As has been the case for the past few months, the PS Plus free games have leaked online before their expected reveal date (December 29 for January 2022’s selection). The past few months have seen these games leaked by Dealabs user BillBil-Kun, who has been incredibly accurate and has even leaked every game of the Epic Games Store promotion so far.
As such, while all leaks should be taken with a grain of salt, his leak of the PS Plus free games for January 2022 is likely accurate. It is said to be Deep Rock Galactic, Persona 5 Strikers, and Dirt 5—so for those who aren’t sure what these are, here’s everything to know.
PS Plus Free Game for January 2022 – Deep Rock Galactic
Available on both PS4 and PS5 PS Plus subscribers, Deep Rock Galactic is a co-op first-person shooter of up to 4 players, complete with space Dwarves, destructible environments, procedurally-generated caves, and endless alien hordes. The player will take on one of four classes—the Gunner who is designed to obliterate enemies, scout and provide light as the scout, destroy rock as the Driller, or defend the team with structures and turrets as the Engineer.
Players will have to work together to get through “the most hostile cave systems in the galaxy,” with the procedural generation adding a nice touch of replayability to it. This is only really improved upon with Deep Rock Galactic's seasonal content. Plus, the destructible environments give players elements of surprise, foolhardiness, and much more all for a new fun factor—especially when flamethrowers, Gatling guns, platform launchers, and more are thrown into the mix.
PS Plus Free Game for January 2022 – Persona 5 Strikers
For PS4 owners, Persona 5 Strikers is set a few months after the events of the main game, where Joker and Morgana return to Tokyo for a summer vacation with the Phantom Thieves. Persona 5 Strikers, notably, is a Musou game that combines elements from Koei Tecmo’s Dynasty Warriors franchise (such as its real-time action combat) and Persona’s turn-based elements. Essentially, action and combat is in real-time but a tactical menu will pause the battle to allow tactical positioning of Persona skills, not unlike something such as Dragon Age: Inquisition.
Players can collect new Personas through random drops or in dungeons, where they can be fused to create new ones. The Bond system replaces Persona 5’s confidant system, and players can form parties of four—the only one who cannot be removed is Joker. Overall, it’s a pretty straightforward Musou spin-off of Persona 5, but for those who haven’t played it, it’s pretty fun.
PS Plus Free Game for January 2022 – Dirt 5
For PS4 and PS5 PS Plus subscribers, Dirt 5 is the last game from Codemasters prior to its acquisition by EA earlier this year. It was also developed by former devs of Driveclub and Motorstorm, with the game now available on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. It is a simcade racing video game, much like the Dirt games before it.
Dirt 5 does feature a career mode, which many racing games seem to be leaning more toward now than in the past few years, and it features the player against a rival driver named Bruno (and played by Nolan North). The player also has a mentor named AJ (who is voiced by Troy Baker), adding some star power to the overall campaign.
Dirt 5 focuses mostly on off-roading racing, complete with rallycross, ice racing, Stadium Super Trucks, and off-road buggies, with events everywhere from Arizona and Brazil to Norway and South Africa. All of these landscapes are brought to life by the game’s season system, where for example, players can only complete ice racing events in New York during the winter season.
For those who miss couch co-op, or more specifically for here, split-screen racing, Dirt 5 also features this for friends.
PS Plus subscribers get a handful of free games every month.