can form and the builds you can fight with.
What Remains of Edith Finch
Alright we’ve had enough happy games filled with good vibes and fun times. It’s time for things to get real weird, and real sad. That could basically be the tagline for What Remains of Edith Finch. A game that’s more interactive student film than it is a video game. But that’s not a bad thing.
What Remains of Edith Finch follows, well, Edith Finch. The last remaining member of the Finch family. She recounts the tragic events that led to the demise of each of her family members. With each tale having a completely different feel. Think of it as a more psychological horror approach to The Iron Claw. Watch that movie if you haven’t seen it, even though it’s not one of the PlayStation Plus games. Or a game at all.
Finish the story
What Remains of Edith Finch, like most indie games, isn’t meant to appeal to everyone. But people who enjoy games that try something new and really push the idea that video games are an art form will enjoy what the game has to offer.
Prison Architect
Prison Architect is easy to write off as one of the many games where you simply construct buildings. Like a prison version of Cities: Skylines or Rollercoaster Tycoon. And there are definitely some similarities there. But enough to help it stand apart from the others.
Your goal in Prison Architect is to construct a functional for-profit prison that meets specific requirements. However, the game doesn’t throw you into the deep end after a couple tutorials. Prison Architect actually has a short campaign designed to get players familiar with the inner workings of the game. And help understand the more complex aspects of the construction. And the story gets surprisingly dark at times.
Who knew prison could be so fun?
There’s also plenty of DLC to play around with, leading to nearly endless replayability. All centered around designing the best prison possible. It’s a sandbox game, so you can pretty much stop playing whenever you want. But there’s hours of fun to be had here.
Valiant Hearts: The Great War
This is a game that you either know very well or have never heard of in your life. It certainly isn’t for everyone. As it stands as a sobering reminder of the hardships and tragedies soldiers faced in World War I. Or, as it was known before World War II, The Great War. And this is one of the greatest PlayStation Plus games there is.
Valiant Hearts follows the story of four different people as they attempt to survive the bloody conflicts of The Great War and live to make it back home again. It’s not a big action game like Call of Duty or Battlefield. It’s a slower-paced puzzle adventure game designed to focus on the experiences of the individuals rather than the fights themselves. And they do a fine job of it.
The dogs of war
Valiant Hearts is an emotional rollercoaster that does a great job showing just how tragic war is for everyone involved. It grabs a hold of your heartstrings and plays them like a violin. It’s not as action packed as war games tend to be, but it works in their favor to deliver tremendous results.
Gravity Rush
This is another cult classic game. People reading this either gasped with excitement that their favorite underrated game made the list, or their looked at yet another game title they’ve never heard of. I will say this though. Feel free to move on to the next entry if you don’t like motion controls.
Gravity Rush, or Gravity Daze in Japan, follows Kat. A superpowered amnesiac who can manipulate gravity. She wants to discover who she is and protect her world from the evil forces threatening it. The game was originally released for the PlayStation Vita, which explains why no one played it.
Screw gravity
Most of the gameplay comes down to using motion controls to control Kat’s gravity-bending. However, I’m sure plenty of people can look past that and give the game a shot. And, if you do enjoy it, Gravity Rush 2 is right there next to it. And if you enjoy both of those, you can join the fanbase in complaining about how underrepresented the series is.
Disco Elysium
It’s sort of a stretch to call Disco Elysium a hidden gem. It’s often listed as one of the greatest video games ever made. But that doesn’t mean that everyone’s heard of it. Or that everyone knows what it is beyond a vague recognition of the title. Or that people know it’s a free PlayStation Plus game.
Disco Elysium follows another amnesiac. This one is a detective trying to solve a murder after waking up in a hotel room with no memory of who he is or what’s going on. Everything in Disco Elysium revolves around your choices, and the person you influence the detective to be. It’s a role-playing game all about the main character.
How’s your reading comprehension?
Not everyone will love it. Critical consensus means very little in the eyes of an individual. So all the 10/10s in the world won’t guarantee you’ll enjoy a game. But Disco Elysium is definitely worth checking out for anyone who loves a good character study, or very deep RPGs.
Cursed to Golf
Cursed to Golf is like another of the PlayStation Plus games on this list, Dodgeball Academia, in that it combines a sport and a game genre and somehow makes it work. In this case, it’s golf and roguelikes. Think of it like playing mini golf, but you have to restart the course from hole one every time you don’t at least meet par.
You play as a golfer stuck in purgatory whose only hope of making it out is surviving eighteen holes of the most torturous golf you’ll ever see. I’m talking rough, bunkers, water traps, fans, explosives, and more. And you’re sent crashing back down to the start if you fail a single course. Though each failure allows you to upgrade your golfer, increasing your chances of success the next time around.
Screw gravity…again
Maybe avoid this one if you’re not a fan of continuous failure. Or golf. That being said, it’s still a very well-made game that anyone who enjoys a good challenge should get something out of. If nothing else, the music and graphics are a treat.
