December 2025’s PlayStation Plus Essential Games Have Been Revealed

Ignoring the dude dressed in red and white who has a propensity for breaking and entering, December is best known for spending time with your friends and family. You often associate the holidays with kids and presents, but those without ankle-biters need some social stimulation as well, which PlayStation seems to understand with next month’s subscription service offerings. November gave us a cute platformer, a rally racer, and whatever you want to label Totally Accurate Battle Simulator as, which made for a nice little charcuterie board of gaming. But that was yesterday, let’s take a look at tomorrow.

As announced on the PlayStation Blog, the PlayStation Plus Essentials games for December are LEGO Horizon Adventures, Killing Floor 3, The Outlast Trials, Neon White, and Synduality Echo of Ada. All five games will be available on the service on December 2.

I can’t say I get the Horizon hype, and I can’t even say I’ve met any Horizon mega fans, but the world and premise are both undeniably cool. A lush, green, post-apocalyptic world dominated by robotic dinosaurs should be enough to put a smile on anyone’s face. Now, take that awesome concept and inject the bricky brilliance of LEGO, and you should have a winning formula. LEGO Horizon doesn’t exactly reinvent the LEGO or the Horizon wheels, but it’s a decent enough romp for families, or kids who dig the robo dinos but can’t grapple with the main series. We liked it, whacking a seven on our review, but would suggest you go into the game knowing that it’s pretty short and pretty simple. Still, it’s a good bit of fun.

We started with something you can play with the little ones, so let’s pivot now to something you’ll need to play once they’ve gone to bed. For those unfamiliar with the series, Killing Floor is a wave-based co-op first-person shooter filled with intense gore and hordes of Zeds (think bioengineered zombies) to mow down. The first game in the series was simple, dumb fun, the second was more of the same, and the third is…a little busted. There have been updates and improvements made; the launch experience for this threequel was messier than a room after you and your mates cleared out all of the Zeds. We rubber-stamped a five on our review, mainly for the poor performance and user experience, but if you’re happy to shut your brain off for a bit and kill shit with friends, you’ll find some fun here.

If you’ve played any of the grotesque Outlast games, you’d be forgiven for wanting someone to be by your side to alleviate some of the intense moments. Well, The Outlast Trials grants that wish. Although it turns out that having friends along for the ride just means that you all scream in unison instead of you just doing so alone. This co-op prequel lets you bring three mates along for the terrifying ride as you wade through horrific test environments set up by the nasty Murkoff Corporation. I previewed the game back when it was in early access, likening it to a sadistic fusion of Saw and Portal. It’s absolutely on to pop on once the kids are asleep, but be warned, you’ll likely wake them up when your soul leaves your body as you and your friends get chased by a naked maniac.

Ummm, look, this one is tricky, especially with Arc Raiders being the hotness at the moment. Synduality Echo of Ada is a PvPvE extraction shooter with some cool concepts, namely that each player pilots a big old mech known in-world as a Cradlecoffin. You’ll head out into the world, battle against players and computer-controlled enemies, collect resources, and build up a base where survivors can thrive. Honestly, I’m not drawn to this one, with the aforementioned extraction shooter on the market at the same time, but it might do something for someone.

Stylised to the gills, fast-paced, flashy, and exceptionally well-received by critics and players alike. This is a good pick-up for those who haven’t dabbled in Neon White. A card-based, speed-running first-person shooter might sound a little humdrum, but this anime-inspired action title is challenging in all the right places, fluid in its movement and gameplay, and addictive as all hell. Oh, and it’s got a thumping soundtrack that gives you extra motivation to keep moving as well. We gave Neon White a nine in our review, and, if you give it a go, you’ll easily understand why.

If you haven’t downloaded Stray, EA Sports WRC 24, and Totally Accurate Battle Simulator, you have until December 1 to do so. As always, please remember that you can add these games to your library and download them later if you don’t have any precious space on your hard drive.

Which game will you be downloading first? What games would you like to see in January? Let us know in the comments or on our social media.