PlayStation Plus is often seen as one of two things if comments are anything to go by: That service that gives players a bunch of crappy no-name indies or that required fee for online games that PS4 gamers begrudgingly pay, but the fact is that your $60 per year (price based on US based subscriptions) gets you a number of additional great benefits throughout the year that are all too easy to forget each time Sony announces the next round of included games that come to the service.
The Benefits of PlayStation Plus
Online Multiplayer
Most people just have Plus in order to be able to play online multiplayer. While there are a few exceptions, almost every PS4 game requires an active Plus subscription in order to play online. If you have a single PS4 with multiple accounts, you only need a single Plus subscription on the account that has activated that PS4 as their primary system to allow every account on the system to play online.
PS3 and Vita do not require a Plus subscription for online play.
Monthly Plus Games
Plus subscribers get access to a library of games that come complimentary with the service. New games are added to the service each month, and once you’ve redeemed those games, they are accessible to you and all users on your primary PS4 as long as your Plus subscription is active. Typically Sony offers two titles for each console (PS4, PS3, and Vita), for a grand total of six games if you have all three. Sometimes games are cross-buy, which means that the PS4 often gets more than just the two games advertised on the Plus section of your PS4.
Check PlayStation LifeStyle on the last Wednesday of each month to see what games are coming to PlayStation Plus for the following month.
Online Storage Automatic Upload
We’ve detailed how to set this up in the past, but with Plus you can make sure that your PS4 automatically downloads any game updates while your PS4 is in rest mode, so you don’t have to wait for an hour while that latest Overwatch patch downloads in order to play.
Previously this feature was Plus only, but it was added for all PS4 users. However, the automatic upload of your game saves to online storage is a Plus exclusive feature, and you get 10 GB of online storage for your saves, which should be more than enough. People often pay more than $60 a year for auto backup on their computers, so the subscription is a small price to pay for peace of mind for your save files.
Exclusive Content and Discounts
By just being a PlayStation Plus member you get the opportunity to get exclusive content and discounts through the PlayStation Store. When Sony decides to run flash sales, often the prices for Plus members end up being deep discounts that offer great games at really low prices. Other times you may find exclusive themes, avatars, or special pricing on game pre-orders, so if you buya lot of games digitally, you may find the Plus subscription to be worth it for these discounts that you get throughout the year.
Obviously not everyone will find the same value in every aspect of PlayStation Plus, but for the combined lot of features, $60 ends up being a small price to pay for the benefits that you get over the course of your active twelve month subscription to the service.
What’s your favorite part of the PlayStation Plus subscription? Do you feel that you get the full value for the $60 you pay each year? Remember that if you have any PlayStation questions that you think Help Desk could assist with, let us know in the comments.
Essential Reading:
- PSLS Help Desk: How to Set Custom PS4 Wallpaper From USB
- Top 5 Early Game of the Year 2017 Contenders Out Now
- Now Loading…Are Japanese Devs “Back?”
Best of 2016 Game Awards - PlayStation Plus Game
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Best of 2016 Game Awards - PlayStation Plus Game
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Helldivers
Helldivers brings a fun and intensity to cooperative play that I have not had in a long time. Single players may want to skip this one, but if you have some friends to sit down with, either on the couch or via the PSN, I highly recommend getting your squad ready to defend Super Earth from impending doom. Just watch out for that turret.
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Gone Home
This PC game almost didn't make it to consoles, but thankfully, it did! It's a different beat from the 8-bit indie games that people are used to, but that's a good thing.
Gone Home's story is second to none and rewards those patient gamers out there.
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Siren: Blood Curse
This 2008 title saw a re-release on PS+ this year much to the delight of horror fans everywhere. While some of its gameplay mechanics might feel outdated compared to more recent games in the genre, there's no denying that the atmosphere, tension and just scare factor is still as frightening now as it was back then.
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Journey
Journey is minimalist to allow you to fill in those gaps with your own emotion and experience — to apply your personal situation and make the story your own. It’s a simple beauty, but one that shines brightly and now has the opportunity to be played by millions more thanks to its stunning upgrade to PS4, with beautiful lighting and environments that impress. Whether you’ve played Journey before, or never had the opportunity, do yourself a favor and make your way to the top of the mountain on PS4. You may find more on the way to the peak than you expected at the outset.
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Resident Evil Remastered
If you want some good, classic scares, then pick up this great Resident Evil remaster as soon as you can. $20 might sound like a lot for what is really an old game with shiny new “packaging,” but with multiple endings, the best visuals possible, and that iconic mansion setting, you’re always going to want to come back for more. Whether you want to relive the nightmares of your youth or experience a classic for the first time, this version of Resident Evil is an easy recommendation to real survival horror fans.
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Everybody's Gone to the Rapture
You already know if you want to buy in on this experience. If you’re looking for a gory, bloody, violent apocalypse, well, there are already a myriad of other titles to choose from. But if you’re looking for an interesting method of storytelling full of drama, then you will want to check out Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture. This is a video game as a piece of literature. Some may call it art, but I like to think gaming has evolved beyond such a contemporary definition. The Chinese Room had a story to tell, and they have done so in such a unique fashion that I eagerly await their next adventure.
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Grim Fandango: Remastered
Like watching a classic old movie, Grim Fandango Remastered feels like a hearkening back to the golden days of gaming, when PC adventure games ruled and games didn’t have difficulty settings so easy that it seems like the game is playing itself. This is as much a history lesson as it is entertainment, lest we forget the roots of great gaming. Sure, the backgrounds and cutscenes are untouched, but remember the fit everyone threw when they edited the original Star Wars trilogy too much (Han shot first…)? Grim Fandango Remastered has been put together with care as a passion project from Tim Schafer, and is sure to delight both players new to the game and long time players of Grim Fandango and the LucasArts graphic puzzle adventure genre. Perhaps most important to this release will be the potential effects that bringing this game back into the limelight will have on the future development of adventure titles, and the thought of a merging of great classics and new technology really excites me.
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And the winner is...
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Winner - Journey
Journey is minimalist to allow you to fill in those gaps with your own emotion and experience — to apply your personal situation and make the story your own. It’s a simple beauty, but one that shines brightly and now has the opportunity to be played by millions more thanks to its stunning upgrade to PS4, with beautiful lighting and environments that impress. Whether you’ve played Journey before, or never had the opportunity, do yourself a favor and make your way to the top of the mountain on PS4. You may find more on the way to the peak than you expected at the outset.
