PlayStation gives out 'RiME' and 'Knack' for free this February

"Knack's" titular character, Knack, can be experienced first-hand for free by all PlayStation Plus subscribersSony

One of the biggest sells of PlayStation Plus besides being able to play online is the availability of a monthly batch of free games and for the month of February, Sony has announced that "Knack" and "RiME" are the chosen pair.

Announced on its website, Sony is giving away "Knack" and "RiME" to all PlayStation 4 (PS4) owners that are also subscribed to PlayStation Plus. In addition to that, PlayStation 3 (PS3) owners will have access to "Spelunker HD" and "Mugen Souls Z," while PlayStation Vita players get "Grand Kingdom" and "Exiles End."

But the big names here are obviously the ones for PS4, so what are they about?

"Knack" has an interesting history as it is actually a launch title for the PS4, originally coming out way back in 2013, just a few days after the console itself. It was originally intended to be something of a mascot character for kids, a new "Crash Bandicoot" in a way. It even had similar gameplay with a combination of platforming, puzzles and some action.

Unfortunately, "Knack" really couldn't live up to the expectations from it as it received a very mixed reception and has an aggregate score of 54 percent on Metacritic. Not really the results Sony wanted with one of their launch titles back then.

"RiME" is somewhat more recent than "Knack" having come out in May 2017 for pretty much every major platform. It even got a Switch port some months later.

As far as gameplay is concerned, "RiME" is a puzzle-adventure game that many critics praised for having beautiful visuals, great music and an interesting art design. Unfortunately, that praise only went skin deep as, below the stunning aesthetics, "RiME" was called out for being a shallow puzzle game that did not bring anything new to the table. It has an aggregate score of 80 percent on Metacritic.