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2025 has been a banner year for the games industry. Not only has there been a slew of high-profile, fantastic releases like Death Stranding 2 and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, but subscription services like Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus have been on fire as well. With these subscriptions offering a buffet of hard-hitting titles at a reasonable price, it can be hard to know where exactly to begin.
If you’re sitting on a PlayStation Plus Extra or Premium subscription and aren’t quite sure what direction to head next, then read on. The following five games have been hand-picked to ensure maximum entertainment value, but they are artistically significant as well. With live-services failing left and right, and promising studios being shut down, it’s important to get back in touch with the real meat and potatoes of the gaming hobby every once in a while, and the following titles are designed to help you do just that.
Blue Prince
It seemingly came out of nowhere, but Blue Prince is already a contender for Game of the Year. It’s a puzzle game, which might turn some players off straight away, but the real beauty of Blue Prince is its accessibility: you don’t need to be a puzzle wunderkind or have a through-the-roof IQ to understand the game’s basics, and ultimately have a lot of fun. Blue Prince is endlessly surprising, unexpectedly intuitive, and deceptively moving, and the less you know about it before jumping in, the better. Even if you don’t put it at the top of your best games of 2025, you will probably at least appreciate what it’s going for, as it’s truly a one-of-a-kind gaming experience.
- How long to beat Blue Prince: 15-20 hours for the main campaign, but a completionist playthrough can last around 100 hours.
Blue Prince
- Released
- April 10, 2025
- ESRB
- E For Everyone // Alcohol Reference
- Developer(s)
- Dogubomb
- Publisher(s)
- Raw Fury
- Engine
- Unity
Welcome to Mt. Holly, the mysterious manor with shifting rooms. In Blue Prince, you embark on a genre-defying experience, filled with a unique mix of mystery, strategy, and puzzles that weave together to create an unpredictable journey. Will your explorative steps lead you to the rumored Room 46?
Upon reaching a closed door in Mt. Holly, you decide what room appears behind it and each decision shapes your path as you navigate through the manor. Every door can reveal new and exciting chambers that contain their own unique challenges and secrets. But be careful how you draft, for each day the manor’s floor plan resets and the rooms you saw today may not be the same rooms you see tomorrow.
Your progress each day is shaped by the rooms you select to draft and the tools you find within them. Items in the game can be used in a number of creative ways to fuel your exploration deeper into the house, allowing you to adopt unique strategies to combat the challenges that each day brings. Yet, tread wisely – the house resets each dawn, erasing all but the permanent upgrades to your estate blueprint. That is, if you were clever enough to find one!
As the heir of Mt. Holly, you have been tasked to explore its shifting halls in search of Room 46. Yet as your journey takes you further into the mansion’s depths, you start to discover that there is more lurking under the surface than a missing room. Investigate a past woven with the threads of blackmail, political intrigue, and the mysterious disappearance of a local children’s book author. The deeper you venture, the more you realize that the past is closer than it appears.
- Number of Players
- Single-player
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Playable
- PC Release Date
- April 10, 2025
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- April 10, 2025
- PS5 Release Date
- April 10, 2025
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- PS Plus Availability
- Extra & Premium
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Here’s the perfect chance to fill in a gaming blind spot: The Witcher 3 is widely accepted as a must-play game, and its status as gaming royalty would normally exclude it from a list of this kind, but exigent circumstances have intervened. The Witcher 3 is reportedly leaving PS Plus in mid-August, so if you’ve never played this RPG masterpiece, now would be a great time to start. Naturally, there’s a good chance that you won’t get through all of The Witcher 3‘s content in just one month, so consider this a trial run: if you get hooked, then you can buy the game and its DLCs in earnest. The Complete Edition is regularly marked down to a significant degree, so if playing the game for free on PS Plus won’t convince you to shell out for this famous title, then I doubt that anything can.
- How long to beat The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt: around 50 hours for the base game, though completionist runs can last over 150 hours, and expansions offer dozens more hours of gameplay as well.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
9/10
- Released
- May 19, 2015
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Use of Alcohol, Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content
- Developer(s)
- CD Projekt Red
- Publisher(s)
- CD Projekt Red
- Engine
- REDengine 3
You are Geralt of Rivia, mercenary monster slayer. Before you stands a war-torn, monster-infested continent you can explore at will. Your current contract? Tracking down Ciri — the Child of Prophecy, a living weapon that can alter the shape of the world.
PLAY AS A HIGHLY TRAINED MONSTER SLAYER FOR HIRE
Trained from early childhood and mutated to gain superhuman skills, strength, and reflexes, witchers are a counterbalance to the monster-infested world in which they live.
Gruesomely destroy foes as a professional monster hunter armed with a range of upgradeable weapons, mutating potions, and combat magic. Hunt down a wide variety of exotic monsters, from savage beasts prowling mountain passes to cunning supernatural predators lurking in the shadowy back alleys of densely populated cities. Invest your rewards to upgrade your weaponry and buy custom armor, or spend them on horse races, card games, fist fighting, and other pleasures life brings.
EXPLORE A MORALLY AMBIGUOUS FANTASY OPEN WORLD
Built for endless adventure, the massive open world of The Witcher sets new standards in terms of size, depth, and complexity. Traverse a fantastical open world: explore forgotten ruins, caves, and shipwrecks, trade with merchants and dwarven smiths in cities, and hunt across the open plains, mountains, and seas. Deal with treasonous generals, devious witches, and corrupt royalty to provide dark and dangerous services. Make choices that go beyond good & evil, and face their far-reaching consequences.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
When Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown was first unveiled, it attracted quite a bit of skepticism from the series’ fans. This was not the full-3D stealth-action title that so many of them had been waiting for, but a side-scrolling metroidvania with a completely different cast of characters. But many of those who set their skepticism to the side long enough to actually play the game found it to be refreshing, addictive, and endlessly compelling, able to go toe-to-toe with some of the best of the metroidvania genre. Traversal and combat are the stars of the show here: The Lost Crown has excellent moment-to-moment gameplay, and if you’re looking for a fresh take on a classic franchise, it’s hard to find much better.
- How long to beat Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown: 16 hours for the main campaign, but it can take around 30 hours to reach 100%.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
9/10
- Released
- January 18, 2024
- ESRB
- T For Teen Due To Blood, Mild Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Ubisoft Montpellier
- Publisher(s)
- Ubisoft
- Engine
- Unity
Dash into a stylish and thrilling action-adventure platformer set in a mythological Persian world where the boundaries of time and space are yours to manipulate. Play as Sargon and evolve from sword-wielding prodigy to extraordinary legend as you master acrobatic combat and unlock new Time Powers and unique super abilities.
UNLEASH YOUR INNER WARRIOR
Use your Time Powers, combat, and platforming skills to perform deadly combos and defeat time-corrupted enemies and mythological creatures.
LOSE YOURSELF IN THE PRODIGIOUS MOUNT QAF
Discover a cursed Persian-inspired world filled with larger-than-life landmarks and explore a variety of highly detailed biomes, each with their own identity, wonder, and danger.
LIVE AN EPIC ADVENTURE
Immerse yourself in a Persian mythological fantasy through an intriguing and original story as you use your wits to solve puzzles, find hidden treasures, and complete quests to learn more about this corrupted place.
- Franchise
- Prince of Persia
- PC Release Date
- January 18, 2024
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- January 18, 2024
- PS5 Release Date
- January 18, 2024
- Nintendo Switch Release Date
- January 18, 2024
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
- How Long To Beat
- 16 Hours
- PS Plus Availability
- Extra & Premium
Risk of Rain 2
Roguelikes are a dime a dozen these days, but Risk of Rain 2 outdoes most of them. Featuring a roster of distinct playable characters and innumerable upgrades, Risk of Rain 2 understands that the roguelike genre is at its best when players can craft powerful improvised builds over the course of a run. Thanks to clever and diverse combat mechanics, stackable upgrades, and a killer soundtrack, Risk of Rain 2 is likely to be one of the hardest-to-put-down games you’ll ever play.
- How long to beat Risk of Rain 2: approximately 11 hours for the main campaign, but the game has plenty more to offer, and completionists can milk as much as 150 hours out of it.
Risk of Rain 2
- Released
- September 11, 2020
- ESRB
- T For Teen // Blood, Drug Reference, Fantasy Violence
- Developer(s)
- Hopoo Games
- Publisher(s)
- Gearbox Publishing
- Engine
- unity
Escape a chaotic alien planet by fighting through hordes of frenzied monsters – with your friends, or on your own. Combine loot in surprising ways and master each character until you become the havoc you feared upon your first crash landing.
Over a dozen handcrafted locales await, each packed with challenging monsters and enormous bosses that oppose your continued existence. Fight your way to the final boss and escape or continue your run indefinitely to see just how long you can survive. A unique scaling system means both you and your foes limitlessly increase in power over the course of a game.
Tackle the adventure solo or with up to three friends in online co-op, or compete in the rotating challenge of the Prismatic Trials. Brand new survivors like the Captain and MUL-T join classic survivors such as the Engineer, Huntress, and–of course–the Commando.
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
- Franchise
- Risk of Rain
- PC Release Date
- September 11, 2020
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- August 27, 2024
- PS5 Release Date
- August 27, 2024
- Nintendo Switch Release Date
- October 20, 2020
- Platform(s)
- Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
- PS Plus Availability
- Extra & Premium
Road 96
Here’s another roguelike, though one of a decidedly different ilk. Road 96 follows various hitchhiking teens attempting to escape their home country during a period of sociopolitical strife. As these faceless avatars, players will encounter a number of colorful side characters who can offer help, harm, or something in between, which lends the broader experience a sense of true danger and unpredictability, not too unlike a real-life rough-and-tumble road trip. It’s a decidedly charming, unpredictable, and vibrant game world that you might not want to leave once the credits roll. It’s also the perfect game to hop in and play for just an hour or so, making it a good fit for PlayStation Plus.
- How long to beat Road 96: purpose-built and relaxed, Road 96 only offers about 10 hours of gameplay, even for completionists.
Road 96
6/10
- Released
- August 16, 2021
- ESRB
- T For Teen // Mild Blood, Suggestive Themes, Drug Reference, Violence, Language, Use of Alcohol And Tobacco
- Developer(s)
- DigixArt
- Publisher(s)
- Plug In Digital
- Engine
- Unity
Summer 1996, Today is the day! You hit the road. Adventure. Freedom. Escape. Run. Flee the Regime. Try to survive.
On this risky road trip to the border, you’ll meet incredible characters, and discover their intertwined stories and secrets in an ever-evolving adventure.
But every mile opens up a choice to make. Your decisions will change your adventure, change the people you meet, maybe even change the world.
There are thousands of roads across the authoritarian nation of Petria.
Which one will you take?
Road 96 is a crazy, beautiful road-trip. The discovery of exciting places, and unusual people on your own personal journey to freedom.
An ever-evolving story-driven adventure inspired by Tarantino, The Coen Brothers, and Bong Joon-ho. Made by the award-winning creators of Valiant Hearts and Memories Retold. Announced as part of the OMEN Presents initiative from HP Inc.
Moments of action, exploration, contemplative melancholy, human encounters and wacky situations. Set against a backdrop of authoritarian rule and oppression.
A stunning visual style, a soundtrack filled with 90s hits, and a thousand routes through the game combine so each player can create their own unique stories on Road 96.
