In this episode, Devindra and producer Ben Elman recover from the election by discussing the PlayStation 5 Pro, as well as our final thoughts on Apple’s M4 Mac mini (so cute, so powerful!) and the new MacBook Pros. The M4 chip is a solid upgrade, but the M4 Pro is shockingly fast (so much so that it outpaced every other system we reviewed in Geekbench this year).
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Sony is set to refresh the PlayStation Plus game catalog for Extra and Premium subscribers with several new additions in January. The clear headliner here is God of War Ragnarök (PS4 and PS5), one of PlayStation’s biggest blockbusters in the last few years.
In this epic 2022 adventure, Kratos and his son Atreus attempt to prevent an event that could lead to the end of the world. Studio Santa Monica expanded the main game in late 2023 with the free addition of a roguelite mode that acts as an epilogue. Kratos can perform permanent upgrades as well as temporary upgrades that only last for the duration of a certain run.
If you haven’t done so yet, we’d highly recommend playing God of War before delving into Ragnarok. The story of the 2018 game connects directly to the story of the sequel (and it’s a pretty good game, too). Thankfully, God of War is also in the game catalog.
Another new addition that’s worth checking out is the fantastic rhythm action title Sayonara Wild Hearts (PS4). It tells the story of a young woman attempting to heal her broken heart through a series of imaginative levels, all set to an absolutely banging pop music soundtrack. Sayonara Wild Hearts was an Apple Arcade launch title, but it left that service a few months ago. It’s one of my two favorite games of all time, and I can’t recommend it enough.
The highly acclaimed sci-fi RPG Citizen Sleeper is also in the mix. It’ll come to the game catalog a week and a half before the sequel, Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector, arrives on January 31.
Other newcomers to the Extra tier include the 2023 Like a Dragon spinoff, Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name (PS4 and PS5), action RPGs Atlas Fallen: Rain of Sand (PS5) and SD Gundam Battle Alliance (PS4 and PS5), action-adventure title ANNO: Mutationum (PS4 and PS5), tower defense game Orcs Must Die! 3 (PS4 and PS5) and Poker Club (PS4).
Premium subscribers will get access to all of these plus two more games. They are Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings (PS4 and PS5), which debuted on PS2 in 2009, and MediEvil II (PS4 and PS5), which originally came out on PS1 in 2000.
These games will arrive in the PS Plus game catalog on January 21. As a reminder, PlayStation Portal owners can now stream some PS5 games to the catalog from the cloud.