As January comes to a close, we have one last weekend of relative downtime before all the upcoming PS5 games in February swoop in. That said, we still need some great games to play without cutting into our budgets. That’s where PlayStation Plus comes in. We are in that awkward period between the last batch of Extra and Premium games arriving and the new Essential games for February going live, but there are hundreds of games in the service you might have missed that may have passed you by that are more than worth a weekend of your time. Whether you need something to whet your appetite for Monster Hunter Wilds or a cozy indie game you can complete in a sitting or two, these are the games on PlayStation Plus you should add to your download queue for this weekend.
Sayonara Wild Hearts
Imagine playing through an interactive music video and you will start to get an idea of what Sayonara Wild Hearts is. You will guide your character through vibrant and high-contrast environments with a dream-like aesthetic across an entire tracklist of songs. The gameplay is a blend of rhythm game mechanics where you will need to time button presses, but it is mainly about guiding your character through stages trying to collect hearts to rack up as many points as possible. While you could go for the high scores and secret objectives, you could just as easily vibe out with the game and flow through it like an interactive album in just a sitting or two.
Sayonara Wild Hearts is available now on PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Mobile.
Atlas Fallen: Reign of Sand
2023 was a year packed with so many amazing games that many fun, but not stellar, games fell through the cracks. Atlas Fallen: Reign of Sand is a solid third-person RPG that has some cool combat mechanics and traversal but a somewhat bland story. If you enjoy a solid combat system with dodges, blocks, combos, and an addictive sand-surfing system, it is a great low-commitment game you can hop in and out of for as much as you like. It also includes co-op multiplayer so you and a friend can keep each other company while doing quests and taking on massive enemies together. It likely won’t be your favorite game but is solid enough to give a chance as part of PS Plus.
Atlas Fallen: Reign of Sand is available now on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
Monster Hunter Rise
Because Monster Hunter Rise launched as a Switch exclusive, many players may have missed the news that it eventually got ported to all platforms. We already mentioned that Wilds is just around the corner, but if your last hunting experience was with World, now is the best time to at least dip your toes into Rise to see how the franchise has evolved. This is where ridable mounts first showed up, which will play a major part in Wilds, and is still a fully-featured Monster Hunter experience. If you aren’t worried about burning yourself out, you and your friends could easily spend the next few weeks enjoying Rise right up until Wilds hits though you should be aware that it doesn’t have full cross-platform support.
Monster Hunter Rise is available now on Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
