PS Now for something completely different
What do you mean Control has been added to PS Now? The same Control that recently got some BAFTA love? Sony’s streaming service is clearly now in the big leagues, so I’m going to jump back in and see where this trip takes me. What Control-alikes are also on PS Now?
Quirky, narrative driven sci-fi doesn’t get much quirkier and narrativier than David Cage’s Beyond:
Two Souls, which on PS Now is an enticing replay. This was David Cage before he hired a writing team to flesh out and wind in his ideas. So emotionally touching storylines (you’re forced to live a section of the game as a homeless teenager) rub shoulders with the camp silliness of a spy drama that feels like an episode of the Zachary Levi noughties espionage series Chuck.
If you fancy a more balanced slice of sci-fi storytelling, look no further than Arkane Studios’ Prey. This criminally overlooked shooter-RPG-puzzler from the team behind Dishonored is the Perfect PS Now
Game™ because we all overlooked it at launch but here, as part of a library of games, it demands to be played. Has there ever been a better enemy than the shapeshifting Typhon? An hour in Prey and you’ll fear being alone with a coffee cup.
My final Controlinspired tour through PS Now guides me towards Mirror’s Edge.
This is the original
PS3 edition, which is still exceptional, even though I wouldn’t turn away a downloadable PS4 sequel. This is the game that finally made platform jumping in first-person workable, and without it Dying Light may never have emerged from its tower block to thrill us. Like Control’s Jesse Faden, Mirror’s Edge’s Faith Connors exists in a minimalist future world but hers has massive coloured lines directing us onwards to the level’s end.