At the , I could not have predicted how jam-packed May would be when it came to games. The biggest release on the calendar was , which we now know is good, but beyond that, it didn’t feel like May would be a huge month for games Then the month started, and it quickly became clear that springtime 2024 was full of great titles and a bevy of top-notch . May started off innocently enough, with no real sign of the game buffet that was to come.
Then, on May 9, the vibe shifted with the release of two titles that earned themselves a place in the zeitgeist — and . The first, a deceptive Metroidvania from developer Billy Basso is an absolute shock. It’s not that anybody thought the game would be bad, it’s just that nobody realized the game hadn’t revealed its true self.
While is a typical Metroidvania requiring you to explore the map as you gain new abilities, there are additional gameplay layers that are more puzzle-focused—one is about hunting down hidden eggs across the map, and the other revolves around finding rabbits with the help of other players. SFB Games’s isn’t as groundbreaking as , but its loving ode to the puzzle-centric gameplay of the original offers a different variation on the same theme. Cut to one week later and Simogo’s helped solidify that May would be a special month.
It’s a twisting puzzle box set within a spooky mansion that’s steeped in French New Wave cinema influences. The long list of puzzles require logical leaps on the part of the p.
