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‘Rime’ leads the charge for February’s PlayStation Plus offerings

playstation plus games february 2018 rime game review screens 8
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Sony revealed February’s PlayStation Plus freebies and we think this might just be one of the best slates of offerings in quite some time, especially for PS4 owners with an interest in adventure.

PlayStation 4 users can snag Rime, the 2017 puzzle-adventure game that we called gorgeous and moving in our review. In Rime , you play as an unnamed boy who has washed up on a strange island. Rendered in eye-catching cartoonish visuals, you explore the wondrous island, solving puzzles and completing platforming sequences throughout the game’s five sections. Rime tells an emotional story that remains a clever mystery until the very end. It’s rare that a game as new as Rime finds itself on a PS Plus list, so PS4 owners should certainly give it a go.

Balancing the new with the old, the second PS4 game takes users all the way back to the PS4’s 2013 launch in Knack. The first-party exclusive doesn’t have the best reputation (although Knack 2 fared a bit better), but if you haven’t played the family-friendly platformer, it’s definitely not the worst way to spend a rainy (or snowy!) day.

Thanks to cross-buy, PS4 users can also nab the tactical RPG Grand Kingdom, designated as one of the PlayStation Vita’s February freebies. Set in a fantasy world populated by humans and demons, Grand Kingdom features turn-based combat, a single player campaign, and online multiplayer that works across Vita and PS4. Vita users can go back in time with Exile’s End, a side-scrolling action adventure that pays homage to the Commodore 64 with its gameplay and aesthetic.

PS3 users can pick up Spelunker HD, a remake of the 1985 NES version of the arcade game. The game includes 110 caverns to explore, each of which is filled with an array of bats, ghosts, spiders and other enemies, as well as oodles of treasure to unearth. Mugen Souls Z, an anime RPG, rounds out February’s free games on PS3.

In addition to the six new games, the PSVR title Starblood Arena remains free until March 6. If you haven’t already, make sure to claim January’s free games before February’s lineup takes over on February 6.

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Steven Petite
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Steven is a writer from Northeast Ohio currently based in Louisiana. He writes about video games and books, and consumes…
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