Sony recently revealed the PS Plus free games for May 2023 (the Essential tier), and they are underwhelming, to say the least. Beginning May 2, subscribers will be able to claim Grid Legends, Chivalry 2, and Descenders. Not that these games are inherently bad, but they are not good selections for the service. However, the writing was on the wall that the PS Plus free games for May 2023 would not have been the best.
The issue with these games is how limited each one is. Grid Legends is a Codemasters-developed racing game, and while racing games have their audience, it's not enough to carry a month of PS Plus. Some racing games maintain a higher level of popularity and appeal, such as Need for Speed, F1, or even Codemasters' own Dirt, but Grid Legends is not on the same level. Chivalry 2, meanwhile, is a solid multiplayer game. In any other month, combined with other games, it may not seem like such a bad addition. But its multiplayer elements don't negate its hack-and-slash medieval approach, with both of those qualifiers being limiting in nature. And finally, there's Descenders—a cycling game. It's actually deceptively fun, but combined with the other PS Plus games this month, none of them have the star power to "lead" the month, leaving it underwhelming as a whole.
The thing is, the PS Plus free games for May 2023 were always going to be underwhelming.
PS Plus Free Games Have a "May Curse"
While there's no predicting the PS Plus games month after month, there have been two historical patterns fans could rely on: the PS Plus "Big March" Pattern and the "May Curse." Typically speaking, the PS Plus free games for March are some of the biggest every year, with past years seeing the release of Bloodborne an d Final Fantasy 7 Remake in this month, for example. However, the PS Plus free games for March 2023 broke from tradition and, as a whole, were pretty rough. April picked up some slack, but perhaps some hoped this meant that the May Curse would be broken too. It was not; in fact, this was probably a sign it would be worse.
Every year, May tends to have some of the weakest games added to the PS Plus service. The curse really dates back to May 2018, hit its worse in May 2020, and has continued ever since. For example, PS Plus free games for May 2018 were Beyond: Two Souls, Rayman Legends, and Risen 3. Again, none of these games are bad, but they don't have the appeal PS Plus needs. The first is a QTE-heavy interactive drama, the second is perhaps the best but was entirely reliant on Rayman fans (with this particular franchise struggling in the past years), and the third is highly limiting. As a threequel, fans need to enjoy the Risen franchise as it is, but the very nature of a Eurojank game like Risen 3 means the appeal is inherently limited.
May 2019 followed this up with Overcooked and What Remains of Edith Finch, both popular games within certain circles, but not beyond. They both fall into the same trappings as Risen 3; their appeal is strong but limited. Then came May 2020. What made this month worse was a rumor that PS Plus was adding Dying Light and Dark Souls Remastered, and this lit an excited fire under many members of the fanbase. Sony actually released Farming Simulator 19 and Cities: Skylines, two simulators which, by definition, have limited appeal. The reaction was so sour that fans actually petitioned for the PS Plus free games for May 2020 to be changed.
PS Plus Free Games for May 2023 Are Cursed, But There's Still Hope
The following years fell to that same trap: limited-appeal games:
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PS Plus Free Games for May 2021: Wreckfest, Battlefield 5, and Stranded Deep
- This was perhaps the best month of the May Curse, but it's worth noting that it was still one of the weaker months of the year. PS Plus was used to highly market PS5 games at the time, in the months following its release, and this month still pales in comparison because of that.
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PS Plus Free Games for May 2022: FIFA 22, Tribes of Midgard, and Curse of the Dead Gods
- FIFA is no doubt a phenomenon in the industry, but sports games don't tend to do well on services like this because fans will have already played them. The only ones who play sports games, largely, are sports fans, while the supporting titles were much smaller in scale and were largely overlooked.
When looking purely at May and not the whole year around them, it's evident that some months suffer more from the May Curse than others. Arguably, the PS Plus free games for May 2023 are the worst since May 2020, but at the very least, they leaked accurately ahead of time—as the false rumor made PS Plus in May 2020 ten times worse.
That said, PS Plus in May has a strength that none of these others had. Sony has yet to reveal the PS Plus Extra and Premium games for May 2023, and while it's up in the air as to what they are, these titles haven't been subjected to the normal pains of the Essential tier. Not yet, at least.
PS Plus subscribers get a handful of games every month.