Summer Games Fest has begun and Microsoft has already held the first event in its Xbox 20/20 experience, leading to the release of the Xbox Series X. On the other hand, we’re nearing the end of May and Sony remains tight-lipped on the PS5 with nothing but rumors on when thePS5 reveal event will be held. The negative response and backlash to PS Plus May games is understandable, so here’s a wish list of games that could turn that around. Even one or two of these would go a long way in making June 2020 a month to be remembered.
Dishonored 2
Toward the tale-end of the last generation of consoles, French developer Arkane Studios made a name for itself and surprised the industry with the release ofDishonored, a first-person action game that focused on exploration, stealth gameplay, and complete freedom in how players choose to approach each encounter. The team followed up withDishonored 2, a direct sequel featuring two playable characters with unique abilities, lethal and non-lethal combat options, and an outstanding voice-cast including the likes of Rosario Dawson, Sam Rockwell, and Vincent D’Onofrio. A standalone DLC,Dishonored: Death of the Outsiderreleased the following year, as well as aDishonoredtabletop RPG.
Dishonored 2took what worked with the in the first game and expanded on those aspects, particularly its focus on player freedom by offering multiple playable characters with their own unique playstyle, as well as the chaos system where players can complete the entire game without taking a life. One of the most impressive aspects of the game isthe Clockwork Mansion mission, where players move between multiple timelines at will as they traverse an enormous multi-level labyrinth-like mansion. It’s easily one of the most creative and unique missions to come out of this generation and proof that puttingDishonoredon indefinite hiatus due to the sequel’s low sales numbers is nothing short of a tragedy.
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Outer Wilds
One of the best indie’s to come out of 2019 was Mobius Digital’sOuter Wilds, not to be confused with open-world RPG,The Outer Worldsfrom Microsoft owned developer, Obsidian Entertainment. Cleaning up at the BAFTA’s earlier this year,Outer Wildswas nominated for dozens of awards from Best Independent Game at The Game Awards to Outstanding Achievement in Game Design at the DICE Awardsand Best Game of 2019at the 16th British Academy Games Awards, which it ultimately won.
The concept forOuter Wildsis simple: the player is a space explorer and has 22 minute’s (literally) to explore a mysterious alien planet before the sun goes supernova and explodes, killing the player and everything in the galaxy. However, that isn’t the end of the game, only the end of that playthrough. The idea is built around players exploring the world and learning as much as they can before the sun explodes, taking that knowledge and applying it to the next playthrough.Outer Wildsbreaks away from AAA game conventions, putting exploration and player discovery at the forefront, and it’s one game that players shouldn’t miss out on.
Another indie hit from the last couple of years isDead Cells, a 2D side-scrolling roguelike-Metroidvania from developer Motion Twin and Evil Empire that released back in 2018. Featuring procedurally generated environments, players need to make their way through a series of dungeons, collecting new weapons and power-ups to fight off challenging enemies, with the ultimate goal of defeating each of the game’s six bosses, known as the “Keepers.”
Using similar concepts toOuter Wilds,Dead Cellsis a challenging game where players will die over and over again, learning from each run and applying the knowledge to the next playthrough. Challenging games can be a hard sell for many players, even if they would ultimately love the experience, so PlayStation Plus could be the perfect way to getDead Cellsinto the hands of new players that might not have given it a chance otherwise. Motion Twin has also confirmedDead Cellswon’t be getting a sequelas the team would like to use the momentum to create something new.
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Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
Before the success of theResident Evil 2andResident Evil 3remakes brought the long-running survival-horror series back to the mainstream, it was 2017’sResident Evil 7that properly revived the series from the dead. After the critical success ofResident Evil 4, Capcom chose a more action-oriented direction for its sequels,Resident Evil 5andResident Evil 6.Couple that with years of unfaithful spin-offs likeOperation Raccoon CityorUmbrella Corps,Resident Evilhad become nothing more than a shell of its former self. That is untilRE7returned to the roots of the series while entirely reinventing what the series could be.
Developed on the RE Engine,Resident Evil 7: biohazardintroduced an all-new first-person perspective, and focussed on survival horror over action, emphasizing exploration, resource management, scarce ammo, and challenging enemies. TheRE7formula is rumored to be heavily influencing the sequel with its first-person perspective and protagonistreturning forResident Evil 8. On top of that,RE7would be a great addition for PS4 and PSVR owners, as the entire game can be played in VR.
Moving forward,PS Plusneeds to focus on maintaining a good balance between genres and budgets i.e. offering a AAA game with an indie or niche game similar toUncharted: The Nathan Drake CollectionandGoat Simulatorin January. It would also be nice to see Sony releaseanother bonus PSVR gameevery other month while players are stuck at home and waiting for PlayStation 5.
PlayStation Plusmembers receive two free games every month with their subscription.
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