The 2019 Holiday season is a little lighter than previous years with no big hit coming in December, excluding the recentHalo Reachrelease date announcement, as developers and publishers prepare for the next generation of consoles. And because of that, PS Plus games for next month have a good chance to get more exposure than normal with users looking for new games to play over the holiday break. Here’s our wish list of free games for PlayStation Plus in December 2019!
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Watch Dogs 2
To the disappointment of many,Ubisoft has delayedWatch Dogs: Legionuntil the next fiscal year and confirmed that it will be a cross-generational game, which means fans may have to wait until the end of 2020 at the earliest. With so long to wait until the next installment in the series, now could be the perfect time to re-release the severely underratedWatch Dogs 2on PS Plus.
Back in 2013, pre-release footage of the originalWatch Dogswas used to set a benchmark for what players could expect from graphical fidelity and gameplay stability in the next console generation. That didn’t quite pan out the way fans expected and it led to many skipping out on the 2016 sequel - a game praised for its story, characters, and gameplay variety. ReleasingWatch Dogs 2as a PS Plus game in December would be a great distraction fromtheWatch Dogs: Legiondelay.
Watch Dogs 2is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
Right now, Ninja Theory is hard at work on theXbox-exclusiveBleeding Edge, due to release in March 2020 following its acquisition by Microsoft in 2018. WhileBleeding Edgeis a multiplayer-only brawler, Ninja Theory has long been known for its single-player, story-driven games likeHeavenly Sword, the 2015Devil May CryrebootDmC, and Star Wars centricDisney Infinity 3.0. Perhaps the most highly-regarded title from Ninja Theory is 2017’sHellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, an action-adventure game that was praised for tackling real-world issues such as mental illness.
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice’sgameplay is nothing to write home about, a fairly straightforward mixture of combat and puzzle-solving. However, the game’s narrative is something else entirely, a powerful depiction of psychosis, which makes it difficult for a person to determine the difference between what is real and what is not, and that concept is woven into the story and the gameplay in fascinating and horrific ways that leave a lasting impression and elevateHellblade: Senua’s Sacrificeabove the rest.
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrificeis available now on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.
Celeste
Back in September 2019, Canadian developer Matt Thorson rebranded the Matt Makes Games studio into Extremely OK Games, keeping the same development team while moving away from the idea of a sole creative force. Under the Matt Makes Games banner, Thorson developed the indie action gameTowerfall, as well as the critically-acclaimed 2D platformer,Celeste.
Celesteis easily one of the best 2D platformers ever created. It’s challenging, rewarding, aesthetically stunning, has outstanding level design built around perfectly timed execution, and ultimately tells a beautiful story of mental illness. Madeline is a young girl on a mission to climbCelestemountain, a metaphor for her struggle with depression.Celesteis an incredibly challenging gamethat demonstrates how Madeline and the player are able to overcome the obstacles in front of them by continuously getting up and trying again, over and over and over.
Celesteis available now on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.
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Star Wars: Battlefront 2
The history of EA’s rebootedStar Wars: Battlefrontseries hasn’t been very good. The first game was widely considered to be half-baked when it comes to content andBattlefront 2will forever be shrouded in controversy for its loot-box heavy past. But the truth is thatStar Wars: Battlefront 2has only gotten better since launch, adding new Campaign missions in its first couple of months, ditching the old loot-box system entirely, and consistently being updated with new content with two updates coming next month.
Star Wars: Battlefront 3won’t be happening anytime soonand considering that DICE and EA have continuously supported the game with new and exciting content, there doesn’t need to be.Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalkeris right and the corner with new tie-in content coming toStar Wars: Battlefront 2next month, meaning that now is a better time than ever for Sony to capitalize on the success of the brand and bring in new players while Star Wars is hot again.
Star Wars: Battlefront 2is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
If Sony plans to continue with PlayStation Plus despite the changes made to PS Now, which is almost guaranteed, then it’s going to become increasingly more important that the subscription can justify its existence when thePS5 releases worldwide next year. The next-generation of consoles are going to come with a lot of changes to how we play games and cloud-streaming and subscription services like Xbox Game Pass and PS Now are here to stay.
Right now, outside of adding PSVR games to the mix to replace the missing PS3 and Vita games, the only way for PS Plus to justify its existence to consumers is by releasing high-quality games on a consistent basis. The past few months have been nothing less than stellar andWatch Dogs 2, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, Celeste,andStar Wars: Battlefront 2are all strong contenders.
PlayStation Plusmembers receive two free games every month with their subscription.
