New Free PlayStation Plus Game Has a 1.5 User Score on Metacritic

One of September's free PlayStation Plus games may be the worst game ever offered through the PS4 and PS5 subscription service. This may sound hyperbolic, but there's a standard when it comes to PS Plus, and this standard is usually decent games or better. One of September's free games has a user score on Metacritic of 1.5. Now, low user scores on Metacritic are often more reflective of a controversial game than a bad one. In this case, it's both. 

If you missed September's free PlayStation Plus games, they are as follows: Saints Row, Black Desert, and Generation Zero. Overall, this is a pretty underwhelming month. Generation Zero boasts a 45 on Metacritic and Black Desert is a bit older at this point. The contentious game though is Saints Row, a 2022 release that rebooted the series and seemingly ended Volition Studio, which shut down yesterday after 30 years of operations.

If you're not familiar with the 2022 game, it was contentious the moment it was revealed. The reveal trailer was immediately met with backlash for a few different reasons. For one, it was not the game Saints Row fans wanted. In recent years, Saints Row fans have yearned for a return to the roots of the series. Saints Row has always been zany, but it used to be a bit more grounded in its parody of gang culture and GTA Games. The reboot was not only not this, but it was even further away from this than previous games. 

The game's characters, story, writing, and voice acting were also quickly labeled and slammed as cringe. And to be fair, this aspect of the game is quite bad. The whole game has a heavy "How do you do, fellow kids?" meme vibe. It's also not the only bad part of the game. The open-world design is very dated and run-of-the-mill. And unfortunately, at its best, the rest of the game is no more than this: dated and run-of-the-mill. Is it 1.5 on Metacritic bad? Probably not, but it is certainly one of the worst PS Plus games in a long time. What makes this worse is it's not alone, as Generation Zero isn't very good either. 

As always, feel free to weigh in on the discussion with your thoughts. Is Saints Row one of the worst games ever offered via PS Plus or are these Metacritic scores too much? Meanwhile, for more coverage on all things PlayStation, click here.