Sony has just launched their revamped PlayStation Plus service here in Ireland, giving Sony a bona-fide contender to Microsoft's Game Pass.
With so many games available, it's important to seperate the wheat from the chaff, and we've compiled a hand-picked guide of the best games available to subscribers.
From blockbusters to smaller indie titles, here's our guide to make your subscription stretch even further.
We'll also highlight some of the best golden oldie games available to those who have splashed out on the premium tier.
Blockbusters
Sony are keen to get people to subscribe to their service, and have included some big heavy-hitters.
One of our favourite games of last year 'Returnal' is the headline act for the new PlayStation Plus, and for our money, there is no better title to show off the capabilities of the Playstation 5.
'Returnal' can best be described as 'Edge Of Tomorrow' meets 'Dark Souls', and you will die over and over again trying to beat the game, but the addictive gameplay and strong story will keep you coming back.
'Control' was one of the last truly great games of the 2010s, and is available for PlayStation Plus subscribers.
This mind-bending shooter from the creators of 'Alan Wake' and 'Max Payne' is a worthy addition to any console library.
Hideo Kojima's perplexing deliver-em-up 'Death Stranding' is available in all its barmy glory on the service, and players can avail of the directors cut of the game (as if the original game wasn't the most Hideo Kojima game to ever exist!)
'Days Gone' has become a cult franchise for Sony, and the 2019 zombie game has attracted a rabid fanbase that demands a sequel.
The game, for lack of a better term, is bloody long, and you will certainly get your value for money with this zombie adventure.
For fans of superheroes, the Insomniac 'Spider-Man' games are available, with the 2018 'Spider-Man' and PS5 launch title 'Spider-Man: Miles Morales' ready to play.
Last year's sleeper hit 'Guardians Of The Galaxy' is also available, meaning that superhero fans are spoiled for choice.
For fans of the high brow, 2020's 'Ghost Of Tsushima' is also available from day one, and Sony were kind enough to make the director's cut available to players, meaning we get even more playtime in the lush and beautiful game world.
If you've played 'Elden Ring' and decided it was too easy, 'Demon's Souls' is here to beat you back into submission.
The game that started it all is available on the service, and while the game lacks the quality and polish of later Fromsoftware titles, it is a nice reminder of where they came from - and reminding us that yes, their games were always this insanely difficult.
We'll touch upon older games later in the article, but thanks to the power of emulation classic titles like 'Fallout New Vegas', the original 'Red Dead Redemption', the 'inFamous' games, and the original 'God Of War' trilogy are available to play.
Sony are adamant that they will not be adding major titles to their service on day one ala Xbox Game Pass, but even as it stands the games on offer here are robust, and cater to players of all genres.
Sony aren't afraid to delve into their vast library of games, but crucially for a subscription service, they also carry games from the likes of Capcom, Square Enix, Bethesda and 2K.
PlayStation Plus will add new titles over time, so we're hopeful more heavy hitter titles will be added as time goes on.
Golden Oldies
The big appeal of PlayStation Plus Premium for many users is Sony's old catalogue of games, and while the initial line-up doesn't quite have the heavy hitters you'd expect like the original 'Final Fantasy VII', 'Metal Gear Solid' or some of the old 'Gran Turismo' games, the line-up we have at launch is solid.
The headliner of the old contingent is the directors cut of the original 'Resident Evil'.
Granted, 'Resident Evil' has been remade and remastered more times than 'Alice In Wonderland', but the novelty of playing the game like you would have back in 1998 is a major appeal to fans.
You can also relive Saturday afternoons of taking lumps out of your mates with 'Tekken 2' available on the service, as well as some games from the 'Worms' franchise.
The original 'Ape Escape', 'Syphon Filter', 'Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee' and 'Everybody's Golf' round out the PS1 contingent.
The prospect of playing old PS2 games is mighty appealing to players, but the PS2 selection is relatively slim in comparison to how many games the system offered.
The stars of the show on the PS2 end include the 'Jak and Daxter' games, developed by Naughty Dog before they redefined the medium with 'The Last Of Us'.
'Red Faction' 1 and 2 feature on the service, so players can experience the disappointment of being promised unlimited freedom to blow everything up and then being forced down a linear corridor for 6 hours, just like back in 2001.
'Star Wars' fans have a lot to chew into, with 'Star Wars Bounty Hunter', 'Star Wars Jedi Starfighter' and 'Star Wars Racer Revenge' available on the PS2 tier.
As if horror fans didn't have enough to play through with the original 'Resident Evil', two underrated horror titles from the PS2 era are on the serivce; 2002's 'Primal' and 2004's 'Siren'.
'Primal' is an action-horror game from the era of every game developer wanting a new female action hero like Lara Croft and has a fantastically gothic atmosphere and vibe, and 'Siren' is a playable Japanese horror.
In more modern fare, 'Far Cry 3' turns 10 years old this year, and if you want to see how every sandbox game of the last decade rips off the open-world design of 'Far Cry 3', you can revisit the game for yourself (or revisit those encounters with the iconic Vaas!)
Hidden Gems
With hundreds of games, there are bound to be some stinkers - as well as some genuine great games that have flown under the radar.
One of our favourites is PS3 game 'The Last Guy', a brilliantly unique and weird game played from a top-down perspective.
Players must gather and shepherd groups of survivors across cityscapes ripped from Google Earth while avoiding monsters.
It's an incredibly Japanese and twee game, but it's great to see Sony remembered how great the game was.
Before he became the king of sci-fi movies that start off strongly and have disappointing third acts, Alex Garland wrote 'Enslaved: Oddysey To The West', and it is a crying shame the game didn't spawn a franchise.
The 2010 game is one of the most underrated games of the last 20 years, and still plays and looks like a dream.
The game follows literal monkey man Monkey, played and mo-capped by the iconic Andy Serkis, as he is tasked with delivering a girl with special talents across a post-apocalyptic wasteland overrun by robots.
If this sounds familiar, that's because the game predated 'The Last Of Us' and the 'Horizon' games, and for our money did it even better than Sony ever did.
The addition of 'Enslaved' to the service is exactly the kind of thing we want from the old-school tier.
The two 'Darkness' games are available for players, and are also great hidden gems from the PS3 era.
Players are put in the shoes of a young crime boss called Jackie, who is possessed by an ancient demonic force.
Somewhere between 'Hellraiser' and 'The Sopranos', the games are deeply violent but involve glimpses into a life of crime with some extra demon action.
The last game in the series, 2012's 'The Darkness II', features a distinct cel-shaded art style that still looks great even today, and is the kind of game you can play through in a weekend.
At the other, more kid-friendly end of the spectrum, the excellent 'Split/Second Velocity' is there for players to blitz through.
The game was released in 2010, and again, it is a crying shame it didn't spawn an annual franchise ala 'Call Of Duty'.
'Split/Second' is the long-lost brother of the 'Fast and Furious' series, and in the interim, it was raised by someone who exclusively watched Steven Segal movies.
Players can trigger massive explosions that can alter the terrain of the map, and even all these years later, it is immensely satisfying to send someone flying off the track by blowing up a parking garage next to them.
Other hidden gems include 'Resogun', the very first free PlayStation Plus game for PS4 users and by the folks who went on to develop 'Returnal'.
We'd also recommend checking out the 'This Is The Police' games, a quirky strategy game from the developers of last years superb 'This Is The President' that puts players in charge of a bumbling police department.
2017's 'Prey' is one of our favourite games of the last few years, in large part to it's beautiful and expansive level design.
'Prey' comes to us from Arkane, the developers behind the 'Dishonoured' and later of 'Deathloop' fame, and if you like their open-world game design, you will eat up 'Prey' with a spoon.
With so many games available, we've left out some for the sake of expediency, but if you want the full list you can check out the full list on the Sony website.
PlayStation Plus Premium, which offers all the hot PS5 and PS4 titles as well as the classics will set you back €120 a year or €16.99 a month.
PlayStation Plus Extra, which gets you the PS5 and PS4 line of games, will set you back €100 a year or €13.99 a month.
If you just want the bare necessities, which includes the two free games a month and simple access to online, remains the same at €60 a year or €8.99 a month.
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