Sony's Play At Home initiative truly delivers

The Japanese giant offers no less than 11 high-quality games free of charge this spring

Horizon: Zero Dawn is one of the best games of its kind and among the best developed for the PS4. In April, it will be free for everyone. (Image: Sony)

We're officially at Year Two of the COVID-19 pandemic and, as depressing as this sounds, everyone is now much more aware of the fact that we'll be spending more time at home for a long while yet (something that was not apparent to a lot of people last spring). Gaming has become one of the most popular ways to help pass that extra indoors time, gaming companies have helped by offering free titles through several initiatives and Sony's Play at Home was one of the most noteworthy among those. Now the Japanese giant is stepping up his game by starting earlier and offering more: the Play at Home 2021 program is all about the consumers this time (last year it was more about the creators and helping them get through the initial shock of COVID-19 work-wise).

The Play at Home Initiative 2021 has started a few days back, in fact, as PlayStation4 and PlayStation5 owners can get Ratchet & Clank for the PS4 for free since March 1st. It's a great game, definitely one to play in anticipation of the new, PS5-exclusive and extremely impressive Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart that's coming out in June. But on March 25th Sony is really getting the ball rolling: free to get will be no less than 9 games, all of them AAA quality hits worth everybody's time. Five of those are for the PS4: Rez infinite, Abzu, The Witness, Enter the Gungeon and Subnautica. Four more require the PlayStation VR peripheral: Moss, Astrobot Rescue Mission, Thumper and Paper Beast.

The free games Sony is offering for the PlayStation VR are so good that it’s more than tempting to get one just to play those. (Image: CottonBro, Pexels)

As anyone with knowledge of the extensive PS4 library will attest, these are all games of some worth - especially the PSVR ones, which happen to be among the best showcases for Sony's virtual reality system. One could easily claim that buying a PSVR just to play those five free titles would be totally justified (Rez Infinite can also be played in VR). Yes, they are all that good. All five of them.

On April 19, moreover, Sony goes the extra mile by offering for free one of the best games that marked the previous PlayStation generation, none other than the exquisite Horizon: Zero Dawn (in its Complete Edition with all the extra content no less). It is an absolutely breathtaking game and the perfect introduction to the new Horizon: Forbidden West, which is expected to be available for the PS4 and the PS5 sometime during 2021.

Not only is Rez Infinite a true cult classic, but it can also be played either in virtual reality or with an ordinary DualShock controller. (Image: Sony)

Sony's Play at Home 2021 initiative will last until the end of June, meaning that there’ll be more free games for PS4/PS5 and PSVR in the coming weeks and months. With any semblance of "normal life" outdoors still out of the question for most of us, initiatives like this one really can help pass time at home enjoyably. Escapism at its very best, for free? Yes, please!