I tell any of my friends who haven't purchased the PlayStation 5 that you don't have to worry about buying games from the thing anymore. Push Square has done the math I wasn't going to and figured a PS Plus Essential membership netted you $1,500 worth of games in 2025 alone.
Now you only keep the games as long as your membership is active, but these numbers show that a $79.99 PS Plus Essential purchase isn't a bad deal at all. It's access to far more games than you're ever going to play in a year's time. It's my literal job and I didn't get to half of these.
Were they all the biggest of bangers? Of course not. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre announced no further updates as soon as it landed on PS5. For what's almost free, you'll have that kind of stuff happen from time to time. Sadly, I've paid $60 to play games that have died as fast.
TCM dropped in April, and that month we also got the incredible Robocop: Rogue City. This one is a true love letter to the era to the movie and to the shooters of a bygone era. They are the perfect marriage, and it's a game I always meant to play but didn't end up doing so until it was part of my membership.
This month we got Killing Floor 3. I think I first picked up Killing Floor 2 with my PS Plus membership, so the cycle continues. As I've said, I tell all my friends and I count my readers among my friends. PS Plus Essential was worth the money in 2025.