6 new game releases I can’t wait to play in May 2024

Even though it’s literally my job to keep up with as many games as possible, even I have a hard time tracking all the games coming out in a given month. May has one heavy-hitter that I’m sure anyone who’s interested in will already have their calendars marked for, but that’s far from the only game release worth being excited about. This month is packed with several games that felt like they were just announced yesterday but are somehow already about to be released.

Planning out your gaming month is the only way to make sure you don’t miss something you’re excited about and end up putting it on your backlog to languish for years. Every month there are hundreds of games coming out now, big and small, so I spent an embarrassingly long time sifting through every known game coming out to hand-pick the ones I think you should be excited about. I tried to get a nice variety of consoles, genres, and sizes here so you can find at least one game that speaks to you.

1 Endless Ocean Luminous

Take the plunge

What better way to kick off the month than with a game all about chilling out and exploring the tranquil waters of the Veiled Sea? This is the third entry in the Endless Ocean series, but each one is completely stand-alone and not even that heavily focused on story anyway. You will play as a scuba diver exploring this fictional sea in order to explore the depths, find new creatures, and document your findings. The trailer states that there will be over 500 species of marine life to find and learn real information about, except for the few mythical creatures that are not actually real. To keep every dive fresh, the game will have some randomly generated elements so you never quite know what you’re diving into. If you want to dive in with friends, the game supports a massive 30 players via the online mode to swim together.

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2 Indika

The devil on your shoulder

How exciting could playing as a nun in a convent possibly be? Well, if Indika is half as good as its trailers make it out to be, possibly the most interesting game of the month. This is a third-person adventure game like no other. You will be exploring Russia as Indika on various quests beyond the safety of her monastery, but the twist is he isn’t going alone. The devil himself is her perhaps not-so-faithful companion. A lot of the story here is left vague and obscure by design, and I predict the game itself will leave many things open to interpretation. There does seem to be a sense of dark humor mixed in with the tougher religious tones, so this could be a great one for those who like to really dissect a game’s message.

Gameplay looks like a strange concoction of exploration and puzzle-solving but with strange psychedelic environments and visions scattered throughout. There also appears to be a strangely old-school experience and level up system in play, but I’m not sure how that stylistic choice meshes with the themes just yet. The developers are very open about attempting to push the boundaries of what games can be, so go into this one knowing it will be like nothing else and likely quite divisive. Personally, I’m here for it.

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3 Animal Well

A new twist on the classic formula

Hang on, don’t scroll past this entry because it looks like “just another pixel art Metroidvania.” Animal Well is shaping up to be one of the standout games of the month, and possibly a sleeper hit for the entire year. It is as mysterious as it is charming, almost in a Hollow Knight sort of way, only you play as a cute little blob creature in a world filled with unexpected monsters and spirits hiding in the dark. Combat isn’t the main mechanical focus, but rather platforming and deftly navigating the labyrinthine levels. From what I’ve seen, these levels are incredibly intricate and allow for complete freedom in how you approach and explore any given area.

What may be most impressive about Animal Well is that it was made by a single person over a seven-year development cycle. All that time and passion shows in every single sprite, from the little blob you play as to the grass listing in the background. Everything about the game, save for the idea of exploring and filling out your map, seems to be completely fresh in the Metroidvania genre, which is a feat considering just how many games we’ve been getting in that genre this year alone.

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4 Homeworld 3

Feels like coming home

All you Homeworld fans who have been waiting since 2003 for a proper third entry to the series, your time has come! This series was one of the most ambitious and large-scale RTS games of its time, and Homeworld 3 looks intent on taking things yet another step further in the modern era. This time, Homeworld 3 will take full advantage of space by utilizing the entire 3D space in battles, not just placing everything on a 2D surface like a traditional RTS. This opens up tons of new strategic options to flank, funnel, and ambush your opponents. But beware the unpredictable space phenomena like asteroid fields that can disrupt your carefully laid plans.

Homeworld 3 picks the story up many years after the previous game, but sees the return of the now legendary Karan. A new threat has appeared in the galaxy, and only she to stopping it. RTS games live and die by their multiplayer, so the War Games and traditional PVP modes will no doubt offer hundreds of hours of casual and competitive action for anyone who wants to test their strategies against others. Mods will also be made widely available to extend the game’s longevity even more, but hopefully it won’t be another 20 years before the next entry.

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5 Lorelei and the Laser Eyes

See through the mystery

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes caught my attention first from its name but drew me in deep with its visuals. It has a very strong Killer 7 vibe, only monochromatic with selective colors popping out to draw your attention. It gives off a strong horror vibe, but not in the classical sense where you fear a maniac or monster will attack, but something intangible or more existential lurks in the shadows. Each of the trailers heavily focuses on the mystery and puzzle elements of the game, though I suspect there will be some form of combat. That said, I wouldn’t come in expecting this to be a game where fighting is the focus by any means.

What is known about the story is purposefully vague. You will play a woman who has been brought to participate in a strange experiment in an old mansion in Italy. Inside, you will be faced with over 150 puzzles you can take on in whatever order you encounter them. The other cast members appear just as bizarre as the environments, creating an almost dream-like vibe to the entire adventure.

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6 Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2

Don’t listen to the voices

May saves its biggest hitter for the end with Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2. Xbox fans have been waiting years for this game since it was first revealed, and now it is nearly upon us. We’ll rejoin Senua on a new quest to take revenge on the Vikings who have caused so much pain and death by attacking them directly in Iceland. Graphically, Hellbalde 2 might be the most impressive game I’ve seen all generation, though that does come at the cost of being stuck at 30 FPS. I’ll have to wait and see whether or not that tradeoff is worth it in the end, but the appeal of the first game was how it depicted and presented mental illness over combat.

Gameplay is meant to be fast, brutal, and deadly. You aren’t performing flashy combos and super moves here, but doing whatever you can to scrape through an encounter with even a single foe. Puzzles will return, but hopefully, have a bit more variety to them. If the team can once again nail an honest and positive message about mental health, I can see this one making it into some best of the year conversations.