Every month, PlayStation Plus subscribers have a fresh batch of free games to look forward to, and July 2021 is not an exception to that rule. Starting today, PS Plus subscribers can claim three new games for their collection, consisting of one PlayStation 5 title and two PS4 games. There's also a holdout leftover from June 2021 that PS Plus subscribers should be made aware of as well, resulting in a rather robust July 2021 for the service.
The free PS Plus games for July 2021 will be available to claim for free throughout the month of July. In early August, they will be replaced by the free PS Plus games for August 2021, which will likely be revealed on Wednesday, July 28, assuming Sony sticks to its usual pattern.
Here are the free PS Plus games for July 2021 and everything fans need to know about them.
A Plague Tale: Innocence
A Plague Tale: Innocence first launched in 2019, combining action-adventure gameplay with survival-horror and stealth elements. Set in 1348, players take on the role of Amicia de Rune as she attempts to protect her sick brother Hugo from deadly hordes of rats. A Plague Tale: Innocence earned mostly positive reviews from critics and even managed to win a few awards, standing out as one of the most impressive efforts from Asobo Studio to date.
Now PS5 gamers with PlayStation Plus can check out A Plague Tale: Innocence without paying for attention beyond their PS Plus subscription. A Plague Tale: Innocence is the free PS5 game for the PS Plus July 2021 lineup. This being the PlayStation 5 version of the game means that it generally performs better than the last-gen version and should be a more definitive way to experience the game.
What's interesting about A Plague Tale: Innocence is that it was actually leaked for the PS Plus July 2021 games lineup ahead of time, weeks before its announcement. Not only that, but it was leaked alongside its sequel, A Plague Tale: Requiem, which fans can prepare for by checking out A Plague Tale: Innocence through their PlayStation Plus subscriptions.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is the latest Call of Duty game to hit PS Plus, and it may be one of the better ones as well. While Call of Duty: Black Ops 4's lack of a campaign didn't sit well with everyone, Black Ops 4 reviews were still mostly positive, as the game offered a ton of content even without a proper single-player mode. This includes a robust multiplayer mode stuffed with content that should keep fans busy for hours, as well as a Zombies mode with numerous maps to check out.
Besides multiplayer and Zombies, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is also notable for its inclusion of the Blackout battle royale mode. Blackout serves as Call of Duty's first crack at the popular battle royale genre, taking inspiration from games like PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and Fortnite. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4's Blackout mode may not have taken off quite as well as Call of Duty: Warzone, but it still has its fans.
WWE 2K Battlegrounds
In 2019, 2K Sports released WWE 2K20 to scathing reviews, with the game being remembered as easily one of the worst professional wrestling video games ever made. The backlash to WWE 2K20 was so severe that the franchise took the entirety of 2020 off, giving the developers at Visual Concepts the chance to regroup and try again for the upcoming WWE 2K22. In the interim, a different kind of WWE game was released to help fill the gap in the form of WWE 2K Battlegrounds.
Whereas the main series WWE 2K games are simulation titles, WWE 2K Battlegrounds is an arcade brawler. WWE 2K Battlegrounds has an extensive roster of past and present WWE stars, plenty of absurd situations (like wrestlers being attacked by alligators, for instance), and some of the most over-the-top arenas in WWE 2K history. WWE 2K Battlegrounds didn't exactly set the world on fire when it first released, but it's likely fans will be far more receptive to it as a free PS Plus game instead of a full-priced title.
Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown Edition
The aforementioned three games are technically what make up the free PS Plus games for July 2021, but there's another game that subscribers can still claim for their digital collection as well. Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown Edition was part of the free PS Plus games for June 2021 lineup, but it's remaining on the service until August. This gives anyone who forgot to claim it last month a second chance to check it out.
As for what it is, Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown is a remaster of the original Virtua Fighter 5 game. Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown makes various tweaks to make it a more accessible game overall, and is definitely a worthwhile PS Plus game for fans of the VF series as well as fighting game fans in general. It and the other three games listed here will be removed from the PlayStation Plus service at the beginning of August, so subscribers should claim all of these games while they still can.