These are your PlayStation Plus games for October

Even with the recent 53% increase, it could still be reasonably argued that PlayStation Plus provides excellent value. For R749 a year, you’re getting 6 games a month, plus access to multiplayer which rightly should be free anyway. I digress, but the point is that PlayStation Plus’ value is directly proportional to the quality of the games users receive as part of that subscription. Here’s what you’ll be getting this month.

Here are you offerings, straight from the PS Blog. These are the games both European and American users will be getting as part of their instant game collections.

Dust: An Elysian Tail (PS4)

Immerse yourself in a gorgeous hand-painted world on a search for your true identity. As the mysterious warrior, Dust, your action-packed journey will take you from peaceful glades to snowy mountaintops and beyond. At your disposal is the mythical Blade of Ahrah, capable of turning its wielder it into an unstoppable force of nature, and the blade’s diminutive guardian, Fidget.

Dust is a really nice game – but it’s already been a free game as part of Microsoft’s games for gold.

Spelunky (PS4 – Cross-Buy)

Spelunky is a unique platformer with randomized levels that offer a challenging new experience each time you play. Journey deep underground and explore fantastic places filled with all manner of monsters, traps, and treasure. Go solo or bring up to three friends to join you in cooperative play or frantic deathmatch!

Spelunky’s one of those games you could just play forever, if rogue-like platformers are your thing. IT’s cross buy with the Vita, so that’s an extra game for Vita owners.

Bonus! DriveClub PlayStation Plus Edition (PS4)

DRIVE TOGETHER, WIN TOGETHER. Fuel the thrill of high-octane racing by downloading DRIVECLUB PlayStation Plus Edition. Take a test drive of the world’s most social racer: Features unrestricted access both offline and online to the 11 tracks of India & 10 cars for your garage.

For the first time, we have something resembling AAA for the PlayStation 4. It’s a “lite” version of the game, offering a small slice of what you might expect in the full release. I’ve been playing the game a bit this week…and I can say that it’s quite a good looking game. Because I’m the worst digital driver in the world, I can’t actually tell you if it’s any good – but it seems to me to be very much a blend of Gran Turismo with Project Gotham Racing.  Don’t worry; I’m not reviewing it.

Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3)

Batman: Arkham Asylum exposes players to a unique, dark and atmospheric adventure that takes them to the depths of Arkham Asylum –Gotham’s psychiatric hospital for the criminally insane. Gamers will move in the shadows, instigate fear amongst their enemies and confront The Joker and Gotham City’s most notorious villains who have taken over the asylum. Using a wide range of Batman’s gadgets and abilities, players will become the invisible predator and attempt to foil The Joker’s demented scheme.

Arkham Asylum is a great game, but as far as videogames, go, this one is older than your mum. At this point, a sequel and a prequel later, everybody who really wants to play this already has.

Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara (PS3)

Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara combines two timeless D&D arcade classics -Tower of Doom and Shadow over Mystara- into one definitive package. Battle through a rich fantasy universe with a host of new features, including HD visuals, drop-in/drop-out 4 player online co-op, customizable House Rules, leaderboards, and a trove of extras.

Capcom’s two great arcade Dungeons and Dragons side-scrolling beat-em-ups have been given an HD spit-and-shine, with great features like online play. This is probably the release I’m actually looking forward to most this month/.

Pix the Cat (PS4/PS Vita)

PIX the CAT is an intense arcade game designed to boost your heart-rate! Rescue forsaken ducklings from the nested levels of the infamous GRID of INFINITY. Perfect your skills to SPEED and COMBO UP until you reach the explosive FEVER TIME!

I have nothing to say about Pix the cat, because until today I’d never even heard of Pix the Cat.It’s pretty much Snake, by the looks of things. 

Rainbow Moon (PS3/PS Vita)

Rainbow Moon is a beautiful role-playing game filled with exploration, turn-based battles, and character development. Six playable main characters with upgradeable weapons and armor, and more than 20 challenging dungeons await you in a fascinating story that lasts over 40 hours.

This one’s for you, Umar.

That’s it. That’s the list of games coming to Plus’ Instant game collection this month. IF you own all three platforms, it’s still pretty good value I think. If you only have a PlayStation 4, you need the subscription for multiplayer, but there’s very little else about Plus that makes it genuinely worthwhile.

What do you think? Have the price increases made Plus lose it’s sheen somewhat? For what it’s worth, we’ve contacted Sony’s local agents to politely enquire about the increases, why they’re so high and why they were so poorly communicated – and will let you know once we hear anything.

Last Updated: October 2, 2014