PlayStation has announced the latest free monthly games for PS Plus subscribers in August 2025, with an array of titles soon to be downloadable. That includes one major headliner, and two smaller, but equally worthy adventures.
The headliner for the month is Lies of P, which is a highly-lauded Souls-like that (weirdly enough) adapts the story of Pinocchio into a sweeping Victorian-era tale of machines and monsters. Here’s the official description, per PlayStation: ‘In this grim reimagining of Carlo Collodi’s treasured tale, Pinocchio is trying to find the mysterious Mr. Geppetto. His journey takes him to Krat, a Belle Époque-inspired city whose humanity has been lost to madness and killer puppets.’
As Pinocchio, players set off on a dark adventure, defined by hard-hitting battles. You’ll need to keep your wits as you dodge and weave, defeating an array of enemies that grow ever more powerful as you journey.
Read: Most anticipated comic book films coming to Australian cinemas in 2025
The next big game set to be available for PS Plus subscribers is My Hero One’s Justice 2. This is the second video game adaptation of the My Hero Academia story, and it continues the tale of fledgling hero Deku as he harnesses special abilities (his ‘quirk’) to defeat creepy and all-powerful villains.
For those unfamiliar, the My Hero One’s Justice series is a bit like Naruto Ninja Storm, with less of a focus on overarching story and, frankly, a bit less cohesion. Still, the fighting experience is grand, and each battle feels as dramatic and snappy as it should. This game is definitely worth checking out on PS Plus this month.
The last free game for the month is DayZ, which is a ‘hardcore’ survival game where up to 60 players attempt to survive a zombie apocalypse by fighting together. It’s worth noting you’ll lose everything when you die in DayZ, which is likely to spark all sorts of emotions for the more involved player.
With this game’s inclusion in the monthly PS Plus games, it’s set to attract a whole new audience, so at the very least those 60 player slots should be full whenever you want to jump in and take on the zombie hordes.
All of these PS Plus free monthly games will be available from 5 August 2025.
Until then, PS Plus subscribers will be able to claim last month’s games, Diablo IV, The King of Fighters XV and Jusant, for their library. On the same date, subscribers will also gain access to special 15th anniversary avatars, featuring Cyberpunk 2077, Diablo IV, God of War Ragnarök, and Twisted Metal. You can learn more about the latest PS Plus offerings on the PlayStation Blog.
Also on ScreenHub: Tales of the Shire review: a meandering journey of friends and vegetables
Tales of the Shire is not the game it could’ve been. The bones of bigger ideas poke through, at times. You can see the vast scope and magic the game’s development team intended, when mysterious strangers enter your village of Bywater, or when throwaway lines of dialogue reference wider Lord of the Rings lore. This game was clearly intended to be bigger, more magical, and a lot more stable. But even with performance issues, light grind, and a melancholy sense of emptiness in its later stages, it still has just enough charm to be endearing, in a patchwork way.
If this game was targeted at anyone, it was targeted at me. I’ve been to New Zealand three times in my life, twice as a Tolkien tourist. Visiting the Hobbiton movie set in Matamata was life-changing, for me.
