So you like free PS Plus games eh?
For many years PS Plus has been a pretty great deal for PlayStation players, but this month is probably one of the most disappointing months I have ever seen. Some would assume with Xbox GamePass literally sprinting laps around PlayStation Plus in terms of content, Sony might be a little more…..reactive and try to make PS Plus seem more valuable. This, or at least come up with a direct competitor. But that hasn’t happened yet.
Instead what we got this month was the total opposite. Typically, PS Plus offers 2 free games, plus a PS5 title, and sometimes a title for VR. Lately, Sony has been taking heat for the lack of attention the program gets. Recently Sony stopped supporting older platforms with PS3 and Vita being dropped completely. Combine that with an almost entirely absent VR offering the majority of the time.
Not too long ago they were even called out for offering a Mortal Kombat X, ; an old game with a new iteration already released to boot. We also had a “launch title” hit the service day one with Destruction All Stars, only to be met with nearly half the game hidden behind paywalls. This month however tops all of that disappointment with a demo.
Yes, a demo. Sony announced their line up of PS Plus games for December and it includes an older LEGO title (DC Super Villains) and Mortal Shell (a Demon Souls-like title) for the PlayStation 4. I’m sure they are fun for select fans who haven’t bothered to buy them yet, but I was actually excited to see Godfall included for PS5 owners.
Unlike some people, I found Godfall to be really fun—especially as a co-op game—and I really enjoyed my time with it. I stopped playing for a bit just before the DLC hit, so I was excited to jump back in for it. I held off, however, knowing it would be heading to PS Plus relatively soon, and instead waited to see if the DLC was included, or maybe be at a discount with a free PS Plus copy. Then I also would have friends to play the co-op with. I mean since it was free they had no excuse, right?
Wrong. Instead, Sony gave us a friggin demo.
The developers decided to make a “Godfall: Challenger Edition” which strips almost the entire game from you. Instead of playing through it, you’re given a powered up character, and it throws you into a random endgame scenario. Anyone who actually wants the full game still needs to buy it and unlock the content (by which I mean the GAME).
Even worse, the Challenger Edition is basically a glorified cheat code to get your character to max level; bypassing a majority of the insane grinding the core game throws at you. This isn’t necessarily bad in and of itself (building a character doesn’t really start until “endgame” anyway), but it skips the entire story aspect.
Perhaps this is the developers way of admitting the only good aspect of the game was the end? Which is basically true, the best part of the game is what they boiled it down to in the Challenger Edition. Then why are they making people pay for the “boring” parts?
I wish I could answer, but it’s the scummiest thing I’ve seen ever offered in PS Plus. It’s like when you sign up for a corporate program, where they promise good discounts and benefits; but after a while it just becomes subscriptions to magazines nobody wants. Yippee!
I’m not saying PS Plus has reached this point just yet, but I can’t remember the last time I’ve truly been excited about any of the “free” games offered. When I thought I was, it turned out to be a demo that’s useless to previous players.
It’s quite embarrassing that Sony’s answer to GamePass in December is a demo. I mean Godfall has a track record for being a boring grindy game (which, again, I disagree with), so the hype was kind of low already, yet they found a way to make it worse?
We can argue “it’s more than that bro! It’s the endgame content, we just skipped the story!” Cool, unlock the full game. I pay for PS Plus to get free GAMES, not half-complete demos of games. Ultimately, it feels like the value PS Plus once had is getting tougher to justify. Rather than offering some competitive titles to entice gamers, they’re just phoning it in.
I’m a PlayStation fan, but it’s so hard looking across the aisle and seeing the green side getting AAA lineup of titles while we’re getting….a demo. Let hope those rumors of a “GamePass competitor” boil down to a bit more than two mediocre services (PS Plus and PS Now) combining into one.
