Over the past few months, PS Plus has added a handful of games from now-Microsoft-owned studios. While Deathloop's pre-acquisition exclusivity agreement certainly opened the door for its PS Plus Extra addition, there is no ambiguity regarding its recent additions of Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire (Obsidian Entertainment) and Skyrim (Bethesda) and its newest addition of Fallout 76. The PS Plus free games for January 2023 include Fallout 76, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and Axiom Verge 2.
It's no doubt a good start to the year, with each title being a solid game in its own right. However, it's hard to ignore that adding Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is just build up for March 2023, when Jedi: Survivor releases. Getting to play it as part of PS Plus, whether it's a repeat playthrough ahead of the sequel or for the first time, is a strong argument for playing Jedi: Survivor on PS5. But, that logic can also be applied to Fallout 76, if not as directly.
PS Plus is Helping The Road to Starfield
It's not unusual to play an original or predecessor before a sequel releases, as that lets players get a good story recap and refresh on finer plot details that may have been forgotten. Playing A Plague Tale: Innocence or God of War (2018) before A Plague Tale: Requiem or God of War Ragnarok's releases in 2022 would be a wise move, for example, and something that may happen with Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order before its sequel. In lieu of proper sequels, it's not often a bad idea to revisit a developer's last game before a new one, just so one can see how much innovation and improvement went into the next game. That's Fallout 76 to Starfield.
Bethesda Game Studios' last foray was panned by many fans at launch, with some unhappy about Fallout 76's multiplayer approach, lack of content, and specifically lack of NPCs. It made Appalachia feel very empty and not exciting to explore, but the game has grown a lot since then. It could easily be considered an example of a game that redeemed itself in the post-launch window, like No Man's Sky or Cyberpunk 2077, and this second chance for those still on the fence is a good thing. Ultimately, however, anyone playing it is going to be acutely aware that they are playing a Bethesda game, and that in turn leads to thoughts of Starfield.
PS Plus' Microsoft Games and Preparing for Starfield
Reportedly, Starfield playtesters are loving the Sci-Fi RPG, with supposed claims stating that it increases upon the ambitions of The Elder Scrolls and Fallout in the best of ways. Fallout 4 is the one directly mentioned, so it would seem, but playing either it, Skyrim, or Fallout 76 would be a good way to see how Starfield innovates on the tried-and-true Bethesda formula. The irony here is that, whether one plays Fallout 76 or Skyrim on PS Plus, that's preparation for a Starfield launch exclusively on PC or Xbox Series X/S. But comparing the character models, quest design, story innovations, and more are essentially platform-agnostic comparisons. No matter how good a PC or a platform is, it all comes down to the game when seeing how much one has grown from the last one.
Fallout 76 is that best point of comparison since it is a 2018 game vs. a 2023 game, as opposed to Fallout 4's 2015 release and Skyrim's even older 2011 release. On the flip side of the coin, some may be unhappy to check out a BGS game on a PS4/PS5 knowing that the next game won't be available on said platform. That would be a valuable point of critique too, but as with all of PS Plus' Microsoft additions of late, it also shows how willing Microsoft is to play ball with Sony.
Despite offering concessions with Call of Duty and publicly stating only three Bethesda games will be exclusive for the foreseeable future (those being Starfield, Redfall, and an undisclosed third game, likely to be The Elder Scrolls 6), Microsoft's acquisitions are under a ton of scrutiny right now. This is where a lot of media attention currently lies and there is certainly room for scrutiny of any major company, but the fact is, Microsoft could put an end to Bethesda and its other games on PS Plus if it wanted to. Skyrim, Pillars of Eternity 2, and Fallout 76 are all evidence of Microsoft's willingness to cooperate, and Sony is certainly aware of what it means to put Bethesda games on its services before Starfield's release.
PS Plus subscribers get a handful of games every month.