Sony has revealed that it can add a whole new lease of life to old games, by retroactively adding achievements to games on PlayStation Plus. The PSP classic Super Stardust Portable has had trophies added to it on the subscription service, and hopefully, this signals the start of a reward revolution.
While intergalactic warfare game Super Stardust didn’t initially have trophies, Sony has said that doesn’t have to remain the case when a retro game is made available on PS5. In a PlayStation Plus dev blog, Sony said, “some original PlayStation and PSP titles may offer trophies… this feature is optional for developers”. It also listed games such as Ape Escape, Hot Shots Golf, and IQ Intelligent Qube as potential retro games that could have this great feature added.
As this does seem to be a decision made by developers, there’s no promise we’ll be seeing trophies added to all our beloved retro games. As Eurogamer’s Ed Nightingale pointed out, LocoRoco, another PSP game from a similar first-party studio, still does not have trophy support.
Classic fun
Even without trophies, there are many great games to enjoy on PlayStation Plus. Premium subscribers get the pleasure of having the classic catalogue at their fingertips. With this, you get Yakuza 3, 4, and 5, Castlevania: Lords of the Shadow, and my favorite, Limbo.
Although I am a little shaken at Limbo being in the classic category, I’ll ignore the rapid passage of time and focus on how great this game was and still is. Because, after all, this spider-infested game has all the trophies to pleasure your achievement-hunting brain.
Limbo is a 2D side-scrolling puzzle platformer developed by Playdead and released in 2010. In this dark and gloomy horror game, you are tasked with navigating the horrific world populated by giant human-hungry spiders and monolithic deep sea monsters, all so you can find your sister.
This puzzling game wasn’t groundbreaking in its graphics or narrative, but Playdead understood that the puzzles within Limbo, accompanied by the unique art style, would be what made this little gem stand out. By knowing what this game could achieve and delivering on this, I felt like I enjoyed the game even more.
While I don’t think achievements are critical to enjoying a game, it would be a fantastic feature for retro PlayStation Plus games to add. Hopefully, breathing life into old games that are just as replayable as Limbo is.