Balatro comes to PlayStation Plus in May

PlayStation Plus subscribers’ free Essential games for May 2025 are Ark: Survival Ascended, Balatro, and Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun, Sony Interactive Entertainment announced Wednesday. Players can download the trio of games beginning May 6.

Ark: Survival Ascended is Studio Wildcard’s remastered and “reimagined from the ground-up” version of dinosaur-filled action-adventure survival game Ark: Survival Evolved. Released in 2023, Ark: Survival Ascended offers improve graphics, advanced physics, and quality of life updates to the original — as well as DLC from Scorched Earth, Aberration, Extinction, Ark Genesis Part 1, and Ark Genesis Part 2. The game is available on PlayStation 5.

Balatro is multiple game of the year award-winning roguelite spin on poker that stole billions of hours of people’s time in 2024. Even if you’re not a poker player, you should give this roguelike deck builder a try. Balatro will be available on PlayStation 4 and PS5.

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun is a “boomer shooter” set in the Warhammer 40K universe. Inspired by the likes of Doom, Wolfenstein, and Duke Nukem, Boltgun sends players to the world of Graia to clean up after the events of the 2011 action game Space Marine. Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun is available on PS4 and PS5.

May 2025’s PS Plus Essential games will be available for download through June 2.

PS Plus subscribers can still pick up April 2025’s PlayStation Plus Essential games — RoboCop: Rogue City, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth – Hacker’s Memory — through May 5.

PlayStation Plus Essential is the lowest tier available in SIE’s subscription service. It offers online multiplayer access, a monthly assortment of free PS4 and PS5 games, cloud storage, and discounts on PlayStation Store purchases. PlayStation Plus Essential costs $79.99 annually, $24.99 for a three-month subscription, or $9.99 monthly.