A new batch of PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium games dropped this week. Like Xbox Game Pass, this will probably go down as one of the best weeks for the video game subscription service this year. Its lineup offers a solid mix of modern games, retro classics, and more experimental titles. For this week’s PlayStation Plus recommendations, I’ve hand-picked the three games new to the service that I think are worth your time.
The first is a roguelike looter shooter that gives every player a procedurally generated campaign, even down to the order narrative beats occur. Next up is a PSP strategy game from Level-5 that just got new life with a PS4 and PS5 remaster. Finally, those deeply ingrained in the video game industry will enjoy a No More Heroes spinoff that just came to Sony’s subscription service.
Remnant II
If you’re looking for something on PS Plus to play with friends or have gotten tired of Borderlands 3 and want another looter shooter to check out, then I’d recommend Remnant 2. Released by Gunfire Games last year, it’s a class-based third-person shooter where every player’s campaign is procedurally generated. Even narrative moments and the bosses players encounter are generated in an order unique to each campaign, giving this looter shooter immense replay value.
Remnant 2 features some of the best boss battles I’ve ever seen in a multiplayer game. It can be tough for games like this to avoid repetition, but Remnant 2 circumvents that issue by paying attention to the little things in its environment, narrative, and encounter design, and then doling it out to players in a way that feels personal. It’s a must-play if you enjoy co-op shooters but haven’t played it yet.
Remnant 2 is available on PS5 through PS Plus Extra. It’s also part of the Xbox Game Pass catalog on Xbox Series X/S and PC.
Jeanne d’Arc
Originally available only on PSP, the cult classic strategy game Jeanne d’Arc finally came to modern PlayStation consoles as part of this latest batch of PlayStation Plus Premium classic titles. Jeanne d’Arc is a game from when developer Level-5 was at its peak, arriving right between Rogue Galaxy and Professor Layton and the Curious Village. It’s a strategy game that reinterprets the legend of Joan of Arc in the Hundred Years’ War as more of a magical girl fantasy adventure. It’s a novel setting but also a deeply engaging tactics RPG.
The closest modern mainstream comparison I can make is Fire Emblem, as players must strategically move about their characters on a grid and fight enemies over the course of several turns and improve their units via level-ups and giving them better gear between battles. There are a lot of smaller intricacies of its battle system for you to discover as well, like a magical armband that can give Jeanne abilities like being able to move or attack multiple times in one turn. It’s a cult classic, so if you’ve never played this PSP game before, you should definitely give it a chance now that it’s on modern systems and features a rewind function that can easily undo any strategic mistakes.
Jeanne d’Arc is available through PS Plus Premium on PS4 and PS5. It can also be permanently purchased on its own for $10
Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes Complete Edition
While No More Heroes 3 came to PlayStation Plus Extra this week, I want to recommend the weird No More Heroes spinoff that arrived a couple of years prior. Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes follows Travis Touchdown after he is sucked into a possessed video game console alongside his rival Badman and must fight his way through the game on this console in order to escape and get back to his world. It has no problem satirizing the video game industry, even directly making fun of people like former EA and Unity executive John Riccitiello with its villain Damon Riccitiello. (That’s even funnier now than it was in 2019 after the Unity Runtime Fee fiasco caused Riccitiello to leave that company last year.)
While its top-down action gameplay is a bit clunky, it’s fun to see all of the different games that Travis Strikes Again references, such as Hotline Miami. If you’re a fan of the video game industry at large, you’ll appreciate all of the jokes and references packed in what’s one of Suda 51’s weirdest games since Shadows of the Damned.
The PS4 version of Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes Complete Edition is available through PS Plus Extra. It’s also available on PC and Nintendo Switch.
