PlayStation Plus Makes One of 2024’s Best Games Free: “This Is Nuts”

PlayStation Plus has made one of 2024’s best games free, and PS Plus subscribers on PS5 and PS4 are already addicted. The free PlayStation Plus game in question is one of May’s free PS Plus games that is available to all subscribers, regardless of what tier they are subscribed to. Whether you have a PS Plus Premium a subscription, a PS Plus Extra subscription, or a PS Plus Essential subscription, you can now develop an addiction that some PS Plus subscribers have likened to crack.

For those that missed the announcement, yesterday May’s free PlayStation Plus games lineup dropped. It features Ark: Survival Ascended, Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun, and Balatro. Depending on your taste, the standout game from this trio will vary, but there’s no denying that for many the standout PS Plus game this month is Balatro.

For those unfamiliar with Balatro, here are the most impressive parts of its resume: it is one of the top 10 highest-rated releases of 2024 according to Metacritic with a score of 90, it was nominated for Game of the Year at The Game Awards, and it won Best Independent Game and Best Mobile Game at the same show. In short, it is one of the best games of last year. And it is highly addictive, as PlayStation Plus subscribers are finding out.

“I just [want to] recommend to play Balatro to experience what crack is like,” reads one of the top posts on the PS Plus Reddit page. “I just can’t stop. I’ve played it on the Switch last year a lot, but now I’m addicted again.”

Of course, this sentiment in isolation isn’t that noteworthy, but the popularity of the post and the comments echo it. And this has been the narrative around the game since its release last year.

“Yeah man holy **** this is nuts,” reads one of the comments. Another, separate comment adds: “Absolutely addicted.”

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It goes without saying, but Balatro is not going to be for everyone, but for those interested in checking it out it can technically be beaten in less than 10 hours. According to How Long to Beat though, those that want to experience all of the side content will need closer to 50 hours with the game. And completionists will need hundreds of hours. Putting 100 or 200 hours into a card game may sound far-fetched, but the data suggests many have done exactly that.

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