Microsoft kept things small and relatively indie with the Games With Gold offerings for the month of May. From an unassuming RPG set during Halloween to a fast-paced defense simulator and a longstanding casual puzzler, they’ve gathered together a low-key batch of sequels and old favorites that strays from blockbuster fare. It’s not a flashy or particularly noteworthy collection, sure, but there’s a bit of outside-the-box consideration to the selected titles that’s worth some appreciation.

Xbox One

Defense Grid 2 (May 1-31)

Hidden Path Entertainment leads the charge with a follow-up to their triumphant entry into the isometric tower-defense genre, Defense Grid, which boasts a hefty campaign built around a futuristic environment where the player guards structures from waves of alien intruders. DG2 aims to preserve the tactical experience  from the original game while expanding upon the combat’s strategic depth and amplifying the visual presentation, adding online multiplayer functionality and the ability for the players to construct their own levels.   Despite claims that this is more of a refinement of the original than a new benchmark for the tower-defense genre, the general consensus is that DG2 stands firm as a solid successor and worth taking on.

Costume Quest 2 (May 16-June 15)

The minds over at Double Fine discovered a charming and surprisingly polished formula with the first Costume Quest, combining an interactive turn-based combat system with a delightful story built around kids trick-or-treating on Halloween. Understanding these strengths, the developers concentrate on keeping on with the combat and furthering the quirky tale of twins Reynold and Wren for the sequel, who must save Halloween this year from Dr. Orel White and a horde of dental hygiene-obsessed baddies. Similar in length, in personality, and in role-playing depth to its predecessor, Costume Quest 2 once again wins over its audience with Double Fine’s brand of cheeky writing and accessible gameplay.

Sunset Overdrive (April 16-May 15)

Don’t forget that the hyper-caffeinated sandbox game from Insomniac will still be available to download until May 15th.  Sunset Overdrive centers on a FizzCo employee who’s thrown into the chaos of Sunset City, a coastal metropolis overtaken by monsters created by the toxic energy drink produced by their former employer.  After choosing either a male or female character and customizing their looks, the player unleashed mayhem on the city by way of bizarre makeshift weaponry — a gun that fires records, an automatic fireworks cannon,  an exploding teddy-bear launcher — and rapid movement along rails, wires, and other edges worthy of grinding on throughout the metro area. Zany, self-referential humor that often breaks the fourth wall collides with an incredibly silly but entertaining plot, making Sunset Overdrive a blast of an experience whose strength lies in how not-seriously it takes itself.

Xbox 360

Grid 2 (May 1-15)

Grid surprised a lot of folks with exactly how much fun it could deliver within its arcade-style racing, making the most of a limited selection of cars by sending them flying and drifting along with minimal customization and maximum excitement.   Codemasters’ sequel doesn’t seem to have garnered the same kind of reception,  lacking the noteworthy vigor of its predecessor and coping with some repetitiveness. A bountiful new roster of vehicles and licensed tracks from around the world can be tackled with the racing game’s finely-tuned controls, though.

Peggle (May 16-31)

And then, there’s Peggle. Somewhere between a pachinko machine, a pinball cabinet, and the ping-ponging casino level from Sonic the Hedgehog 2, this laid-back puzzle game from PopCap Games finds the player enrolled at the Peggle Institute, where they then drop metallic balls from underneath a unicorn’s head onto an assortment of red and blue obstacle orbs.  Even amounts of aiming strategy and pure luck make for a brightly-colored, amusing distraction.

Xbox Playing Defense, Trick-or-Treating With May’s Games With Gold

Sony’s lineup of free games for PlayStation Plus subscribers in May is a case of The Fast and The Familiar, including a pair of racers for the PS4 and nothing but sequels and/or remakes across the board. While those with Vitas will enjoy another journey into the realm of Kratos this month, if they haven’t already, the current-gen crowd will be tinkering with a mobile port, a brand-new mini racing game, and the fifth entry in a long-running construction simulator franchise.  Let’s hit the pedal to the metal and get into what Sony has to offer across their platforms.

Atomicom

PS4

Switch Galaxy Ultra

Reminiscent of classic futuristic racers like F-Zero and Wipeout, Switch Galaxy Ultra is an updated version of the game’s PSMobile release built for the PS4 and PSVita.  It adds spruced up graphics, music, and levels to the fast-paced rail racing action, alongside a comic-paneled story mode about a roguish pilot harvesting Tantalum throughout the galaxy.  While the narrative received generally subpar marks and some consider the track obstacles to be more frustrating than fun, there seems to be enough exhilaration in the racing itself give this new Switch Galaxy a spin.  This title is also available for download on the Vita.

Table Top Racing: World Tour

Using photo-realistic graphics of customized mini-cars similar to Micro Machines and small-scale tracks on which they do battle, this sequel to the fairly well-received Table Top Racing includes both offline challenges for its 20 tracks and online multiplayer racing.  Hoping to be a community builder similar to Rocket League, World Tour was released on May 3rd on the PSN.

Tropico 5

Kalypso Media and Haemimont Games team up once again for another installment in the Tropico series, but they’ve taken strides to renovate their construction simulation formula with Tropica 5.  This time, the reign of “El Presidente” spans across four different time periods — from colonization on the focal island to the modern era — and features overhauled aesthetics and tweaked customization of its strategic growth components.  It was divisive among fans of the series, receiving a lukewarm response to the adjustments in the mechanics and difficulty, but that’s common among the strategy simulator genre.

Ready At Dawn

PS Vita

God of War: Ghosts of Sparta

The chaos of the God of War series eventually made its way to the PSP with Chains of Olympus, proving that Ready At Dawn wouldn’t miss a beat in translating the fast-moving, vivid gameplay and storytelling to the smaller screen. Ghosts of Sparta, the second to arrive on Sony’s portable devices, follows that lead in crafting yet another intense experience through this alternate version of Greek mythology. A midquel set between the events of the first and second God of War games, it features Kratos on a journey to discover his roots and find his brother, Deimos, which sends the chalky, red-striped hero and his whirling blades through Atlantis and into the Domain of Death.  Receiving similarly stellar marks for both the brutal combat and the mythical storytelling, there’s little reason not to grab the handles and start swinging and yelling at creatures of yore once again.

Fatshark

PS3

Bionic Commando: Rearmed 2

Swedish developer Fatshark answered the call to build Bionic Commando: Rearmed 2, the sequel to 2008’s well-received side-scrolling platformer. Nathan Spencer and his versatile bionic arm charge into action with a crew of other soldiers to locate Colonel Brubaker, a commander from Spencer’s organization gone missing while on a mission to ease tensions with a dictator, General Sabio, who’s threatening to launch missiles. It’s a slightly polarizing follow-up due to a quirky redesign of the lead character and some shakeups in the “evolved” gameplay, but Rearmed 2 retains the retro feel of the first entry for those after a similar experience.

LocoRoco Cocoreccho

Sony’s Japan Studio released this installment of the LocoRoco franchise for the PS3 in 2007, where the player takes control of a butterfly as it flutters through a collage of moving graphical backgrounds while leading the LocoRoco beings throughout the levels.  The effortless gameplay, bright colors, and short playtime fit into a niche somewhere between a simple platforming game and an interactive pastime that’s suitable for younger audiences.

PlayStation Speeding Through May with Free PS+ Sequels