Update 1st April – The April 2026 PlayStation Plus Monthly games have been confirmed by Sony, with 2023’s Lords of the Fallen joined by Sword Art Online: Fractured Dream, and finally Tomb Raider I-III Remastered. I guess, technically, this means that there’s five games in this month’s update?
The original leaked report follows.
The ever-reliable Billbil-kun over at Dealabs has got the scoop on not one but two of the PlayStation Plus Essential games for April 2026.
Headlining is 2023’s Lords of the Fallen, with Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream as the second title.
The bad news is that we really didn not like Lords of The Fallen. “I desperately want to like Lords of the Fallen, but it’s the first game all year that’s actively annoyed me,” said Jason in our 4/10 review. “I love the Soulslike genre more than any other, but this game took all of the lessons it could have learned since the original Lords of the Fallen and either forgot them entirely, or just misunderstood them so grievously that you’d assume it skipped a class.”
Others liked it a little more than we did, and it has a Metacritic rating of 70 on PlayStation 5.
We did not review Sword Art Online Fractured Daydream and we were not alone, there are only 12 critic reviews for the PS5 version on Metacritic where it has a score of 68.
Update: Finally, we come to Tomb Raider I-III Remastered, which saw Aspyr aspire to take the 90s PlayStation classics and give them a light modernising touch, selectively improving graphics and adding a more modern control scheme to go alongside the classic ‘tank’ controls.
Did it work? Jim said in our review, “Lara’s original trilogy has been lovingly restored with the launch of these remasters, offering a definitive collection that bundles the core games and their expansions. However, dusting off these old relics in the name of nostalgia may come with a nasty surprise. Don’t worry, there are no mummy curses, snake pits, or swinging pendulum axes, though the clunky controls will definitely take some getting used to (again).”
If the leaks are correct then it’s a bit of a meh month on PlayStation Plus.
March’s PlayStation Plus monthly games are still available to download and they are
- PGA Tour 2K25
- Monster Hunter Rise
- The Elder Scrolls Online
- Slime Rancher 2
All these titles will be available to PlayStation Plus members from Tuesday March 3rd until Monday April 6th 2026.
Of those you really should grab Monster Hunter Rise, “Monster Hunter Rise is an incredible game,” gushed Dominic in our 9/10 review of the Switch version. “While it may not feel quite as ground-breaking for the series as World did, it boasts a stronger and distinctly Japanese identity, and the changes and streamlined gameplay simply focus on the franchise’s true stars – the monsters. Rise is easily one of the best games for the Nintendo Switch, and one of the finest Monster Hunters ever.” He also gave the PS5 version 9/10 as well.
