Honestly, the past few months of covering new video game releases have been a struggle. From the impacts of development due to the pandemic to the relative “dead time” a few months after the release of new consoles, the early portion of 2021 saw a noticeably low number of heavy-hitting games and ended up being better suited for catching up on older titles. For the most part, leading into the hot months of summer, that changes with the release calendar put forth in May. From a long-awaited – and recently quite heavily memed – new installment in a beloved horror franchise to a delayed, yet anticipated science-fiction action game and a premium remastering of one of the most celebrated trilogies ever created, there’s a lot of firepower in this month’s lineup. Let’s get into it.

Resident Evil: Village – May 7 (PS4/5; Xbox O/S/X; Stadia; PC)

Excitement levels for the Resident Evil franchise took a hit after the release of RE6, which steers the franchise away from being focused on terror and more into the vigor of the action-horror subgenre.  Then, the combo of RE7 and the remakes of Resident Evil 2 and 3 showed that their design philosophy had returned closer to the spectrum of horror, striking a satisfying balance between shooter intensity, genuine scares, and reverence for the franchise. The success in those titles make it easier to get fired up about future installments … which is good, because this one’s a doozy.

Resident Evil 8, code-named Village, takes some cues from the enduringly popular setup of the fourth game by dropping returning character Ethan Winters near a township within the boundaries of Transylvania. There, on an emotional rescue mission, he encounters the various monstrous denizens of the village, notably the tall and imposing vampire-ish ruler Lady Dimitrescu who has taken the internet by storm. While RE8 does stay locked the first-person perspective and removed from the familiar zombie ambience, the isolation and inventory aspects look to Resident Evil 4 for heavy inspiration.

Get Resident Evil: Village on Amazon

Hood: Outlaws and Legends – May 10 (PS4/5; XBOX O/S/X; PC)

Frequently depicted in a hood and sporting an iconic bow and arrow, the character of Robin Hood possesses traits that have already become recognizable on popular video-game characters. While the hood can be seen as a signature element of Assassin’s Creed and the archery aspects found in the likes of Tomb Raider and The Last of Us, the combo befits another semi-popular video game character: Garrett of the Thief series, a close shadow of the legendary character. Between all that, it’s relatively understandable why we haven’t really seen a dedicated Robin Hood video game in the current era.

Striking while there’s a lull in all those franchises, Hood: Outlaws and Legends hopes to fill the void both of the stealth genre and of the absence of a game centered on the mythology of the character. This is a budget, online-only multiplayer title with a narrower focus, though, pitting foursomes of characters from that storyline against each other in a battle and race to pilfer goods from a fortified point before the other. Gameplay appears to be a tight hybrid of others from the stealth genre, and there’s something to be said for the game’s dependence on team-based coordination for the “merry men” to succeed.

Get Hood: Outlaws and Legends

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition – May 14 (PS4; Xbox One; PC)

It’s been almost a decade since the Mass Effect trilogy came to a thrilling, polarizing conclusion. Despite the passage of time – and despite the release of the “flawed, yet exhilarating journey” that is Andromeda — it doesn’t seem like the enthusiasm of its fans has faded much at all, which can be seen each time even a mild hint surfaced about a remastered edition of the original Mass Effect games. When it was finally confirmed that a new edition would be making the jump to newer consoles, the response was predictably charged up, even when it was unclear what exactly the Legendary Edition would be.

To be fair, we still don’t fully know exactly what the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition will be, except on the surface.  Comparison footage reveals it to be a handsome upcycling of the original atmospheric visuals, improved just enough to be impressive yet not too much to make any of the games feel like different experiences, as they aren’t remakes. In terms of gameplay …? Well, that remains to be seen, as the original game has at the very least been low-level overhauled in terms of the shooting/cover controls and driving around in the iconic vehicle, the Mako. BioWare’s never short for surprises, so it’s anyone’s guess what’ll be at the other end, except they’ve insisted that fans will still feel at home in this Mass Effect.

Get Mass Effect: Legendary Edition at Amazon

Subnautica: Below Zero – May 14 (PS4,5; Xbox O,S,X; Switch; PC)

While there will always be a desire to explore space and beyond, there’s something to be said for the fact that we’ve only explored about 1/5 of the oceans on Earth, concealing plenty of mysteries. Subnautica took the enigmatic appeal of exploring other planets and oceanic depths and merged them to the fullest extent, dropping the player into the depths of water planet 4546B and forcing them to survive with advanced navigation and scuba equipment. While the discovery and immersion are easy targets for compliments in Subnautica, players often talk about being surprised by how scary it can be.

Subnautica: Below Zero hopes to capture the same sense of wonder and anxiety, but in some new and versatile ways. Taking place a year after the events of the first game, this one finds the player crashed in an even less hospitable portion of 4546B, introducing temperature gauges and extensive land aspects. Players still have the freedom to customize their Subnautica experience, though, as they can again choose from survival, freedom, and hardcore modes to fit the engulfing experience they’re hoping to have.

Get Subnautica: Below Zero at Amazon

Biomutant – May 25 (PS4; Xbox One; PC)

Early rumblings about Biomutant had it pegged as possibly being one of the more unique, trailblazing games to come out in the early years of last-gen consoles. Mostly, that boiled down to the customizations that the open-world adventure game would bequeath to the player, allowing them to create wild mammalian characters that must be mutated and manually modified in specific ways to reach unique locations and achieve goals. From a daylight/weather system to transport vehicles and deviations in the story path based on choices, the game has been propped up as having tons of potential with its freedom and responsiveness.

Then, Biomutant just drops off the grid, offering little in terms of updates and no concrete release dates for quite a while. And now, we’re in the early stages of the next generation of consoles, and Experiment 101 will finally be releasing their once hotly-anticipated debut at the end of May.  To their luck, there hasn’t been much advancement in the nature of open-world games since the peak of its hype – save the masterpiece that is the shark-RPG Maneater, of course – and if they’re able to deliver on their premise and potential, Biomutant could still leave a fresh impression on the sandbox subgenre.

Get Biomutant at Amazon

At the tail end of the month, on May 25, folks worldwide will also finally be able to get their hands on the delightful HD remastering of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne released in Japan earlier this year. On the same day, Capcom will be delivering their own retro collection with Capcom Arcade Stadium, which packages together several noteworthy games from their history, including a trio of the most popular installments in the Street Fighter franchise (original SFII, SFII Turbo: Hyper Fighting, SSFII Turbo). Also on May 25, Switch users will finally be able to see what the fuss is all about with Maneater, while the Switch, the other consoles and PC will be able to hit the high seas in another way with King of Seas, an attempt at more evenly balancing the action and management aspects of a pirate simulator.

May’s New Video Game Titles Effective at Giving Life to 2021

So right now, the world’s being impacted by, y’know, that little-known pandemic that’s leaving just about anything and everything subject to delays or cancellations, from tax day and the Olympics to the release of movies and video games. In such a state of uncertainty, it’s possibly now more important than ever to have escapes from the real world that, well, don’t involve leaving the house.  While the future of other heavy-hitter games slated to come out later this year has come into question, the excitement of April’s big releases hasn’t been impacted much at all, starting what should’ve been the escalation of noteworthy titles getting released before the next-gen PlayStation and Xbox consoles hit shelves later in the year. Yes, luckily, all this hasn’t stopped players from being able to return to Midgar or Raccoon City this month, so let’s dive in.

Order Resident Evil 3 at Amazon          Order the FF7 Remake at Amazon

Resident Evil 3 — April 3

Remakes tend to get the attention they deserve if they’re treated with care and, in some way, respect the original games from which they were developed. They’re very rarely considered in the running for the best games of their given year, though, perhaps because they are remakes and aren’t considered original pieces of work.  Resident Evil 2 broke from that last year, transforming the classic survival horror game into a modernized, intense third-person shooting experience that raked in plenty of end-of-the-year accolades, and Capcom hopes to do the same thing again with Resident Evil 3.  Remodeling series favorite Jill Valentine’s story of tearing through Raccoon City, this iteration gives the character an aesthetic overhaul edges her closer to the appearance of a hardened, capable survivor, then tosses her in equally tense and vigorous third-person shooting horror layouts to those from the RE2 remake.

Final Fantasy VII: The Remake (Part 1?) — April 10

Well, it’s finally here. Demand for some version of a remake of the legendary RPG Final Fantasy 7 – either a visual remastering or an actual gameplay overhaul with the narrative intact — has almost as long and storied of a history as the need for Half-Life 3. Despite being teased over a decade and a half prior, in the PS2 era, the folks at Square Enix have been hesitant to follow through with what’s clearly something a lot of people have wanted … likely because there’s such a wide range of opinions about what people actually wanted. They’ve thrown caution to the wind and went down the path of the “full remake”: combat has been altered into a more fluid action-based design, character models and environment layouts have been drastically updated, and everything else has essentially been rebuilt from the ground up with very careful awareness of the familiar, nostalgic touches that fans love.  That overhauling, unfortunately, also includes the story structure of Final Fantasy VII, as it has been padded out with new content and sliced up into episodes, with this being only the first chunk of the known story expanded into several dozen hours.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York — April 15

In a time where “choice and consequence” has become a buzz phrase revolving around contemporary action RPGs (Witcher, Mass Effect/Dragon Age, Deux Ex, now Assassin’s Creed), the PC game Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines has maintained robust popularity with a niche, yet passionate fanbase. After the player creates their character in that one, choices made throughout the plot that’s transpiring in its gothic take on Los Angeles heavily dictates the outcome. That game’s responsiveness to divergent storytelling has become a model that RPG enthusiasts point to when others don’t meet expectations, and luckily Bloodlines 2 is finally on the way some time in 2020 … hopefully.  Until then, fans on the Xbox One will now be able to get a taste of the World of Darkness in Coteries of New York, essentially a visual novel set in that world that’s interested in the choices and diverging plot threads of its precursors.

Order Gears Tactics from Microsoft          Order COD:MW2 at PS Store

Gears Tactics — April 28

Funnily enough, the Final Fantasy franchise taught me never to underestimate spinoffs with the word “tactics” in its title. If the gameplay’s executed well enough, then a tactical game using familiar weapons, gear, and lore from an established franchise can be highly satisfying as an alternate way of enjoying the universe. Whether the intensity of an apocalyptic third-person cover shooter can be distilled in such an environment remains to be seen, but Gears Tactics will be giving it the old college try.  Similar in feel to the XCOM series of games, the turn-based gameplay transpires within a prequel to the first Gears of War game, featuring the father of the most recent game’s protagonist and COG soldier, Gabe Diaz.  A wide range of movement across the top-down combat spaces and a hefty amount of customization for the soldiers themselves aim to take Gears Tactics a step above their contemporaries..

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered — March 31/April 30

This is one of those times where little more than the title of this game really needs to be mentioned, both to emphasize why it’s noteworthy and where its weaknesses lie. While the original Modern Warfare may have put the franchise on the map as a household name, both due to its campaign and its rampant multiplayer experience, the refinements and improvements put into motion with the sequel, COD: Modern Warfare 2, has frequently earned it accolades for being “the best shooter ever” … some even saying it’s the best game ever, period. While that’s a topic for the hardcore fans of the franchise out there to suss out, there’s no denying its legacy and the experiences many gamers had with the game, which Infinity Ward hopes to replicate with this remastered edition.  As the title indicates, this only remakes the campaign and does not contain the multiplayer mode so beloved by its fanbase, though it does include a few extra goodies that unlock in other Call of Duty games if owned.  It’s available now on PlayStation and for Xbox and PC at the end of the month.

A few other games of note are emerging in April, notably on the 24^th with the multiplayer themed shooter Predator: Hunting Grounds and SquareEnix’s graciously cross-platform remake of Trials of Mana, but one can understand why other games are distancing from Resident Evil and FF7 in April.

April’s Video Games Ain’t Fooling With Remakes of Final Fantasy, Resident Evil

In a way, when it comes to video game output, years like 2019 are the ones I prefer. Instead of there being a small cluster of big standout video game releases whose dominant presence drown out almost anything else to come out during that period, we’ve had a wide array of very solid, satisfying games that both tap into nostalgia and blaze new trails in the format. Shooter fans have new installments in popular franchises to scratch that itch; survival horror devotees have a unique variety to choose from; and there’s a new game from RP gamemaster Obsidian. Perhaps there are fewer near-flawless, masterwork caliber releases so far, but there’s quality in volume here, and certainly worth indulging in over the holidays both for oneself and to give to others.

Below, we’ve gathered together over a dozen of the assorted titles that have impressed across this year and will likely impress once their release rolls around. Be sure to head over to Bens’s Bargains Hardware Guide to figure out which of the below games have been paired with consoles in easy-to-wrap bundles.

Gifts for the Wasteland Wanderers

Those who get wrapped up in traversing the expanses of futuristic frontiers rife with lots of loot will have a pair of titles, each different in their own ways, that are guaranteed to capture their attention.

Gifts for Those Into Something Different

At times, it’s a little difficult to find truly distinctive games among the heavy hitter AAA titles. Whether it’s the style and tone of storytelling or the adventurousness of gameplay mechanic ideas, the pair of games below deserve to be celebrated for the risks they take for the sake of inventiveness.

Gifts for The Sharpshooters

“Gradually, I drifted off to sleep, pringing ducks on the wing and getting off spectacular hip shots.”

Here are those must-buy games for the adult Ralphie in your life.

Gifts for the Horror Fiend

Not everybody’s into the joyful spirit of the holiday season; also, plenty of people who love the holiday season’s delight also appreciate just as many scares in their lives.  Here’s a couple of treats to offer those who like a few goosebumps and screams amid the merriment.

Gifts for the Exclusive Hunter

Arguments still ensue every year over which system has the best exclusive titles, but I’d like to think that the discussion has changed a bit from bickering to more civilized decision-making processes. The titles below might be worthy enough of a heated discussion, though.

Gifts for [E]verybody

Don’t be scared to give these to the horror aficionado in your life as a holiday gift, as they both capture distinct and absorbing types of atmosphere that they’re sure to love.  Granted, these might be the games that they’ll shelve until a later period outside the joys of the season, but when the mood strikes, they’ll be glad you thought of their fear factor.

… And Finally, A Gift For Those Who Like Galaxies Far, Far Away

There’s a whole lot overlap between gamers covered in this gift guide that would love to see a Star Wars game done absolutely right.  It’s been a while since that’s happened, as the Knights of the Old Republic games were released on the OG Xbox roughly a decade ago: BioWare’s The Old Republic MMO vacillates in quality year after year; The Force Unleashed series was a fine but fleeting action diversion; and we all know how EA has taken serious heat for the Battlefront series over the past couple of years. In ways, the LEGO Star Wars games are the most safely enjoyable out of ‘em all, and I’m sure folks at LucasFilm, at EA, and all over would like to lift up that reputation. Will this one do it? Possible, it may be.

2019 Gift Guide: Best Video Games For the Holiday Season

While the first official day of summer might not come until June, the month of May traditionally announces the arrival of the hot days, vacations, and resulting free time that hallmark the time of year.  Some immediately venture into the baking sun or dip into the water as soon as they get their time off; others stick to the indoors just to enjoy some much-needed downtime, oftentimes with a console controller in-hand or positioned at a PC.  Between gamers catching up on their backlog of games or having their attention pulled in other directions, it’s a roll of the dice whether it’s a good idea to release a new, big title at the very beginning of the summer, and that’s about where we’re at with the new releases for May.  Despite a little rage and some remake action, it’s a tame — albeit, pretty dark! — month.

Order Rage 2 at Amazon                     Order A Plague Tale at Amazon

May 7

Shakedown: Hawaii

The Saints Row franchise excelled not because it tried to simply emulate contemporary installment in the Grand Theft Auto series, but because it poked fun and outright satirized the genre along the way.  Shakedown: Hawaii attempts to do something quite similar, yet its sights are set on the vintage top-down framework of the OG GTA titles (those acronyms, right?). VBlank may’ve done this first with Retro City Rampage, but the vibrancy and complexity of Shakedown: Hawaii’s open-world map and the characters populating it — more SNES/Genesis in nature than original NES/SEGA — shift things up a few gears. Somewhat amusingly, it’s available on PS4 (and PC and Switch) and not on its big console competitor, almost like those exclusive days of old.  And it’s at a bargain too, for only $20 on the digital networks.

May 14

Rage 2

Known for such smaller, less-influential shooters such as Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake — *nudge, wink* — iD software embarked into the harsh climate of a new franchise with Rage, a post-apocalyptic first-person shooter released under the watchful eye of Bethesda. While the reception to that new experience was somewhat mixed considering the studio’s pedigree, lowered by what seemed like older-school inclinations and competition in the form of Borderlands, there was enough success and interest for Swedish developer Avalanche Studios to take up the mantle and deliver on a sequel, Rage 2. Perhaps their experience with the likes of Just Cause and Mad Max might result in more versatile traversing of the desolate landscape, while seeming content with carrying over many of the combat and customization pillars of the original.  Rage 2 will be hitting the wasteland on Ps4, Xbox One, and PC

A Plague Tale: Innocence

Taking risks with innovation grows more difficult to do in the gaming industry, a realm where titles are either built, tested, and marketed with wide appeal in mind … or squeezed into the indie market if the concept’s a little lower on the scale of desirability. A Plague Tale: Innocence tries to dig into the space between those, utilizing a setting that doesn’t at all seem suited for a videogame: it depicts a pair of siblings struggling to survive the early stages of the Black Plague, as indicated by the title. Adopting a tone not unlike, say, The Last of Us, the game leads the main characters through the rat-infested destitution — and odd beauty — of lands ravaged by obstacles through which the pair must navigate, tapping into atmospheric tension, stealth maneuvering and environmental puzzle-solving in a beautifully-rendered 3D landscape.  A Plague Tale will brave the console landscape on the PS4 and Xbox One.

Order Team Sonic Racing at Amazon                     Download RE4 for Switch

May 21

Team Sonic Racing

Despite whatever claims the developers make to the contrary, it’s clear that the Sonic line of mascot kart racing games have always been designed as a console-wide alternative to Mario Kart.  While that may be the case, it doesn’t mean that the games have necessarily been weaker or watered-down knockoffs, as several titles — namely Sonic & Sega All-Star Racing and Racing Transformed — hold their own as tight, somewhat more reality-bound experiences full of their own exhilaration. Sumo Digital once again hits the pedal to the metal with Team Sonic Racing, and while it appears as if it’s a visually polished updating on the concept, the developer has engineered this entry to be more cooperative and team-based than either the previous Sonic racers or its competition. This isn’t a sequel to Sumo Digital’s prior Sega All Stars racers either, as it’s only centered on the Sonic universe and characters.  Team Sonic Racing will zoom across the finish line on the Xbox One, PS4 and PC, at a bargain price of $40.

Resident Evil 4

Fans of this series have waited a long, long time for Resident Evil 4 to finally get a remastered edition.  Wait, hold on … it’s already been ported and remastered?  Several times, across numerous consoles? Huh. Yep, one of the most frequently re-released games from two generations ago has once again made its way onto another gaming machine, this time, somewhat fittingly, onto the Nintendo Switch.  Sure, it’s hard to ignore that the absence of full third-person shooter movement and the on-the-rails level design does continue to feel more dated each time it hits a new console.  That said, it’s still also incredibly easy to sink your teeth into the tense survival-horror atmosphere, the cinematic attitude, the reflex-heavy combat strategies, and the inventory design – “What’re Ya Buyin’?” – of Leon’s blitz through a zombie-infested cult in order to save the President’s daughter.  Two more of the franchise’s entries released on the Gamecube, Resident Evil and RE:Zero, are also entering the fray on the Switch.

May 28

Among the Sleep: Enhanced Edition

Speaking of taking risks with odd concepts, Krillbite Studio have decided to take their audience into the mind of a slumbering child with Among the Sleep.  A first-person adventure hinged on puzzle-solving and psychological horror, the game allows those playing to take control of a dream-state child as they navigate the terrors of their mind, searching for the child’s mother with the assistance of Teddy, a sentient stuffed-animal companion and rechargeable light source. Among the Sleep has been rated T for Teen, so it would be reasonable not to expect anything too terrifying to come out of shadows and after the child, but the walking space between destinations has been crafted to be immersive and sprawling enough to create a sense of unease about where they are and where they’re headed. Reminiscent of Gone Home or maybe a little bit of Layers of Fear, it’s a mood piece of a walking simulator that’ll hopefully possess the qualities for its niche audience to remember after waking up from the experience. This “enhanced edition” arrives on PS4 and Xbox One, and on the Switch for the first time.

The Nintendo Switch will also be plunging into the remastered edition of Assassin’s Creed III on May 21, as well as into the insanity that goes down in Steelport with Saints Row: The Third on May 10. Episode 3 of Life is Strange 2 will pop up for download on May 9, and for those on the PC, Total War: Three Kingdoms will be entering battle on May 23.

Dark, Desolate Days Ahead for May’s Video Game Releases