Total War: Shogun 2 Complete Edition has launched on Steam to an "Overwhelmingly Negative" review rating. The release drew a wave of negative feedback from players right at launch.
Castlevania: Belmont's Curse launches October 15 on Xbox Series X|S and PC, developed by KONAMI with Dead Cells studios Evil Empire and Motion Twin, with Xbox Play Anywhere support. In hands-on play, the author finds the game builds on Dead Cells' art and action while adding seven weapon types, a parry, and a whip that doubles as a grappling hook. Defeated bosses are sealed into tarot Arcana that grant spells, upgraded through the Works of Mercy achievement system, and weapons, spells, and three relic slots can be swapped anytime while paused.
Why this: The author draws on hands-on play to break down the whip, tarot, and relic systems of Castlevania: Belmont's Curse and its lineage from Dead Cells.
Digital Eclipse brings Toy Story: Retro Roundup! and Toy Story 3 Complete Edition to Xbox, with the former collecting Toy Story 1, Toy Story 2, A Bug's Life, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, Toy Story Racer and Game Boy titles, and the latter being a higher-resolution version of the 2010 Xbox 360 game. The bundle costs $39.99, while buying either separately runs $24.99 to $29.99. The review calls the collection well-crafted but notes the older games feel dated.
Mood Publishing is crowdfunding Satisfactory: The Board Game on Gamefound, adapting Coffee Stain Studios' factory sim for up to four players who mine, refine, and upgrade factories to earn the most FICSIT points before the space elevator is finished. The tabletop version uses a competitive race-for-points format rather than the PC game's co-op focus, though the final release will also include co-op and solo modes.
After several weeks testing 30 PC controllers, the Flydigi Vader 5 Pro stands out for its clicky mechanical buttons, long battery life, and Hall Effect thumbsticks with adjustable tension. Testing covered games including Grand Theft Auto 5, EA FC 26, Marathon, Celeste, and Forza Horizon 5, with picks also split into budget, budget wireless, high-end, symmetrical-stick, and large-hand categories.
The Valor Mortis review roundup shows an 80 average and 81% recommended across 43 reviews on OpenCritic. The first-person Soulslike from Ghostrunner developer One More Level is set in an alternate Napoleonic-era Europe, and critics broadly praise its sword-and-gun combat, parkour and level design while faulting repetitive enemy variety, forgettable bosses and technical issues. It launched on PC on September 24, 2026 at $40 and is available Day One on Xbox Game Pass.
Shogun 2: Complete Edition launches on Steam on October 13, with existing owners getting all legacy faction DLC for free and a month-long 75% discount at launch. The author argues the remaster's 50 new minor factions lack unique bonuses, its trade system doesn't account for single-region island factions, and additions like the bird's eye battle view and diplomatic quick deal go unused, while old issues such as unit merging, siege pathfinding, and naval AI remain unfixed. Shogun 2 still plays well and is worth recommending, but the author believes it deserved a more extensive reworking.
Evercade's Banjo-Kazooie Double Pack for the Nexus console has earned praise for its native Evercade versions of the two N64 games, featuring higher resolution, improved performance, adapted controls and extra features. GameXplain noted the Evercade release adds 60FPS gameplay while Xbox remains locked to 30FPS, calling it "kind of a game changer," though it lacks the Xbox versions' note and Jinjo saving features. The cartridge retails for £24.99 and works on any Evercade or Super Pocket device, with 60FPS only on the Evercade Nexus, Evercade Alpha or Super Pockets.
The Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen review roundup shows an 86 average and 90% recommended across 20 reviews on OpenCritic. The expansion launches October 8 on Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC, and October 9 on Nintendo Switch 2, adding the Norgan region, a new loot system, and extra skill slots. Several outlets note improved technical performance, while others say it leaves the base game's core shortcomings in place.
Disney Lorcana TCG's fourteenth set, Hyperia City, launches with pre-release events starting October 16 and a wide release on October 23. The expansion adds a floating mana mechanic called ink drops, features Coco, Big Hero 6, and The Sword and the Stone, and includes a two-player starter set. New cards like Powerline Megastar, which has Singer 9, highlight the set's focus on singer and action-based decks.
YouTuber MuYe shared the first PS5 Pro footage of BeamNG.drive, showing its presentation, console interface, and limitations. Spawning too many cars can tank the frame rate as on PC, but normal play runs well even with split-screen; there are no mods in this version, though the developer says it is looking for ways to support them. All PC content will be available, including the v0.40 update launching on 19th October alongside the PS5 port, with pricing unannounced but expected to be similar to the PC version's current $24.99/£18.99.
Dungeons & Dragons: World of Warcraft is D&D's first Universes Beyond expansion and launches on November 17, covering all of Azeroth up to The War Within. It assigns rough level ranges to each zone, folds in major conflicts like Alliance vs. Horde and the Burning Crusade, and uses Chromie Time to explain out-of-order campaigns. Dungeons become non-linear exploration, with Deadmines, Scarlet Monastery, Dire Maul, and Onyxia's Lair among those revealed, alongside gathering and crafting professions and a Renown system that replaces grinding.
Star Wars: Galactic Racer, the first release from UK studio Fuse Games, launches October 6 and is available for pre-order on the Xbox Store at £49.99 / $59.99. After a few early hours on Xbox Series X, the writer highlights its fast and furious racing, Burnout 3-style takedowns, a roguelite campaign, top-tier audio and presentation, and a stable 60FPS.
Warhorse co-founder Martin Klima told PC Gamer he hopes GTA 6 will lead the way on higher game prices so other teams can follow. He said price increases are "long overdue and also necessary for this business to survive," but that "everybody's scared to death" to make the first move. GTA 6's standard edition is priced at $80, and Klima said Rockstar and Take-Two are among the few companies that can "afford, or who can dare" to raise prices.
Warhorse co-founder Martin Klima said he hopes GTA 6 "blazes the trail" for other triple-A games to raise their prices. He said Rockstar and Take-Two are the only companies that can afford or dare to increase game prices, calling it long overdue and necessary for the business to survive. GTA 6 launches next month at $80, and Take-Two says its $100 edition is its top seller.
Magic: The Gathering has released its The Hobbit set, its fifth of the year and second return to Middle-Earth. The set features book cover-inspired card treatments with a "well-read" look that the author calls their favorite in years and ideal for serious collectors. Finding the cards can still be difficult, like searching for the Arkenstone in Smaug's treasure hoard.
Memory shortages have pushed desktop and handheld PC prices up, keeping entry-level 1080p gaming in the low four figures, so the author tested a gaming laptop instead. A Medion Erazer Scout 15 with an RTX 5050 costs £850, cheaper than a DIY desktop build with monitor, Windows license and basic specs at about £1,100. It packs an Intel Core i5-13420H, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD and a 144Hz IPS screen, but battery life is poor and fan noise is loud.
God of War Ragnarok is now cheaper than ever on PC, and GameSpot says it's worth picking up at that price. The game continues Kratos and Atreus's Norse story and includes the post-launch roguelite mode Valhalla, which has its own story plus per-run upgrades and attributes. No specific discount price is given.
Sony Japan has rolled out an anti-scalper lottery for PS5 Pro orders that requires a Sony account registered in Japan with at least 60 hours of gaming on PS4, PS5, or both. Valve also set reservation requirements for the Steam Frame launch, including a Steam account in good standing and a purchase made before April 27th 2026. The author argues these brand loyalty tests, while aimed at scalpers, make buying hardware at full price a qualification process.
You can save on PC games during Steam sales and beyond by keeping a large Steam wishlist and using price-tracking sites like IsThereAnyDeal to compare deals across vetted retailers. Bundle storefronts such as Fanatical, Humble, Green Man Gaming and Digiphile often offer steep discounts, while the Epic Games Store regularly gives away two titles a week and one a day during its end-of-year celebrations. Playnite can help you organize games across Steam, GOG, Epic and Itch.
A PC Gamer hardware writer says the biggest upgrade he made to his own gaming setup in 2026 is a $20-$25 seat cushion, bought because gaming chairs are too hard for long sessions. He has held off on PC upgrades as DDR5, SSD and GPU prices soared, with 64GB of DDR5 costing well over $800 and the RTX 5070 priced at $779. He hopes October Prime Day and Black Friday bring hardware discounts, noting monitors, mice, keyboards and controllers have avoided this year's price increases.
Castlevania: Belmont's Curse is a side-scrolling Metroidvania from Evil Empire, the studio behind Dead Cells post-launch content, starring vampire hunter Rose Belmont. Defeated bosses are sealed into Rose's Tarot Cards so their skills can be used against enemies. A pre-order discount is available before the game is even available.
Anker has launched the "Anker Space Station" high-refresh desktop docking station, along with a VALORANT limited edition, targeting gaming laptop users who connect to external monitors. It supports high resolution, HDR, 144Hz to 240Hz+ refresh rates and multi-display output, and features an industry-first smart screen interface with smart detection, customization and OTA upgrades. The VALORANT edition includes a Jett rice-ball-cutting Pomodoro clock UI easter egg, priced under 1,000 yuan.
SteelSeries has released the Rival Pro, a 53 g competitive gaming mouse with a TrueMove 42K Pro sensor, ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless connectivity, and up to 8K polling, priced at $179.99 / £169.99 / €199.99. It ships with two hot-swappable batteries rated for 60 hours each and has no USB-C port, making it fully wireless. The review calls its palm-grip comfort excellent, though the lack of a cable for firmware updates leaves long-term reliability uncertain.
Mobapad's C2 Lite is a $26.99 budget controller for the Switch 2 that the reviewer calls one of the best affordable pads on the market. It uses Hall Effect versions of the smooth-gliding sticks from the Chitu2 HD, offers three rumble levels, 6-axis motion, wake-up and a capture button, and is rated for 18-20 hours of battery life. It lacks amiibo NFC support and ships without a charging cable.
Aion 2's global Steam PC stress test, which began on September 17, reached 73,000 concurrent players on SteamDB, with the full release set for October 5. The article recounts the backlash from its earlier Korea and Taiwan launch over stat-boosting items in loot boxes and core features locked behind paid memberships, and notes that NCsoft adjusted or removed some disputed items during the test. It also covers overseas discussion of differing male and female character outfits and NCsoft's broader push to move beyond traditional MMOs.