Don’t worry – plenty of cross-gen titles like Disco Elysium – The Final Cut, FAR: Changing Tides, Eldest Souls, Röki and The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes await on PS4 and PS5. PS4 titles include Alien: Isolation, Dead Island Definitive Edition, Outlast 2 and Elite Dangerous, all backwards compatible on PS5, further expanding the options for current-gen console players.

There’s also Gungrave G.O.R.E., perhaps one of the best bad games you’ll ever experience. For Premium subscribers, classics like Tekken 6, Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny, IQ Final and Ape Escape Academy will be available. All are playable on PS4 and PS5, though you’ll need to download PS5 versions of each title. As for PlayStation Plus Essential subscribers, check out this month’s free games here.

Other noteworthy titles include The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes, Disco Elysium: The Final Cut, FAR: Changing Tides, Gungrave G.O.R.E, Elite Dangerous, Dead Island Definitive Edition and Alien: Isolation. Interestingly, bilbil-kun said rumors have circulated about The Last of Us Part 2’s addition to the catalog for Extra and Premium, but it’s reportedly not happening.

There should be more games announced, including a new slate of classic games for Premium subscribers, so stay tuned for the official announcement. In the meantime, The Callisto Protocol, Farming Simulator 22, and Weird West are free to claim as part of PlayStation Plus Essential in October.

Regardless, it’s a fantasy that many enjoy indulging in, and there are some great games to help with that. Check out 25 of the best post-apocalyptic games available on PC and what makes them so fun.

Fallout 4

Controversial though it may be among hardcore fans, Fallout 4 remains the most accessible game in the series, with some of the best combat. The Commonwealth is pretty massive, with multiple points of interest to explore, junk to pick up and settlements to build up. Learning more about the post-nuclear fallout world, whether it’s HalluciGen Inc and its suspicious chemicals that drive enemies mad or the creepiness of Dunwich Borers, is enticing. Plus, you can lead gangs of raiders or build robots with the DLC. Just steer clear of Preston Garvey. Your sanity will thank you.

Tiny Rogues

Launched in early access this year, Tiny Rogues is a dungeon crawler/rogue-lite/action RPG/bullet hell title with retro-style visuals. As minimalistic as the presentation feels, the combat is solid with several starting characters, tons of different weapons and spells, challenging and varied bosses, and great build variety. Want to become a tower shield-wielding magic wielder that rains down meteors? Perhaps a barbarian that inflicts poison arrows? You can do that and so much more.

Brotato

Of course, you can’t mention excellent early-access titles without mentioning Brotato. Essentially a rogue-lite horde shooter with timed waves, it offers some unique mechanics like the ability to hold and use multiple weapons at once. Combine this with some crazy upgrades, weapon rarities, and tons of different builds, from the super lucky guy to the streamer, and you’ve got hours and hours of fun on your hands.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero

The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero has been a long, long time coming, having been available in Japan till now. Sporting the same old-school RPG look as Trails in the Sky, the Western release remakes these visuals in extraordinary fashion while still delivering an excellent plot, stellar combat, and some excellent world-building. While those who played the Sky trilogy will get more out of it, Trails from Zero capably stands on its own.

The Case of the Golden Idol

If a more thorough detective title is to your liking, The Case of the Golden Idol is worth checking out. It takes place over four decades, with the player detective attempting to solve 12 grisly murders by filling in the blanks with a select set of keywords. There’s plenty of conspiracy and intrigue, and the bizarre art style is appealing in its own right. More importantly, the story and characters are simply excellent and well worth the trip.

Beacon Pines

I will forever sing the praises of Beacon Pines, Hiding Spot’s gorgeous mystery that’s equal parts choose your adventure and visual novel. It sports characters that are likeable and incredibly fleshed out; a cosy setting brimming with secrets; and a story full of twists, turns, and interesting developments. There’s so much to like, and it’s a shame that more people haven’t played it.

Citizen Sleeper

Citizen Sleeper is great, and you can’t say enough about its brilliance. Erlin’s Eye is a melting pot of characters, culture, and intrigue, whether you’re conversing with NeoVend, the sentient vending machine or trying to piece together the motives behind Sabine, the slum doctor. Actions play out through dice rolls, with light resource management, but it’s the extensive (and excellent) dialogue, coupled with the overall plot, makes this a must-play title.

Nobody Saves the World

Guacamelee developer Drinkbox is doing a lot with its overhead action RPG Nobody Saves the World. It sports fun combat with multiple classes, each offering unique abilities and upgrades – like the Rat, Ranger, Horse, and much more – and the ability to mix and match these into killer builds. It offers a large world to explore with procedurally generated dungeons and fun bosses. If that weren’t enough, it supports two-player co-op and has a solid comedic bent. If any of that sounds like something you’d enjoy, it’s worth a look.

Iron Lung

A short but sweet psychological horror set in a submarine navigating a strange Blood Ocean, Iron Lung has you traveling to locations and taking pictures. Seems simple enough, but you’re working with an iffy camera and relying purely on sensors and an incomplete map. Sometimes, you need to seal the submarine’s porthole because of depth pressure, but something is out there, waiting. Developed by David Szymanski of Dusk fame, Iron Lung is a claustrophobic and creepy experience.

Prodeus

A retro-Doom-style shooter with tons of gore and particle effects with stellar level design and action? That describes Prodeus in a nutshell, but the overall experience is so much more. Everything feels right, from the weapon feel and the overall pacing to the enemy design and difficulty. Plus, with a map creator and browser, hundreds of levels offer even more potential for slaying monsters.

Strange Horticulture

Being a horticulturist in a video game sounds like a drag, but Bad Viking’s Strange Horticulture is anything but. It’s equal parts plant management and mystery as you identify and recommend plants to customers in the small town of Undermere. As the story progresses, dark events and secrets come to light, and you’ll venture to mysterious places, converse with cults, and frequently pet the cat. It’s a stellar gameplay loop and one that keeps you coming back.

Sephonie

From the minds of Anodyne 1 and 2, Sephonie is more of a 3D platformer set on Sephonie Island with Amy, Riyou and Ing-wen as the protagonists. Upon navigating its various caves using wall runs and vaults, memories and dreams of the trio manifest while a strange force seems to manipulate them. In addition to a beautiful and unique aesthetic, Sephonie also offers puzzles using a grid system, as you Link different creatures in your research. It’s an unorthodox mix of genres that works well and delivers a great story.

Signalis

Touted as a classic survival horror, rose-engine’s Signalis tells the story of a Replika, Elster, who awakens in a wrecked ship and ventures onto a mysterious planet. What happened? That’s up to you to discover as you solve puzzles, manage your inventory and fight terrifying enemies. With gorgeous visuals and an aesthetic inspired by Stanley Kubrick and Hideaki Anno, Signalis is a surreal, terrifying experience worth playing.

Shredders

Have you ever craved the days of grounded but not super hardcore snowboarding titles? FoamPunch’s Shredders may fill that avoid. It offers numerous pro riders and a massive open world to explore, with locations ranging from parks to the countryside. The sheer depth of the controls, combined with the smooth animations and plethora of content, including a story mode and online play, make this a worthy successor to the Amped series.

Far: Changing Tides

Much like Far: Lone Sails, Far: Changing Tides is a side-scrolling adventure game where you manage a ship constantly on the move in a post-apocalyptic world. The twist is that you’re sailing through a flooded world and can occasionally leave the vessel to either gather resources or clear the way forward. Maintaining and upgrading the ship opens up underwater excursions to progress further. It’s a melancholic experience without any chance of failure and a sense of wonder.

APICO

Similar to Minecraft’s Forestry mod, APICO is about beekeeping. You venture to Port APICO, manage bees, cross-breed them for over 30 different species, make products and sell them, and much more. It’s a relaxing game with a hefty amount of content, from different biomes to minigames, and co-op support for up to four players. The latest update added butterflies, new flowers, and much more for even more stuff to do.

FAR: Changing Tides is available for Xbox Game Pass for console and cloud as well as PC Game Pass starting today, while Microsoft Flight Simulator is available now via Xbox Cloud Gaming. Meanwhile, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy 13 will come to Game Pass for console and PC on March 3.

Century: Age of Ashes is not mentioned, contrary to the leak, though Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers will get in-game perks in the multiplayer dragon battle title.

Original story follows:

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy turned out to be far better than most people had expected, and word of mouth for the game has been strong even months on from its launch. Square Enix, sadly, hasn’t been satisfied with the game’s commercial performance– though the action-adventure title might soon be opening the gates for a much larger player base to dive in and experience its offerings.

Dealabs user billbil-kun has become something of a prominent and reliable leaker in recent months, having accurately leaked the monthly lineup of free PlayStation Plus games on a number of occasions (including as recently as a few days ago for the month of March). Recently, they emerged again to spill the beans on something on the other side of the console spectrum.

According to the user, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy will be added to the Game Pass catalog in the month of March. Additionally, several other major names are going to be included in the batch of games to be added to the service in the first half of the month, including FAR: Changing Tides, Century: Age of Ashes (which will be launching for Xbox soon), Kentucky Route Zero, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy 13, and Young Souls.

Exactly which of this games will be coming to Xbox Game Pass for console and cloud and which will be coming to PC Game Pass hasn’t been specified. Microsoft will soon be making the official announcement for the upcoming batch of Game Pass games soon though, so we should know more soon enough. Stay tuned for those details.

Elite Dangerous was described as having a “difficult calendar 2021” due to the “disappointing” launch of the Odyssey expansion. As such, Frontier continues “to support the game and our passionate players with development updates, and we have seen an upturn in player sentiment as a result.” Its third-party publishing label, Frontier Foundry, also has four titles releasing in calendar 2022 including FAR: Changing Tides and Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters.

Interestingly, Frontier has plans to enter the world of Formula 1 with the “first release for our annual F1 management game franchise.” It also expects the release of Jurassic World Dominion to provide a “corresponding benefit” to Jurassic World Evolution 2.

Unfortunately, those waiting for the company’s take on Warhammer Age of Sigmar, which will be a real-time strategy game, will need to wait longer. The title has been delayed to fiscal year 2024 (which starts post-April 2023). “This change will further improve the quality and longevity of the game, and overall make it more successful.” As such, Games Workshop has already outlined several other Warhammer games coming this year (sans Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2) so that should keep fans busy.

As for Jurassic World Evolution 2, it’s currently available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, PC and Nintendo Switch. It recently received its first expansion, the Early Cretaceous Pack, in December though sales for the same haven’t been revealed.

In a PlayStation Blog post, creative lead and founder of Okomotive Don Schmocker spoke about the new challenges that players would face. “We’ve expanded on the setting seen in Lone Sails but instead of sun-scorched, dusty plains, players will face stormy waters and submerged cities. We hope that this new environment combined with new puzzles and ship mechanics will bring an exciting experience to fans of the series and new players alike.”

However, much like its predecessor, the story is something that players will have to discover for themselves. This is done by exploring flooded buildings, gathering sunken items, analyzing images and so on. “This environmental storytelling presents a very different type of game design, but we feel it helps to build a close bond between the world and the players, as they choose how much of the story to seek and engage with.

“With Lone Sails, we found ourselves defining and building elements of the story throughout development, which became increasingly difficult. For Changing Tides we wrote the majority of the story and world-building during pre-production, this gave us better direction and allowed us to plan and design the environments together with the story.”

Of course, as noted in the trailer, one’s vehicle can now submerge underwater along with sailing across it. At the end of the day however, the relationship between protagonist Toe and the ship is what matters. “The relationship is a symbiotic one, the ship won’t sail without Toe to control the sails or oars, and Toe can’t overcome certain obstacles without the ship,” says Schmocker.

FAR: Changing Tides will be coming to Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch and PC. Stay tuned for more details and gameplay in the coming weeks.

The trailer is a pretty densely packed one. It shows various unique environments boasting strong and evocative art design, and it’s clear that in terms of atmosphere and sense of place, this game is coming along well. There’s plenty to like in what they’ve shown in this trailer, and fans of the first game will certainly find plenty to be excited about. Check it out below.

Meanwhile, the trailer also confirms that the game has been delayed to 2022, having initially been given a late 2021 launch window upon announcement. Whenever it releases, FAR: Changing Tides will be available for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

Redfall

Arkane Studios’ rumored Omen was finally revealed as open world co-op shooter Redfall. The story sees an island in Massachusetts cut off from the rest of the world after vampires block out the sun. Naturally, as a survivor, you need to kill them and escape. Though gameplay wasn’t revealed, there will be multiple playable characters, each with their own unique abilities and gadgets. And though it may seem akin to Back 4 Blood, Bethesda’s Pete Hines says that a more methodical approach will be needed instead of running and gunning. Redfall is slated to release in Summer 2022 for Xbox Series X/S and PC.

As the hero Toe, players will need to find a ship and maintain it while finding the way back home. Throughout the game, players will uncover the mysteries surrounding the world’s current state. Of course, that ship won’t hold itself together for very long and you’ll need to scavenge for parts to keep it going.

Sometimes, it will be possible to leave the ship to either dive into the surrounding water for materials and supplies or explore various dilapidated structures and so on. FAR: Changing Tides will be coming to Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, PC and Nintendo Switch in late 2021. Stay tuned for more details in the coming months.