Switch to: German
Our monthly update on new games being added to PlayStation Plus, Xbox Game Pass and other subscription services.
Editors’ Pick
The following hand-picked games are either part of a subscription services at the time this articles gets published or were made available recently.
Star Trucker
(Available on Xbox und PC Game Pass from September 3rd, 2024; Author: Patrick)
In Star Trucker by the small British West Midlands-based studio Monster and Monster and publisher Raw Fury you’re tasked with hauling cargo in space while dealing with solar storms, fragile goods, tight time limits, fuel consumption, power management and avoiding debris. There are a main missions which you unlock by delivering goods via the job boards which you can find in many of the over 30 different space stations. While the map does tell you what you can find in each station, it doesn’t tell you where. This decision encourages to get to know each station, since you’re moving in a three-dimensional space and there are so many stations that can be quite challenging and therefore a more comprehensive map would be appreciated. It’s vital to stock up on battery cells and electrical boards to keep your giant space truck running, funds are hard to come by in the beginning though. Once you stop caring about your inventory for too long, the game can get quite difficult, even on the recommended medium difficulty setting. Then you can easily get into a situation where you don’t have enough resources to maintain airflow or charge your space suit which you can use to repair the hull upon breaches from debris or crashes or to collect materials dropped in space to sell at various locations.
While the starter areas still have a lot of roads, preventing debris from getting in your way, you’ll find yourselves inside obstacle courses quickly. As you progress you can customize the appearance of your truck and make it more durable against hull breaches. Solar storms don’t impact your truck too much, just make sure to roll the shutters up and get on a safe road with not too much traffic since you won’t be able to see a whole lot, even on the outside camera. The environments are visually pleasing, though it’s not possible to explore any stations by foot, just docking to them. The controls work well with a controller and the devs plan to support HOTAS flight systems at some point. As we found out at gamescom they’re also looking into co-operative multiplayer, the world is still lively thanks to a lot of AI traffic. You can interact with a handful of characters by radio and give different responses though we haven’t seen the game changing due to them.
Within three hours of play we were able to get to the iconic solar storms and we’ve only visited a fraction of the big game world. In the time we’ve spent with Star Truck we also encountered a game challenged by technical problems. Several times we had to quit the game due to it softlocking itself in repair shops or with mission progression problems. While you can save at any time, you’re limited to only three slots and the game should auto-save more often, especially after delivering cargo. The game’s performance isn’t great on PC at the moment since it doesn’t seem to utilize all the power it can. Our Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 was used by about 30 to 40 percent while playing, resulting in constant drops in frame rate in buys areas and even on low graphics settings we were struggling to maintain 60 frames-per-second (fps). The game does seem to use more of the GPU the higher the settings are, so it didn’t really matter if we played with low or ultra details. It’s not too surprising then that the Xbox Series X|S version seems to cap at 30 fps as well. Once Monster and Monster have ironed out those technical issues, the experience should improve, though the game’s still quite playable in its current state.
If you enjoy games like Jalopy, Euro Truck Simulator 2, Wing Commander or Pacific Drive, you should give this Americana space trucking game a chance. The unique mix of a space game with survival aspects and a trucking sim is unique and the skill tree allows to take on different kind of cargos and jobs, while also extending your weight limit for example, quite similarly to the SCS Software truck sims. We look forward to visit more systems and unlock more cargos, preferably with improved performance and without the issues that can still substract from the gameplay experience.
Monthly update
It’s easy to lose track of new games being added to the countless subscription services. Catch the latest titles below. All information is subject to change. We try to update this post as soon as new titles get announced.
PlayStation Plus Essential
€8.99/£6.99/$9.99 per month. Included in PlayStation Plus Extra/Premium. Playable on PlayStation 5/PlayStation 4. Available from September 3rd – September 30th, 2024.
- Little Nightmares II (PS5, PS4)
- MLB The Show 24 (PS5, PS4)
- Quidditch Champions (PS5, PS4)
PlayStation Plus Extra
€13.99/£10.99/$14.99 US-Dollar per month. Includes Ubisoft+ Classics and is included in PlayStation Plus Premium. Playable on PlayStation 5/PlayStation 4. Available from September 17th, 2024, if not mentioned otherwise.
- Ben 10 (PS4)
- Chernobylite (PS4, PS4)
- Far Cry 5 (PS4)
- Night in the Woods (PS4, PS4)
- Road 96 (PS4, PS4)
- Space Engineers (PS4, PS4)
- The Plucky Squire (PS5)
- Under The Waves (PS4, PS4)
- Wild Card Football (PS4, PS4)
- The Last of Us Part I (PS5) – September 26th, 2024
The following titles will leave PlayStation Plus Extra on September 17th, 2024:
- 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (PS4)
- Alien: Isolation (PS4)
- Cloudpunk (PS4)
- Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 (PS5, PS4)
- Horizon Forbidden West (PS5, PS4)
- Marvel’s Midnight Suns (PS5, PS4)
- NieR Replicant (PS4)
- Planet Coaster (PS5, PS4)
- Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2 (PS5, PS4)
- Spiritfarer (PS4)
- Star Ocean: First Departure R (PS4)
- Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness (PS4)
- Star Ocean: The Divine Force (PS5, PS4)
- Star Ocean: The Last Hope (PS4)
- Star Ocean: Till the End of Time (PS4)
- Unpacking (PS5, PS4)
PlayStation Plus Premium
€16.99/£13.49/$17.99 per month. Includes Ubisoft+ Classics and PlayStation Plus Extra. Playable on PlayStation 5/PlayStation 4. Available from September 17th, 2024.
- Mister Mosquito (PS5, PS4; ursprünglich: PS2)
- Pistol Whip (PS5 – PSVR2 erforderlich)
- Secret Agent Clank (PS5, PS4; ursprünglich: PSP)
- Sky Gunner (PS5, PS4; ursprünglich: PS2)
Xbox Game Pass Core
€6.99/£6.99/$9.99 per month. Playable on Xbox Series/One.
This post will be updated if and once the games coming to and leaving Xbox Game Pass Core have been announced.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
PC Game Pass: €11.99/£9.99/$11.99 per month, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (Xbox + PC Game Pass + EA Play): €17.99/£14.99/$19.99 per month, since September 11th, 2024: Xbox Game Pass Standard (Console): €12.99/£10.99/$14.99, Xbox Game Pass (discontinued – no new subs possible): €10.99/£9.99/$10.99 per month. Activate subscriptions before July 10th, 2024 until September 11th, 2024: see previous prices. Playable on Xbox Series/One.
- Star Trucker (Cloud, Console, PC) – September 3rd, 2024
- Age of Mythology: Retold (Cloud, PC, Xbox Series X|S) – September 4th, 2024
- Expeditions: A MudRunner Game (Cloud, Console, PC) – September 5th, 2024
- Riders Republic (Cloud, Console, PC) – September 11th, 2024
- Train Sim World 5 (Cloud, Console, PC) – September 17th, 2024
- Wargroove 2 (Cloud, Console, PC) – September 19th, 2024
- Frostpunk 2 (PC) – September 20th, 2024
- Ara: History Untold (PC) – September 24th, 2024
- All You Need Is Help (Cloud, Console, PC) – 26.9.2024
- Legend of Mana (Cloud, Console, PC) – 26.9.2024
- Trials of Mana (Cloud, Console, PC) – 26.9.2024
- We love Katamai REROLL + Royal Reverie (Cloud, Console) – 26.9.2024
The following titles will leave Xbox Game Pass Ultimate:
- Ashes of Singularity: Escalation (PC) – September 15th, 2024
- FIFA 23 (Cloud, Console, PC) EA Play – September 15th, 2024
- Payday 3 (Cloud, Console, PC) – September 15th, 2024
- Slime Rancher 2 (Cloud, Console, PC) – September 15th, 2024
- SpiderHeck (Cloud, Console, PC) – September 15th, 2024
- You Suck At Parking (Cloud, Console, PC) – September 15th, 2024
- Gotham Knights (Cloud, Console, PC) – September 30th, 2024
- Let’s Build a Zoo (Cloud, Console, PC) – September 30th, 2024
- Loop Hero (Cloud, Console, PC) – September 30th, 2024
- My Time At Portia (Cloud, Console, PC) – September 30th, 2024
- PAW Patrol: Grand Prix (Cloud, Console, PC) – September 30th, 2024
- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy (Cloud, Console, PC) – September 30th, 2024
- The Walking Dead: The Complete First Season (PC) – September 30th, 2024
- The Walking Dead: Season Two (PC) – September 30th, 2024
- Valheim (Cloud, Console, PC) – September 30th, 2024
Nintendo Switch Online
Nintendo Switch Online: €3.99/£3.49/$3.99 per month or €19.99/17.99/$19.99 per year. Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack: €39.99/£34.99/$49.99 per year. Available from September 18th, 2024.
- Nintendo Switch Online – Super Nintendo
- Battletoads/Double Dragon
- Big Run
- Cosmo Gang the Puzzle
- Kunio-kun no Dodgeball da yo Zen’in Shūgō!
EA Play
EA Play (Included in Xbox Game Pass Ultimate): €5.99/£5.99/$5.99 per month, available on PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series, Xbox One. EA Play Pro: €16.99/£16.99/$16.99, available on PC.
- EA Play Pro
- EA Sports FC 25 – Ultimate Edition (PC) – September 20th, 2024
Ubisoft+
Ubisoft+ Premium: €17.99/£14.99/$17.99, available on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Amazon Luna. Ubisoft+ Classics (included in PlayStation Plus Extra/Premium): €7.99/£6.99/$7.99, available on PC, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.
This post will be updated if and once the games coming to and leaving Ubisoft+ have been announced.
Humble Choice
€9.99/£8.99/$11.99 per month. Available on PC from September 3rd – September 30th, 2024.
- Astrea: Six-Sided Oracles
- Coral Island
- Infraspace
- Lost Eidolons
- Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
- SpongeBog Squarepants: The Cosmic Shake
- Stranded: Alien Dawn
- You Suck at Parking – Complete Edition
Prime Gaming
€8.99/£8.99/$14.99 per month. Available on PC.
- Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor – Game of the Year Edition [GOG Code] – September 6th, 2024
- LEGO The Lord of the Rings [GOG Code] – September 6th, 2024
- Borderlands 2 [Epic Games Store] – September 6th, 2024
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition [Epic Games Store] – September 6th, 2024
- GreedFall: Gold Edition [GOG Code] – September 6th, 2024
- Whispered Secrets: Everburning Candle – Collector’s Edition [Amazon Games App] – September 6th, 2024
- Minabo — A Walk through Life [Amazon Games App] – September 6th, 2024
- Eternights [Epic Games Store] – September 6th, 2024
- LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures [Amazon Games App] – September 6th, 2024
- Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel [Epic Games Store] – September 6th, 2024
- Tales from the Borderlands [Epic Games Store] – September 12th, 2024
- 9 Years of Shadows [GOG Code] – September 12th, 2024
- Moonlighter [GOG Code] – September 12th, 2024
- Golfie [Amazon Games App] – September 12th, 2024
- Cursed to Golf [GOG Code] – September 12th, 2024
- Hell Pie [GOG Code] – September 12th, 2024
- Showgunners [GOG Code] – September 12th, 2024
- Arcadegeddon [Epic Games Store] – September 12th, 2024
- Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales [GOG Code] – September 19th, 2024
- The Falconeer [GOG Code] – September 19th, 2024
- LEGO The Hobbit [GOG Code] – September 19th, 2024
- I Love Finding Cats & Pups – Collector’s Edition [Legacy Games Code] – September 19th, 2024
- Kerbal Space Program [GOG Code] – September 19th, 2024
- Mystery Case Files: Black Crown – Collector’s Edition [Amazon Games App] – September 26th, 2024
- Ghost Song [GOG Code] – September 26th, 2024
- Ynglet [Amazon Games App] – September 26th, 2024
- Black Desert [Pearl Abyss Code] – September 26th, 2024
- Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams [Amazon Games App] – September 26th, 2024
Updates
September 17th, 2024 – We updated Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
September 18th, 2024 – We updated Nintendo Switch Online.
September 25th, 2024 – We updated PlayStation Plus.
September 26th, 2024 – We updated Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
Xbox and PlayStation provided us with access to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PlayStation Plus Premium. Raw Fury gave us access to PC code for Star Trucker which we used to capture the screenshots.