October is almost here and with it another slate of free PS Plus games for Sony fans. We’ve had some pretty solid lineups throughout 2026, though as always the monthly offerings have been a mixed bag depending on your particular tastes.

You still have a little time left to snag September’s PS Plus Essential games : Sniper Elite: Resistance, MLB The Show 26, Wobbly Life and Chained Echoes . It’s an unusually large four-game lineup, with everything from WWII sniping to baseball to retro JRPG action.

For the purposes of this post, however, we’re looking ahead to October’s three — or perhaps four — PS Plus Essential games, including the reveal date, release date, leaks, rumors and my own predictions.

When Will Sony Reveal October’s PS Plus Games Lineup?

Sony typically reveals the upcoming PS Plus Essential lineup on the last Wednesday before the games release, with the new titles becoming available on the first Tuesday of the month.

October is pretty straightforward this year.

That means we should expect:

PS Plus Essential October Reveal: Wednesday, September 30

PS Plus Essential October Release Date: Tuesday, October 6

September’s Sniper Elite: Resistance, MLB The Show 26, Wobbly Life and Chained Echoes leave the service Monday, October 5, so be sure to add those to your library before then.

The October Extra and Premium lineup should be revealed later in the month.

PS Plus October 2026 Games Leaks And Rumors

So far, there are no credible leaks for October’s PlayStation Plus Essential lineup.

As usual, if anything legitimate does leak, the most likely source is billbil-kun at Dealabs, who has accurately revealed numerous PlayStation Plus lineups ahead of Sony’s official announcements over the years.

Sometimes those leaks arrive almost a week before Sony’s reveal. Other months, we don’t hear anything until the day before.

For now, we’re flying blind.

What we can do is look at previous October lineups and upcoming releases for a few clues. We do know, however that the first-person shooter Mycopunk will be coming to PS Plus Extra and Premium when it exits Early Access next month:

Previous October PS Plus Essential Lineups

October has actually been one of the more interesting months for PlayStation Plus, especially if you enjoy horror games.

Here’s what subscribers have received in recent years:

2019 — The Last of Us Remastered, MLB The Show 19

2020 — Need for Speed: Payback, Vampyr

2021 — Hell Let Loose, PGA Tour 2K21, Mortal Kombat X

2022 — Hot Wheels Unleashed, Injustice 2, Superhot

2023 — The Callisto Protocol, Farming Simulator 22, Weird West

2024 — WWE 2K24, Dead Space, Doki Doki Literature Club Plus!

2025 — Alan Wake 2, Goat Simulator 3, Cocoon

There isn’t one single formula here, but there is definitely a spooky-season trend.

Vampyr, The Callisto Protocol, Dead Space and Alan Wake 2 all landed in October, along with darker games like Doki Doki Literature Club Plus! and Weird West .

Still, guessing horror in October is a safe bet.

My 3 Predictions For October PS Plus Essential

This is my big prediction for October.

Capcom’s outstanding remake of Resident Evil 4 came out in 2023, which makes it old enough that a PS Plus Essential appearance no longer feels especially far-fetched.

It’s also basically the ideal October game.

Sony has made a habit of including major horror titles around Halloween, and Resident Evil 4 would be one of the strongest Essential headliners we’ve seen all year.

It would also be a nice way to keep Resident Evil on everyone’s mind as Capcom continues pushing the franchise forward. Also, the Zach Cregger just came to theaters and made a bunch of money, snagged an incredible Rotten Tomatoes score and earned a glowing review from yours truly .

Here’s another spooky pick, though a very different kind of horror game.

Little Nightmares III released last October, making it almost exactly one year old by the time October’s Essential games arrive. That one-year window feels plausible for a PS Plus release, especially for something that isn’t a gigantic AAA blockbuster, and one that wasn’t nearly as well-received as its predecessors.

It also gives Sony an October-themed game without making the entire lineup gruesome survival horror. Even with less stellar reviews, the series has always had a fantastic creepy storybook aesthetic, and October would be a perfect time to bring the latest entry to a much wider audience.

For my indie-ish wildcard, I’m going with Dispatch .

This was one of my favorite games from last year (the other four at that link are also awesome), blending superhero workplace comedy, interactive storytelling, gorgeous animation and a surprisingly fun superhero management sim (I laughed, I cried, yada yada yada).

Granted, there’s no Halloween connection and this is probably just wishful thinking, but I didn’t want to guess all horror-ish games since it seems very unlikely Sony would release all three with a Halloween bent.

PS Plus October 2026 Wishlist

As always, some of these are legitimate possibilities and others are basically me asking Sony nicely, if not for my own sake (since I have most of these) then for the sake of my fellow gamers.

Most remain from previous prediction lists because Sony stubbornly refuses to listen to me. We haven’t really spoken in ages, actually.

This one continues to feel like a natural PS Plus candidate.

Rebellion’s first-person survival-action RPG is set in an alternate-history version of Britain after a nuclear disaster. It came out in 2025, so it’s no longer especially new.

It also has just enough post-apocalyptic creepiness to make sense for October.

Fallout 4: Anniversary Edition

Fallout remains enormously popular thanks to Amazon’s TV adaptation and a baked-in cult fandom, and an Anniversary Edition makes this a little more interesting than simply giving away the decade-old base game.

I still think some version of Fallout 4 showing up as a monthly game would be a crowd-pleaser.

I have had this on my wishlist for ages and it seems terribly unlikely with Wolverine having just released, but still. Isn’t it time, Sony?

It’s one of Sony’s biggest first-party PS5 games and it’s been out long enough at this point that an Essential appearance doesn’t seem completely outrageous.

Another repeat from last month’s predictions.

Stellar Blade has been out for a couple years now and Sony has every incentive to keep people interested in the franchise ahead of whatever Shift Up does next.

It would certainly qualify as a major Essential headliner.

Another one of my favorite games of 2025 and exactly the kind of smaller critical darling I’d love to see handed out to millions of PS Plus subscribers. The mysterious puzzle mansion game is clever, strange and quite possibly the best puzzle adventure game since Myst . Everyone should play it.

Yes, I know. This remains in the “probably wishful thinking” category.

But Elden Ring is now several years old and FromSoftware has released plenty of additional content and games since then, with more on the way, though the Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive, Duskbloods, still doesn’t have a firm release date.

I will continue predicting this until it happens or I go Tarnished.

The original Death Stranding remains another obvious candidate.

The sequel arrived in 2025, so giving subscribers Kojima’s original strange walking-delivery-post-apocalypse simulator would be a sensible way to bring more players into the series. Then again, with Sony and Kojima parting ways this might come across as rather tasteless. Hmmmm.

Capcom’s excellent fighting game is now several years old and remains one of the best modern entries in the genre.

We’ve gotten plenty of fighters through PlayStation Plus over the years, so this wouldn’t surprise me at all.

Mirage is another older-ish AAA game that feels increasingly plausible as an Essential title. Ubisoft regularly brings its back catalog to subscription services, though the fact that Mirage has already circulated through other subscription tiers may work against it.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II

One of the great modern RPGs, the Kingdom Come Deliverance games eschew magic and dragons for real, hard Medieval historical fiction. The game has only been out for a year-and-a-half but I still think it would make a lovely choice as we head into colder months.

All The PS Plus Essential Games Released In 2026

Here’s everything we’ve gotten so far this year.

Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed

Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown

The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road Collection

Tomb Raider I-III Remastered

Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream

Grounded: Fully Yoked Edition

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III

Dying Light 2 Stay Human: Reloaded Edition

US PlayStation Plus pricing currently breaks down as follows:

Essential — $10.99/month, $27.99/quarter, $79.99/year

Extra — $16.99/month, $43.99/quarter, $134.99/year

Premium — $19.99/month, $54.99/quarter, $159.99/year

Monthly and three-month pricing increased earlier this year, while annual subscriptions remained unchanged.

And that’s where things stand heading into October.

What games would you like to see come to PS Plus this October? Do you think Sony continues its Halloween tradition with another big horror game? Any leaks or predictions I missed?

Let me know on Twitter or Facebook . Also be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow me here on this blog . You can also sign up for my Substack newsletter , Diabolical, where I talk culture and politics and the arts.