Gaming in May 2017

Did it for March, did it for April, and now it's May's turn as this month comes to a close. If you haven't seen one of these lists before, basically I talk about the games coming out for the next month including release date, what systems their on, and a little bit about what we know about them. The games are talked about in the order they release.

The Caligula Effect, releasing for PS Vita May 2nd. The game is about a character that you play as who has come to realize that he's been trapped in a world with several others, and seemingly is planning to escape but not without facing opposition. The gameplay is that of an action RPG. That said, despite the fact that this game is being published by Atlus, I'd be weary of it. First off, digital only games on Vita take up a lot of space, and this one seems to have some serious frame rate issues.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd, releasing for Windows on May 3rd. This game is probably a safer bet if you want a JRPG at the start of the month. It's a port from a game that released 10 years ago in Japan so it shouldn't have any technical issues. It is the third game in a trilogy of title, hence the name, so it would be difficult to try and play the game from here, but if you have played the other two, it should be great.

Prey, releasing on PC, Xbox One and PS4 on May 5th. This is a sort of spiritual successor to previous Prey titles where you find yourself on a ship fighting monsters that can transform into pretty much anything. The demo for this game released just yesterday on all intended platforms so if you want to check it out for yourself, you can. I will warn you however, despite Bethesda's keeping quiet about it, it does seem very likely that they found a way to bully the company that originally made these games into giving them the rights to make their own version, so you might be supporting a rather unsavory bunch in the industry by buying this game.

World to the West, releasing for PC Xbox One PS4, and Wii U on May 5th. This charming little indie title is a top down action game MOBA of sorts as you can play as multiple different characters with varying abilities. It was really hard to find much more info than that, but there is a gameplay trailer if you want to check it out on Youtube.

Birthdays The Beginning, release on PC and PS4 May 9th. This Indie title being brought over from Japan is a world building game that allows you to create environments like Jungles and Forests and inhabit them with wildlife that will live off the land you build and it has a predator/prey dynamic as well. Again, not much else is known about this game, I couldn't even find an English trailer for it despite it being ported to the West. It was a fairly quick port as well since the game only released in Japan in January of this year, but it might be worth checking out a gameplay trailer if it sounds interesting to you.

LocoRoco Remastered, releasing on PS4 on May 9th. This remaster of a PSP game is all about collecting items using basic platforming and PSP/PS4 motion controls. The game is very simple and probably lacks much of a story, but it's on the charming side of things so if you like games like that, it might be worth checking out.

Strafe, releasing on Windows May on 9th. This game was delayed back in March until this date. If you like gory corridor shooters, this is the game for you. Not much is known about the story, but hey, it's basically a slightly more modern looking version of Doom, so it should be fun.

Injustice 2 , releasing on Xbox One and PS4 on May 16th. A lot should be known about this game, although not so much on the story details. It's a 2D fighting game with DC superhero's, an evil Superman, and the ability to upgrade your characters as you unlock pieces of equipment for them. Supposedly, the many different kinds of equipment should lead to a lot of varied play styles, but we'll see how that plays out.

Operation Babel: New Tokyo Legacy, releasing for Windows and PS Vita on May on 16th. If you like futuristic style games with a Dungeon crawling aspect much like the Etrian Odyssey games by Atlus, this game should be right up your ally. In this RPG, you'll be playing as the Xth Squad, a band of warriors who intend to fight off a new threat to human kind while looking for a mysterious item called The Embryo. Not else is known about the game in English, but it released in Japan in 2015 so there's plenty of information about it if you want to take the time to look.

The Surge, releasing for PC, Xbox One and PS4 on May 16th. If you like Dark Souls/Ninja Gaiden, you'll love the gameplay here, although you won't be in nearly the same setting. Instead you'll be running around areas in a mech suit and fighting various tough enemies who are preventing you from progressing. The story of the game hasn't really been talked about too much, but for Dark Souls fans, it should be a good bet to try it out.

Bokida: Heartfelt Reunion, releasing for Windows May 17th. I'm not really sure how to describe this one. It seems, based on gameplay and what little story I could find to be about a sort of balance of Yin and Yang which is a part of the game in that you will be either destroying or building various things in order to progress. The best way to understand it, is to go look at a trailer, it's truly a rather odd looking game.

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, releasing for 3DS on May 19th. This is remake of the second game in the Fire Emblem series which never made it to the West called Fire Emblem Gaiden, is a bit more like the anime it's based on, but only a bit. The story is basically that two sibling Gods began to wage War among each other until peace was found and the land split between the two of them. In the game, you play as Alm and Celica who are fighting to regain peace in the lands as war has risen again. If you've played or seen a Fire Emblem game, you have a general idea of this strategy game plays out, but this one is slightly different in that you move in dungeons and basically have wild encounters that play like the typical Fire Emblem. There will be two Amiibo that come out the same day as the game featuring Alm and Celica but I'm not sure exactly what they'll do for the game, or if the previous Amiibo will do anything for it either.

Darksiders: Warmaster Edition, releasing on Wii U on May 23rd. This is, I think, a late port of the remastered version of the game releasing on the system.

Disgaea 5 Complete, release for Nintendo Switch on May 23rd. The complete edition of the game, which will have everything the game did upon it's final update on previous systems, this strategy RPG is nothing new for fans, but a first on a Nintendo hone console.

Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception, releasing for PS4 and PS Vita, on May 23rd. Another game Published by Atlus, this remake from the PS2 and PSP is also yet another strategy RPG. It released back in 2002, and even managed to get a Manga and Anime made about it three years later. The animation in the game, is very impressive, but I am unaware of the story. There's plenty of gameplay to check out though if you are so inclined.

Friday the 13th: The Game, releasing for PC, Xbox One and PS4 May 26th. This game was delayed after difficulties getting the console version cleared for release arose, and this release date only happened a few days ago when a new trailer was released. The game is basically about several camp counselors trying to escape from Jason before he kills them. There are several ways to escape such as driving out, calling for the Police and running out of the map, and simply trying to outlast him before time runs out. Jason has counters to most escape attempts though and since he isn't an A.I. player, it's not an easy feat to get away.

Get Even, releasing for Windows, Xbox One and PS4 on May 26th. This Sci-fi Thriller sees you in first person perspective, trying to figure out what happened to someone, and maybe even yourself while being tracked down by people who want you dead. There is a shooting mechanic in this game so you can defend yourself, but ammo is likely in short supply. It's up to you to solve the mystery, and find out why you are in the position you are in the first place.

Guilty Gear Xrd Rev. 2, releasing for PS4 and PS3 on May 26th. This Sony Exclusive Japanese fighting game in the latest in the 20 year history of the Guilty Gear franchise. This series is known for being harder than your average fighting game so be weary if this is the one that gets you started in the series. There's crazy backstories for this characters as well that will be good to know if the story mode continues it.

RiME, releasing for Windows, Xbox One and PS4, on May 26th. This game, whose rights have been thrown around for a bit, causing delays and removing it from being a PS4 exclusive, is finally going to release this month on all platforms save for Switch, which will be getting a port at a later date for 10 dollars more than the price on other consoles. All the controversy aside, the game is a beautiful looking Indie title with some puzzle aspects thrown in. If you like games like Journey, Abzu, and even a little Ori and the BLind Forest, this game should be a blast.

Star Trek: Bridge Crew, releasing for HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR on May 30th. There's not much to say about this game, it looks like crap, and it seems like all you do is command a bridge on a ship in a Star Trek setting. The game does seem to have some multiplayer aspects to it, but it also seems like the kind of game where people are going to do what they want, and not work well as a team. Maybe I'll be wrong, maybe I won't, but either way, it's coming.

Y's Origin, releasing for PS Vita on May 30th. Not much to say to here, the game is simply the handheld port of the Y's game that made it to PS4 back in February. Having played the game myself, I can say it's well worth it if you like the series and/or action RPG's.

Don't Knock Twice, releasing for HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR on May 30th. This horror game, which may or may not have anything to do with the movie, but a horror game it is all the same. In it, you seem to be trapped in a house for reasons unknown, and you need to do everything you can to escape while being hunted down by monsters. Not much else is known about the title.

Battalion 1944, releasing for PC, Xbox One and PS4 on an undetermined date. That's right, this game has no confirmed release date, but the last known intended release date, was sometime in May of this year. Not much is known about this first person WWII multiplayer shooter other than that, as the development team scarcely releases any new info on it, but hopefully we'll get something soon because the game is probably not releasing in May at this point.

And that's everything. Quite a busy month, but I'll be honest, the only games I care about are RiME and Fire Emblem. Hopefully next month will look better as we head into E3.

Now this is a month I can get behind.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd

I'm not really a Trails in the Sky fan myself, but SO loves it and has been greatly enjoying the first game thus far, so this should make her happy.

Strafe

Awwww yissssss. I've been interested in this for a fair while, and can't wait to see if it's worth the hype that I've granted it. I'm a sucker for first person roguelike-likes (Sublevel Zero and Delver come to mind as favorites), and the genre as a whole, so if all goes well this will be a real treat for me.

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

This reminds me... I still need to get around to playing Fates at some point.

Disgaea 5 Complete

I absolutely adore Disgaea, and own nearly all of the games (only missing D2 and Disgaea 5), and don't really ever intend on buying a PS4, so this is one port that I'm very happy to see. I probably won't have a Switch for a fair little while yet, but meh. Glad to know that this will be waiting for me!

Friday the 13th: The Game

This is one game that I never expected that I'd have any reason to look forward to or be interested in, but I could see it being a dreadfully fun game if they execute well on their concept. Looking forward to seeing some reviews and such.

After April's fairly slim offerings (for me, anyway - I confess that my tastes can be a little goofy and eccentric when it comes to video games), I'm fairly happy to see more than a couple things on this list that have caught my interest.

Once again, major props to RepentantSky for taking the trouble to do this write-up - it is greatly appreciated!

Well we can add another game to the list because Sony just announced a new title called Perception which is an Indie Horror game. It's kind of hard to really grasp what's going on in this game, but I really think that's the point. It releases May 30th.

Im just waiting for the Dynasty Warriors 9 News releasing this month

Im just waiting for the Dynasty Warriors 9 News releasing this month

You're only a little under week out from that at this point: http://gematsu.com/2017/05/dynasty-warriors-9-news-coming-may-11

I had the chance to give Strafe a try.

It was... well... impressively unimpressive.

I'm a big fan of first person roguelike games, but compared to things like Sublevel Zero, Delver, and One More Dungeon, Strafe just doesn't really seem to do much.

The enemies are dull and are so easily pulled by gunfire that my first several minutes in the game were spent standing in the spawn room shooting at a single-file line of grunts that were mindlessly running at me - by the time I was done with them, the area around me was basically completely barren. This was repeated as I continued on through the levels, making for absolutely dreadful pacing.

Speaking of the levels, the level generator is... not very impressive. While Sublevel Zero and Delver are able to generate level after level that are actually enjoyable, and that feel unique despite being constructed out of pre-made 'rooms', Strafe's levels just felt... like a really poorly made third party Duke Nukem 3D map, for lack of better words.

I dunno. Promising premise, in my opinion, but the execution was not so great.

I had the chance to give Strafe a try.

 

It was... well... impressively unimpressive.

 

I'm a big fan of first person roguelike games, but compared to things like Sublevel Zero, Delver, and One More Dungeon, Strafe just doesn't really seem to do much.

 

The enemies are dull and are so easily pulled by gunfire that my first several minutes in the game were spent standing in the spawn room shooting at a single-file line of grunts that were mindlessly running at me - by the time I was done with them, the area around me was basically completely barren. This was repeated as I continued on through the levels, making for absolutely dreadful pacing.

 

Speaking of the levels, the level generator is... not very impressive. While Sublevel Zero and Delver are able to generate level after level that are actually enjoyable, and that feel unique despite being constructed out of pre-made 'rooms', Strafe's levels just felt... like a really poorly made third party Duke Nukem 3D map, for lack of better words.

 

I dunno. Promising premise, in my opinion, but the execution was not so great.

That's unfortunate. I was looking forward to Strafe as well. I saw some gameplay though that kind of confirms all this, which is why I haven't bought it yet. Perhaps if they ever do an update that fixes some of these issues, I'll buy it, but as it is, unless there's a really good deal on it in the future, I probably won't bother.

I cant wait to see if Ashes of Creation is gonna be let out in 2k17 or 18 but if its 17 then i'll be so hyped!!!!!