June’s free PlayStation Plus titles will consist of Sonic Mania and Borderlands: The Handsome Collection, arriving June 4th.
Sonic Mania is a sendup to the franchise’s celebrated Genesis heyday, featuring Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles in a 2D platforming adventure. After years of frustration with the 3D Sonic games, Sega gave the Sonic community itself the reins for the hedgehog’s next shot. Notable developer Christian Whitehead, who had previously worked with Sega to handle mobile ports of the 16-bit Sonic games, led his team Headcannon in developing Mania in celebration of the franchise’s 25th anniversary. Sonic Mania originally came out in August 2017 on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Steam, and Xbox One.
Borderlands: The Handsome Collection’s appearance in the lineup is likely in anticipation of the upcoming September 13th release of Borderlands 3. This collection was first released in March 2015 on PS4 and Xbox One, and includes 2012’s Borderlands 2 from Gearbox Software and 2014’s Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel from 2K Australia. These cartoony first-person shooters received much acclaim for their near limitless arsenals of guns and wacky humour. A 4K remaster of the original Gearbox Borderlands was released by publisher 2K Games on PC, PS4, and Xbox One last month.
Both Sonic Mania and Borderlands: The Handsome Collection will be available for free to PS Plus subscribers on June 4th. In the meantime, the May games, Overcooked and What Remains of Edith Finch, are still available.