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The PlayStation Plus Essential tier gives subscribers free games every month, and recently, those games have been particularly excellent. Last month’s offerings included Lies of P, one of the best games of 2023, but the upcoming September lineup announced on the PS Blog manages to top even that; you’ll get Psychonauts 2, Viewfinder, and Stardew Valley, one of the most beloved indie games of all time.
Stardew Valley got a substantial 1.6 update last year, so if you haven’t played it in a while, you’ll be greeted by some new features, including new dialogue, new crafting recipes, hats for pets, and, for some reason, the ability to drink mayonnaise. I don’t know who’s out there saying, “I’d love to play Stardew Valley, but it’s a deal breaker that you can’t drink mayo straight from the jar,” but if that’s you, you’re in luck.
The other two games are nothing to sneeze at either. Psychonauts 2 scored a nine from us when it released back in 2021 and even made its way onto our top ten list from that year. It’s the long awaited sequel to Double Fine’s platformer from 2005, and we did a retrospective on the studio’s history back when it was featured on the cover of Game Informer issue 336. Meanwhile, Viewfinder is a delightful puzzle game from 2023 that reminds me of Portal in the best way – its photographic puzzle solving is incredibly creative game design.
All three games will be available for subscribers on September 2. You can still download August’s games (Lies of P, My Hero One’s Justice 2, and DayZ) until then.
Will you be checking these games out on September 2? Let us know in the comments!
