Fall savings are officially in full swing, folks. If there’s a game you’ve been looking for, chances are that it’s currently on sale on one of the various console or PC storefronts right now. Such is the case with PlayStation, which just kicked off its massive seasonal sale that features thousands of discounted games, DLCs, in-game currencies, and more. Luckily, y’all have got me to help you sift through all those available deals for the best ones, and here’s what I’ve managed to wrangle up.
2 / 10
2024 marked the long-awaited return of EA Sports College Football series, which took an 11-year hiatus after legal troubles surrounding the NCAA’s willingness to pay college players for their likenesses. College Football 25, which launched earlier this year, was heavily anticipated as a result of that, and boy did it sell like hot cakes. I’ve never seen a football video game drive people nuts the way that this one did when it came out, and honestly, I’m really happy for the folks who’ve been clamoring for another one of these titles for so long.
Football fans in general are thriving since both College Football 25 and Madden NFL 25 released right around the same time, and EA went right ahead and even bundled the deluxe edition of both games together. The bundle with both games typically goes for $150, but it’s actually pretty significantly discounted to $112.49 at the moment. Still a hefty asking price, but considering the fact that sports game enjoyers typically pick up one or two games a year, you can’t beat that price for two of the biggest games in the genre.
3 / 10
PowerWash Simulator is my happy place. I cannot stress enough how relaxing it is to turn to it when I need a low-stakes game to drop several hours into while I’m listening to a podcast, watching a show in the background, or even just casually chatting with some friends. Cycling through different nozzles to best clean a filthy bathroom or a theme park attraction is so soothing and comforting, and I’ve been relying on PowerWash Simulator again more recently to relax me in times of great stress. Ever since it was released, its developers have also supported it with various DLCs, including a slew of crossovers with series like Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy, and most recently, Spongebob Squarepants, as well as Shrek. It’s a good time, and you can even bring some friends along to help on the really deep cleans if you so desire. The point is, for $17.49, you can grab PowerWash Simulator and clean to your heart’s content.
4 / 10
I’ve yet to finish Pacific Drive, but it’s still one of the most special games of 2024, and I desperately need to get back around to it. A survival game set in the Pacific Northwest, Pacific Drive centers around a station wagon that’s been retrofitted with the necessary technology and tools to weather the supernatural phenomena of the Olympic Exclusion Zone, which you are attempting to get to the center of. As you plot a course through the Exclusion Zone, you’ll make pit stops to scrounge for materials to survive and upgrade the car, which is the real star of the show.
Not only is the car fully customizable, but it’s simply everything. It is the quickest way to get around the map, it’s the safest spot to be when weird shit starts happening, and it is where you will store 90 percent of the materials you find. Its maintenance is one of the most tactile experiences I’ve had in a game, and the way that the game encourages players to be hands-on with the car immediately fosters a strong connection as you embark on the world’s strangest and most dangerous road trip. Pacific Drive is an offbeat good time, and you can pick it up for $18 right now.
5 / 10
Mass Effect is one of gaming’s most legendary series by this point. Most people have probably heard of Bioware’s epic sci-fi RPG series, but I’m sure many haven’t actually played them since they’re a huge investment. It’s a pretty big undertaking, all things told, but that shouldn’t stop any of you from picking up this collection of remasters for the primary trilogy of the franchise. You’ll eventually play them, and you’ll thank me for this recommendation when you do. Mass Effect’s a pretty solid series of third-person shooters, but you’ll likely find that you’re more drawn to its magnetic and charming cast of characters, who you’ll befriend and even fall in love with as you fight to save the galaxy from forces beyond your wildest dreams. These titles are a saga quite unlike anything else in gaming’s history, and you should grab Mass Effect Legendary Edition while it’s only $9.
6 / 10
There are, at this point, several ways to get into the Like A Dragon/Yakuza series. Many, including myself, would probably scream at you to pick up Yakuza 0, a prequel to the entire series that sets up two of its major characters in extraordinary fashion, but that’s assuming that you will then play all of the rest of the games, which is a lot. A few years ago though, the series phased out its longtime protagonist Kazuma Kiryu for a fresh face and entirely different gameplay system, and the game that came from it has now served as a new entry point into the series. Yakuza: Like A Dragon follows Ichiban Kasuga, Japan’s foremost himbo, who sees the world through the lens of his favorite video game, the original Dragon Quest. That means that instead of brawling with dudes on the street in gruesome melee combat, he instead sees himself as the hero of a party of characters with jobs and classes who fight in turn-based combat.
Kasuga is such an effortlessly charming lead, and carries the game with aplomb, but he is aided by an equally lovable cast of allies, including a homeless doctor named Nanba, an ex-cop named Adachi, and a hostess manager named Saeko, among so many other wonderful faces. Most importantly, you don’t really need to understand much of the previous games to know about any of them or their motivations, which are all spelled out over the course of the lengthy RPG. There are characters from the larger series whose actions echo throughout the game, but this installment mostly kicks off its own story while carrying forward the tenets of Like A Dragon that have made the series such a smashing success over the last decade. Yakuza: Like A Dragon is a wonderful starting point for anyone curious about the franchise, and it’s only $10 right now.
7 / 10
To make a long story remarkably short, Titanfall 2 is simply one of the most essential shooters of the last decade. The way that people speak about Half-Life and its sequel is the way that we should and will talk about Titanfall 2 in the years to come, and it’s already begun. The criminally overlooked shooter sees Respawn Entertainment firing on all cylinders in ways I didn’t even think possible. Its campaign is bursting at the seams with an energy I haven’t found in many other first-person shooters, and nearly every one of its missions defies the bog-standard conventions of the genre. It’s a live wire of a game, and you owe it to yourself to play what should be one of the most influential FPS games of our time. Luckily, Titanfall 2 is regularly on sale, and when it is it’s always dirt cheap, so consider this your reminder to pick up one of the best shooters ever while it’s $5 right now.
8 / 10
Control is another one of the all-timers of the last several years. It’s creepy as hell, but also deeply silly, which is a tightrope act that the developer Remedy Entertainment has been honing for quite some time now. Jesse Faden, the game’s protagonist, is one of the most commanding and assured heroines I’ve ever come across, and is gaming’s best redhead by a mile. I love Control’s constantly shifting walls, the unease that permeates every one of its hallways, and how I never quite feel welcome or in charge in the Oldest House. I love that Control is one big ode to the era of creepypasta fiction that I grew up on, and how it treats that subject material with reverence. I could list near endless highlights from Control, a damn-near perfect video game if there ever were such a thing, but in order to preserve its mysteries, I will simply urge you to pick it up while it’s discounted to $8.
9 / 10
By my estimation, I’m in the third act of Arranger at the moment and absolutely loving it. It’s been a great year for Zelda-like games, and this is pretty high up there. Developed by Furniture & Mattress, Arranger follows Jemma who leaves behind the only life she’s known to explore the world outside their village’s walls. Only, Jemma’s excuse for living is that she’s never quite fit in, and for good reason: whenever she moves, the entire axis that she ambles along shifts with her. She quite literally exercises control over the world around her with every step she takes, much to the detriment of everyone around her. However, Arranger tracks her journey and how she comes to accept this confounding ability as a boon to be shared with others rather than the curse she believes it to be. It’s a sweet and short puzzler that adds a charming wrinkle to the tried-and-true formula of isometric action-adventure games like it, and it goes a long way to making Arranger stand apart in an otherwise crowded genre. Arranger can be all yours for $15, and I can’t recommend it enough.
10 / 10