What’s new this October 2023 for PlayStation Plus members?

PlayStation Plus Essential tier members are in for a pretty solid month of free games in October. And they’re all different genres. Don’t worry, you also have the perfect game heading into the spooky season to set the vibe.

Here are your free games for October for the PlayStation Plus Essential tier:

• The Callisto Protocol
• Farming Simulator 22
• Weird West

First up is your spooky game for the spooky season, The Callisto Protocol. It’s a spiritual successor to Dead Space and was released last December. You play as inmate Jacob Lee in the maximum security Black Iron Prison. You’re forced to fight for survival against hordes of infected prisoners as a mysterious illness sweeps through the prison and you uncover a larger conspiracy at work.

While The Callisto Protocol fell a little flat upon its release, feeling a little too close to Dead Space and not really expanding on the genre, there have been several updates over the last year that have helped bolster it up a bit. If you were waiting to play it, now’s a perfect time!

Next up is Farming Simulator 22, which is exactly what you expect. It features a seasonal cycle to add to its realistic feel and offers you many choices of what you can grow, build, and harvest. There are over 400 tools and machinery you can use. And if that wasn’t enough, there’s a huge expansion set for November where you’ll have access to a central European map as well.

Last up is Weird West, which is an isometric RPG that lets you swap between five characters. And… it’s exactly like its title suggests. It’s a dark, fantastical retelling of the Wild West with dark humor sprinkled in so it isn’t too overbearing. The combat is fast and unrelenting, basically a twin-stick shooter and you have to manage your weapons and reload times pretty well until you get the hang of things.

Honestly, you can’t go wrong picking any of the three free games this month. Each one of them has its own quirks and charm that will suck you in and keep your attention for a while.

As always, the September PlayStation Plus games are available to download through October 1.