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PS Plus July 2015 Freebies Dig Deep and Obscure

By on July 2, 2015

If the phrase (word?) AAA raises your eyebrow in curiousity, July is the month you wish you have Xbox Live Gold over PS Plus. If you’re too hip to care about labels, Sony is making a fairly aggressive play for your attention, throwing four indie-sized PS4 games at PS Plus members like a pancake on a syrup-lathered window.

Every one of these games goes free on the first Tuesday of July, which just so happens to be the day of the week furthest away from the first day of the month, July 7. Thanks, universe.

PS4

Rocket League

Rocket League PS Plus July 2015 PS4

Giant soccer played by tiny cars. Rocket League has the shared hip-points of its laser-focused, multiplayer-only approach and a pedigree as a spritual successor to the PS3’s cult-favorite Super-Sonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars! The beta closed with a lot of positive buzz in its wake. As the headliner of the month, Rocket League stands a good chance of pleasantly surprising the indie dissenters.

Styx: Master of Shadows

Styx: Master of Shadows PS Plus July 2015 PS4

A little Assassin’s Creed, a little Metal Gear Solid, what Styx: Master of Shadows lacked in the critical eye for its PC release, it makes up for almost entirely through the severe lack of an asking price on the PS4 (for just this month). Bottom line: it’s rough around the edges, surprisingly stylish and fiendishly Gothic. Have fun.

MouseCraft (also on PS3 and PS Vita)

MouseCraft PS4 PS Plus July 2015

We can forgive MouseCraft for not being a digital sequel to the timeless board game Mouse Trap. That’s okay, MouseCraft, at least you sort of reminded us that Mouse Trap existed. Instead, MouseCraft is far more reminiscent of Nintendo’s Mario vs. Donkey Kong live puzzler handheld series. As an omnipotent third party, you’ll guide a troupe of mice through two-dimensional puzzles so that they might accomplish the goal of cheese and lethargic fatness.

Come to think of it, this might actually be the antithesis of Mouse Trap, which, in the world of media marketing inside my head, just makes it a spiritual sequel.

Entwined (also on PS3 and PS Vita)

Entwined PS4 PS Plus July 2015

This one’s about as indie as it gets. Two spirits soar side by side through a meta-psychedelic on-rails adventure. The twist, of course, is one player controls them both. Not cross-eyed, but cross-fingered, you may become.

PS3

Rain

Rain PS3 PS Plus July 2015

There may not exist a game with the word “rain” in the title that isn’t selling itself on atmosphere and emotion. In this puzzle-platformer you are an isolated young boy following a disappearing girl around an abandoned and moist town. Hopefully the ending twist is he isn’t seeing dead people. He’s just bat-shit crazy.

PS Vita

Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions

Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions PS Vita PS Plus July 2015

Pew-pew to the max, Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions is a somewhat faithful recreation of the formula that made the original Xbox 360 titles so explosively popular. In addition to the classic modes, in which you guide a twin-stick-powered blue arrow to pulverize wave after wave of different colored (and, therefore, behaviorally unique) shapes, developer Sierra thought to include a level-based campaign that’s surprisingly not bad. In a logical move unbecoming of video game publishers, it’s a prime candidate for the faltering PS Vita.

About Trevor Ruben

Though I contribute to many online publications on a regular basis, including The Checkout, the crux of my writing lies in video games. When not writing, I'm often streaming a variety of games on Twitch.

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