It’s Labor Day weekend, so you’ll have plenty of extra time to play video games. Thankfully, tons of excellent games came to the PlayStation Plus Premium and Extra game catalog last weekend, so you have plenty of gems to choose from. Specifically, there’s an underrated Ubisoft open-world game, a VR classic that’s also available on PlayStation VR2, and a PS2-era shooter that just got a rerelease on PS4 and PS5 that are worth your time.
Watch Dogs 2 got a lot of flak because of Ubisoft’s now-infamous style of open-world game design when it came out, but in retrospect, it’s actually one of Ubisoft’s best games released during the PS4 and Xbox One generation. It tells a compelling story about a group of outcasts taking on big tech in San Francisco, and there are lots of fun hacking and gadgetry tools at the player’s disposal during gameplay that makes exploring and fighting in this open world entertaining. If you passed on Watch Dogs 2 when it came out because you didn’t want to play yet another open-world Ubisoft game, consider checking it out this weekend. The PS4 version of Watch Dogs 2 is available through the PlayStation Plus Extra game catalog. It’s also available on PC and Xbox One.
Vacation Simulator
Owlchemy Labs is one of the best virtual reality game developers working today, and Vacation Simulator is a sequel to Job Simulator, it’s crowning achievement. It’s a hilarious VR experience where players “simulate” being on different kinds of vacations and complete VR-based puzzles and objectives along the way. I always appreciate a VR game that isn’t just a first-person shooter, so this one’s well worth checking out. As the PlayStation VR2 is struggling to get new games, you might as well look back and play a VR classic on it now that it’s included in your PlayStation Plus Premium subscription. PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers can check out both the PSVR1 and PSVR2 versions of Vacation Simulator across PS4 and PS5. It’s also on Meta Quest, Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3, Meta Quest Pro, and PC VR.
TimeSplitters
TimeSplitters is a series of cult classic shooters, so it was disappointing to hear that a revival of the franchise got canceled amid Embracer Group’s struggles over the past year or so. Thankfully, that was made up for a bit by all three TimeSplitters games coming to PS4 and PS5 for the first time in August. Part of the PlayStation Plus Premium game catalog, this is the full-fledged PS2 game as you remember it, just running as an emulation on modern hardware. This shooter still holds up with solid gameplay and a fun time-hopping setup that gives it a lot of variety from stage to stage. While I recommend checking this whole series out, you can start by playing the first TimeSplitters this weekend on PS4 or PS5 if you have PlayStation Plus Premium.
