Monster Hunter Rise hits PlayStation Plus this March

Sony has announced the March 2026 lineup for PlayStation Plus Essential subscribers, adding PGA Tour 2K25, Monster Hunter Rise, Slime Rancher 2, and The Elder Scrolls Online Collection: Gold Road. According to the official PlayStation Blog, all four titles will be available to claim from Tuesday, March 3 to Monday, April 6.

This month's selection leans heavily into massive time sinks. If you install all four of these games, you are committing to several hundred hours of resource gathering, monster tracking, and virtual golf swings.

From Switch exclusive to everywhere

Monster Hunter Rise is the heaviest hitter on the list. Capcom originally launched the game as a Nintendo Switch exclusive in March 2021. The developers built it on the RE Engine with a specific focus on portable play. This resulted in shorter hunt times and more vertical mobility compared to 2018's Monster Hunter World.

The game introduced the Wirebug for grappling across the map. It also added Palamutes, which are rideable dog companions that let you sharpen your weapons while moving. Rise also brought in Rampage quests, a tower defense mode where players set up ballistae and cannons to repel waves of monsters.

Capcom eventually ported Rise to PC in 2022. PlayStation and Xbox ports followed in early 2023.

Vacuuming up pink blobs

Slime Rancher 2 is Monomi Park's direct follow-up to their 2017 hit. The original game sold over six million copies. It combined first-person exploration with a surprisingly deep farming economy.

The sequel entered early access on PC and Xbox in 2022. It finally made its way to PlayStation 5 in June 2024. You play as Beatrix LeBeau. You explore Rainbow Island and use a vacuum backpack to suck up bouncy slimes. You then feed them and harvest their byproducts for cash. The game is still technically in active development. It receives regular content updates that add new biomes and slime types.

Ten years of Tamriel

The Elder Scrolls Online Collection: Gold Road bundles the base MMO with its most recent major expansion. ZeniMax Online Studios launched the original game in 2014 to a mixed reception. A mandatory subscription fee and early bugs pushed many players away. The studio dropped the required subscription in 2015 and released the One Tamriel update in 2016, which completely overhauled the level scaling.

The game has maintained a massive player base across PC, Xbox, and PlayStation ever since. The Gold Road chapter released in June 2024. It takes players back to the West Weald region, an area last seen in 2006's The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. The collection includes the base game and the Gold Road chapter. This gives new players a massive chunk of content right away.

Rounding out the list is PGA Tour 2K25. HB Studios developed this entry. This continues a lineage that started with The Golf Club in 2014. The Golf Club originally made a name for itself by offering a robust course creator at a time when traditional golf games were stagnating. HB Studios carried that creation toolset over when they partnered with 2K.

Players can build their own 18-hole courses and share them online. This ensures a nearly endless supply of user-generated content long after you finish the official career mode. It is a competent golf simulation, though it faces stiff competition from EA Sports' revived PGA Tour franchise.