PlayStation Plus Essential members in Japan won’t get Dead Island 2 in November. They’ll get Secret Neighbor in its place, and that’s a poor deal.
PlayStation has officially changed one of that region’s three monthly games. The November 2026 lineup revealed earlier this week is unchanged in every other region: Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered, Monster Train 2 and Dead Island 2 all join the service on November 3.
A good month, with one gap in one country
After a fairly average October, Essential has a much better month this time. Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered bundles three games together, so it’s good value before you even look at the other two.
Monster Train 2 is a roguelike deckbuilder that’s tough to stop playing once a run gets going. Dead Island 2 would have been my first download. It’s an open-world zombie RPG, and its crunchy, grungy, visceral combat satisfies in a way few zombie games do.
That makes its absence hurt.
Another Neighbor game for Japan
Japanese subscribers get Secret Neighbor in place of Dead Island 2. It’s a multiplayer game built around stealth and horror. It’s fine, but it’s no Dead Island 2.
The official description of the new PS Plus Essential game reads: “Secret Neighbor is a multiplayer Social Horror game set in the Hello Neighbor universe. Explore the Hello Neighbor house with your friends, but beware — one of you is the Neighbor in disguise. Use teamwork and rescue your friend from the basement, or mess with everyone’s heads as the Neighbor!”
No reason has been given for leaving Dead Island 2 out in Japan, but this has happened before. Last month, PlayStation Plus Japan replaced Hunt: Showdown 1896 with Hello Neighbor, which comes from the same publisher as Secret Neighbor (unsurprisingly).
Both Neighbor games are also already in the PlayStation Plus Extra library. Giving them to Essential subscribers as replacements feels like a kick in the teeth.
A user on the PlayStation Plus subreddit made a joke of it: “The Japanese must really enjoy neighbors to get a game about neighbors twice in a row.”
Based on what has been confirmed, Japan is the only region affected, and subscribers elsewhere still get all three games. Dead Island 2 lands a few days after Halloween, but it’s worth playing whenever you get around to it. Coming up with new, stranger ways to cut through zombies stays fun.
Cloud streaming launches in South Korea
In other PlayStation Plus news, PlayStation brought its PS5 cloud streaming service to South Korea on October 28. The PlayStation Plus Premium feature lets subscribers stream more than 300 supported Game Catalog titles on PS5 consoles and PlayStation Portal. PS Plus Extra subscribers got upgraded at no extra cost.
Cyberpunk 2077, Horizon Forbidden West, Ghost of Tsushima, Final Fantasy 15 and Hogwarts Legacy are all part of the catalog. Games you own can also be streamed without downloading them first, including Crimson Desert, Grand Theft Auto 5 and Ghost of Yōtei.