PlayStation Users Hail Best New Free Games In "A Long, Long Time"

PlayStation appears to have kicked 2022 off with a much-needed course correction for the flagging PlayStation Plus subscription service.

PS Plus faced growing criticisms in the last few months of 2021, in large part due to the selection of monthly free games. One of December's free games was blasted as a "glorified demo", while just a few months before was labeled as an insulting new low for the service.

Fortunately, things seem to be on the up and up. January's free games are action-RPG Persona 5 Strikers, racing game Dirt 5, and sci-fi shooter Deep Rock Galactic, and the majority of subscribers seem to be loving them so far.

Over on the PlayStation Plus Subreddit, XX__MEMEEYBOI__XX showered the month's selections with praise, hailing them as the best PS Plus has offered "in a long, long time". It's rare and much-needed praise for the service, and a sentiment others seem to agree with.

"As a PS5 owner Dirt 5 is exactly what i was looking for," they wrote. "Great driving great graphics and most of all great haptics. The way the gas and brake fight you it's absolutely amazing."

"Definitely the best month so far this year!" agreed another user.

"Deep Rock Galactic is an absolute joy," chimed in one fan who wasn't quite sold on the other two freebies for the month. "Pure gaming joy. Did some missions with some randoms, set fire to space insects, then all got drunk in the bar afterwards while screaming "rock and stone" at each other. 10/10, I must unlock more moustaches."

January's PS Plus games will be available to subscribers until February 4, at which point they'll be replaced by a new batch. Here's hoping PlayStation can keep this positive momentum going.

PlayStation Plus

As you may have heard, 2022 could well see the start of a major overhaul for the PlayStation Plus service. According to a Bloomberg report published late last year, Sony is planning to change up the service in an attempt to rival Xbox Game Pass. It's said the company even intends to combine PS Plus and PS Now, as well as finally add a handful of classic original PlayStation and PlayStation 2 titles.

Like Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, the new PlayStation subscription service would be broken into tiers, the report suggests. The first tier might resemble the PS Plus service as we currently know it, for example, while the second tier would add more PS Now games. A third tier, meanwhile, would add PS1, PS2, and even PSP games - as well as a few "extended demos".