Prior to May, Sony has had a touch-and-go year withPS Plus. January and March received a pretty good selection of games, while February and April lagged behind. April was so poorly received that many hoped thePS Plus free games for May 2022would redeem them. However, that doesn’t appear to be the case—not in full.
PS Plustends to follow certain patterns, if for a certain amount of time. This doesn’t make it easy to predict what games will be on PS Plus, nor is it easy to judge when something is a new pattern. One thing that has remained constant, though, is the March rule and the May curse. In short, March tends to be one of the best months of the year every year and May tends to be one of the worst.
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PS Plus Free Games: March Rule Explained
It’s easy to look back at past months to see how this pattern became established. Back in 2018, for example, there were 6 games given out for March, with most of them being smaller games. The reason this month follows theMarch rule is that two of the games wereBloodborneandRatchet and Clank, which is a hard month to follow even if those were the only two games.
In 2019, March 2019 addedThe WitnessandCall of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered. The former had excellent reviews, even if it doesn’t have the biggest appeal as a puzzle game, andModern Warfare Remasteredjoined at the perfect time. There was a lot of hype and speculation thatCall of Duty 2019’s game would be anewModern Warfare, and PS Plus helped seal that deal. After all, first-person shooters are one of the most popular genres out there, andModern Warfareis one of the most popular games among them.
Come 2020, March saw the addition of theShadow of the Colossus RemakeandSonic Forces, which is pretty much enough said. Both games have huge followings and were instantly appealing on the service. March 2021 then saw a PS5 puzzle game inMaquette, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Remnant: From the Ashes, andFarpoint VR. It had a nice spread and a new PS5 game, even ifMaquettewas not the best-reviewed. Pair that with a Soulslike shooter and a big JRPG remake, and March 2021 was an awesome month.
That’s the thing about the March rule. Not only do some of the best games of the year appear on the service usually in March, but it usually helps set the tone for the year. March 2021 was awesome, and PS Plus had a pretty stellar 2021. ThePS Plus free games for March 2022were no less impactful as past years, withArk: Survival Evolved, Ghost of Tsushima Legends, Ghostrunner,andTeam Sonic Racinghitting the service.
PS Plus Free Games: May Curse Explained
If May shows the potential highs of the year, May tends to show the worst of it. The thing is, it’s not because they’re bad games, it’s because they don’t tend to have the audience appeal needed on something like PS Plus. The aforementionedWitnessis a great game, but many still wouldn’t touch a puzzle game. May tends to have these blunders where the appeal is just sucked out of the games.
May 2018, just like March 2018, had a big spread of games, but the three headliners wereBeyond: Two Souls, Rayman Legends,andRisen 3. The first is described as an interactive drama and action-adventure game, which is very heavy on QTEs. It definitely has its audience, but not the broad appeal PS Plus needs.Risen 3falls into the same boat. It’s an RPG, which tends to be one of the most popular genres out there, but this is alsoa Eurojank game, meaning it tends to be “jankier” than AAA RPGs. This is a major dealbreaker for many.Raymanis perhaps the best of the bunch, but still, many grew up withoutRaymanand so the appeal for younger audiences is perhaps lost.
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This is repeated in May 2019, withOvercookedandWhat Remains of Edith Finch. Both are good games, but neither really has the most appealing style of gameplay options. They both have their followings, but not the broad appeal the service needs. May 2020, though, was perhaps the worst month of the May Curse.
IfModern Warfare Remasteredrode the speculative high of the franchise in March 2019, May 2020’s games followed the perfect storm of false information. This one isn’t even so much on Sony. A wild rumor managed to gain traction for some reason, with many believing thatPS Plus would releaseDying LightandDark Souls Remasteredin May 2020. To then have Sony actually releaseFarming Simulator 19andCities: Skylineswas a punch to the gut. Both are good simulators, but farming and city simulators are about as niche as they come. This even led to a huge petition of fans asking Sony to change the games.
Finally, May 2021 wasn’t the worst the curse had seen.Wreckfest, Battlefield 5,andStranded Deephit the service, and the broad appeal of these games here may be a notch above prior years. But again,2021 was a special year for PS Plus, and even these games didn’t hold too much of a candle compared to the rest of the year.
Why PS Plus Free Games for May 2022 Fall to this Curse
That’s because the majority of sports game fans will get their preferred game, likeMaddenorFIFA,as soon as they can. Thus, the ship for FIFA 22 has largely sailed.Curse of the Dead Gods, meanwhile, is another excellent game—adungeon-crawling roguelike perhaps comparable toHades—and yet the dungeon crawling aspect of it may be hit or miss with fans.Tribes of Midgardis a nice blend of roguelike, action, and survival, but the blend and top-down aspect limit the appeal too.
Again, this is not to say these are bad games—far from it, in fact—but their general appeal is limited on a service where broad appeal and variety tend to help month after month. It’s not the worst May ever, but it’s clearly part of the May curse. However, if these find themselves near the bottom of the year, perhaps the rest of PS Plus’ free games for 2022 will knock their months out of the park.
