Sony's announcement of the PlayStation Plus Premium and Extra monthly games for November 3rd reveals a troubling pattern: the company continues to treat its subscription service like a dumping ground for aging titles rather than a compelling reason to maintain membership. The trio of Dead Island 2, the remastered Tomb Raider Darkness Trilogy, and Monster Train 2 represents everything wrong with PlayStation Plus's current strategy—a mishmash of games that fail to create genuine excitement or justify the premium price tag subscribers are paying.
Let's be clear about what's actually happening here. Dead Island 2, a first-person zombie action game from Dambuster Studios and Deep Silver, is described as merely 'a decent enough game' by the very outlet announcing it. If the reporting on your own offering can't muster more enthusiasm than 'decent,' that's a massive red flag. This is the flagship title of November's selection, and it's landing during what the report itself acknowledges is 'almost certainly going to be the biggest month of the year releases-wise.' Sony is positioning a mediocre zombie game against the cream of the industry's new releases and expecting subscribers to feel satisfied.
The Tomb Raider Darkness Trilogy remaster from Aspyr doesn't fare much better in the framing. These games are 'not known as being exactly the best Lara Croft games out there,' according to the announcement. Why are we celebrating the remastering of the weakest entries in a beloved franchise? Monster Train 2, a deckbuilder roguelike with what's admittedly a charming 'smug looking mushroom fella,' is positioned as the indie token—a single smaller game thrown in to round out the selection. Even the inclusion of an indie title feels like an afterthought rather than a carefully curated offering.
The real issue is timing and perception. November 3rd is when these games arrive, landing squarely in the window when major new AAA releases dominate the landscape. Instead of providing subscribers with compelling reasons to stay engaged through the holiday season, PlayStation Plus is offering a reheated buffet of yesterday's games. The report's parting comment—that subscribers need to 'grab October's offerings' before the clock runs out—only emphasizes how temporary and disposable this service feels.
Sony needs to fundamentally rethink PlayStation Plus. Stop treating it as a storage facility for back catalog titles. If these are the games worth highlighting for November, subscribers deserve honesty about what they're actually getting. And Sony deserves genuine scrutiny for consistently underselling what should be an essential service for PlayStation gamers. The current approach isn't just uninspired—it's insulting to the players keeping this ecosystem alive.