September is upon us, meaning that – among many other things – it’s time for Sony to fling a fresh batch of games onto its PlayStation Now subscription service, with this month’s newly announced additions including Resident Evil 7 and Final Fantasy 15.
Those two are both solid offerings, with Resident Evil 7 proving to be a particular treat for fans of horror. It’s a notable departure from previous series entries, switching third-person action for gorgeously gruesome – if somewhat uneven – first-person hillbilly hijinks, as players, in the role of Ethan Winters, explore the rundown Baker family mansion in search of his missing girlfriend.
Resident Evil 7 biohazard – TAPE-4 “Biohazard” – Launch Trailer | PS4 Watch on YouTube
As for Final Fantasy 15, it’s a fascinating, if not always successful, attempt to turn the series’ familiar apocalypse-thwarting RPG formula into an open-world road trip adventure, as a band of leather-clad chums – Noctis, Gladiolus, Ignis, and Prompto – journey across the world of Eos.
FINAL FANTASY XV – “Ride Together” Launch Trailer | PS4 Watch on YouTube
“It’s clear that Final Fantasy 15 benefits from a vision, one that emboldened its developers to try new things and reinvent a series while reclaiming the scale that its most ardent fans are used to,” wrote Eurogamer’s Aoife Wilson back in 2017. “In chasing that scale the bigger picture can sometimes get a little obscured, but importantly Final Fantasy 15 retains that love of smaller stories, the ones that often prove to be so much more memorable.”