As the headline addition for the month, Borderlands 3 brings lots of looting and shooting to PS Plus Essential. First released for PS4 and then upgraded on PS5, we awarded an 8/10 rating in our Borderlands 3 PS4 review and concluded: "Its blend of looting, shooting, and comedy makes for varied gameplay sequences, deep and meaningful player progression, and a couple of laughs along the way. It’s not going to convert anyone who wasn’t a fan of previous iterations, but in doing so, Borderlands 3 sticks to what it does best."
Among Us has been a multiplayer sensation for years now, so most PS Plus Essential members should already be familiar with its concept. The game can be grabbed on PS5 and PS4, with full cross-play support built in. The PS5 version runs in 60 frames-per-second at a 4K resolution.
Ice hockey simulator NHL 24 rounds out the lineup for July 2024, which we found to be both a step forward and step back in different areas compared to previous years. "Sports games are pretty predictable. From one year to the next, you’ll see one or two sweeping changes and then a number of smaller tweaks, but beyond that, you’ll by and large be playing the same title," we concluded. "By that logic, it’s actually impressive how much EA Vancouver has managed to change this year given how quick its turnaround is from game to game. Less impressive is the implementation of said changes. Selecting your pass targets is a wholly welcome inclusion and a rousing success. The majority of the other changes, particularly the new checking system, leave much to be desired."
[source blog.playstation.com]