When you think of big video game releases, you typically don’t think of the month of May. And, when you think of May, I’m sure staring at a television screen for hours at a time doesn’t sound too appealing. Well, 2016 seems to be the year where these two will collide. Sure, the weather is nice, but there are a slew of incredible games coming out this month. Not to mention the long-awaited Fallout DLC, Far Harbor and the definitive collection of the Dead Island franchise. Put away your swimsuits, kids! It’s time to grab one of these awesome games and pick your favorite spot on the couch. Let’s play!
Battleborn – May 3 (PC, PS4, XBOX One)
Following the enormous success of the Borderlands franchise, Gearbox Software is looking for another home run with Battleborn. After the destruction of various planets around the universe, many inhabitants take refuge, together, on the massive star Solus. When the evil Varelsi come to finish the job, each group of beings must send forth their best warrior, forming a group they call The Battleborn.
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With brilliant color schemes and smooth gameplay, Battleborn looks to be an exciting first-person experience. Instead of keeping all of the traditional first-person elements, Battleborn takes it a step further with unique abilities inhabiting each of the playable characters. Each of the 25 characters you can choose from comes with their own unique weapons and skill sets, and each can be customized according to how you level up throughout the game. Most games will give you four or five characters to start, and maybe some DLC down the line, but Battleborn gives you a ton of options from the get go. With an exciting campaign story and a massive online arena, Battleborn looks to keep you entertained for hours on end.
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End – May 10 (PS4)
This is the one franchise that makes every Xbox owner question their decision. Sure, Xbox has Gears of War and Halo, but there’s just something about Uncharted that makes it stand out from the crowd.
In the age of multiplayer gaming, the Uncharted franchise continues to set the standard in digital storytelling. Taking place three years after the events of Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, the fourth and final installment follows our hero as his supposedly dead brother reappears asking for help.
Normally, a narrative storyline in a video game gets stale after one or two outings, but the folks over at Naughty Dog have found a way to keep us enthralled in Nathan Drake’s story since the initial launch of the PS3. Sure, the game will probably be a lot like the other three, but isn’t that exactly what everybody wants? There’s no telling how Drake’s story will end, but we can be sure our noses will be glued to the TV until it does.
Doom – May 13 (PC, PS4, XBOX One)
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It’s been since 2004 that we’ve seen a DOOM game on our consoles, so it’s reasonable that we’d all be excited about it. While the original Doom was the start of the first person shooter, the fourth installment looks to top a 2016 shooter class filled with heavyweights like Gears of War, The Division, and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. Knowing they’re up against some stiff competition, I’d bet the developers found more than a few ways to up the ante.
Not only did DOOM add finishing melees and chainsaws to it’s already impressive arsenal,ย the game took the single player campaign one step further. If you choose the “Ultra-Nightmare” difficulty, you enter what’s called permadeath. You know what that means, right? Once you die, there is no respawning. Not even at the last save point, you get one life for the entire game. Sounds extra challenging when you realize the best way to regain health in DOOM is to charge and kill your enemies. While extremely difficult, that certainly raises the stakes beyond any other game out there.
Many gamers had the opportunity to play the DOOM Beta a while back, and the reponse was mostly positive. While the fear is that DOOM will turn out to be another Duke Nukem, it looks like iD studios got it right, and we’ve got a Game of the Year contender on our hands.
Homefront: The Revolution – May 17 (PC, PS4, XBOX One)
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I know, I know, the last Homefront was a bit of a disappointment, but it looks like they’ve really stepped their game up since then. Diving deeper into the terrors of our current world, Revolution takes place in the year 2027, when the Korean army is occupying the United States. It’s your job to lead a rebellion and take back the country we live, starting in the city of Brotherly Love.
While it is just another first person shooter, the technology is now around for the game to be on the kind of grand scale the developers wanted to achieve the first time around, and it seems like gamers are now on board with the run-down America setting after the major success of Tom Clancy’s The Division. If nothing else, Revolution is sure to be a great way to pass the time for FPS fans before Infinite Warfare in November.
Overwatch – May 24 (PC, PS4, XBOX One)
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I can already tell there’s going to be a lot of Battleborn vs. Overwatch talk over the next few years. Both games are based on the best warriors on the planet fighting an enormous evil and they both give you an incredible amount of charaters to choose from. The concept and design may be similar, but the gameplay looks to separate the two games.
Overwatch, much to the joy of gamers everywhere, plays a lot like fan favorite Team Fortress 2. The smooth, cartoonish looks and the element of a team dynamic flood us with nostalgia as we get a taste of what an updated Orange Box might look like. Overwatch also seems to take a deeper dive into all of the characters than other games, and that gives us a chance to really attach to the ones we like to play with.
The best thing about Overwatch is that it’s developed by Blizzard Entertainment. You know, those guys who brought you a little game called World of Warcraft? While the games don’t seem to ba anything alike, we can bet they encorprated vast maps and endless character upgrades so that we’re always exploring something new.
What Games Will You Buy in May?
What games or add-ons will you be pciking up this month?!?! Any great games we missed?? Let us know in the comments below!
