The Mid-Year Offers invariably mark a “turning point” for promotions on the PlayStation Store, often introducing unprecedented reductions for numerous PS4 and PS5 games, which therefore become available for purchase at discounts that have never been so convenient. Well, what are they deals not to be missed?
We decided to draw up our traditional selection keeping an eye on historical lows, as we always do, but alongside the most popular and recent titles with a certain quantity of perhaps less well-known productions, perhaps of independent origin, yet equally worthy of attention.
From Granblue Fantasy: Relink to Cocoon, from Stray to Braid, Anniversary Edition (surprisingly already on promo!), through Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, The Callisto Protocol, Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons and The Outlast Trials, here So our purchasing advice: you can take advantage of it until July 4thclosing date of the offers.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Let’s start with a 35% discount on Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, which brings the price of the latest chapter of the SEGA series to €45.49 instead of €69.99. The matter is the same this time too: if for any reason you have not purchased the adventure of Ichiban Kasuga and Kazuma Kiryu at launch, perhaps because you are busy with other experiences, this is a reduction that will certainly encourage you to carry out this important recovery.
In fact, if you have already played all the episodes of Yakuza, including the recent Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, or perhaps you started from the jRPG-style revolution of Yakuza: Like a Dragon, there are many excellent reasons not to miss out this new journey into the all-Japanese madness of a franchise that in terms of characters, stories and collateral activities it has never disappointed expectations.
We were talking about Ichiban and Kazuma, who find themselves in Infinite Wealth working together when they discover they have the same goal: find a mysterious woman living in Hawaii. The motives of the two protagonists are different, but they will have to share the difficulties they will encounter along the way and face the criminal group that wants to reach that same person first. For what reason?
Finding out will involve investing a few dozen hours on it an extremely rich and multifaceted campaignwhich will take us to visit new scenarios for the series, try our hand at even more bizarre minigames than usual, take advantage of the profession system again to give the party characters peculiar abilities and have fun with the mix of turn-based and real-time combat that characterizes this chapter.
Would you like to know more? Check out our review of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.
Granblue Fantasy: Relink
If it is true that the JRPG genre still stands as a sort of niche today, especially when it comes to certain producers, Granblue Fantasy: Relink has been able to elevate the Cygames formula with a particularly evocative and engaging chapterwhich is the first promotion ever on PlayStation Store with an excellent 30% discount, which brings the price of the game to €41.99 instead of €59.99.
In command of the young captain of a crew made up of brave adventurers, accompanied on their journey by the dragon Vyrn, in Relink we will leave for the legendary island of Estalucia: a wonderful place, in whose shadows however move the members of an organization that threatens its very existence, and which we will have to stop at any cost.
To succeed in the undertaking we will be able to count on the frenzy of a real-time combat system in which we will coordinate the skills of a team of four characters, all equipped with a peculiar style and unique abilities, to create choral maneuvers that are as spectacular as they are devastating; playing alone or in cooperative mode for four participants.
As we had the opportunity to write in the review of Granblue Fantasy: Relink, we are faced with a particularly brilliant episode, well directed and discreetly rich in content and methods, which stands as an ideal starting point for those who still don’t know this saga but have decided they want to remedy this lack.
The Callisto Protocol
We return to the territory of the most mainstream productions to point out that The Callisto Protocol has also reached its lowest price ever on the PlayStation Store: if you are a subscriber to PlayStation Plus, the addictive sci-fi survival horror directed by Glen Schofield it can be yours for €17.49 instead of €69.99, with a discount of up to 75% in this case.
It is clear that in the face of such a significant reduction, any doubts relating to the level design of the game, which is not always very inspired, as well as the degree of tension and the ability to terrify, which unfortunately they are not the ones we were accustomed to in the original Dead Space. Beyond these less successful aspects, however, there is a solid title capable of introducing important innovations within its genre.
The protagonist of the adventure, a space courier named Jacob Lee, finds himself unwillingly locked up in the Black Iron prison after crashing his ship on the surface of Callisto due to an attack carried out by a group led by the rebel Dani Nakamura. The problem is that during his stay in the facility all hell happens: a mysterious virus transforms guards and prisoners into ferocious mutantswreaking havoc.
Having reunited with Dani, Jacob will therefore have to look for a way out of the imposing structure and make his way facing increasingly stronger and monstrous enemies, often in the context of visceral hand-to-hand combat and challenging boss fights where one wrong move can mean game over: we talked about this and more in the review of The Callisto Protocol.
The Outlast Trials
We remain in the field of the most distressing experiences to point out the first reduction ever for The Outlast Trials, which thanks to the Mid-Year Offers is discounted by 33% and can therefore be purchased for €24.78 instead of €36.99. If you were curious to try this new one multiplayer take on Red Barrels survival horrorhere’s your chance.
Of course, The Outlast Trials is not a perfect title, but it has its merits the gruesome style that has always characterized the seriesonly declined within modes that will see us collaborate with other poor wretches in an attempt to complete missions on behalf of a mysterious group that has rounded up a certain amount of homeless people only to subject them to a cruel experiment.
Cocoon
We move from an imperfect product to one that actually comes very close to the idea of perfection, because Cocoon has also achieved it the lowest price ever on PlayStation Store and it’s definitely time to take advantage of it: we’re talking about a 40% reduction, which will allow you to take this splendid adventure home for just €14.99 instead of €24.99.
If you’ve read our Cocoon review, you’ll already know that the latest work by Jeppe Carlsen, one of the authors of Limbo and Insidebrings to the table extraordinary design choices, an absolutely superior artistic and technical sector and original mechanics that revolve around the protagonist’s ability to move between different worlds and solve tantalizing puzzles.
Braid, Anniversary Edition
Speaking of puzzles, those based on the passage of time that characterize the experience of Braid, Anniversary Edition are still among the most interesting that have been seen in a video game. We don’t know whether a 25% discount (if you are a PlayStation Plus subscriber, otherwise it stops at 20%) is good news for you or not. a title published less than a month agobut you would be foolish not to take advantage of it.
For €14.99 instead of €19.99 you have the opportunity to immerse yourself in the peculiar atmospheres of the little gem developed by Jonathan Blow, which is re-proposed in this edition with completely redesigned graphics yet faithful to the original style, improved gameplay underneath some aspects and of an even richer structure thanks to the addition of several new levels.
Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons
Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons is also a journey into the past, available on offer at €9.99 instead of €24.99 for PlayStation Plus subscribers, therefore with a reduction of 60%. Not a bad promotion for a scrolling beat ’em up that reinterprets the 1987 classic catapulting us into a post-apocalyptic setting and assigning different roles to the various Billy, Jimmy and Marian, but not only that.
As you may have read in our review of Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons, the developers have in fact opted for an almost “chibi” graphic style which however does not diminish the solidity of the gameplay, made even more captivating by roguelike elements and a scenario divided into four different districts, each controlled by a different criminal gang.
Stray
A few days after the announcement of its arrival on Nintendo Switch, scheduled for autumn, Stray reaches the lowest price ever on PlayStation Store: thanks to the Mid-Year Offers, BlueTwelve Studio’s exciting feline adventure will be able to come home with you for €17.99 instead of €29.99, thus saving you a substantial 40% compared to the official figure.
Considering how much it costs to keep a cat (or two, or three, or four), it is undoubtedly an opportunity not to be missed and you will find confirmation of this in the Stray review: we are faced with a really interesting titleequipped with an artistic sector of great impact and a very engaging story… even more so if you are a cat lover!
