PS Plus: Free Games for January, 2016

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PS Plus: Free Games for January, 2016
Andy Lum Sony Computer Entertainment America

As we look forward to the New Year, we’re excited to share our January 2016 PlayStation Plus lineup with everyone. This month our PS4 games pay homage to a couple classic, fan-favorite titles, while updating the gameplay and graphics to PS4!

Hardware: Rivals makes its exclusive debut on PlayStation Plus. Get behind the wheel of a powerful tank or mobile attack jeep in this arcade-style, vehicle combat game. Inspired by the PS2 classic Hardware: Online Arena, Hardware: Rivals lets you challenge your friends or enter the online multiplayer arena on your own and experience epic vehicular mayhem with multiple maps, game modes, and special events.

If you need a breather from all the vehicle-on-vehicle combat, you can always turn to the twisted Mexican folklore of Grim Fandango Remastered. As Manny Calavera, travel agent for the Department of Death, you’ll guide poor souls to their eternal rest. Crime. Skeletons. Romance. You’ll experience it all in this update to the beloved adventure game.

These PS4 games are free for PlayStation Plus members starting on the first Tuesday of January, and you can find the full list of PlayStation Plus games below.

Full Lineup:

  • Dragon Age: Origins, PS3
  • Grim Fandango Remastered, PS4, PS Vita
  • Hardware: Rivals, PS4
  • Legends of War Patton, PS Vita
  • Medal of Honor Warfighter, PS3
  • Nihilumbra, PS Vita

Before you go, we want your feedback! Please leave us a comment below and tell us what you think of the lineup. Thank you for stopping by.

Until next time! Enjoy.

grim fandango remasteredhardware: rivalsPlayStation 4playstation gamesplaystation plus

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1,405 Comments

  • mytrueblood
    January 6, 2016 at 8:55 am PST

    I
    ll pass on those games. They look very boring. Hardware: Rivals looks alot like Twisted Metal, so i think I’ll pass. I’ll just keep playing Star Wars: Battlefront and WWE2k16….

  • mytrueblood
    January 6, 2016 at 8:57 am PST

    @RealGreenGiant, I have played that game on my Vita, and didnt like it at all, so yea, I’ll pass on that. Thnx, but no thnx.

  • envizible1
    January 6, 2016 at 9:08 am PST

    Glad I purchased an xbox, these games suck. As a matter of fact, I can’t remember the last game that was worth downloading that was free with psn plus. PSN Plus look at the games you get with xbox games with gold then decide on which games to offer for free. Your valued PSN Plus member. If you don’t change, I will not renew when it’s time to get PS+.

  • KillParadox
    January 6, 2016 at 9:11 am PST

    @hundreddollarsox

    Comparing a videogame with a sandwich is undoubtedly a great motto for your rigmarole.

    As for the rest: You are completely right! True holder of truth, ultimate legend of rhetoric.

    As you wish tiny man, as you wish.

  • Will-Demon
    January 6, 2016 at 9:25 am PST

    The amount of self entitlement that litters the comments never ceases to disappoint. Like holy crap people, get a grip. It’s laughable how many people think clamoring a switch to Xbox is going to change anything. These aren’t cable companies that will bend if you threaten to switch. Like the one guy who said “I’ll stop selling Playstation in my store if you guys don’t give me better games in Feb”….what kind of 12 year old BS is that? Seriously.

  • Will-Demon
    January 6, 2016 at 9:33 am PST

    The reality is that with a service like this, there will be good months and bad months. I will admit the PS4 has been out long enough now that we should to start getting more disc based offerings for the free games, but this month isn’t that bad at all! Grim Fandango, one of the best games ever, and Dragon Age, a fantastic RPG with tons of play time. Paying for PS+ doesn’t entitle you to the newest PS4 games for free right after release.

  • pina72jr
    January 6, 2016 at 9:45 am PST

    PS+new ally needs a home run one of these months for PS4 being the daddy of all the systems and we get the weakest games. Hopefully it gets better.

  • st1nkfly
    January 6, 2016 at 10:41 am PST

    How come legends of war is up as ps plus free game when I go onto it it’s saying £24.99. Am I missing something here

  • Vasgarth
    January 6, 2016 at 11:05 am PST

    Great news for those who never had the chance to play either DA: Origins or Grim Fandango, as both are absolutely great titles and deserve to be at least be played once in your lifetime. They’re both classics which are greatly appreciated (too bad I already played both until I got their covers etched in my retinas, but oh well… ), however, I agree with the majority of people (yes, majority… it’s useless to cover your eyes and say that most people actually like what psn plus gives nowadays) who think that now that Sony has gained the edge over Microsoft in the console wars, they don’t feel the need to even TRY to give the community something nice to play with.

    A little more effort in February would be much appreciated.

  • l337AZN
    January 6, 2016 at 11:21 am PST

    They should give PS4 users freebies from PSNow. So at least then, they could post good games from PS3. Since there is no backwards compatibility

    • Keal-G-Seo
      January 6, 2016 at 12:16 pm PST

      I think PS Now should be included with PS+ since that money obviously isn’t going to making the servers any better.

  • l337AZN
    January 6, 2016 at 11:22 am PST

    They should give PS4 users freebies from PSNow. So at least then, they could post good games from PS3. Since there is no backwards compatibility. It’s also a good way to get things rolling with PSNow

  • Keal-G-Seo
    January 6, 2016 at 12:14 pm PST

    Not feeling the love on PS4. DA:O on 3? Why do so many think a game is worth more because it is ported to the new system? Porting a game doesn’t increase the value…it is still the exact same game. Some of us also don’t own a 3. Some of us are Xbox converts and really questioning that decision.

  • AwsomBretzel
    January 6, 2016 at 1:57 pm PST

    I dont understand why everyone is complaining about this lineup. Now, let me be honest, u have no clue whats going on with the vita games. I dont have a vita so i dont know what those titles are, but personally i love DICE. so i look forward to trying medal of honor for the first time. And i LOVED the beta for hardware rivals. Its much more fun than youd expect. Ive heard nothing but good reviews of grim fandango and i definately want to try dragon age. As someone who doesnt go out and buy every game when it comes out (or doesnt have the money to do so), i think the ps plus games are great. And this month for me will be a highlight.

  • Joejoooo1
    January 6, 2016 at 2:37 pm PST

    Poor mans Rocket League

  • Kishnabe
    January 6, 2016 at 3:31 pm PST

    Thanks for changing your mind on Patton and giving us the Vita port.

    I have something to enjoy since I bought Grim Fandango when Broken Age was free.

  • Elementobravery
    January 6, 2016 at 6:40 pm PST

    I am getting sick of getting lame games every single month. When i pay for a service i expet it to function. Online play was free for the ps3. Why not the ps4. What i get it is online play that “should” be free for its quality, and 2 crapy games each month.
    Sorry for sounding rude but i expect to get what i pay for with my have earned money. Please make your service better or make it free. Give ps4 players better games or free online play.

  • SummersDude101
    January 6, 2016 at 7:03 pm PST

    Trash. Take out the trash already, Sony. It has been a while. You were down on the 4th and Christmas. The least you could do is give us some GOOD games. All we are getting is games that are so close to free they aren’t even worth the hard drive space! Please Sony, your console is really good but your free games aren’t.

  • SinTheUsurper
    January 6, 2016 at 7:58 pm PST

    I hate how games have become. Consoles are such a drag anymore, Ive been a playstation plus member for a very long time now, my library is full of games but seriously, none of them are interesting, most are glorified clones of each other, huge chunks of them use similar engines and textures. Its all trash. Ps plus is a joke, xbox is a joke. Everyone is so complacent with the garbage that keeps being reproduced. Very seldom does any developer really make something above and beyond the competition. Im sick of hearing people who don’t expect more from the technology available. WE ARE BEING RIPPED OFF…. Those who dont agree are retarded and dont mind wasting money on garbage just to have it. BUT AS FOR THE REST OF US… We INVEST our money in hopes of a positive return. REGARDLESS of opinions the facts are simple. We pay for quality. We pay for quantity. We pay for fun, intelligent, interesting and unique. WE DO NOT PAY FOR RECYCLED GARBAGE.

  • beninvanc
    January 6, 2016 at 8:23 pm PST

    Good thing I kept my PS3.
    Line up for PS4 is pretty weak again.
    XBox line wins again this month. Too bad.

  • kennykingston
    January 6, 2016 at 9:10 pm PST

    I am a die hard don’t fan and was a big PlayStation plus advocate the free games lately have Been terrible because they all are old and twenty dollar games. Xbox is crushing Sony when it comes to content on their subscription service. Sony please step up to the plate and give better free games and better weekly deals

  • flooderdooden
    January 6, 2016 at 9:43 pm PST

    Given the negative feedback from users regarding the IGC, Sony might be wise to implement a tiered system of PS Services. For instance:

    PS Gold: $30/yr. (online multiplayer access only)
    PS Platinum: $60/yr. (online multiplayer access, IGC, PS+ discounts)
    PS Now: $120/yr.
    PS Onyx: $150/yr. (PS Now + PS Platinum)

    More tiers could improve customer sentiment (i.e. reduce amount of negative feedback from IGC offerings, as those truly dissatisfied could opt out), as well as providing competitive selling/price points for their various services. Undercut Microsoft on the low end (online multiplayer only service), while offering good value mid-tier, and possibly higher adoption rates at the higher tiers ($10/month marketing for annual PS Now; $12.50/month marketing for PS Onyx). Gradually increase PS Now offerings to include games from legacy systems (PS1/PS2/PSP/Vita TV compatible games) to cultivate a comprehensive PS ecosystem. Allow disc based, remote ID to allow people to stream available legacy games via PS Now service, as well as previous digital purchases through earlier PS ecosystems.

    Sony could be the Netflix of gaming if they played their cards right.

    • VeritableHero
      January 7, 2016 at 6:24 am PST

      I like the thinking behind this idea. The change would most likely earn goodwill from their users but would it make more money? I doubt it. How many players only have PS+ because it’s required for multiplayer? If I were Sony, I’d be concerned that the number that would switch to the $30 tier in your post would far outweigh the number that would stay the same or go up a tier. I’m no analyst, though, so I’m probably wrong.

      My preference would be an option to claim “no games for me for this month” instead of adding any of them to your library. Doing so might give a $3 PSN credit or some other reward. That way even if there isn’t anything for me in a specific month then I could still feel like I received value from the service.

  • flooderdooden
    January 6, 2016 at 9:50 pm PST

    Allow disc based, remote ID to allow people to stream available legacy games via PS Now service *for free*, as well as previous digital purchases through earlier PS ecosystems.

  • RobotJohnny
    January 7, 2016 at 3:25 am PST

    People who think this is a poor giveaway were likely never playing PCs back in the late 90’s. Check out Grim’s reviews:

    http://www.gamespot.com/grim-fandango/reviews/

    Yeah, the other title is a bit weak, but what are you expecting? Battlefront and Just Cause for your ~£3 per month? Be realistic, there’s not loads of titles to chose from just yet.

  • Smurf0
    January 7, 2016 at 3:51 am PST

    I’m disappointed. On top of the underwelming game list I’ve noticed for the past two months, the ps4 downloads went from three to two. It’s bad enough that the game list is getting duller each month. But now one less game a month? Fingers crossed for next month, but I don’t have high hopes.

  • agentwombat
    January 7, 2016 at 5:03 am PST

    Not bad, but I’m sure most PS4 owners were expecting some old AAA titles by now (Killzone Shadowfall, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag etc). It’s a shame so many people have made dumb comments without actually mentioning the games they would like to see.

  • LokeMata
    January 7, 2016 at 5:12 am PST

    ya’ll ungrateful as hell bashterds. Free = Thank you PSN ^_^

    • TWigs12343
      January 11, 2016 at 12:52 pm PST

      Since when is 50 bucks considered free? The monthly games are built into your subscription fees. Its like going to college and saying you get to use the gym there for free, yeah sure you do because you already paid to use it as part of your tuition fee. For the last time ITS NOT FREE.

  • PCorLeonis
    January 7, 2016 at 8:07 am PST

    Terrible choice of free games, just terrible. only 2 games, mediocre games for PS4? I’m not renewing my subscription this year, its total BS.

  • LambOfGod079
    January 7, 2016 at 10:49 am PST

    You will notice xbox has the same ps plus deals for the popular titles time to time. Don’t sell out to microsoft.

  • cyberninjasio
    January 7, 2016 at 4:01 pm PST

    Grim Fandango again? Didn’t it go on the IGC for PS4 LAST January or Febuary? I’m pretty sure I recall getting it via the IGC pretty soon after I got my PS4 at the end of 2014. Recycling already? :-/

  • Red_Dog_610
    January 7, 2016 at 7:13 pm PST

    As a new PS4 owner this month, I’d love to see some great launch titles… GOW3 remastered, knack, first light, rocket league, DMC remastered… The PS3 games aren’t bad, but I’m hoping for more from the PS4.

    • dilbig5
      January 7, 2016 at 9:30 pm PST

      First light and rocket league were already free. Knack was a launch title but DMC came out this past March and GOW3 came out in July.

    • RTR1879
      January 8, 2016 at 10:00 am PST

      A lot of people didnt get chance to download GOW as their PS3 hard drives couldnt take such a huge DL. It was massive (bigger than Kratos! lol)

  • rudetoy
    January 7, 2016 at 9:18 pm PST

    “It’s a shame so many people have made dumb comments without actually mentioning the games they would like to see.”

    Look some more. Plenty of peeps, including myself, have said what titles could easily be included in the PS PLUS PS4 lineup. Don’t group us all together.

    And for the 678888888 millionth time: THE PS PLUS GAMES ARE ****NOT****FREE! CURRENT COST: $49.99 A YEAR

  • nanacool8
    January 7, 2016 at 10:48 pm PST

    When are we going to receive a real game? We get it sony you like indies. At least give us Knack or hell even spiderman or transformers. Those games are already 2 years old and at least they are full games that were at one point 60 bucks. On games with gold this month was thief and killer instinct with all the characters which itself is worth $40. I saw that in 2015 we were given $1000 worth of games, but to be honest that was a $1000 worth of crap. Ps3 games are good but let’s be honest most people made the switch and traded their old consoles by now, not everyone but a good majority. Give us triple A titles this year or you will have very unhappy people!!

  • cfh469
    January 8, 2016 at 7:04 am PST

    It would be awesome if ps4 owners could also download some of the vita and ps3 games

  • chunterosa
    January 8, 2016 at 9:40 am PST

    i have to laugh at the bozo’s pointing out the retail value of the free ps plus games. retail value doesn’t mean anything if i’m not going to buy OR play the games in the first place. me and my group of friends, 99% of the time, we don’t ever bother downloading the free ps plus games, therefore, the free games are of zero consideration. they just don’t matter. it’s the multiplayer paywall. and no, it doesn’t matter how much it costs over the period of a year, because you pay that money in one go. for those of us on disability, that’s a crappy way to spend money we don’t really have and would rather spend on games WE WILL ACTUALLY PLAY. we are sold this line of garbage that we need the paywall so that our psn experience improves. yet here we are, i’m seriously contemplating moving to xbone or steam because i’m so sick and tired of my multiplayer experience being FILLED with errors and disconnects. it’s pathetic. and i’m sick of it.

  • RTR1879
    January 8, 2016 at 9:57 am PST

    OK, this month isnt too bad, but I kind of expected more given that there will be a LOAD of customers who are new to the PSPlus world after receiving PS4s for Christmas. I havent played either of the 2 PS4 titles (and they are both remastered/rebooted versions of older titles), but I have both of the 2 PS3 titles and they are both good solid games that stand another play through.

    Please PSPlus, you must improve your PS4 games offering. I like some of the indie games on PS3 and PS4, but I would say you need to mix things up a bit. Have a heavyweight title and a indie one each month, and not just “remastered” versions of old PS2 and PS3 games. Not everyone is trying to go retro! Give the people supporting your platform something that shows you care that we chose to buy YOUR consoles.

  • AnselmsForge
    January 8, 2016 at 10:57 am PST

    There are too many idiots on here saying we shouldn’t complain because the games are free. No they’re not you morons. $50 isn’t free. PS Plus cost $50. For that you get the ability to play online, access to discounts and access to different rental games every month. If you’ve paid the $50 and run out of games to play online then you’ve basically just thrown your money in the garbage. Because if they keep releasing garbage like they’ve been doing for about a year now, then what good is the PS Plus subscription? I think Rocket League was the last good game that everyone loved but everything else has been crap. Stop letting these businesses trick you into just giving your money to them for nothing. Sony, give us something for our money or we’ll work to convince people to switch to something else.

    • TWigs12343
      January 10, 2016 at 11:24 pm PST

      Thank you!!!! This is one of the first smart comments I have seen on here. No matter how they label these games we as consumers are paying for them, they’re marketing strategy is to call them free games so we won’t care…obviously it’s working on a bunch of people on here

  • liorbu
    January 8, 2016 at 12:59 pm PST

    I think it’s a simple matter of voting with your dollars. I, for one, will not renew my subscription when the time comes. I’ve made the mistake of purchasing a full year subscription, and customer support was adamant (and rude) when I inquired about a partial refund. That being said, as I don’t play multiplayer games and don’t have that particular gun to my head, I will definitely not renew the service.

  • Hanryu5
    January 8, 2016 at 12:59 pm PST

    Great you want our feedback, let me start by saying that I have already cancelled my subscription because it´s not worth it at all, I won´t be ripped anymore. The games that are given for PS4 users are always pretty lame. You better start listening to what your customers say!

  • rudetoy
    January 8, 2016 at 3:15 pm PST

    @liorbu wrote: “I’ve made the mistake of purchasing a full year subscription, and customer support was adamant (and rude) when I inquired about a partial refund.”

    Oh, Sony customer SERVICE? NON-EXISTENT. Try calling their “gamer support” line for PS4, etc. It’s a joke. Those people are borderline mentally deficient. They know NOTHING about Sony’s services and all they do is refer you to online manuals, etc. They are CLUELESS and yes….occasionally rude (depending on who you get).

  • Eightballwms
    January 8, 2016 at 6:41 pm PST

    Okay I hope someone is reading this, u guys always giveaway games i don’t know other than Batman Arkham City and God of War Acension, but maybe next time u can do Ratchet and Clank, or some classic games like Devil may Cry or Resident Evil of Megaman or Final Fantasy!

  • diogofalcao31
    January 9, 2016 at 5:28 am PST

    I can only speak for myself, but i also dont like PS+ games. I have only 5 or 6 games that i kept on the HDD
    And still didnt play them yet.
    About Grimm fandango…its a good game still not my kind of game and as colector i would problaby buy a retail version and never this one. Plus i dont buy any PS games from the store ever. I like to have the disc on my hands.
    Another thing i dont like is that i owe all uncharted games ,it would be nice if at least we could insert the ps3 game on the ps4 game and get it updated for free. Not for myself cós i still bought them and also gow3 and last of us,etc but not everyone have the money to do that só in my opinion its something Sony should also work on.
    About ps1 and ps2 games again they should be free. I care less cós i have the original games and consoles so i keep play them the way they should,but still would like to see that happen,
    Yes Xbox hás always been better as a game console than PSX since the first one, Xbox live was way better on x360 than PSN right now is on ps4 so… Sony is all about money never about quality or pleasing the costumers. Its been that way for at least 30 years.

    I kept

  • hisfrienjames
    January 9, 2016 at 7:55 am PST

    I imagine that the vast majority of PS Plus subscribers, myself included, pay the monthly/yearly fee in order to play online. The free games are just an afterthought. So what is crazy to me is to see people actually saying that they are going to switch to xbox solely because the free games sucked this month. What happens with next month xbox’s free games aren’t AAA titles? Sure, I booted up psn this morning to check out the free games this month and was a little disappointed, but hey a free game is a free game.

    Check this out: I played the beta for Hardware Rivals and I didn’t really care for it, so I am just not going to download it. Easy as that.

    Now Grim Fandango is a game that didn’t really interest me. I would see it that it has damn near 5 stars so it has to be a pretty good game but I never wanted to shell out the moolah to try it. Now it is free so I will get to experience a game that I never would have otherwise experienced. If I don’t end up liking it I can delete it, easy peasy.

    My point is that most of us are paying the 59 bucks a year to be able to play online with friends, not for the free games. It just seems kinda silly the amount of disdain people have over free stuff.

  • rudetoy
    January 9, 2016 at 1:03 pm PST

    I don’t care two squats about online play….I originally signed up for PS+ a couple of years ago for the Instant Game Collection. At the time, the monthly lineup was consistently very strong. Very slowly, the monthly lineups began to get worse and worse. ESPECIALLY for PS4.

    The monthly lineups have now deteriorated to the point where the games are mostly unrecognizable. Most months, I have never heard of 75% of the PS+ titles.

    I made the right decision not to re-subscribe. Sony puts about as much thought into the monthly PS+ lineup as they do deciding what brand of toothpaste to buy.

  • Psyrus_Rocks
    January 9, 2016 at 3:36 pm PST

    When I bought Playstation Plus, I expected better games than this. Honestly, Playstation could do a lot better than this. Please bring back the good free games Playstation!

  • SupervirgiN
    January 9, 2016 at 5:18 pm PST

    Anyone getting an error when updating Medal of Honor Warfighter to 1.02?

  • Wahrnye
    January 9, 2016 at 6:15 pm PST

    Whenever someone uses the phrase “entitlement generation”, I’m immediately reminded of these comments and the endless complaints (both here and over at Xbox) by people bellyaching about getting something as a value-add, for no extra cost, as part of their annual subscription.

    Instead of whining about how bad these games are (and yes I agree many have been mediocre but you only know they’re mediocre because you’re getting to play them AT NO EXTRA COST), how about you shut up and remember there was a time when game service subscriptions didn’t net you these kind of value-adds.

    With all the blowback Sony and Microsoft gets about PS+ and Games with Gold included games, I wouldn’t be surprised if they just killed the programs outright. What’s the point stressing out about dealing with devs and publishers in order to get the rights to add games to the program if the response by the gamers they’re trying to serve is just going to be a bunch of idiotic comments like “WTF THESE GAMES SUCK! U SUCK!”?

    • TWigs12343
      January 10, 2016 at 11:18 pm PST

      …there’s no add on value at all. We use to be able to play online with the PS3 for free…so yeah how about we go back to the time when we could do that.

  • alexz310
    January 9, 2016 at 9:32 pm PST

    Its decent..

  • WETTRUNDLE
    January 10, 2016 at 7:21 am PST

    We got hard ware rivals for free on psplus already, another month of free shovelware i could have picked up out of the dollar bin at walmart, this program is just leeching money from your consumer base, im a very disappointed customer.

  • Cr7Hamza2004
    January 10, 2016 at 1:30 pm PST

    Ha true

  • PoopyMcG
    January 10, 2016 at 2:50 pm PST

    All I see here is a collection of whiners and cry babies. These companies don’t have to give you anything for free. Remember when Xbox live cost you money and you didn’t get crap except the ability to play Halo with 8 year old dirtbags. Loosen up play Grim Fandango and just thank the gaming gods you don’t have to put up with Microsoft’s shenanigans.

    • TWigs12343
      January 10, 2016 at 11:15 pm PST

      IT’S NOT FREE. We are paying for it, playstation plus never even started out as an online service it only provided the “free games” and the discounts. Just because they call them free games does not make it so…if they called it monthly games this wouldn’t even be an argument. So you can look at it however you want, but the fact is that you’re paying for online, the monthly games, and discounts.

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