The PS Plus games for October 2026 have been announced: Sony is adding three Essential titles to the October lineup—F1 25, Hunt: Showdown 1896, and Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2—that couldn’t be more different. Racing, a Western horror shooter, and voxel chaos against giant aliens will be available to all PS Plus Essential subscribers starting October 6—free to download as long as you’re a member.
We’ve taken a closer look at these three games, reveal what’s behind the scenes, and tell you what else you can expect from PS Plus in October.
TL;DR: From October 6 through November 2, 2026, F1 25, Hunt: Showdown 1896, and Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2 will be available for free to all PS Plus Essential members. F1 25 introduces the new “F1 World” multiplayer mode; Hunt: Showdown 1896 is Crytek’s relaunch of the Extraction shooter featuring a new map set in the Rocky Mountains; and Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2 sends you into battle against giant ants and robots in a voxel-style world. You can still claim the September games (including MLB The Show 26 and Sniper Elite: Resistance) through October 5.
Die PS-Plus-Spiele für Oktober 2026 im Überblick
| Spiel | Plattform | Genre | PS-Plus-Stufe |
|---|---|---|---|
| F1 25 | PS5 | Rennsimulation | Essential |
| Hunt: Showdown 1896 | PS5 | Extraction-Shooter | Essential |
| Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2 | PS5, PS4 | Action | Essential |
All three games will be available for download from October 6 through November 2, 2026. As usual, you’ll keep them afterward as long as your subscription is active—if you download them within that time frame, they won’t disappear from your library.
F1 25: Die Formel 1 bekommt einen neuen Online-Modus
F1 25 is the official video game of the 2025 FIA Formula 1 World Championship and, in addition to the familiar Career Mode and My Team 2.0, introduces the “F1 World” multiplayer mode for the first time , in which you compete with your own team against AI drivers and other players. Codemasters has once again fine-tuned the driving physics compared to its predecessor, and anyone who’s followed the coverage at GameStar knows: The game was named the best PS5 racing game of the year there, scoring 89 out of 100 points.
For PS Plus Essential members, this is a great time to jump into the current season for free before the next installment comes out next year.
Hunt: Showdown 1896: Crytek schickt euch zurück in die Rocky Mountains
Hunt: Showdown 1896 isn’t just a simple update—it’s a complete relaunch of Crytek’s PvPvE shooter. The setting remains in the “Weird West,” somewhere between the swamps of the Southern States and supernatural horror, and it now features a new map, Mammon’s Gulch, set in the Rocky Mountains. Playing solo or in a team of up to three hunters, you’ll use Darksight to search for clues about a bounty boss, take him down, and then fight your way through rival players to reach the extraction point—all while undead creatures stumble through the darkness in the background.
Technically, Crytek has really stepped up its game: New lighting technology and dynamic global illumination create significantly more atmospheric fog and thunderstorm effects than in the original. However, if you’re venturing into the lobby with friends, make sure you have a stable connection—especially in PvPvE shooters with extraction mechanics, where lag is immediately noticeable.
Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2: Voxel-Chaos gegen Riesen-Aliens
Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2 is much more entertaining: The Earth is once again in ruins, this time because of the creature Gaiarch, and you’ll face off against giant ants, spiders, robots, and UFOs in blocky graphics with a customizable team of four chosen from over 100 characters. The co-op mode supports up to four players online, plus local split-screen for two—a feature that remains exclusive to PS4 and PS5 and is missing on other platforms.
If you’re familiar with the previous games in the series, you’ll get exactly what you’d expect here: plenty of chaos, not much seriousness, but plenty of co-op fun for when you have a few minutes to spare.
Wann und wie ihr an die Spiele kommt
The three October games will be available on the PlayStation Store starting October 6, 2026, and can be downloaded through November 2. An active PS Plus Essential subscription is required—the higher tiers, Extra and Premium, are automatically included. If you haven’t claimed the September games yet, you still have until October 5 to do so; after that, *Sniper Elite: Resistance*, *MLB The Show 26*, *Wobbly Life*, and *Chained Echoes* will disappear from the monthly lineup.
Das ändert sich sonst noch bei PS Plus im Oktober
In addition to the three main games, starting October 6, there will be free limited-edition Spider-Man avatars for all Plus members, as well as several HorrorFest bundles featuring cosmetic content for various PS5 games—perfect for the season. If you’re in the process of upgrading your setup anyway, check out our article on Sony’s patent for a payment controller for a glimpse of how the DualSense might evolve in the future—and the report on the leaked DualSense Edge 2027 for the first hints about the next Pro controller.
Fazit
The PS Plus games for October 2026 focus on variety rather than a single big-name title: F1 25 for motorsports fans, Hunt: Showdown 1896 for anyone who’d rather hunt in a team than be hunted, and Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2 as some lighthearted co-op fun on the side. For PS Plus Essential members, it’s definitely worth checking out the store as soon as the games become available on October 6.
Sources: PlayStation Blog
