On Wednesday, Sony revealed the next batch of PlayStation Plus subscribers’ free Essential games. Like most months, there’s a little something for everyone on offer: F1 25, Hunt: Showdown 1896, and Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2 will be free for subscribers. You’ll be able to start downloading the games on Oct. 6.
F1 25
EA has a game for every sport, and that includes the increasingly popular Formula One racing. F1 25 is the latest entry in the series, and received a paid expansion in June for the 2026 season, which includes new teams, drivers, and cars. Race offline in the Konnersport Career and My Team modes, or test your driving skills against other players online.
Hunt: Showdown 1896
Hunt: Showdown 1896 is a first-person extraction shooter. You’ll duke it out with ruthless monsters in the backwaters of the American Frontier across four different maps. Of course, it wouldn’t be an extraction shooter if you weren’t targeting other Hunters to get that sweet, sweet loot each match. You can try to hunt solo or in teams or two or three.
Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2
Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2 is a wildly different shooter than Hunt: Showdown 1896. It’s much brighter and colorful, and full of giant voxel enemies to destroy. The Earth is in danger, and it’s up to you to defend it in single-player or four-player co-op modes. Select a squad from over 100 characters and outfit them with over 600 weapons and accessories to help save the planet.
F1 25, Hunt: Showdown 1896, and Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2 will be available until Nov. 2. You can still grab September’s free PlayStation Plus Essential games — Chained Echoes, Sniper Elite: Resistance, Wobbly Life, and MLB The Show 26 — through Oct. 5.
PlayStation Plus Essential is the lowest tier of Sony’s subscription game service. It offers online multiplayer access, a monthly assortment of free PS4 and PS5 games, cloud storage, and discounts on PlayStation Store purchases. PlayStation Plus Essential costs $79.99 annually, $27.99 for a three-month subscription, or $10.99 monthly, following a price hike across all tiers of PS Plus in May.
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