Free on PlayStation Plus in July: Rocket League, Entwined, Geometry Wars 3

By Danny Cowan July 1, 2015

Sony has announced this month’s lineup of multi-platform freebies for PlayStation Plus subscribers, revealing that the PlayStation 4’s Rocket League and the PlayStation Vita version of Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions will launch as free downloads for service members starting next week.

First up for PS4 owners is Rocket League, a follow-up to developer Psyonix’s 2008 PS3 release Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars. Rocket League is a vehicle-based sports game in which teammates coordinate and race across an expansive field in order to launch a gigantic ball between the opposing team’s goal posts. The game features online and local multiplayer support across a variety of included gameplay modes.

Related: Oddworld: Abe’s Exoddus remake in the works thanks to big PlayStation Plus numbers

Subscribers will additionally get Styx: Master of Shadows, a PS4 title from Blood Bowl creator Cyanide. Mixing RPG elements with stealth mechanics, Styx features a dark fantasy aesthetic and a unique storyline that puts players in the role of a 200-year-old goblin assassin.

Sony Japan Studio’s PS3-exclusive adventure game Rain also joins this month’s PlayStation Plus lineup, while Sierra’s twin-stick shooter Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions Evolved arrives as this month’s sole PS Vita-exclusive offering.

PlayStation 4, PS3, and PS Vita owners who subscribe to PlayStation Plus will additionally receive the forward-scrolling twin-stick action game Entwined next week, along with developer Crunching Koalas’ character-based block puzzler Mousecraft. Both games are available as Cross-Buy releases, and are playable across all supported platforms.

All featured games will be available to PlayStation Plus subscribers starting on July 7. Members can also download a free version of Evolution Studios’ sim-styled racer Driveclub, which launched last week after an extended delay. Driveclub: PlayStation Plus Edition includes 11 tracks and 10 cars, and offers players the ability to upgrade to the full version of the game at a discount.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Contributor

Danny’s passion for video games was ignited upon his first encounter with Nintendo’s Duck Hunt, and years later, he still…

Gaming

You need to try PlayStation VR2’s most psychedelic game yet

Key art for Akka Arrh shows psychedelic images.

You know that it's a busy year for gaming when a project by an industry legend launches with hardly any fanfare. That's exactly what happened in February 2023 with Akka Arrh. Created by Jeff Minter and his eccentric studio Llamasoft, the neon-tinted shooter is a remake of a 1982 Atari game that never saw the light of day after being deemed too difficult. Minter got the greenlight to revive the project, bringing it to life as a retro arcade shooter built in his unmistakable style.

While the project was exciting for game historians, it didn't exactly crack into the mainstream (it only has 37 user reviews on Steam). Thankfully, Akka Arrh getting a second chance to shine this week as its new PlayStation 5 version adds PlayStation VR2 support. While that might not be enough to make it a commercial hit, it does give PSVR2 owners a good reason to dust off their headset and check out a delightfully oddball project from one of gaming's true visionaries.
It's a trip
Akka Arrh is the rare example of a game that might be easier to explain on paper than in practice. In this throwback arcade shooter, players control a stationary ship that's tasked with protecting pods from attacking aliens. To fend off foes, players drop bombs that blow up in a different geometric pattern on each level's map. Every time an enemy touches that blast radius, it blows up in the same pattern, chaining to other enemies. The goal is to keep an uninterrupted chain going as long as possible by using a limited number of bullets to knock out foes that can't be destroyed by bombs and grabbing power-ups by hovering the cursor over them.

Gaming

PlayStation lays off 900 people and shuts down London Studio

Sony is the latest company in the video game industry to announce massive layoffs in 2024. We've learned that Sony Interactive Entertainment is letting go of about 900 people across several studios; PlayStation's London Studio will shut down as a result.

In a blog post, soon-to-depart Sony Interactive Entertainment President and CEO Jim Ryan says these cuts amount to about 8% of PlayStation's workforce. "Through discussions over the past few months about the evolving economic landscape, changes in the way we develop, distribute, and launch products, and ensuring our organization is future ready in this rapidly changing industry, we have concluded that tough decisions have become inevitable," Ryan explains. "The leadership team and I made the incredibly difficult decision to restructure operations, which regrettably includes a reduction in our workforce impacting very talented individuals who have contributed to our success."

Gaming

PC compatibility for the PlayStation VR2 is being tested by Sony

Playstation VR2 headset on a PlayStation-themed wallpaper.

To celebrate the first anniversary of the PlayStation VR2, Sony revealed a new batch of games coming to its virtual reality headset and confirmed that it's testing a feature that would let people play PC VR games on their PSVR2.

"We’re pleased to share that we are currently testing the ability for PS VR2 players to access additional games on PC to offer even more game variety in addition to the PSVR2 titles available through PS5," the PlayStation Blog post about PSVR2's first anniversary teases. "We hope to make this support available in 2024, so stay tuned for more updates."