PlayStation Plus Adds Chained Echoes to September 2026 Free Games Lineup

PlayStation Plus subscribers are getting a substantial boost to their libraries this September, mixing tactical third-person combat with classic-style role-playing. Following an August slate that brought heavyweight additions like Kingdom Come: Deliverance II and Dying Light 2 to higher tiers, Sony’s monthly free games drop is anchored by four distinct titles available across Essential, Extra, and Premium memberships.

Chained Echoes Leads the Retro RPG Revival

Standing out among September’s monthly offerings is Chained Echoes, a turn-based role-playing game developed by Matthias Linda (Umami Tiger) and published by Deck13 Interactive and WhisperGames. Originally released on December 8, 2022, the title runs on the Unity engine and draws direct inspiration from 16-bit era classics such as Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, and Final Fantasy 4, pairing pixel-art aesthetics with modern quality-of-life features.

Set on the continent of Valandis, the story-driven RPG follows a group of heroes as they explore a huge world, fighting to bring peace between three warring kingdoms. Along the way, players collect up to a dozen party members and face enemies of all kinds, from humans to dragons and even mechanical suits. Not only enemies have access to this type of equipment, as heroes in Chained Echoes can also pilot mechs and airships.

PlayStation Plus Adds Chained Echoes to September 2026 Free Games Lineup — Photo: IGN

The game earned strong critical praise upon launch, with Screen Rant’s review highlighting that the game is a fresh, smart adventure that celebrates classic JRPGs while not being afraid to push into new directions. Reviewers noted that the gameplay feels fast and modern, with tons of quality-of-life features that keep the game feeling new and distinctly 21st-century. Subscribers can claim, download, and play the ESRB M17+-rated title for Mature 17+ due to sexual themes and strong language entirely for free as part of their subscription.

Sniper Elite: Resistance and the September Lineup

Headlining the monthly roster alongside the RPG is Sniper Elite: Resistance. The tactical third-person shooter places players behind the long gun barrel of a British agent infiltrating Nazi-occupied France in 1944. IGN’s Sniper Elite: Resistance review described the game as A solid stealth-based shooter, affording it a 6/10 score while adding that it fails to set its sights high enough in order to pull off a truly spectacular execution.

Rounding out the four-game September drop are Sony’s premier baseball game, MLB The Show 26 (PS5), which builds on the accomplishments of its predecessors by adding an expanded single-player mode that includes high school and college baseball, a balls and strikes challenge system, an expanded card-collecting mode, and World Baseball Classic tournament formats and rosters, alongside Wobbly Life (PS5, PS4), a colorful open-world sandbox launched last year that lets you muck about with friends to complete jobs, earn money, own houses, play mini-games, and collect tons of secrets.

Claim Windows, Tier Pricing, and Departing Titles

All four September games become available to claim starting September 1, with the redemption window closing on October 5 or October 6 depending on regional tracking. Members maintain access to these titles for as long as their subscription remains active, provided they redeem Chained Echoes and the rest of the lineup during this period.

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Whether you subscribe to the Essential, Extra, or Premium tier of PS Plus, all subscribers gain access to the service’s four monthly games. To the uninitiated, PS Plus is a bit more complicated than Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass, as Sony grants subscribers access to monthly titles while also offering access to the Game Catalog, Ubisoft+ Classics, and Classics Catalog depending on your tier.

Subscribers also face an impending cutoff. Members have until August 31 to claim August’s games—including Big Walk, Dying Light 2: Stay Human (also known as Dying Light 2 Stay Human: Reloaded Edition), and Signalis—while a separate August Game Catalog and other updates saw the addition of titles like Dying Light 2 earlier in the month alongside other major additions such as Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2.