The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom comes out this Friday, May 12. And after the disappointing launch of Redfall, it might seem like the only game that matters this month. The highly anticipated sequel will have all the open-world magic of Breath of the Wild while further deepening the playful sandbox possibilities with its Fuse and Ultrahand systems. It’ll be the talk of the game industry for a while as soon as it comes out. Still, if you don’t own a Nintendo Switch or aren’t that interested in what Tears of the Kingdom has to offer, you may feel a bit left in the dust.
You shouldn’t, though, as many exciting games are still coming out this month across all platforms. Over the past couple of weeks, quite a few titles, spanning a wide variety of genres and franchises new and old, have confirmed late-May release windows. If you aren’t too busy playing through Tears of the Kingdom, keep your eye on some of these neat-looking games.
The week after TOTK
The week following Tears of the Kingdom’s launch will undoubtedly be the weirdest feeling for those who aren’t playing it. Your social media feeds will likely be dominated by impressions of the game, wacky Ultrahand builds, and other neat discoveries players are making. This may activate a bit of FOMO if you aren’t playing, but alternatives are launching the week after Tears of the Kingdom.
On the exclusives front, PlayStation players will have a console and VR exclusive game called Humanity, published by the team that developed the excellent Tetris Effect. Don’t think that building Tears of the Kingdom’s contraptions to overcome obstacles is the only way to scratch that puzzle-game itch this month.
Humanity is a puzzle game where players must overcome challenges by commanding large crowds of people as a Shibu Inu dog. Yes, this game looks as weird and trippy as that premise sounds, and it will be released for PC, PS4, PS5, and PlayStation VR2 on May 16, making it the first big post-Tears of the Kingdom release.
Continuing on the puzzle game note, Cyan, the developers behind Myst, are finally releasing Firmament on May 18, so that’s a rarity fans of the classic PC and Mac games should check out.
One other game this May is also going to let players build their own vehicles and explore an open world is going to try and follow up Tears of the Kingdom: Lego 2K Drive. As its name suggests, this is a Lego racing game where players build and collect Lego vehicles and then complete challenges throughout an open-world Forza Horizon-style.
Its open-world probably won’t be as refined or deep as Tears of the Kingdom’s, but if you are looking for an open-world alternative, a racing game to fill in some time until Forza Motorsport comes out, or just an enjoyable licensed game, Lego 2K Drive is shaping up to fill that niche the week after Breath of the Wild as well. I called it “everything I wanted out of an open-world Lego racing game” in a preview back in March.
The many games of May 23
Just a week-and-a-half after Tears of the Kingdom’s release, we have one of the busiest days of the year in terms of game releases. There are no big AAA launches, but lots of AA and indie releases that are varied enough that at least one should pique your interest. This day proves that The Legend of Zelda isn’t the only well-known pop culture franchise getting a new game this month either; League of Legends, Star Trek, and Warhammer 40K are also getting new games on May 23.
Riot Forge will release Convergence: A League of Legends story, a 2D action-platformer that tells the story of the time-manipulating League of Legends Champion Ekko. Following up on Ekko’s arc in the Netflix show Arcane and quality standard Riot Forge set with April’s excellent The Mageseeker, I’m excited to see how Riot Forge and Double Stallion tell Ekko’s story. Star Trek: Resurgence is coming out from the former Telltale developers at Dramatic Labs, providing a more story-focused take on a Star Trek game that we haven’t really gotten before.
Meanwhile, Warhammer 40K: Boltgun will release and show what a Warhammer game in the style of a 90s boomer shooter like Doom would be like, and Amnesia: The Bunker lets players loose in a more open-ended horror experience. Those willing to try something that’s not tied to a known franchise also have more to discover on that day, like the cinematic platformer Planet of Lana, cute co-op platformer Bread & Fred, or the sci-fi turn-based strategy game Miasma Chronicles.
There’s still more to come this month after that, so it should be clear there are plenty of other captivating gaming experiences to be had this month, even if you don’t pick up Tears of the Kingdom.
