It’s October, so it’s finally time to start watching more horror movies and playing more horror video games to get in a spooky mood. Thankfully, recent additions to PS Plus are making it very easy to settle into that vibe. On top of that, a wrestling video game has just hit PlayStation Plus Essential ahead of the last big WWE events of the year. All of that has informed my picks for the three games PS Plus subscribers should check out this weekend.
At this point, The Last of Us is so iconic that it needs little introduction. It was a landmark horror video game that set new standards for video game narrative with its tale about Joel and Ellie. It was originally released for PS3 in 2013 and remastered for PS4 in 2014. The Last of Us Part I is a remake built for PS5. It gives the entire game a visual overhaul and adds accessibility features and an overall game feel to bring the adventure more in line with its 2020 sequel. If you haven’t played The Last of Us yet, you need to try it out now that the definitive version of it is on PS Plus.
The Last of Us Part I is available to PlayStation Plus Extra subscribers on PS5. It’s also on PC.
When you first boot up Doki Doki Literature Club Plus!, it might just seem like a normal visual romance novel about dating girls in the same high school club as you. Before long, you’ll discover that this is a horror game that can get quite unsettling as it frequently breaks the fourth wall. Doki Doki Literature Club went viral on websites like YouTube when it launched on PC in 2017 before coming to consoles in 2021 with some additional content. It’s the perfect game to play in early October, right between back-to-school season and Halloween.
The PS4 and PS5 versions of Doki Doki Literature Club Plus! are PlayStation Plus Essential games until November 4. It’s also available on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch.
If you’re just in the mood for dumb fun and enjoy wrestling, you should check out WWE 2K24. The latest entry in 2K’s annual wrestling game series, WWE 2K24 mostly makes incremental improvements over predecessors to add more depth to modes like MyGM and the core wrestling gameplay. You know what you’re getting into when you download a game like WWE 2K24 on the weekend of the Bad Blood event. For fans of wrestling who have yet to pick it up, it’ll make for an enjoyable gaming weekend.
The PS4 and PS5 versions of WWE 2K24 are available via PS Plus Essential until November 4. It’s also on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.