PS Plus: Free Games for January, 2016

1,405 0
PS Plus: Free Games for January, 2016

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.

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1,405 Comments

  • Man, I wasn’t expecting Fallout 4 but Dying Light or Batman would have been a good title to put up.

  • Ummmmmm, meh.

  • To add on to the negative feedback so hopefully it can reflect in the next lineup of games:
    I don’t understand how you could possibly be excited to present these as our free games. I mean, there’s a Vita version of LoWP and you’re providing us with the PSP version? That has to be a joke. I resubscribe every Christmas for a year, and usually can look forward to January being decent, but you even screwed this month up too. Please, please, stop throwing AAA titles towards the PS3. PS4 is the next generation, you should be encouraging people to want to buy it and subscribe to your service with AAA games on the PS4. Otherwise, how will you expect people to want to purchase a PS4 when you have to buy the console, a service to play online, but the service doesn’t provide a decent quality or variety of genre of games every month? Evolve, Little Big Planet 3, Blackflag, Knack, there’s so many you can provide over a stretch of months. If you’re not going to include free backwards compatibility and punish players for their loyalty I think they at least deserve that, considering how horrible the service has been and the servers compared to Games With Gold and Xbox’s servers.

  • Well, this is a pretty lame line up…

  • Awesome selection for PS3.

  • Bai Bai ps 4

  • Don’t subscribe for the free games. I do it for the sales. Legends of War Patton?!?! REALLY?!!? AWFUL!

  • The month after Christmas when TONS of people bought a PS4, and look for a reason to buy plus, get these underwhelming games? Really sad.

  • Wait you just had big sales for games like LBP3 for $8 (Which I bought) but you give us this crap for PS+ freebies? Why not LBP3, Knack, The last of us remastered, The Order, KZ:SF, we are sick and tired of these indies we keep getting. I enjoyed games like outlast, and Injustice but that’s about it really. Also why not remake warhawk?

  • Is much as I like indie games I’m seriously getting tired of the barrage of of them on ps+ on ps4 month after month. You ask for our feedback and it seems to go over your heads. Every month I hear the same from the community “where are the AAA games” it seems like you guys don’t care, and thats really sad

  • I don’t know why but I was under the impression that Hardware Rivals was F2P. The beta sure felt like a F2P game.

    • and also, just kill the Instant Game Collection and cut the price of ps+ in half. You’ll never please everyone. Maybe make 2 versions of plus. 1 with IGC and 1 without. People that only have PS+ for MP shooters are never gonna be pleased with anything other than that.

  • Another bad month. Sony needs to step their game up.

  • What a bunch of ungrateful people, get a job instead of asking for the specific games you want.
    Sony is doing a great job with the plus.

    • This is a paid for service. Ungrateful implies that things are free or gifted.

    • I think it has been pretty good. I got mine in July and it has paid for itself pretty easily between the games and discounts. Some months are better than others. This one looks pretty good for me.

  • OK, for months now, I’ve wanted to post about how awful PS+ has been for over a year. Actually, much longer than a year. I need to speak up and each and every single one of you that have been sitting on the sidelines need to speak up as well and have your thoughts known.

    This months offerings are GARBAGE. I’m not expecting TRIPLE A titles every month, I’m not. However, the game offerings, the discounts, the sales, have been atrocious. We’re talking shovel ware.

    Do you bother to gauge the pulse of your consumers or take into the account their level of dissatisfaction? Seriously, do you? Could this maybe be an indication of how awful PS+ has been for a LONG TIME NOW??????????

    Here’s an example, for instance, did it really take you guys this long just to have a sale on “UNTILL DAWN” last week, which was still more expensive than what you could get a physical copy for at GAME STOP? This blows my mind!

    And we’re talking digital media, which costs you nothing to produce, manufacture or distribute. No disc, No jewel case, no paper, nothing. And you’re CHARGING MORE FOR IT than a physical copy. WTF, are you guys smoking? DO you not see something wrong here?

    • I’m not one who get’s into sony’s sale offerings vs microsoft vs steam or whateva, BUT YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN SLACKING…HARDCORE. I’m talking GARBAGE FOR MORE THAN A YEAR…And yet, , I RENEW MY MEMBERSHIP, IN THE HOPES THIS TRASH WILL GET BETTER, but the fact of the matter is, it’s GETTING WORSE!!!

      EACH and every single person that has been sitting on the sidelines needs to collectively tell this organization that they need to get their act together and and stop behaving as though they are COMCAST.

      COMCAST, has the worst customer satisfaction in the cable / internet industry and SONY isnt too far behind in the Console game industry.

      Guys, wake the hell up!!! Please turn it around for 2016.

  • stop giving us trash…please…

  • I’ve never once complained. Switched up from Xbox 360 and finally picked up my PS Vita and PS4, even began playing my partner’s PS3 for all the exclusives I’d missed last gen, sometime in March 2014. Subscribed to PS Plus right away. The IGC line up was good right up until December 2014, then it became excellent. January and February rocked, too. Then March 2014 tanked. I figured it’d get better in April. Nope. May? Not really, either. And it hasn’t picked up since. December was the worst worst month yet, until next month.

    What the heck is happening to the PS Plus line up? Sony reps trawling these comment sections should probably start listening when every single comment is a negative reaction to the rubbish we’re dished month after month. I don’t expect high-value AAA’s, but a decent older title every few months might be welcome, and putting a stop to filling up spots with indie trash and games like Hardware Rivals, which is already offered free, will be well-received. I’ve never once complained. Until now.

    Pick up your game, Sony.

  • What is the point of ps plus now if it wasn’t for multiplayer and discounts I would not buy it. I also believe that nobody is happy with this list of games

  • I played hardware: rivals beta. All u get is 2 machine. 1. Tank – 2. Lightweight car and start shooting each other. Gets boring after 20-30 min

    • From what I heard, there’s going to be 4 vehicles and a bit of customization options for each.

    • Maybe they added 2 more vehicles. Which is great. Only thing I hope is them too add more vehicles and more modes. Not only drive and shoot

    • Maybe race and shoot? Like crash bandicoot? Also inspired by ps game. Anyway I have played ps2 game that hardware rivals was inspired from. That time it was really awesome game.

  • Not at all impressed. I was excited when I saw Dragon Age, but then I finished reading the title. DA:O? Who the hell hasn’t played that or already purchased it in the bargain bin? Grim Fandango would be awesome if you hadn’t had it on a ridiculous sale a couple months ago. Medal of Honor isn’t that old, but is already in the bargain bin due to its quality. I have no idea what the other titles are; never heard of them. Besides GF, Plus is a garbage bin. Hell, it has been that way ever since you switched up the format.

  • Oh, what a surprise, another disappointing month of PS Plus. Hardware Rivals looks ok, I guess…

  • Trash , Trash , Trash , and they know it . 2 Years passed there’s no point in checking in for free PS+ games it’s month after month Trash , Trash ,Trash and they know it . after 2 years this is my first comment this is annoying man,, Expensive Console XBox 1 with better games for memebership or Cheaper console with ****** games with memebrship

  • I have been a PlayStation plus subscriber now for about 3-4 months and I haven’t gotten one game that I liked for our free games. Why do we get the crappiest games. If you just gave us just one game every now and then no one would complain but noooo

  • Trash , and they know it . 2 Years passed there’s no point in checking in for free PS+ games it’s month after month Trash , Trash ,Trash and they know it . after 2 years this is my first comment this is annoying man,, Expensive Console XBox 1 with better games for memebership or Cheaper console with ****** games with memebrship

  • ive been wanting to renew for months but waiting for a good game ps give me a break Booooooo! these games stink

  • I’ve gotta say, I really resent the fact that certain individuals choose to pass off indie games as inferior before they’ve even tried them. Especially considering one of my favorite games of all time & winner of several GOTY//BAFTA awards, Journey, was by an independent developer, That Game Company. Particularly in a gaming generation where most AAA developers have become complacent with predictable, stagnant & formulaic gameplay. Not to mention to unethical practice of ommiting content in favor of season pass preorders before customers even know what that content will be – let alone how the base game will turn out.

    Anyhow, I’ve been itching the get my hands on Hardware Rivals. I think it could be the fresh, competitive MP experience I’ve been waiting for since getting my PS4. Also, I never got to play Grim Fandango originally so looking forward to seeing why it’s gotten such a loyal following for all these years.

    • That being said, I can see how this lineup could feel lackluster for those who don’t like to dabble into as many different genres & games of varying sizes. At least for PS4 & Vita users who don’t own a PS3. PS3 Plus users seem to get big budget games on a regular basis. PS4 has been out 2 years now so I really don’t see why Sony couldn’t provide us with a meagerly priced lanch title at this point. It’s not like they don’t have a strong business relationship with some of these companies. Otherwise, why would some of the more successful ones, such as Sucker Punch, devote themselves to Playstation exclusives even before being bought by Sony in 2011?

      Just some food for thought.

  • Playstation takes this long to release next months free games and this is the best they could do. i was expecting them to start out the year with a bang and shut down Xbox’s free games given that they seemed so secretive about the list this month. What ever happend to the other girl that used to do the plus videos. Bring her back at least she appeared to actually care about the months offering as the best we get from this person is a short video that only gives the ps4 trailers.

  • I’m actually pretty happy with the PS+ free games. I’ll admit I don’t tend to play them as much as if I paid for them, but I think there’s been a good balance for curation. After studying some game design, I’ve become a bit more aware of how great alot of the indie games they’ve been offering. I can see how gamers that only play FPS and online multiplayer don’t understand the value of the free game offerings. I 100% applaud PS for picking games that people should check and and pay because they’re awesome but you might not read a lot about.

    I wanted to play Grim for awhile, but didn’t feel like paying for it, so this is perfect.

    • Yeah FPS players won’t be happy, or RPG players, or action game players, or like 95% of gamers.

      Most indie games seem to be 2D platformers or some kind of story game where you walk around and hear a story. Like if Dark Souls had no enemies. Awesome art, edgy no enemy system 10/10. I’d had enough of platforms from the 80s and 90s before computers could handle 3 dimensions. Maybe indie game lovers weren’t alive to play them.

  • Not the greatest PS+ lineup, but I’ve wanted to try out Grim Fandango for the longest of time. Though whether or not I’ll actually play the game is another thing entirely. I usually end up downloading the games and never playing them. I can’t think of one PS+ game I’ve played. I have no idea why.

  • Grim Fandango is excellent, but Double Fine needs to be careful giving away their games. Broken Age and Grim being free so close together is a bad idea. I know they need money for development but at this point people might think “Why buy a Double Fine game, it will just end up free on plus”.

  • Also, stop listing PSP games as vita. It’s misleading and deceptive. Just add the damn PSP back to the Plus Line-Up. Seriously.

  • + watersong7 , I’m ecstatic that you’re soooo happy and over the moon, but YOU do realize that you are in the minority, riiiight?
    So, i’m unclear about the point you’re trying to make. If almost everyone in the restaurant thinks the steak tastes like shoe leather and yet you stand up and say, wow…this is the best steak i ever had, then that probably says more about you and your taste or lack there of, than the actual quality of the food everyone else bought. Just some food for thought. No pun, intended.

  • Nihilumbra is a wonderful game. I played it on iPad and loved the story and gameplay, but finishing the main story opens up an ULTRA HARD mode that seems to be impossible to clear without a gamepad. I’ll give it a go again with my Vita.

  • I waited for this crappy lineup? I have PS Plus just to play multiplayer on PS4, but I guess I really don’t need it. I still have my PS3 and I don’t need to be a member to play multiplayer. Yes, getting free games is part of the perk, but the games are not worth the storage space.

    I would at least offer 1 or 2 games worth downloading (maybe DA:O is worth it). I don’t care about DA:O and maybe I’ll try it, but I prefer FPS, Batman, or something the mass audience could enjoy.

    I’m sure some or most don’t feel the same way as I do, but I’m just stating my opinion and what I would want. I understand Sony can’t cater to just one person, but a poll would be nice. Let the members choose from a list and have 1 spot where members can suggest a game.

    • its not gonna happen, they might end up giving you some AAA title that cost under 20 bucks but that’s all we can hope for, i think i’m going to start saving up to be enlightened for the pc master race instead of spending 60 bucks to play on a system that keeps on eating up my money

  • Honestly, the games are getting worse and worse by the month. I was hoping for a big finish for 2015, and that didn’t happen. Then I was hoping for a big start to 2016, still disappointed..

    • and I understand you can’t have AAA titles monthly, but we haven’t had anything recently

      And your move last month with only Episode One of Kings Quest is sketchy… especially as the first episodes in these kinds of series are often free…

  • “We want your feedback.”

    No, you don’t. Every month you get the same feedback. You don’t do anything about it. Give us some real incentive, man. This is a bummer month, just like every other month has been for the last 5-6 at least. The Vita selection is pathetic.

  • Awful lineup.

  • These games suck. This will be the 5th lackluster month for plus.

  • If I didn’t need to pay to play an occasional game online, I’d rather have that than the one awesome game that headlines Plus every 6-7 months.

    Grim Fandango Remastered – Fun game, was fun when I played it in the late 90’s when it had an original launch, don’t care about the remaster which is about $3 on steam sales.
    Hardware: Rivals – Played in the beta, it’s okay. It’s not a game I will get invested in at all, maybe play a couple hours with a friend and then delete from my hard drive.
    Legends of War Patton – A mediocre military strategy game. That’s all the praise I will give to it. It’s a game. Throw a dart at any other strategy game on PSN, and there’s a really good chance it’s better.
    Nihilumbra – Really? A three year old mobile game? Sadly, one of the better games.

    I don’t care if we get AAA titles at all, to be quite honest. Giving us remasters and mobile games, though, is just a slap in the face. It feels like all that’s seen is the sprinkled “HEY I’M EXCITED FOR X” post, before they pat themselves on the back. I assume you can’t just pick and choose the games you put up, I would think the devs and publishers have a say, but at least make it look like you hear everyone.

  • Pretty good month for me. Only game I wont bother with is Warfighter. The fact people are throwing Grim Fandango, one of the best adventure games ever, under the bus as ifit was a Woah Dave tier indie makes me mad. What, the best adventure game isnt good enough for you? There are people in this world who want Knack more than Fandango and that upsets me.

  • Sony, Sony, Sony. You have given us another disappointing month’s worth of PS4 games. At least on PS3 you are giving out two games from EA for free. As for PS4 games, although some people might disagree with me, you are giving out PS4 games I pretty much have no interest in. Why not something like Transformers Devastation or Metal Gear Solid V The Phantom Pain (so that way I won’t give Konami my $60 for mistreating their employees (especially Hideo Kojima), switching their focus on crappy mobile games and those stupid pachinko machines, and not giving me a new Bomberman game on PS4)?

  • I just resubscribed cause I got 6 months for $20. But these games suck. Free or not. I mean I’ve played knack I don’t know why that hasn’t been a ps+ free game yet. There should be many AAA titles since launch that could be free.

    Disgruntled Sony Fan !!!

  • I’d say it’s a pretty good month for me as a Vita owner. I’ve wanted to try Patton and then Nihilumbra came out on the Wii U, wanted to try but I never got around to getting it.

  • It’s not just the game offerings, which in my own humble opinion have been mostly trash, that i can forgive, i’m not expecting triple A titles all the time, however, i’m not expecting mostly shovel ware for more than a year either.

    So, free games aside…let’s talk about the sales, the discounts, the fact that digital downloads are costing us more than physical media at, game stop or amazon or best buy or where ever you purchase your games.
    Those are legitimate concerns. And we should all feel some sense of being taken for granted and being taken advantage
    of by SONY, to some degree.

    They dont respond to their consumers negative feedback, in fact, they ignore it.
    Look at every single time you see a representative from Sony respond to a comment in these blogs.
    The only time they reply is to agree with someone who praises the shoe leather they tell us us is steak.
    However, when you have a legitimate gripe or concern, or dissenting opinion, you are 100% IGNORED!!

    I’m sorry, but that’s a HUGE PROBLEM and it’s one that needs to be addressed.

  • As a ps4 user I am disappointed like each month by the way. I lost my ps3 due to overheat problem I wish we could get AAA games once in a while

    • Sony can’t just give free AAA games willy nilly the developers have to allow them to give them away for free I’m unhappy from the past few months but this month I think is better than the last month and the month before that and so on

  • Why am i not surprised?! Every month since i got my ps4 (september) i have been wanting a GOOD free game, not just a try it out and realize it sucks game. The Grim Fandango looks like ****, and i would rather poop in my hands and clap than play that weird game. As for Decembers line up, kings quest is another stupid game, but i would rather have gauntlet than any of this months games. We pay good money for ps plus, and we should actually be awarded with good games, not games i haven’t heard of, or a weird skeleton game. Let me give you a hint Sony, when no one buys a game when it isn’t free, that means it isn’t good, so for us plus subs don’t give us a piece of **** every month. I have yet to download a free ps plus game that i have not deleted, and nothing will change this month. . Medal of Honor Warfighter is an AWESOME game, and one of my favorites, but why does playstation 3 get a game 10x better than the ones on ps4?!

    • I would have been excited for almost any good game, like helldivers, borderlands 1, etc. I heard that ps plus was going to give us dark souls two, and was like “eh, i played it on ps3, and would rather have borderlands 1” then i realized that this is ps plus, and they never give us good games, so i said “Actually, yes, give us Dark Souls 2, in fact please give us anything that is good” Nope. Also, why only 1250 characters? I still had a ton to say. Also, stay away from Gamespot, their website sucks, i spent almost 15 minutes trying to set up my account, and i tried to reply, and it said “you are not logged in” then tried to log in “you are logged in silly” WTF. It also never had me make a password.

  • DA:O is an utterly fantastic game, but it’s been on sale numerous times. I bought DA:O long ago. If somehow you haven’t played it, better late than never. Sure, the graphics might be dated, but DA:O set a benchmark for RPGs on modern consoles (and PC) that hasn’t surpassed yet. It’s not open-world like a Bethesda RPG, but the story (and voice-acting) are a thousand times better than Skyrim or FO4. It’s definitely worth playing on your PS3, then play it on a PC with mods for restored content. (Bioware shipped the game unfinished with loads of fully voiced scenes that simply weren’t tied into the game. But it’s best to play the original version first and get your trophies!)

    Grim Fandango is a great old-school point and click adventure. But it was also discounted heavily recently when I got it at the Store.

    As for all these crap indie titles, I bet even as give-aways, they will be barely touched. I am sure some people like indie games, and that’s fine. But I know a lot of us are tired of seeing the PS4 store FLOODED with indie titles with PS1-era graphics. Indie games are a SO MUCH CHEAPER on PC anyway.

    • + Tatanka2007, I completely dont get your point. Are you seriously here just to say the big steaming stinky pile of crap in the middle of the living room doesnt actually smell like crap, that it’s all just our imagination and it actually smells like Armani? Are you serious? It’s great to have an opinion, but i’m having a hard time figuring out what the motive and or objective for your post is about.

      “Hey guys, I just NEEDED to write that these games arent sooooooo bad. No really, guys. Like this one game, that i’m sure most of us already played or picked up for 4.99 in the bargin bin for the ps3 a few years ago…is just a fantastic inclusion. No really guys. It’s true. Sony is just doing a wonderful job. They are, seriously. You have no reason to be dissatisfied, none what-so-ever. All you guys should just write wonderful glowing reviews about how GRATEFUL you are to SONY, now just shuddup and continue to give us your money ”

      WTF????????

      Dude, DO YOU WORK FOR SONY?
      if you dont, then you need to fill out an application, cause you sound exactly like the kind of
      automaton they already pay to produce and respond to content on this blog.

      SMH, SERIOUSLY???

  • Looking forward to it.

  • Great games! Can’t wait to download and play them.

    No matter which games are offered for PS+ members, there will always idiots who complain.

  • more trash from ps plus, gee thanks sony

  • Been subscribed for around 2 years now. Seriously losing faith that the lineups will be getting any better whatsoever. Dragon Age is the best title on that list, but it’s been out for over 5 years now. If this is how the lineups are going to be permanently, I’m definitely unsubscribing.

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