Even though they are all based on established IPs, the trio of PlayStation Plus Essential games for April 2025 could not be more different. There’s an RPG, an asymmetrical horror multiplayer title, and a first-person shooter, all of which cater to specific power fantasies. These three games are Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth – Hacker’s Memory, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and RoboCop: Rogue City, and here’s the lowdown on each of them.
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Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth – Hacker’s Memory
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Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth – Hacker’s Memory is an RPG that was released in Japan in 2017 and the following year in other territories. This follow-up to the original Cyber Sleuth was received decently with an average score of 72. Hacker’s Memory owes a lot to its predecessor since Hacker’s Memory borrows a lot from it.
A few of these recycled elements include environments and its combat and evolution systems. Fights utilize straightforward elemental weaknesses and a queuing system that has some depth but is simple to understand for anyone with even a passing familiarity with JRPGs. Collecting and raising the best lineup of beasts and investing in their growth fits with the license and gives players a less intense way to interact with its RPG systems. All of this, including its hacker-centric story, seems primarily designed for those who love Digimon and its lore, but its adherence to the genre may get some who aren’t as into this specific brand of digital monsters.
Hacker’s Memory’s arrival on PlayStation Plus Essential is likely to drum up excitement for Digimon Story: Time Stranger. Time Stranger is coming sometime in 2025 and is the next installment in this sub-series from developer Media Vision.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre originally came out in 2023 to solid reviews, hitting an average score of 75. Like Dead by Daylight, Predator: Hunting Grounds, and the handful of other asymmetrical online horror games, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre tasks the survivors with escaping from the killers in maps based on or around settings from the original 1974 film. But unlike many of those other games, there are multiple killers, which makes The Texas Chain Saw Massacre a little more unique.
And being an online multiplayer title, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre has changed a bit since its release through a constant stream of updates and DLC. Developer Sumo Digital has fixed bugs, implemented a calmer Museum Mode and a Friday the 13th-esque mode, overhauled the skill tree, tried to smooth out lobbies by punishing leavers, and added a new map and map variants. Even though it hasn’t hit the heights of other genre heavyweights like the aforementioned Dead by Daylight, its tense cat-and-mouse gameplay has kept the attention of its modest fanbase, despite worries over its new approach of receiving less frequent updates.
The base game has seen its share of free improvements since launch, but those changes have come alongside a slew of premium DLC. There have been seven new characters and dozens of cosmetic packs and they range from $4.99 to $15.99. The Content Pass bundles some items together, but most of the DLC is not included.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre has been criticized in recent months for its long wait times, which can cause players to wait upwards of 10 minutes to find a match. A glut of new PlayStation Plus users might help temporarily alleviate that issue across all platforms since it supports crossplay. Its approach to crossplay is a bit unconventional since players on PS4 and Xbox can only play with those on their specific platform, while players on PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X|S are in one big pool (crossplay can be disabled, though).
Community is important for an online game like this and it’s uncertain where The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is going from here. It has no concrete roadmap for the months or years ahead, as its only announced roadmap wrapped up in February. It remains to be seen how much support it will see going forward.
RoboCop: Rogue City
RoboCop: Rogue City is a 2023 first-person shooter developed by Teyon, which has gradually built up its name through licensed titles like this with better results every time. 2014’s Rambo: The Video Game was widely panned, while 2019’s Terminator: Resistance and its 2021 current-gen upgrade were broadly seen as decent shooters. Rogue City, on the other hand, was generally regarded as a big step up and garnered an average score of 73. This is a huge improvement from Rambo‘s 35 average and Terminator‘s 57 average.
Rogue City succeeds because of its respect for the source material and unique focus of its shooting mechanics. While many of its genre peers hone in on parkour and fast-paced gunplay, RoboCop is much slower and more deliberate as he trudges through the crime-addled streets of Old Detroit. This tankier approach gives the game its own style that naturally fits with the character. Bad guys explode into red goo clouds with the slightest touch and can be grabbed and tossed around like tin cans, which also lets players feel powerful. Thankfully, the smooth controls and explosive effects help further sell this fantasy, and there are a few upgrades in the skill tree that make sure RoboCop doesn’t feel too sluggish.
But it’s not just a mindless shooter with an endless line of corridors filled with ne’er-do-wells. Rogue City also lets players walk around the precinct and local streets to dole out more mundane justice, do side missions, and learn about the locals. These sections are a welcome change in pace that also let players absorb the world without as many distractions. For example, players can help a local man rent movies from the local Blockbuster knock-off or serve parking tickets. The story itself delves into the violence and hypercapitalist themes of the original film well and is entertaining, but it’s able to blossom a little more thanks to these side missions that flesh out its world and characters.
Aside from bug fixes, Rogue City received one major update that added New Game Plus, more weapon mods, a golden weapon skin, and a harder difficulty. It’s also got two premium skin packs that give the titular hero the damaged armor from the debut film and the blue-tinted armor from RoboCop 2. The timing of this PS Plus drop is also likely to give players a taste of the game before RoboCop: Rogue City – Unfinished Business drops sometime in the summer. This standalone expansion to Rogue City will have a new storyline, more weapons, additional enemies, and more.
