Ultracore (PS4)

A quarter century in the vault, and now it sits on your PS4 shelf like it was always meant to be there. Ultracore for PlayStation 4 is the Strictly Limited Games exclusive standard edition, an officially licensed disc with manual for the run-and-gun that Digital Illusions finished in the 90s but never released.

The story is almost too good to be true. A Swedish studio builds a tight, polished action game called "Hardcore." The game is done. Then it gets shelved, and the studio pivots to what would eventually become the Battlefield franchise. For 25 years, Ultracore was a finished product that nobody could buy. Now it exists on a PS4 disc, complete with a manual that gives the whole package a physical presence worthy of its history.

This standard edition doesn't carry a strict copy limit, but that's never stopped Strictly Limited releases from drying up. The PS4 version is the right choice for collectors who prefer their library on Sony's platform and want a disc-based copy of one of gaming's most fascinating lost titles. The gameplay holds up, a fast, fluid run-and-gun with detailed sprite work and level design that shows what a talented 90s studio could do at the height of the genre. For the shelf, for the history, for the simple pleasure of owning something that almost didn't exist, this is a disc worth having.