3 must-play May hidden gems that you might have missed

It's been a busy month for games, but don't let these bangers slip through the cracks

Even though Grand Theft Auto 6 didn’t drop this May, as it was originally scheduled to, it was still a heck of a month for new video games. Forza Horizon 6, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, and 007 First Light gave us strong AAA offerings. Meanwhile, high-profile indies like Mina the Hollower and Zero Parades: For Dead Spies made big impressions. And that’s before talking about Subnautica 2, which has been selling like hot cakes in early access.

Those games were only the tip of the iceberg, though. May was so loaded with games that plenty of hidden gems fell between the cracks. With June’s schedule looking much lighter — for now — you’ve got a few weeks ahead this summer to catch up on some cool May games you might have missed. If you’re assembling a backlog, make sure these three games are near the top of your list.

1 Phonopolis

Developer Amanita Design has made a name for itself over the years with visually inventive puzzle games like Machinarium and Creaks, but Phonopolis might be its best work yet. Set in a world crafted from cardboard, you play as a scamp named Felix out to fight back against the dystopian city he lives in, one whose residents are controlled via blaring loudspeakers. You accomplish that through a series of madcap point-and-click puzzles that are delightful in their toy-like nature. One sees you shaking cops off of a cardboard car by messing with its controls, while another tasks you with making flan via a complicated cooking machine. Even with a few obtuse puzzles dragging out the back half, Phonopolis consistently delivers delightfully tactile cardboard toys to poke and prod at. It’s full of surprises, including the fact that it sports the best soundtrack I’ve heard in a game so far this year. (Sorry, Mixtape.)

2 Luna Abyss

I have a soft spot for shooters that aren’t embarrassed about being shooters, and Luna Abyss certainly fits that mold. Kwalee Labs’ stylish action game is a proud cross between Returnal, Doom, and Metroid Prime, throwing you into an atmospheric sci-fi shooter set in a megastructure moon prison filled with plenty of monsters to splat. Though the story can be a bit flat, Luna Abyss delivers snappy, powerful shooting via a lock-on system that lets you focus on drilling shots into enemies while dancing around their bullet-hell attacks. It keeps adding more twists the deeper it goes, too, eventually evolving into a precise first-person platformer where you naturally chain your various moves together. At a clean six hours, it’s the perfect weekend game for anyone looking for a jolt of adrenaline without a major time commitment.

3 Amberspire

If methodically-paced strategy games are more your speed, Amberspire should be on your backlog. The latest game from the creators of The Banished Vault is a dice-based city-builder where you need to grow a civilization on a hostile moon. You accomplish that solely by rolling dice to generate resources and then using those to create buildings that can grow your population, make more resources, and gather influence that will launch your city into a new age. The trick is that you also need to battle against the elements, guarding against the planet’s unpredictable weather patterns by making structures that can fight off rust waves and flooding. It takes some time to get the hang of, but once you figure out the loop, Amberspire is an absorbing slice of strategy that doesn’t require you to possess encyclopedic knowledge to master it.