Sony has announced the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog additions for May 2025, unveiling a list of titles that includes newcomers such as Sand Land, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Legends of the Zone Trilogy, Battlefield 5, and more.
The full lineup of titles coming to its gaming subscription service was revealed in a PlayStation.Blog post today. It’s a collection of six games for PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium subscribers that will all drop come May 20, delivering a variety of experiences for fans of different genres and eras of gaming.
Those starting at the Extra tier can take advantage of a whopping nine new titles coming to the Game Catalog for May 2025. Headlining the list of PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 games is Sand Land, an action RPG adaptation of the Akira Toriyama manga of the same name.
Other PS4 and PS5 highlights include Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted – Full Time Edition and the three-in-one S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Legends of the Zone Trilogy. An enhanced version of the latter was announced for PS5 (as well as PC and Xbox Series X | S) just this morning and is also set to arrive May 20. Developer GSC Game World says those who own the original trilogy release on console will receive the Enhanced Edition for free, though it’s unclear if this same offer is extended to those who play on PlayStation Plus.
PlayStation Plus Premium members, meanwhile, get one new classic title in the form of Battle Engine Aquila. Available on PS4 and PS5, this sci-fi action game puts players in the cockpit of a mobile war vehicle that can fight off enemies from both the air and on the ground. You can see the full list of May 2025 PlayStation Plus Game Catalog titles below.
PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium Game Catalog Additions – May 2025
While we wait to dive into this month’s PlayStation Plus additions, you can read up on which games joined the Essential tier’s monthly games for May 2025. You can also see Sony’s list of April 2025 Game Catalog additions here.
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
The Nintendo Today! app has continued its never-ending stream of Switch 2 information drops with a closer look at the new Pro Controller’s fresh rear buttons, specifically, how easy it is to set them up.
In a new app segment titled ‘How to Use the GL and GR Buttons’, Nintendo explains that mapping an input to one of these bonus buttons all comes down to a simple press of the HOME Button. Just like on Switch 1, holding the HOME Button will open the Quick Settings on Switch 2, where you will be able to assign commands for GL and GR.
Whether you’re seeking adventure, mystery, or a good scare, May’s PlayStation Plus Catalog has got you covered. Explore a vast desert world filled with action in Sand Land, delve into the cyberpunk universe of Soul Hackers 2 or step into the eerie world of Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted… There’s plenty to choose from in May’s PlayStation Plus Game Catalog lineup*.
Meanwhile, PlayStation Plus Premium welcomes PS2’s FPS simulation classic, Battle Engine Aquila.
All titles will be available to play on May 20.
PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium | Game Catalog
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Sand Land | PS4, PS5
From the creator of Dragon Ball comes a new action RPG, Sand Land! Create incredible vehicles to explore a desert world & beyond. Meet the Fiend Prince Beelzebub, his chaperone Thief, and the fearless Sheriff Rao, and follow the team on an extraordinary adventure in search of the Legendary Spring hidden in the desert. Learn how to control Beelzebub’s powers and lead your company of heroic misfits exploring the legendary world of Sand Land. Beware of the many dangers that populate it: between bandits, fierce wildlife, and the Royal Army, reaching the spring won’t be easy! Use your tact and imagination to develop tanks and other vehicles that will help you navigate this vast land, using a wide array of part combinations.
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Soul Hackers 2 | PS5
Explore a dark, supernatural realm and investigate the world’s end in this sci-fi, neo-noir mystery. Amidst the glimmer of neon lights, technological advancement causes humans to be consumed by commercial convenience. In the shadows, a war between the Yatagarasu and the Phantom Society is brewing, Devil Summoners who harness the otherworldly powers of “Demons”. Existing in the secret sea of humanity’s data, a digital hivemind has evolved into sentience: Aion. Observing humankind from afar, Aion calculates that a world-ending disaster is imminent and creates two agents to combat against it: Ringo and Figue. Together, these agents of Aion must investigate and prevent a butterfly effect that will lead to the end of the world.
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Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted – Full Time Edition | PS4, PS5
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted is a collection of classic and original mini-games set in the Five Nights universe. Survive terrifying encounters with your favorite killer animatronics in a collection of new and classic Five Nights at Freddy’s experiences. Repair claustrophobic ventilation systems, troubleshoot broken animatronics that could activate at any moment, or spend your evenings cowering in the nighttime security guard office. Scenes from classic titles have been updated and remade for a fully immersive experience including Five Nights at Freddy’s, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, Five Nights at Freddy’s 3, Five Nights at Freddy’s 4, and Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location.
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted – Full Time Edition is a combined version of Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted and its DLC, Curse of Dreadbear, for PS5 & PS VR2. The base version for PS4, Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted, is also available as part of Game Catalog’s May lineup. Standard non-VR and VR modes included.
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Battlefield V | PS4
Enter mankind’s greatest conflict with Battlefield V as the series goes back to its roots in a never-before-seen portrayal of World War II. Experience all-out multiplayer with your squad in the vast Grand Operations and the cooperative Combined Arms, or take on single player War Stories. Also includes Firestorm – Battle Royale, reimagined for Battlefield.
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S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Legends of the Zone Trilogy | PS4, PS5
Delve into the renowned classics of open-world survival with the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R. trilogy, now upscaled and enhanced for a new generation. Investigate the Zone’s origins, taking on the roles of legendary stalkers and forging paths that can lead to different outcomes based on your actions and decisions. Test your gumption while navigating through radioactive debris and anomalies, and put your reflexes to trial during intense gunfights. Search for the answers to the darkest mysteries that could cost you your sanity in sinister catacombs filled with starved mutants.
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Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising | PS4, PS5
Rise to glory in Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising, a delightful fighting game experience for beginners and veterans alike. Newcomers can fully enjoy the intensity and thrills of one-on-one combat without needing to memorize complicated controls—simple inputs can be used to perform skills with the press of a single button! Embark on a journey through the vast skies of Granblue Fantasy and immerse yourself in an epic adventure while mastering the fundamentals of gameplay. As you take on more quests in this action RPG-inspired experience, you’ll continue to grow stronger.
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Humankind | PS4, PS5
Humankind is a historical strategy game, where you’ll be re-writing the entire narrative of human history and combining cultures to create a civilization that’s as unique as you are. Combine up to 60 historical cultures as you lead your people from the Ancient to the Modern Age. Face historical events, take impactful moral decisions, and make scientific breakthroughs. Each battle in Humankind plays out like a mini turn-based board game on top of the actual world map. Unstack your armies and command each of your units, including the emblematic units of your culture and their special abilities. Construct siege weapons to besiege and occupy cities. Fight in large battles spanning multiple turns, and don’t hesitate to bring in reinforcements!
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Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life | PS5
This reimagined version of A Wonderful Life brings all of the heart and charm of the original to a new generation as the definitive experience of one of the most cherished entries in the long-running farming series. Put down roots on your new farm in the peaceful town of Forgotten Valley. Forge precious memories as you weave your own generation-spanning tale of friendship, family, and farming. Bring life to the land by cultivating crops and raising animals, find love among the town’s friendly folk, and make lasting memories with a family of your very own in this reimagining of a beloved farming classic.
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Gloomhaven Mercenaries Edition | PS4, PS5
Experience a tough tactical RPG and lead your band of mercenaries through an unforgiving land where every choice is crucial. Carve your way through terrifying dungeons, dreadful forests and dark caves filled with horrific monsters to reap your rewards… or die trying. Sell your sword to anyone who can afford it, may they be city officials or corrupt cultists. You are paid to get results and not ask questions. Where will you draw the line?
PlayStation Plus Premium
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Battle Engine Aquila | PS4, PS5
The forces of the Forseti and the evil Muspell are in a fight to the death for a flooded world’s most limited resource: land. You are Hawk Winter, plucked from obscurity to pilot Battle Engine Aquila. Airborne or on land, you’ll harness Aquila’s versatile mobility and awesome fire power in guiding legions of allies to victory. By commanding a device so powerful and advanced, your battlefield decisions will shape the direction of each engagement and, ultimately, the entire war.
*PlayStation Plus Game Catalog and PlayStation Plus Premium/Deluxe lineups may differ by region. Please check PlayStation Store on release day.
Ubisoft’s extreme sports game Riders Republic is the latest in a long line of video games heading to the silver screen. The publisher announced today that a feature film adaptation of 2021’s Riders Republic is underway, and it already has a directorial duo seated behind the camera.
In a press release, Ubisoft Film & Television annnounced it’s partnering with Gaumont for the adaptation of Riders Republic. Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, the Belgian duo who directed Bad Boys for Life and Bad Boys: Ride or Die, are already signed on to direct.
The script adaptation will be penned by Noé Debré, whose credits include Stillwater and The World Is Yours.
Not much has been said about the direction, other than the adaptation is “poised to be an electrifying action movie, delivering non-stop thrills, humor, and spectacular stunts on the snowy slopes of the Alps,” per Ubisoft.
2021’s Riders Republic mixed elements of extreme sports simulation with open-world exploration, akin to Ubisoft’s The Crew games. “Riders Republic is an excellent, arcadey extreme sports sandbox with bonkers multiplayer events, an impressive open world, and unfortunate server issues,” wrote our reviewer in IGN’s 8/10 review of its launch version.
In the years since, Ubisoft has gradually added more to the experience, with Season 14 adding a Park Creator for players to form their own playgrounds. It certainly seems like players have been gradually poking away at Riders Republic over time.
As for a feature film adaptation, it remains to be seen what narrative might be concocted around all the extreme sports action. Hopefully there’s at least some sick tricks and crazy stunts, if nothing else.
Video game adaptations are certainly picking up in earnest, though. From box office successes like the Sonic and Mario movies, to recent attempts like Until Dawn, to upcoming adaptations like Clair Obscur and Death Stranding, everyone seems to be getting in on the video game adaptation trend. So why not Riders Republic?
Hideo Kojima is his own Peter Molydeux, in that he’s forever out there pitching Kojima-like ideas for games he might make. Hideo Jokima? On a recent episode of his Japanese radio show, KOJI10, the designer of Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding pitched a few ideas he had for games based around time. The best of the bunch: a game in which your character gradually forgets information if players take too long a break from playing.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has many memorable characters, but few might inspire as much joy as Esquie, the game’s lovable giant pal who might as well be a mascot character. The studio is warning against issues with fake merch sales around him, but also teasing an official plush Esquie that’s in the works.
In a post on X/Twitter from the official Expedition 33 account, Sandfall Interactive said it has seen a number of “suspicious” websites pop up selling Esquie plushies.
“To be clear: any third-party websites selling Esquie plushies are NOT officially licensed,” the studio said. “Many of them are using AI-generated artwork to advertise, and we strongly recommend against purchasing from these sources. They could be scams.”
To balance out the wheee with the whooo though, as Esquie might say, Sandfall confirms it is looking into making official Esquie plushies, and wants to get them out as soon as it can. “In the meantime, please be patient — and don’t get scammed!” the studio said.
Those who have played the game probably get why an Esquie plushie might be in high demand. If you haven’t gone on Expedition 33 yet, Esquie is a giant helper you meet in Act 1 of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 who becomes both a traveling companion and overworld travel method. He’s got the same vibe as Big Hero 6’s Baymax.
With that in mind, it’s easy to see how an Esquie plush might garner some interest, so it’s good to know Sandfall is working on an official solution. A cursory search on Google pulled up both an unofficial site, and a few threads asking about Esquie plush peddlers. If you want the real thing from Sandfall and Kepler, you’ll have to wait a bit. No news on whether the real-life plushie will also be filled with wine, though.
Last week, Sandfall Interactive released patch 1.2.3 for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, addressing some balance tweaks around Maelle’s Stendhal ability. French President Emmanuel Macron also recently praised the game, calling its developers a “shining example of French audacity and creativity.”
Surreal first-person medical sim Pathologic 3 will be different from its plague-ridden predecessor in a lot of ways. In Pathologic 2 you played a roaming surgeon rooting around in bins for sustenance, and this time you play as the Bachelor, a well-fed doctor who diagnoses patients by inspecting their bodies and investigating their homes for signs of disease. But one of the biggest changes regards the open world. You won’t freely explore the remote steppe town this time, but instead dander through isolated pockets, with lots of loading screens, map plotting, and fast travel. That’s made a few fans grumpy, but developers Ice-Pick Lodge are sticking to their plans, as they’ve stated in a development update.
GameChat has a “significant impact on system resources”.
We all know the Nintendo Switch 2 is going to be significantly more powerful than its predecessor, but just what kind of internals is the new console boasting? Well, thanks to a new breakdown by Digital Foundry, we can now finally dive into the specifics.
First, let’s take a look at the custom Nvidia SoC (system on a chip). When compared to the equivalent for the original Switch – which was effectively a vanilla Tegra X1 – the new Nvidia T239 for the Switch 2 is absolutely custom build specifically for Nintendo.
As we suffered an untimely demise at the business end of approximately two billion sticky notes, me and my two FBC: Firebreak squad members felt more than a little humbled. In our hubris, we’d decided to begin our time in a recent preview event on the hardest possible difficulty – a very fun, but very ridiculous choice. Fortunately for us, FBC: Firebreak’s blend of approachable combat, fast-paced rounds, and slapstick mechanics makes for a fantastic time, no matter how long (or little) you want to spend in its bizarre, fascinating world. We will have our revenge, sticky notes.
FBC: Firebreak is Remedy’s upcoming entry into the first-person shooter genre – an approachable multiplayer experience delivered with all the style and deadpan humour we’ve come to appreciate from the Remedyverse. Serving as a spin-off to the events of Control,FBC: Firebreak sees players tasked with the clean-up of bizarre, supernatural events taking place inside the game’s ever-shifting setting, The Oldest House, which you’ll also recognise from Control.
During the hands-on event, we were given access to three different Jobs available in the game, all with varying levels of difficulty on offer. In ‘Hot Fix’, our ragtag team of Firebreak volunteers took on repairing fans in a sweltering setting, before dealing with a paranatural furnace. In ‘Ground Control’ our crew set out to collect leech pearls from the remains of horrendous, human sized leeches. My personal favourite, ‘Paper Chase’ saw the group disposing of a massive number of sticky notes, alongside violent, sentient sticky note enemies, before taking on ‘Sticky Ricky’, a colossal, tanked-up boss made up of literally millions of sticky notes that requires a true team effort to take down effectively.
All three of these jobs also feature Control’s enemy faction, The Hiss as a consistent, looming threat – a horde of them can appear at any moment and they’ll need dealing with as you progress with the primary objectives. Dealing with The Hiss is usually a straightforward affair – your weapon will make short work of most enemy types. Every so often, a named miniboss may appear; some require more finesse to defeat – and the best option for taking them down will come from a carefully curated loadout.
The hands-on showed us three unique Crisis Kits that every volunteer can take out on a mission. Equipped alongside your more conventional guns, these are all clumsily lashed together to fit the scrappy vibe of FBC: Firebreak’s setting – you aren’t playing as seasoned soldiers, just a volunteers placed into these absurd, dangerous situations. With three people in the party, each of us naturally gravitated to one loadout each. I carried a shotgun for big, close-range damage, and the Splash Kit, effectively a giant water gun which came in clutch for hosing down the sticky monsters, and my overheated colleagues. All of the kits available can be upgraded in multiple ways too, to really customize your build for those more punishing difficulty levels.
But customization extends beyond your loadout. Each mission asks you to pick a Clearance Level, which dictates how many zones you need to clear in order to win. This means that some runs can take five or ten minutes, and they’re a breezy affair that require minimal team coordination. Others can take upwards of 45 minutes, dramatically more vicious affairs where every piece of gear you take is of paramount importance. FBC: Firebreak gives all the tools to tailor your experience here – it’s not trying to make you grind unnecessarily – you can go as hard or as casual as you want at any given time.
But it was the in-mission mechanics that really made FBC: Firebreak feel like something unique. Elemental effects can make or ruin your day if you don’t have the right tools at hand. If a room is too hot, you’ll need to find a swift way to cool down. If it’s unnaturally cold, you’ll move slower until you regain some heat. Your chosen Crisis Kit may be a shortcut here, but there are other ways to deal with these issues located in the levels themselves.
Fortunately, this applies to The Hiss too – if an enemy is slowed by an icy debuff, they’ll comically ‘sprint’ towards you in slow motion, giving you plenty of time to react. At lower tiers, these effects are a mild hindrance – nothing fatal if you just want to jump into a quick game without navigating the complexities of how everything works. In those higher difficulty runs, it is hellish – perfect for those that to dig deep into the game’s systems and take on its most brutal challenges.
All of this fun is wrapped up in a blanket of narrative excellence; Remedy’s signature brand of bizarre, occult nightmares with lashings of hilarity as your characters banter and bicker amongst themselves. Fans of the studio’s previous entries will find lots of recognisable names and locations, but that feels more like an enhancement for those already involved – you don’t need to know what’s going on in the wider story, but it certainly adds to the experience if you do.
There’s lots to discover and plenty of guidance for those that are less versed in Remedy’s universe. That, paired with the ability to really finetune how you want to play, means FBC: Firebreak is an unexpectedlywelcoming introduction into The Oldest House, and we can’t wait to extend our stay (and, you know, burn a lot of sticky notes).
FBC: Firebreak launches June 17, 2025 – play on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and via Game Pass.
FBC: Firebreak is a cooperative first-person shooter set within a mysterious federal agency under assault by otherworldly forces. As a years-long siege on the agency’s headquarters reaches its boiling point, only Firebreak—the Bureau’s most versatile unit—has the gear and the guts to plunge into the building’s strangest crises, restore order, and blast their way back from the brink.
