Upcoming Games: A Magnificent May

May sees some major releases for the year, like Paradox’s Foundry, Warner Bros Multiversus and Xbox’s Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 marking a return of First Party titles for that group. And as usual, we’ve got a host of incredible indies launching this month like Indika, Animal Well, the highly anticipated Homeworld 3 and more.
It’s a great month for releases of all kinds, so let’s take a look chronologically through the month to see what catches your eye!

Foundry

Developer: Channel 3 Games
Publisher: Paradox Interactive
Platforms: PC
Release Date: 02/05/24

Launching in Early Access, Foundry is a Paradox published answer to Satisfactory - building the biggest factory you can in a procedurally generated voxel world, working your way up the tech tree while keeping the lights on (literally) as you automate and innovate.

Its got all the genre conventions you’d expect, but what Channel 3 are specifically offering here as a change is that the world is, like Factorio, fully procedurally generated each time and is fully modifiable by players. See that mountain full of resources? Your friend won’t have it on their map, but if you don’t want it on yours you can just remove it. Plus while they recommend you play with 2-4 players for the best experience, there’s currently no upper limit bar the game crashing.

And while Paradox published has become a label to be wary of, Foundry might avoid that problem as it has actually been in development for a while already, with players on itch.io helping the devs refine and build on their aims for two years, before they were picked up for publishing by Paradox.

Will this be the Paradox game that breaks the curse of the last while? Considering everything else around it has now been massively delayed multiple times, everyone will likely be hoping so.

Abiotic Factor

Developer: Deep Field Games
Publisher: Playstack
Platforms: PC
Release Date: 02/05/24

What if Half Life (1) was set in Australia, and was actually a survival crafting game about descending into the depths of a research facility that’s lost control of its specimens?
You’d get Abiotic Factor, which wears its influences on its labcoat proudly, even down to graphics that emulate classic chunky 1997 character models.
There was a containment breach, there’s extradimensional invaders and the military are trying to kill everybody. Fortunately, you and up to five friends have more than a crowbar to solve problems with. Instead, you each make a custom character with zomboid style specialities, then you need to scavenge your way through the facility, upgrading and building as you go.

The Next Fest demo did fairly well, and there’s something very immediately distinct about a survival game where you’re scavenging tape and plastic inside a cafeteria, rather than punching trees and rocks again. This will be an Early Access launch, so go in with caution, but this is one to keep an eye on if you want a different kind of survival game than the norm.

Indika

Developer: Odd Meter
Publisher: 11 Bit Studios
Platforms: PC/Xbox/PlayStation
Release Date: 02/05/24 (PC), May (Consoles)

Adventure games come in all shapes and sizes, but I can’t remember the last time one asked the player to go on a journey of self discovery as a Nun, travelling through a warped version of Russia with only the Devil as her travelling companion and conscience. Indika is a bit of a trip that way.

From a team who’ve recently left Russia and the publishers of This War of Mine and Frostpunk, Indika is a game that wants to blend that regions literary traditions of comedy, tragedy and absurdity while offering players a novel and unique narrative experience.

Saying that though, the demo was rough in terms of performance and puzzle design, so caution for launch is probably key but in terms of narrative, there’s really nothing else trying to do the same thing right now.
Hopefully the full release matches up to that potential.

V Rising (From Early Access)

Developer: Stunlock Studios
Publisher: Stunlock Studios
Platforms: PC
Release Date: 08/05/24

After a year of Early Access that’s been incredibly successful - you already know whether you’re on board for isometric vampire survival game V Rising. But if you’ve been on the fence - then this might be the perfect time to jump in. A progress wipe will restore everyone back to the same level playing field, while overhauls to combat, lighting and a suite of QoL features will mean even experienced players will have new gameplay to learn.

Plus, it’ll be releasing fully on consoles too - with full controller support reworked for PC too. And to go with that combat, three new options for difficulty allow veteran players to spice up the challenge plus a new endgame for all players in the form of the arrival of Dracula - as well as a collaboration with Konami in the arrival of Castlevania’s Simon Belmont as yet another challenge - so this looks like it’ll be a very healthy launch for an already strong title.

Animal Well

Developer: Shared Memory
Publisher: Bigmode
Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Switch
Release Date: 09/05/24

Possibly one of the most stunning looking MetroidVanias to date, Animal Well will finally be coming out more than two years after its first reveal. Seven years in development by a solo dev and originally picked up as a showcase indie by PlayStation, the anticipated indie was later chosen as the first title in YouTube funny man Dunkey’s publishing label, Bigmode.

The latter’s promise of only publishing good games seems like it might be off to a good start, with a pixelized CRT aesthetic being enhanced via some truly impressive lighting effects. But Animal Well’s real draw might be the ethereal and spooky vibes coming from its ghostly antagonists - and the promise of so many secrets to explore that even dataminers won’t have them all.

Crow Country

Developer: SFB Games
Publisher: SFB Games
Platforms: Steam, Xbox, PlayStation
Release Date: 09/05/24

Capcom has been working hard to revamp and modernise their survival horror series in Resident Evil - but what if you want something that gives you the same feeling you did back on the PSX? Even down to the doll like graphics.

Crow Country has you covered. Set in an abandoned theme park in the 90s, this is a game that loves classic Resident Evil conventions like a health meter, inventory management and item based puzzling. If you missed fixed camera survival horror games and the option for tank controls, this is the one for you.

Crow’s coolest feature though is its most recently announced one. Love the aesthetic and horror based puzzles but not as much of a fan of the survival horror management and shooting? Then the exploration mode is the one for you - all vibes, no vicious monsters. Just a horrific theme park to explore, puzzles to solve and a mystery to unpick.

Little Kitty Big City

Developer: Double Dagger Studio
Publisher: Double Dagger Studio
Platforms: PC, Xbox, Switch
Release Date: 09/05/24

It’s going to be hard to not make comparisons to Stray as another indie game offers you the chance to wander round a city with an East-Asian aesthetic as a cat - but Little Kitty, Big City is going to try to standout by giving you a playground of mechanics to work with.

You’ll be platforming, solving puzzles to reach new areas and interacting with the citizens of the Big City as you help them (or hinder them) in order to get home. In terms of theme, the best comparison here might be something like Untitled Goose Game - with a sense of mischief being key to understanding just what’s so appealing about this game.

1000X Resist

Developer: sunset visitor 斜陽過客
Publisher: Fellow Traveller
Platforms: PC, Switch
Release Date: 09/05/24

There really might be nothing like 1000X Resist - a game which promises first person, third person and visual novel adventure gameplay in a mind bending puzzler.

To try and sum it up briefly, 1000X Resist is a game where following the fall of humanity to alien disease, and the rise of a clone species from the only survivor, the protagonist, The Watcher, attempts to review the 1000 year history of their species from the memories of that immortal Allmother.

Which is the setting, not the plot. The Plot is that the Allmother has been lying to her children - and only you can pick through her memories to find the connections and uncover the truth of the last 1000 years.

This is a deeply personal game that’s come from the team’s tradition of theatre being disrupted by the pandemic, and is about exploring not just the mystery of what’s happened - but trying to get at the heart of characters and societies formed in extreme circumstances.
It’s a hell of a swing narratively - let’s hope it lands with audiences.

Homeworld 3

Developer: Blackbird Interactive
Publisher: Gearbox Publishing
Platforms: PC
Release Date: 13/05/24

Gearbox haven’t been the worst steward of Homeworld since purchasing the rights in 2013, with the Remastered Collection and prequel Deserts of Kharak being both well received. But they weren’t a new entry in the venerable sci-fi fleet combat series, and it’s taken a while to get there.

Originally planned for a release in 2022 after being announced in 2017, and suffering four separate delays - Homeworld 3 is finally looking like it will release on the 13th May.

Original Relic staff have been attached to the sequel at Blackbird Interactive since its announcement, so there’s continuity in the developer suite - and gameplay wise it seems like this is doubling down on what people already loved. 3D spatial combat with realistic ballistics are what made the series beloved, and that’s just being enhanced with 3D space stations and megastructures adding new complexity to battles. And of course, while PvP will be present, Homeworld 3 will continue the campaign narratives of the originals while also offering a new three player co-op roguelike mode to challenge fleet commanders.

As a caveat though, its worth remembering the last delay came as a result of feedback and criticism from the Steam Next Fest Demo - so this might be a case of another strategy franchise coming in a little hot.

The Rogue Prince of Persia (Early Access)

Developer: Evil Empire
Publisher: Ubisoft
Platforms: PC
Release Date: 14/05/24

You wait so many years for a Prince of Persia game, and then two come along at once. Fresh off the critical darling of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Ubisoft are doing something a little different for The Rogue Prince of Persia. As the name suggests, this is less MetroidVania, more roguelite and Ubisoft have partnered with an indie team famed for delivering on that genre. Evil Empire were the studio that built the legacy of Dead Cells, crafting almost all the post launch content after splitting from original creators Motion Twin. As such, this is a perfect combination - a franchise known for excellent platforming and stylish combat being worked on by people who know how to make engaging non linear stories and deeply satisfying roguelite progression.

As an added bonus, this will be skipping both UPlay and the Epic Games store exclusivity that Ubisoft games have had, instead Early Access on Steam returns as the delivery method of choice for Evil Empire.

Ghost of Tsushima Directors Cut (PC)

Developer: Sucker Punch Productions, Nixxes Software
Publisher: PlayStation
Platforms: PC
Release Date: 16/05/24

Another entry in the PlayStation game on PC genre - at this point you know what to expect. Sucker Punch’s hit samurai game Ghost of Tsushima will be on PC from the 16th, bringing all of the Kurosawa inspired action to gamers on that platform. And with Nixxes as the porting studio, we can expect things to usually go pretty well performance and options wise.

But there is one additional note here, this will be the first PC game from Sony to bring their PlayStation account system to PC, meaning crossplay, trophies, friends lists and more. The trade off is that you’ll have to login in order to access the multiplayer legends mode. Expect this as standard going forwards, as PlayStation lock down their plans for a multi-platform future.

Norland

Developer: Long Jaunt
Publisher: Hooded Horse
Platforms: PC
Release Date: 16/05/24

Yet another Hooded Horse strategy game release - and this one’s influences are clear to see. Part Crusader Kings, Part RimWorld - Norland is trying to blend both in a smaller scale grand strategy game that also gives you the micromanagement of a colony sim.

Players will directly control and influence the members of their noble family - developing their skills and building the kingdom on diplomacy and learning as they interact with the other kingdoms of the realm. But they’ll also indirectly be managing their peasants, attempting to keep them happy and busy - lest they start getting out their pitchforks and torches.

There’s plenty to like here, and it’s a niche that hasn’t quite been settled yet - so let’s hope this is Hooded Horse’s talent for picking quality games coming through again.

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes

Developer: Simogo
Publisher: Annapurna Interactive
Platforms: PC, Switch
Release Date: 16/05/24

From Simogo, the people that brought you the incredibly beloved puzzle rhythm game/playable album Sayonara Wild Hearts - Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is a charmingly named new puzzle game.
It’s a third person puzzle adventure game, where players take on the role of a woman in an old central European hotel, trying to unpick the mysteries within. Mysteries which can be solved in any order - with 150 non linear puzzles to find and navigate.

The trailers have shown off chunky dial and number pad interactions as well as navigating through in game computer file systems, so this seems like it’s going to be a slow burn mystery for players to pick through. The team at Simogo are keen to stress that’s the point though, with the hope that players will feel a constant sense of unease and absurdity as they navigate the secrets of the hotel.

Songs of Conquest

Developer: Lavapotion
Publisher: Coffee Stain Publishing
Platforms: PC
Release Date: 20/05/24

They don’t make games that look like Songs of Conquest any more - not least because the last Heroes of Might and Magic title was in 2015. Songs of Conquest wants to bring together the triple threat of kingdom management, RPG mechanics and tactical combat for a throwback strategy game that has already found a firm audience on Steam.

Two years in Early Access has left the team with great confidence in their game to date, meaning that the 1.0 launch will instead be a capstone on everything so far. Developer Lavapotion will be adding their fourth campaign to the game, closing out the narrative they started with Early Access - but setting up for the next one. And when the game comes with its own multiplayer suite and a level editor for folks to experiment with, this is a game that’s going to have legs for a long time still.

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2

Developer: Ninja Theory
Publisher: Xbox
Platforms: PC, Xbox
Release Date: 21/05/24

In terms of graphical and audio fidelity - there really is no one reaching the heights that Ninja Theory do with the Hellblade series. Senua’s Sacrifice pushed boundaries with their binaural audio to replicate the titular character’s psychosis, and it looks like the sequel will be trying to do much the same.

Utterly stunning photorealistic visuals and even more care given to the storytelling bodes well as players navigate a Viking Iceland filled with new threats, even more supernatural horror and a combat system that’s as visceral as anything Ninja Theory have done before.

Obviously this is the start of Xbox’s big year for first party releases, so they’ll be hoping that this one resonates with audiences on all platforms.

Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door

Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Platforms: Switch
Release Date: 22/05/24

Another month with no Switch 2 news and another month where Nintendo roll out a remake of a classic title to entertain fans. Credit where it’s due though, this looks like it’s a significant update in terms of presentation and even a more faithful translation than the original version that reached the West. And while it may only run at 30FPS - it’s a stylised tactical RPG so players will probably survive.

Who knows, maybe if there’s enough interest in these Paper Mario remakes we might even get an actual RPG follow-up to Origami King in future, rather than another gimmick title like Sticker Star or Colour Splash.

Star Trek Resurgence (Steam)

Developer: Dramatic Labs
Publisher: Bruner House
Platforms: PC, PS5
Release Date: 23/05/24

Escaping from the Epic Games Store, and boldly going to Steam, Star Trek Resurgence is a Telltale style adventure from Dramatic Labs, (itself comprised of former Telltale Devs) that sees players step into the uniform of Starfleet officers shortly after the events of DS9 - and just sets out to have players exist in that world.

Effectively this is you playing out an arc of the show - complete with away missions, political negotiations, bridge emergencies and more. Thanks to it already being out - we know the score on this one. It’s a perfectly middling adventure game, but one that uses the license perfectly, creating a game that some have referred to as the best Star Trek game since the 90s.

Until Then

Developer: Polychroma Games
Publisher: Maximum Entertainment
Platforms: Steam, PlayStation
Release Date: 23/05/24

You know you’re in for a treat with a visual novel when it starts blending minigames into the gorgeously rendered narrative seamlessly.
Until Then opens with the player repeatedly trying to wake the protagonist by beeping an alarm with button presses - until they eventually can’t stand it any more and batter the clock. And that’s just the very beginning of a game that seamlessly blends multiple forms of storytelling via dialogue, social media logs and more with writing that feels true to the setting and earnest to the player.

Players will follow Mark Borja and his friends as they make their way through their last year of high school in a world reeling from natural disasters - and then start to uncover the mysteries of why there are parts of Mark’s life and history that just don’t make any sense. This is Polychroma Games first published title and by the looks of it, they’ve managed to make something truly special right off the bat.

Duck Detective: The Secret Salami

Developer: Happy Broccoli Games
Publisher: Happy Broccoli Games
Platforms: Steam, Switch
Release Date: 23/05/24

Duck Detective: The Secret Salami is part of a growing tradition - detective games based around matching clues in the environment to fill in the blanks of a wider mystery.

Think Return of the Obra Dinn or last year’s hit, Case of the Golden Idol, but instead imagine everything was a Cartoon 2D cut out in a colourful world and you were instead playing a Noir Detective who just happens to be a duck with a bread habit so bad your wife left you.

Duck Detective is absurd but it thrives on that absurdity because it’s playing everything about its setting and mysteries completely earnestly. The VO is worthy of the broadest Noir protagonist, which contrasts perfectly with a world where the darkest crime you’re solving is a missing lunch in an office. This is a game designed to be a short, sweet, 3 hour adventure with full voice acting - exactly the kind of focussed, meaningful game that we love to see.

Multiversus

Developer: Player First Games
Publisher: Warner Bros. Games
Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Xbox
Release Date: 28/05/24

Somehow Multiversus returned. After launching in Beta and then unlaunching from Beta - the crossover fighting game from Warner Bros will be coming back this month. The rationale given for its departure was that the team at Player First Games couldn’t make the significant overhauls to the core game that they wanted while it remained live.

Judging by their comments on what’s changed, that might be the case?
Rollback Netcode, improved readability, new mechanics like dashes and parries for all characters, as well as complete reworks to their existing kit. Plus, when it returns, the live service monetisation should at least include premium currency on the battle pass.

Time will tell whether the overhaul will make up for players losing the game for nearly a year - or whether that’s all folks.

Selaco

Developer: Altered Orbit Studios
Publisher: Altered Orbit Studios
Platforms: PC
Release Date: 31/05/24

Built in GZDoom - Selaco has been one of the bright sparks of the Boomer Shooter space of the last few years. Set in the underground facility that houses the last vestiges of humanity - security officer Dawn will have to contend with the mysteries that led to their situation as well as an outside invasion threatening her home.

How will she do that? Some big guns that interact completely with the environment and let you absolutely destroy everything around you - meaning when you finish a level you get to look around at the carnage you’ve wrought to get there.

Add to that a challenging enemy AI inspired by the best in class FEAR series as well as a full narrative campaign and you’ve got a Boomer Shooter that should go beyond recapturing nostalgia and into a meaningful experience all of its own.