Well we’re halfway through the lovely month of July, and that means it’s time to start speculating about next month’s free PlayStation Plus games. We’ve just learned that Microsoft is taking a page from the PlayStation playbook and ending its long-running Xbox Live Gold service. Gold will now become Xbox Game Pass ‘Core’ and will function much like Gold, but bundled in as the lowest, cheapest, most basic tier, kind of like how normal PS Plus became PS Plus Essential when Sony bundled the service with PlayStation Now.

Xbox Game Pass Core subscribers will also gain access to around 20 games outside the monthly freebies, including some first-party stuff like Gears 5 and Forza Horizon 4 as well as third party titles.

In any case, this is why competition is a good thing. Both companies are taking pages from one another and offering better (if still imperfect) services to gamers.

Before we get to next month’s games, let’s take a look at what’s available for the rest of July.

Alan Wake is a modern classic and a must-play for anyone interested in the mystery-horror genre. I’m also a huge fan of Black Ops Cold War, which I think was wildly underrated at launch (though it grew on me, no doubt). I think Modern Warfare 2 is better, but it’s still very much worth downloading even if you only play the campaign, which is quite trippy. I know nothing about Endling.

For PS Extra subscribers, a whole slew of new games is available this week. These actually went live yesterday, so you can download and play them right now.

Granted, this isn’t the best lineup I’ve seen for PlayStation Plus Extra, but It Takes Two is a great couch co-op game (especially for couples) and Undertale is a one-of-a-kind RPG everyone should play. I’m also a fan of Sniper Elite 5, which is great fun.

These titles are all classics that you can now play on PS4 or PS5 via streaming. There are three, and all three are worth your while:

This is great timing for Twisted Metal since the new TV series based on the games comes to Paramount+ at the end of the month. Here’s the trailer:

Sony is set to reveal the next batch of PlayStation Plus Essential games on Wednesday, July 26th. Sony typically reveals the next month’s lineup on the last Wednesday of the month, though that’s not always the case. The new games are almost always released on the first Tuesday of the month, however, so we should expect whichever games come out to release on Tuesday, August 1st.

There are currently no leaks or rumors for August’s games yet, but stay tuned as I’ll update this post with any new information as it comes out. Nor are there any big game releases on August 1st (or small releases, for that matter) that could clue us in to possible August PS Plus titles. Baldur’s Gate III is coming out on the 3rd, so it’s possible we’d get one of the remastered games in that series, or maybe even a Dark Alliance game. Beyond this, your guess is as good as mine. Predictions / wish-list below:

Last August PS Plus subscribers got a pretty great lineup with lots of variety:

What do you hope to see in next month’s PlayStation Plus lineup?

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