With the lineup confirmed last week, Sony has now issued its monthly PS Plus Essential refresh to bring three more PS5 and PS4 titles to members on the base tier of its subscription service. If you're in need of a reminder, they are:
- Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (PS5, PS4) | Review
- Alan Wake Remastered (PS5, PS4) | Review
- Endling: Extinction is Forever (PS5, PS4)
The three games are available to redeem and download now in the UK and across Europe, while availability will be rolled out across the USA later on in the day. You've got until Monday, 31st July 2023 to claim them, at which another batch of titles will be released to active subscribers.
As is tradition, we polled Push Square users on their thoughts on this month's selection, with over half of voters stating they're happy with what's on offer. Only 13 per cent of readers think it's a "crap selection" this month, and Alan Wake Remastered is the game you're looking forward to playing most. And with Alan Wake 2 out in a handful of months on PS5, this is the perfect opportunity to get caught up before the sequel arrives.
Comments 33
Couldn't care less about Cod (other fish are available)
Alan Wake looks worth a download (assuming the tub o' lard PS5 can be bothered to transfer bytes very slowly from t'internet)
@sanderson72 So you care a little about CoD. Interesting.
Endling shall finally be mine!
@naruball Bloody autocorrect! Grr....
Still can't understand why the PS5 gets thrashed by the SSD PS4 Pro when downloading. Probably that custom chip?
May give Alan Wake another go never played the original played the remaster liked the story but the gameplay and controls were a little frustrating only made it half way through I think
Alan Wake is potentially a smart move before the sequel. I'm considering replaying it. I had mixed feelings at release. A wonderful atmosphere, and shadows of an interesting plot but slightly offset by dull gameplay and frustrating, at times, storytelling. Of course Remedy always has a a little X-factor which elevates their games.
I wonder how it stands the test of time and if some aging game design will put some new players off the sequel.
I actually wanna play all of these! Now if I only had the time for even one...
@themightyant
I picked up AW for my PC a while back. Other than the clumsy combat it remains a wonderfully atmospheric game. The only thing I added was a visual upgrade mod for resolution, lighting and shadows.
New, younger gamers might bulk at its old school gameplay though.
What's up with all the negativity surrounding COD Black Ops - Cold War ?
I've never played Alan Wake but I've been meaning to pick it up, especially since the sequel looks incredible. This is the first month PS essential has had anything that interests me in a long while so I'm glad to see it.
@sanderson72 tub o' lard 😂
Anyone playing that endling game?
@PixelDragon Good to hear. Agreed on the atmosphere.
@KC_from_Bruges People thinking that hating on popular things is an adequate replacement for actually having a personality
@themightyant Control maintains that great atmosphere and story and has enjoyable gameplay making a complete package.
I am hoping for the same with Alan Wake 2
Bought Alan Wake not long ago for next to nothing, I've yet to play all the other COD games that have been given away through plus. maybe one day haha. Endling however looks different so I will give that a go!
@KC_from_Bruges
Complete lack of innovation or originality is acceptable in a sequel. Not so much over the span of so many games. It becomes obvious they are risk averse and just view the games as a way of printing money rather than creating a unique experience.
@themightyant Yeah, it’s the same with A Plague Tale 1 and Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order on PS Plus Essential, which boosted popularity of their successors a lot.
One of the extremely rare times I'll be claiming all 3 of them. I never did play Cold War's campaign (will never touch multiplayer for CoD again), and I still have yet to play Alan Wake. I doubt I'll "enjoy" Endling, but it's supposed to be good and it's really short, so claiming that makes perfect sense too.
I got CoD Cold War as part of my PS5 bundle and beat Alan Wake on the 360 so wasn't too bothered about either game. I never got round to opening the Cellophane on the box for Cold War - but I did intend to play the Campaign at some point...
I'll add 'both', maybe all 3 to my Library but I don't know if I'll bother playing any...
@LordAinsley Gameplay is by far their best in Control. Gun/power play in particular is a lot of fun. The atmosphere is amazing yet again, as in every Remedy game really. I particularly loved the worldbuilding and sense of place of The Oldest House.
But I didn't love the story, which seemed pretty shallow, or the characters who, apart from the mysterious Janitor Ahti, seemed like hammy caricatures.
One day they might tick ALL the boxes, and completely blow my mind... I live in hope. Until then every Remedy game is still worth playing and a little unique.
Will jump into Alan Wake
Cool i will add all 3 games to my library.word up son
Already played AW so I'll be playing COD's campaign since I heard it's short
After Modern Warfare I was sorely disappointed by Cold War. Back to arcade rubbish feeling like you were being pulled along on a skateboard. I'll give the other two a go, though.
@sanderson72 cold war's single player isn't awful , i think its worth at least a try imo.
good thing i checked because i forgot to claim the free monthly games last month and i still had 2 hours to claim them.
I've been playing my son's copy of BLACK OPS: Cold War lately and I have to say it's actually quite good! I'd been playing MW2 recently and got tired of it so I switched over to Cold War and found that, surprisingly enough, I actually like it a little better, despite my general disdain for zombies. The only piece of the package I really don't care for is the (dead Ops Arcade). It''s completely out of place, dumb, un-fun and ridiculously difficult. Definitely looking forward to having my own copy and also picking up Alan Wake.
@themightyant totally agree with your comments, the mystery is alluring and what you encounter is interesting but the actually story is not as good. I could see Alan Wake 2 ticking all the boxes, I think the gunplay looked good, and I'm more into the Alan Wake storyline
@KilloWertz I don't get the culture on here of not 'claiming' the games? Like, I get why you wouldn't download them, but why wouldn't you take 2 seconds to 'add to library' in case you wanted to play them in the future??
@tomassi I guess it's like if you see a dog poo on the ground whilst out on a walk. It's there, it's 'free', but would you pick it up because of that?
Am I going mad, or is the COD file size frickin' enormous? It wanted me to free up 300 GB of space! I'd like to play it but not that much..
Nice, adding it to library right now
This is an excellent month. I already own cold war cross gen bundle but for me the main attraction is Alan Wake Remastered. I played it for a bit on the 360 but I was too young to cherish the game for what it was so it'll be nice to dive back into that world. I love remedy games and after beating Control I'm ecstatic for Alan Wake 2!
@tomassi I get what you are saying, but if it's a game I know for sure I'll never play, I won't bother claiming it. Obviously it is highly unlikely I will play everything in my library, but also that at least minimizes what I scroll through to pick a game if I don't have anything already picked ahead of time.
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