The other major addition is Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, the last mainline title in the franchise, which further embraced the turn-based combat introduced in Yakuza: Like a Dragon. Other notable additions include A Little to the Left, art of rally, Expeditions: A MudRunner Game, The Exit 8, and Darkest Dungeon 2 – all playable on PS5 and PS4.

Meanwhile, A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead is exclusive to PS5 players. Though not the best survival horror/stealth title by any means, it could be a worthwhile experience for those who like the movies. Meanwhile, Premium subscribers, only one PlayStation Classic is coming – Ridge Racer, playable on PS5 and PS4.

It features all the usual classic features, including quick save, rewind, up-rendering, and custom filters. And really, what more can you say, other than it’s Ridge Racer? Whether you’re playing through Time Trials or battling it out against the AI in, well, Battle Mode, it’s the classic arcade racing experience that you (hopefully) know and love.

This follows its addition to Game Pass Ultimate, Premium and PC on January 20th, so you can likely expect it to go live on the same day. With Resident Evil Requiem launching on February 27th, it’s the perfect time to catch up on the series, even if it’s more about revisiting the tragedy of Raccoon City than the Winters family.

PS Plus is also one-upping Game Pass by allegedly including Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. As you may recall, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio said there were no plans to add it to Microsoft’s subscription service. It seemingly has no issues adding it to Sony’s, though. Both titles will reportedly be available for PS4 and PS5.

Of course, that’s not all. You can also apparently expect Expeditions: A MudRunner Game, The Exit 8 and art of rally for the same platforms as well. Meanwhile, PS5 players gain exclusive access to A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead. The official announcement will apparently go live in a few hours, so stay tuned for updates.

"The plan was to bring it to consoles at the PC launch and we had already partnered with the porting company Do Games, but my team was so small at the start of 2020 that it was a big effort bringing on more developers and producers before launch just to finish the PC version!"

art of rally has a very distinct visual aesthetic- how did you land on this look for the game?

It was meant to be a minimalistic take on nature, like our previous game Absolute Drift which has very clean and start colors similar to Mirror’s Edge. The goal with art of rally was to be an evolution of this and it first followed the low-poly aesthetic that has become more popular in recent years.

But after the game The Witness came out, I was enamoured by its stylized vegetation and colors which was big turning point for the aesthetic of the game. The focus then became lush grass, smooth terrain and flatter coloring and bushy trees, which took years to evolve until launch.

Was it always the plan to bring the game to more platforms following its PC launch or was it something that came about due to demand from players?

The plan was to bring it to consoles at the PC launch and we had already partnered with the porting company Do Games, but my team was so small at the start of 2020 that it was a big effort bringing on more developers and producers before launch just to finish the PC version!

This was a blessing in disguise as the launch would have been much more chaotic and we could focus on making improvements and updates to the PC version from player feedback, so the console version was even better version of the game when it launched this year.

"There are so many parameters of the car handling, and trying to fix one behaviour usually affects other parts of the handling, so you have to keep a high-level view of the handling while making changes."

art of rally strikes a solid balance between being accessible and newcomer-friendly while having the sort of mechanical depth one can pour hours into. How hard was it to find that balance during the game’s development?

From years before release, there have been a lot of players helping test the game and give feedback on the handling. There were more hardcore racing players that are very good at all racing games, so they could give very good feedback about minute details. And there was also feedback from racing developer friends and the public PC demo.

But the process was difficult and there were changes in the handling in the month before launch, so it was very down to the wire! There are so many parameters of the car handling, and trying to fix one behaviour usually affects other parts of the handling, so you have to keep a high-level view of the handling while making changes.

art of rally has a lot in common with your previous game, Absolute Drift. What lessons did you take from that game into art of rally’s development?

A big change was the refined car handling to make it more predictable and we also added many more settings for handling, gameplay and other areas of the game like graphics so players could customize it to their needs.

We did carry over the freeroam mode of Absolute Drift as a relaxing place to practice your skills without consequences and to explore a fun little world finding collectibles along the way.

Another was to keep the game simple and minimalist with a focus on the gameplay.

"We have a tropical content update coming up with some more unannounced content and features too."

Do you have any plans to add more content or features to the game down the line?

Yes, we have a tropical content update coming up with some more unannounced content and features too!

Starmancer also enters Xbox Game Preview on the same day for PC and plays like a more sci-fi take on Rimworld. On August 12th, Art of Rally becomes available for all platforms while August 13th sees the arrival of Supergiant’s Hades. If you’ve never played the roguelite before, then it’s well worth jumping into.

The month is rounded off with Microsoft Solitaire Collection: Premium Edition for PC on August 17th. It’s essentially Solitaire with daily challenges, Achievements and competitive events with no ads. Of course, a number of titles will also be leaving the service this month, starting with Grand Theft Auto 5 on August 8th for cloud and consoles. Here are the other titles that will be gone on August 15th:

• Ape Out (PC)
• Crossing Souls (PC)
• Darksiders Genesis (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Don’t Starve (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Final Fantasy 7 (Console and PC)
• Train Sim World 2020 (Cloud, Console, and PC)