PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium received a ton of games in June, which can make it difficult to sift through and find the strongest titles. Here’s are the best PS Plus June 2023 Extra and Premium games that are worth booting up.
Inscryption
Inscryption’s description might repel some since it is a card-based roguelite and that genre can be a little niche, but it’s so much more than that. It starts out as an easy-to-grasp card game that calls on players to use every resource intelligently to progress, which is a satisfying loop and even some of the best roguelites stop there. However, Inscryption keeps going and becomes far more than a simple card game. Even though it is more than it initially seems, it never loses sight of what works and continues to build on those ideas in creative and unforgettable ways.
Rogue Legacy 2
Rogue Legacy 2 builds on the, well, legacy of the first Rogue Legacy by being centered around going deeper into a constantly changing set of environments in order to cash in more upgrades. There’s a hook here that makes it rewarding to keep going; that was true then and it’s true now for the sequel even if it isn’t as unique. There are additional class types that add more variety to combat (although some are better than others) and more ways to customize each character through new types of equipment. It’s mostly varied enough to keep the runs from growing stale, but the unique traits that are meant to further mix it all up have just gotten bothersome since many of them twist the game in unfair ways.
Despite the irritating traits, Rogue Legacy 2 is able to slightly step over the original through a few key design decisions, mainly through its customizability and accessibility. Difficulty can be manually managed in the menu and touches elements like health and damage values, as well as turning off the ever-annoying enemy contact damage that plagued the first game. Rogue Legacy 2 is an exceptionally hard title that makes players earn their dodges and carefully plan attacks, so all of these knobs help keep the frustration down. It’s not as influential as its forebear, but it’s still one of the better roguelites.
Carto
Carto is simply an incredibly charming and unique puzzle game. It lets players shift around a paper map, which changes around the actual world. Map pieces have to be arranged in a way where the terrain matches the adjacent square, which leads to all sorts of possible combinations where players have to think critically about each piece in order to find the right combination. It’s a unique mechanic that leads to some thought-provoking puzzles that are subtle but rarely counterintuitive. The easygoing attitude and striking art style also round out the experience and make Carto one charming journey.
Dodgeball Academia
Dodgeball Academia has been unabashedly influences by sports anime and the Pokémon games, but it still has a charm all its own. Taking place in a dodgeball-centric school makes for a solid hub that naturally contains plenty of unique characters and lets players learn the mechanics alongside the protagonist.
Learning all of these new moves in school means there are all sorts of upgrades to grab and earn, which makes for a solid RPG, but its combat mechanics are where Dodgeball Academia excels. Instead of relying on turn-based battles, fights happen in real-time and use the simple rules of dodgeball as a base. Special moves, a customizable party, unique ball types, and perks add more variables to the fights and give players a choice in how their dodgeball student plays out on the court. These RPG mechanics are doled out well and make each battle thrilling, but the real-time skill-based mechanics at the center are key in ensuring Dodgeball Academia doesn’t deflate over time.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge does not hide its affection for the past, but it is not thoughtlessly beholden to it. This beautiful brawler has plenty of contemporary features like six-player co-op, a leveling system, and multiple difficulties and modes that sand off the prickly, quarter-munching nature of the arcade originals and bring it up to modern standards.
The retro charm is still undeniably thick, though, with its focus on a form of 2D brawling that has mostly died out. Tribute Games and Dotemu have implemented a healthy variety of attacks that keep it from becoming mashy and overly repetitive, something this genre can be prone to. While the colorful visuals, numerous references, and killer music are made for those who love the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, it’s also designed well enough to be a great brawler in its own right.
A Hat in Time
3D platformers are rare in the modern age, especially ones not in established franchises. A Hat in Time is a new IP, but it looks like a lost PS1 or N64 game. However, more importantly, it plays like a contemporary title. Jumping around and gathering collectibles to unlock new abilities feels good because of the smooth controls, and the whimsical nature of it all makes all that much smoother to digest.
Its creative level themes also break new ground because it’s not just the obligatory mix of the water level, ice level, and fire level. Instead, A Hat in Time has fresher ideas that include a mafia town and movie studio world. It’s a cute platformer that has obvious retro inspirations, but isn’t just a careless retread. And as an added bonus, it even runs at a higher frame rate on PS5 as long as players tick the right box in the settings.
Tacoma
Tacoma didn’t seem to reach the meteoric heights of Fullbright’s last game, Gone Home, but it is still an enjoyable narrative-based adventure game. The AR recordings that make a big part of the game’s narrative let players dig into the Tacoma’s fleshed-out characters and is a more visually compelling way to dig into the lore than reading journal after journal. It makes room for the excellent performances to shine through and lets the game completely get away with its lack of faces or facial animations. Piecing together what happened through branching recordings is a great evolution of what Fullbright has done before and makes it one of the better entries in an increasingly crowded genre.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided was initially hampered by its tacked-on multiplayer, gross microtransactions, and tacky pre-order campaign, but this immersive sim’s qualities have only gotten better with time since those aforementioned issues have faded into the background. Mankind Divided gives players all sorts of objectives that, in true immersive sim fashion, can be solved a number of different ways. Levels are denser and protagonist Adam Jensen’s upgraded suite of abilities means there are more ways to explore each corner, sewer tunnel, and apartment.
The game sticks out a few years later because immersive sims aren’t as prevalent now. Eidos-Montréal didn’t make a sequel and its following two projects, Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Guardians of the Galaxy, were straightforward action games. Arkane Studios has also been inching away from its immersive sim roots with games like Deathloop and Redfall, with the former being a small step away from the genre and the latter being quite a large (mis)step. Its story is rushed and has some eye-rolling analogies to modern political problems, but it’s still an excellent and wonderfully realized entry in its underserved genre.
Far Cry 6
Far Cry 6 is definitely Far Cry, but it’s also the most streamlined and expansive version of that aging formula. Yara is one of the more interesting settings in the series and having a voiced protagonist helps bring out the personality of the many characters in that world that are fighting against the dictatorship oppressing them all. Giancarlo Esposito’s role as the villain lives up to some of the series’ best antagonists and isn’t just a retread of his past characters like Breaking Bad’s Gus Fring and The Mandalorian’s Moff Gideon.
The gameplay draws heavily from the Far Cry series, as players will still be clearing out camps and upgrading their gear, but the presentation makes it stick out. The vast array of customizable weapons, cast of silly animal companions, and handful of gadgets give players all sorts of ways to wreak havoc on Far Cry 6’s open world, even if not much of it is actually new. It still guides players by the nose from objective to objective and isn’t some bold take on the genre, but it’s a solid checklist game that’s even gotten better after launch through a few solid updates.
Killzone: Liberation
Killzone: Liberation is incredibly novel for a few reasons. It’s a Killzone game, a franchise that has been dormant for a decade. It’s a top-down shooter, which is a genre that is rare in the modern age. And it’s also a noteworthy PSP game that stands out in the lackluster crowd of its peers on Premium. It would be a decent artifact if that was it — and that is all part of the appeal — but Liberation is surprisingly still a solid game.
Knowing when to shoot, where to take cover, and how to direct around allies makes for a compelling loop that’s uncomplicated yet still engaging. The lock-on targeting can be a little finicky and its blocky visuals and dry art style mean it doesn’t look great, but it’s a unique title that is the type of game Sony should be putting on Premium.
