I am starting to realize that I don't think I am actually going to ever make it through the entire PS-Plus catalogue. I've kind of lost steam as far as even attempting to try them all is concerned and don't think it will ever actually happen unless I turned this into a full-time job. I'd love for it to be my full time job but like most humans, I already have a full-time job and gaming is just something I do in my spare time.
My inability to get through the entire list is probably a good thing though because that means that Sony is putting enough games into their subscription service that even though I play around 15 games a month, I never reach the end of the line. They are adding them faster than I can play them even though most of the games are not very good.
This latest one looked like it had promise because of the music and art style but in the end it didn't work out for me because I do not enjoy a vast majority of rogue-like games. For me, this game would have been much better if it had been designed as a metroidvania.
Whenever a I see a side-scrolling platformer action game, I get excited because when I was younger and likely the most into video games that I have ever been in my life, most games were side-scrolling. Therefore indie companies are able to take this game style and make it a lot more entertaining without having a huge squad of people on the design team. Games like Blasphemous, Ender Lilies and especially Hollow Knight are fantastic examples of this. The design doesn't have to super complicated and neither do the graphics. They just need an inventive art style and some kick ass music.
Source of Madness almost got this correct and for some people out there this might be something they would really enjoy but for me personally I simply do not enjoy rogue-like games because I don't actually want to play the same levels over and over again, even if they are procedurally generated.
The graphics and sound seriously appeal to me and the controls are easy enough that you can jump right in there and get the hang of it and do pretty well on your first run. For me, I didn't realize that my first try actually was a "run" but I had my suspicions when I came to the entry room and saw this
These are all optional powerups that you can choose from before your run and it is really reminiscent of Dead Cells opening room to the point where if someone was unfamiliar with the existence of Source of Madness they might think it was the same game.
You run to the right, fighting occasional baddies that are normally quite easily dispatched and eventually get to a boss of sorts which, of the two I have encountered are also quite easy to defeat if you have the patience necessary to goad them towards you and charge up your fireball spells, thwack them once or twice, then run away. I can only presume that the combat becomes more involved later on but in the fist 3 levels and the only levels I ever played, that was basically the gist of combat.
Enemies tend to be large and very creepy and this is a welcome addition for someone like me that appreciates stronger, infrequent mobs rather than them throwing thousands of annoying trash mobs at you non stop. Being stalked by some sort of very large thing with spider legs is fun and scary at times. That being said the AI on the baddies is really stupid and none of the enemies I encountered could be considered difficult at all.
According to the developers own website this game is a "roguelite" and I don't even know what that means nor do I care enough to look it up. Basically for me if it has the word "rogue" in the description, I am not going to stay interested for very long. I simply don't like the idea of your loadout being determined by the RNG gods. The only game I ever played and enjoyed that was considered "rogue-like" was Hades. I've tried many others since then and no matter how much I try to enjoy it, I just don't like the idea of going back to zero and a pea-shooter every time that I die. Forgive me for not being interested in running the ENTIRE GAME every time I die.
So for people out there that love rogue-likes this game will probably appeal to you especially if you like a very dark and evil looking game environment. For everyone else though, I think you will probably do like I did and end up playing this for an hour and then deleting it from your hard drive.
Final opinion: For rogue-like fans only
Games I have already tried in my journey to play at least 1-hour of every PS-Plus Extra game
- Gravity Rush 2 (action adventure game with fast movement in every direction. It has RPG elements and a pretty decent story. Make it past the first hour and the game really opens up. Recommended)
- Oddworld: Soulstorm (2D+ platformer with great graphics, sound, and voice-acting. Unfortunately it is plagued with a lot of repetition. Recommended for a few hours)
- Bee Simulator (sort of like a flying FPS game but with no combat. It's graphically impressive and filled with tidbits of knowledge about bees... unfortunately it is repetitive as hell and gets boring fast. Not recommended)
- Prison Architect (a prison management simulator game similar to SimCity. It's a great game but just like most simulation games, it just isn't very playable using a controller. Not recommended on PS4)
- Hotline Miami 2 (a top-down shooter with gruesome violence and terrible AI. Would be great for speedrunners and hardcore gamers. Casuals like me are going to quickly tire with it)
- Battle Chasers: Nightwar (turn based RPG of medium-length that does a good job of teaching you how to play in the first hour. It's pretty old-school and I happen to like that... recommended)
- Chorus (3rd person open-world space fighting game. It's graphically impressive but combat is too repetitive to really hold your interest for the entire story. Still recommended though.)
- Portal Knights (a very well made survival action builder game similar to Minecraft. I really enjoyed this and look forward to playing it more. Recommended)
- Saints Row: The Third (clever and funny FPS game that intentionally puts you in impossible and absurd situations. It's innovative and humorous but ultimately quite dated and got repetitive and boring pretty quick. Not recommended)
- Balan Wonderworld (A rather beautiful 3D(ish) platformer that is extremely easy but still engaging enough to hold your attention for a few hours. Recommended for casual gamers)
- The Artful Escape (an adventure game of sorts with awesome visuals and music, but repetitive areas and controls combined with IMO far too much dialogue makes this game get boring, fast... Worth a look but not recommended to play)
- Until Dawn (interactive horror game that you don't really control a great deal of. It's reasonably entertaining, you can't lose, and the graphics and sound a pretty great. It's not really a game but I enjoyed it and played it to its finish. Recommended)
- 11-11: Memories Retold (a WW1 story that doesn't actually involve much input on the player's part. The game is very boring despite having a wonderful graphical style: Not recommended)
- Desperados 3 (a real time tactics / stealth game that I personally do not feel belongs on consoles at all. If you have never played these sorts of games on PC your opinion might be different. This one gets a "maybe.")
- Maneater (Action RPG where you play the role of a deadly shark. The idea is decent but ultimately the extremely repetitive gameplay makes this one easy to miss. Not recommended)
- TorqueL (physics puzzle platformer that is simplistic at first but quickly becomes maddeningly difficult. Gets boring pretty quickly on consoles and would be better suited as a time-waster on mobile devices. Not recommended on PS4)
- Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon: Turn-based cutesy RPG that is extremely story-driven just like anything Square is involved in. If you are huge fan of Final Fantasy you might like it, for me it was one hour then done forever.
- XCOM 2 : (Turn-based Sci-Fi game set in a dystopian future where you are part of the rebellion. Despite a very slow start IMO the game really gets involved later on... recommended)
- Darksiders Genesis (Top-down hack and slash that reminds me a lot of Diablo 3 but with a more restricted environment. It's very fast paced and as easy or difficult as you want it to be. It's a lot of fun and therefore comes highly recommended.)
- Guardians of the Galaxy (a copy/paste of so many other RPG's out there with too many cutscenes as is so typical of Square-Enix. Recommended for superfans of the movies, but not for really anyone else.)
- Injustice 2 (a DC comics oriented fighting game with tons of characters and IMO extremely complicated gameplay. It could be great for someone who is willing to devote enough time to memorizing all of this, but I am not that guy.)
- Life is Strange: Before the Storm episode 1 (A graphic adventure that isn't really a game so much as it is a movie that you have some control over. Recommended for people looking for something extremely casual but with a very well-written story)
- Evil Dead: The Game (a team based multiplayer game that has the humor and gore that you would expect from anything done by Evil Dead. Unfortunately, it doesn't really stand out from the pack well enough for me to give it high props. Recommended for a short while - see if you disagree with me)
- Immortals: Fenyx Rising (A Zelda-esque open-world game based on Greek mythology that is one of the best games I have played in a while. Highly recommended)
- Pixel Piracy (an 8-bit adventure game of sorts that puts you in the role of a pirate ship commander. I'd love to tell you what the objective in this game is, but I don't know what it is. I was extremely bored after the required 1-hour of play and immediately deleted the game from my hard drive. Not recommended)
- I am Satsuna (an old-school turn-based RPG developed by Squre Enix that functions exactly like Squaresoft games from the 90's. Recommended for people who really love that sort of game environment but not so much for anyone else)
- Killzone: Shadow Fall (an open-world(ish) FPS game with RPG elements. I found the interface to be hard on the eyes and that they really do a terrible job of teaching you how to actually play the game. Not recommended for average gamers but possibly a real winner for veterans of the franchise because the story seems quite good.)
- Dead by Daylight (A multiplayer survival horror game that was probably very fresh and fun when released in 2016 but these days there are so many clones of this type of game that there isn't much incentive to play this one)
- Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands (A open-world RPG/FPS game similar to the FarCry series. IMO the world is unnecessarily huge and there is a lot of dead space with nothing in it. This means a lot of your time is spent just traveling from one mission to the next and the missions all start to feel the same after a while. I lost interest after 4 hours or so)
- Sakuna: of Rice and Ruin (a metroid-vania-esque platforming with townbuilding elements. This is a casual game that will appeal to most people I think, especially those who are looking for a little less "hardcore" game to play. I have gone well over my 1-hour requirement and think I will continue and perhaps complete it. Recommended)
- Shadow of the Beast (an action adventure platformer fighting game that is a throwback to the 1989 original. It looks promising at first but ultimately the action part of the game is pretty repetitive and well, this isn't much of a surprise seeing as how it was drawing its inspiration from a game that is nearly 40 years old. Fun for a while but I bet you won't stick with it. Maybe recommended)
- OMNO (a puzzle-solving story game that is lovely, cute, and has great ambiance. The only downside is that if you have already played a few games of this sort such as Journey you are going to get bored pretty fast. Recommended for a few hours and only if you can get it for free.)
- Endling (A fantastically beautiful and ambient game that is quite touching. The great soundtrack and story combined with simplistic controls is unfortunately overshadowed by a rather extreme amount of loading screens that ultimately chased me away from playing it at all)
- Source of Madness (a beautiful looking and sounding game that unfortunately is a rogue-like. If you like that sort of thing this game might appeal to you. I do not like 90% of rogue-likes so this one fell flat with me)
All other games I have already reviewed (there are a lot of them)