For the keen eye, PS Plus typically follows a pattern of sorts when it comes to its free games every month. It's nothing that makes any particular month predictable, but it works within the context of PS Plus itself. Notably, Sony does change up this pattern from time to time, with patterns sometimes lasting months before being suddenly changed up. The announcement of PS Plus free game for August 2021 Hunter's Arenas: Legends is proof that, sometimes, PS Plus goes for the surprise.
Fans know one of the PS Plus free games they'll get in August, but that leaves at least two other games to be added. However, assuming that Sony sticks to its patterns, Hunter's Arena: Legends means player should keep a few expectations in check.
PS Plus Patterns: Battle Royale
Prior to the marketing campaign for PS5, Sony stuck to a big AAA game (with a solid number of them being first party) and one niche game for quite some time. Slowly, as marketing for PS5 built up and well through the beginning of the PS5's life cycle and now, the pattern moved to something far less predictable: variety. Though sometimes associated by theme, practically every game offered on PS Plus stood out from its other offerings. With Hunter's Arena: Legends joining the roster, fans should NOT expect another battle royale-style game whatsoever, with the multiplayer offerings being less likely too.
PS Plus will sometimes feature multiple multiplayer games, but they tend to be of differing genres. For example, the PS Plus free games for July 2021 include WWE 2K Battlegrounds and Black Ops 4, with the former offering arcade-like wrestling matches online and other offering traditional multiplayer and battle royale. They may both be multiplayer games, but they are worlds apart. With this in mind, Hunter's Arena: Legends doesn't really rule out another MP game next month, but it does and should rule out another BR game.
PS Plus Patterns: PS4 and PS5
February 2021 was the last month where multiple PS5 games were made available at once. Of course, some early PS Plus PS5 games were made available for two months, but those have slowly faded away. Every month since February has offered no more than one game available on the PS5 platform, with the remainder being on PS4 alone. In other words, because of Hunter's Arena: Legends, players should only expect two more PS4 games to join the PS Plus roster in August, not another PS5 game.
Overall, with one game revealed, there's still a lot up in the air for PS Plus in August. Knowing this game early, however, at least outlines what fans should expect in terms of genre and platform if only be exclusion.
Hunter's Arena: Legends is one of the PS Plus Free Games for August 2021.