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Eight PS4 Exclusives You Shouldn’t Sleep On Before The Year’s Big Hitters Arrive

A WellPlayed Exclusive!

It’s an exciting time to be a PlayStation fan (or a fan of video games in general), with some super-high profile titles looming very near on the horizon for the PlayStation 4. With The Last of Us Part II launching in just a few short weeks and Ghost of Tsushima following shortly after, Sony’s first-party offering for 2020 is strong, and that’s even before factoring in whatever they’ve got cooking for the PlayStation 5 at the tail end of the year.

While it’s easy to get excited about the future when it looks so bright, it’s always a good idea to take a look back every now and then and reflect on opportunities that may have been missed. For that reason, we though it might help to put together a quick list of some other PlayStation 4 exclusives that might’ve slipped under your radar, among the God of War-s and the Horizon: Zero Dawn-s. These are the kind of underrated gems that help make the PlayStation 4 library spectacular all year ’round, not just when the heavy hitters come out to play, and since PlayStation’s annual Days of Play sale is just gearing up it’s the perfect time to get around them!

Click on the game images to check them out on PlayStation Store, or on the titles to read our reviews!

Concrete Genie | PixelOpus | WellPlayed Review Score: 9.5
If there’s one thing that the PlayStation 4’s first party and exclusive library is proof of, it’s that video games can be vehicles for a wider range of storytelling and gameplay themes than they get credit for. Concrete Genie is a testament to the fact that games don’t need to be inherently or even remotely violent to be engaging and action-packed and the whole thing is a gorgeous, imaginative and heartfelt masterpiece. I haven’t cried so hard over graffiti since that time they removed the kissing Kanye mural in Sydney.

Nioh 2 | Team Ninja | WellPlayed Review Score: 9
Who needs Ghost of Tsushima when we already have an epic action game steeped in Japanese lore and wartime history. Okay, I still do very much need it, but Nioh 2 is a decidedly different and yet equally essential title. Less Assassin’s Creed and more Dark Souls, it’s a brutal, beautifully hardcore game with plenty of intrigue and a hefty dose of the supernatural. Also the Yokai/Guardian Spirits are super awesome to look at, even if the game is way too hard for me.

Dreams | Media Molecule | WellPlayed Review Score: 10
What’s better than a PlayStation 4 exclusive game? Millions of them! Made by you! Dreams is the impossible made possible, a limitless creative suite that imbues every single PS4 owner with the power to make stuff. Whether that means art, animation, logic, music, level or whole games is only limited by your own time and imagination. Plus, a huge and welcoming community of creators and curators is there to fill in any gaps in either. It’s hardly believable that such a thing exists, let alone that it’s so affordable and accessible. Plus, Art’s Dream is a damned fine feature-length adventure in and of itself.

ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission | Japan Studio | WellPlayed Review Score: 9.5
When talking about VR killer apps, a 3D platformer doesn’t seem like it’d be the first thing to come to mind. Astro Bot Rescue Mission is without a doubt one of the PlayStation VR’s best experiences though, maybe even one of the best VR games on any platform for that matter. With creativity to rival that of Nintendo’s best along with some truly awe-inspiring VR moments, SIE Japan Studio’s plucky little ‘bot has almost become a defacto mascot for the platform.

Blood and Truth | SIE London Studio | WellPlayed Review Score: 9
On the flipside of unlikely successes, Blood and Truth is exactly the game that the majority of us would have envisioned when the VR dream started to become reality. Like playing through a British gangster film in real-time, you’ll get into heated shoot-outs, frantic car chases and even moonlight as a casino DJ all from the comfort of your couch. Ryan Mark’s revenge mission is pure balls-to-the-wall action that shouldn’t be missed and one of the PlayStation VR’s best.

Ratchet and Clank | Insomniac | WellPlayed Review Score: 9.8
Marvel’s Spider-Man might be one of the PlayStation 4’s bigger exclusives in recent memory but before that blockbuster, developer Insomniac released another game that (in my opinion) deserves just as much attention. A pseudo-remake of the franchise’s very first game, Ratchet and Clank is an absolute treat for platforming fans and still looks and plays like a dream. I can only hope that there’s a future yet to come for the dynamic duo, but if you managed to miss this one you owe it to yourself to catch the adventure that started it all.

Tearaway Unfolded | Media Molecule | WellPlayed Review Score: 9
It’s unfortunate that the PlayStation Vita didn’t have more success, because it means that many missed Media Molecule’s excellent and very hands-on puzzle platformer Tearaway. It’s doubly unfortunate that when the game eventually made its way to the vastly more popular PlayStation 4 in the even more excellent Tearaway Unfolded that it flew under yet more radars like a paper aeroplane under the nose of an unwitting primary school teacher. If you like platforming, gorgeous visuals and British accents, you shouldn’t miss this.

Wipeout: Omega Collection | XDEV | WellPlayed Review Score: 9
It seems wild to still get excited about a three-year-old remaster of a trilogy of old racing games in this age of remasters of old things but damn does Wipeout: Omega Collection still look and play like an absolute dream. If you’ve got a PS4 Pro and you haven’t had a fang around the futuristic tracks in glorious third-person 4K60, you’re really missing out. Plus, the soundtrack’s an absolute banger and there are VR features. Ripper!

Think you can think of some better, underrated PlayStation 4 exclusives? Drop them in the comments or on our social channels!

Written By Kieron Verbrugge

Kieron's been gaming ever since he could first speak the words "Blast Processing" and hasn't lost his love for platformers and JRPGs since. A connoisseur of avant-garde indie experiences and underground cult classics, Kieron is a devout worshipper at the churches of Double Fine and Annapurna Interactive, to drop just a couple of names.

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