Retrofiction Games has announced Dead of Darkness 2, an isometric 2D survival horror sequel coming to PS5, Xbox Series, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC, with console versions published by eastasiasoft. The game follows Jun Takehara as she searches for help in the sinister town of Goldren Creek, and features a cast of 28 characters plus character switching between up to three characters.
FairyTale, a prolific PC-98 studio from the '90s, has struck a deal with Fakku to bring Dead of the Brain to Steam just in time for Halloween, with additions like autosaves and optional quality-of-life improvements. The game previously only had a fan translation by the group WINE, making this an official release of a fan-translated PC-98 title. Fakku seemingly bought the publishing rights to FairyTale's entire catalog, potentially meaning dozens of PC-98 games could come to Steam in the future.
Publisher Top Hat Studios and developer 13th Street Games announced that BECROWNED will launch for PS5, Xbox Series, Switch 2, and PC via Steam in Q1 2027, a delay from its previously planned fall 2026 window, with the console versions newly announced. A new trailer shows the psychological survival horror game's darker direction, drawing on 1970s and 1980s grindhouse cinema, 70s French horror's surrealist dark satire, and Russian cultural and literary references. Players take on the role of Richard Torrance, navigating his relationships inside and outside a strange dimension to determine his ultimate fate.
Nivalis Nights review: An avalanche of fascinating characters carrying a decent shop sim on their backs. https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/nivalis-nights-review/
Dead of Darkness 2, in development for PS5 and PS4 by Retrofiction Games, debuted its first trailer during the Horror Game Awards Halloween Showcase. The game uses SNES-style pixel visuals with 90s-inspired anime cutscenes, and features character switching for puzzles, item boxes for sharing resources, scarce ammo, and secret documents. No release date has been announced, and the original Dead of Darkness is currently on sale on the PS Store for $9.59/£6.49.
What if Resident Evil Had Debuted on SNES? Dead of Darkness 2 Has the Answer on PS5 https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2026/10/what-if-resident-evil-had-debuted-on-snes-dead-of-darkness-2-has-the-answer-on-ps5
The Outlast Trials has broken its concurrent-player record with over 120,000 players, more than four times its previous high of 36,000 set when it launched in Steam Early Access in 2023. Red Barrels credited a $4 Steam Autumn Sale discount, roughly half of players coming from China, and the Halloween season. The co-op horror game launched version 1.0 in spring 2024 and will follow with its annual Geister event and Season 8 in December.
PC Gamer reviewed Nivalis Nights, an Ion Lands-developed, 505 Games-published cyberpunk shop sim released September 29, 2026 for $25 that blends life sim decorating, shop management, open-world exploration and farm production into a story-heavy quest structure. The reviewer found the management, decorating and romance systems each lacking, but praised the characters, with at least 121 portraits in the known characters menu and many fully voiced NPCs whose stories range from corporate satire to people crushed by debt. The reviewer expected shop management and decorating to be the main draw, but instead the city and its cast kept them exploring for the next thread.
Developer Serafini Productions announced that BrokenLore: ASCEND will launch for PS5, Xbox Series, and PC via Steam on January 7, 2027. The first-person psychological horror game follows two renowned rooftop climbers, Ren and Yui, attempting a forbidden nighttime ascent of Japan's tallest building, Elysium Tower, where a supernatural entity called the Rokurokubi haunts them.
Publisher Serafini Productions and developer Mike Ten announced that The Hambagu Shop will launch for PS5, Xbox Series, Switch, and PC via Steam on January 11, 2027. The cozy horror simulation game casts players as Mari, who inherits her late grandfather's Japanese hamburg shop and must grill patties, serve customers, and upgrade the business while haunting visions suggest the shop is haunted.
River City Girls (Steam) w/ 12 more games is $14 on Humble 2D Rewind Collection Bundle https://buff.ly/YKVufJQ #ad
IGN reviews TOEM 2 from developer Something We Made, saying it keeps the photo-puzzle framework of 2021's TOEM as players travel three monochrome isometric towns and earn bus tickets by helping townsfolk. The roughly four-to-five-hour game adds camera features like target lock that make shooting easier, but the review finds its puzzles less engaging than the original's and its 3D-modeled world no real step up.
The Humble Indie Fighters Bundle is priced at $16 and packs in multiple fighting games. Included titles are Lethal League Blaze and Rivals of Aether 1 and 2.
Developer Wales Interactive announced that co-op survival shooter Hazard Levels will leave Early Access and launch for PS5, Xbox Series, and PC via Steam on November 12. The game first entered Early Access on Steam on April 30 and supports one-to-four-player co-op with proximity chat, sending players into procedurally generated rifts to harvest otherworldly ingredients for a secret brewery beneath a British pub.
Publisher Serenity Forge and developer Fullbright announced that Springs, Eternal will launch for PC via Steam on November 11. A demo is available now. The lo-fi first-person narrative exploration game is set at a mysterious hot springs in the dead of night and takes around two-to-three hours to fully complete.
Thunder Lotus has pushed its action-adventure game At Fate's End from 2026 to 2027, saying the game needs more love and care. The studio said on Steam that a more precise date will come later, and the game is still headed to Xbox Game Pass. A new demo is now available on Steam for players to try for the first time.
Humble Games Bundle: Indie Fighters ($16 for all) https://buff.ly/hiFr1BF #ad
Add these to your "need to play" list
The sky-island open world game Atmosfar will enter Early Access on October 29, accompanied by a trailer showing flying islands, cloud cruisers and sky taxis. Players can pilot three variants of the Wasp hovercar or board a Cloud Cruiser airbase that hosts up to three co-op players. The Early Access launch includes two regions, and the developers say it will last at least 9 months while adding a third region, a fourth Wasp breed and more building options.
Browser game Dog Online has surpassed 10,000 users in a sudden resurgence more than six months after its open beta launch, forcing its small team to scramble to upgrade servers. The dog-themed game, described as an MS Paint-drenched version of Neopets, offers fishing, farming, cooking, trading, and a turn-based RPG dungeon, with 73 fish, 238 foods, 57 enemies, and 76 crops. Lead developer Mimi said the team got started a little less than a year ago and launched the public beta this past April Fools' Day.
At Fate's End, the next game from Spiritfarer studio Thunder Lotus Games, has been delayed from its 2026 launch window and is now seen as a 2027 frontrunner. The game was revealed last summer with a 2026 launch window and had been eagerly anticipated.
During the Steam Autumn Sale, the chaotic cooking and restaurant management game PlateUp! is 90% off.
Spooky Cats codes up again on Fanatical
Publisher AMATA Games announced that Studio Gauntlet's free-skiing game SNØ: Ultimate Freeriding will launch for PS5, Xbox Series, and Switch 2 on October 28. The game first launched for PC via Steam on February 17, 2025. It features procedurally generated mountains, three riding styles, and a ZEN mode, but no online multiplayer.
The ID@Xbox team has revealed six games in its October 2026 Indie Selects lineup, including Mortal Shell II, Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game, Mewgenics and The Sinking City 2. Mortal Shell II removes the traditional stamina gauge for faster, more aggressive combat in a compact interconnected open world, while Mewgenics is a roguelike tactical turn-based RPG from Edmund McMillen with a generational breeding system. The curated collection is available in the Indie Select Hub on the Xbox Store and Xbox.com/IndieSelects, rotating weekly on Wednesdays.
The Order of the Sinking Star review roundup shows an OpenCritic average of 82 with 82% recommended across 18 reviews. Thekla Inc.'s game launches October 8 on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC. Reviewers praise its puzzle mechanics and scale, while some cite its sheer size and framerate and crash issues on Switch 2.
Silver Pines is Wych Elm's debut, a Twin Peaks-inspired neo-noir detective mystery published by Team17 that blends survival horror, 2D Metroidvania exploration and point 'n' click puzzling. Its moody town and missing-musician story work well, but once the town opens up it becomes a backtrack-heavy maze of dead ends and item hunts. The author got stuck on a puzzle requiring a swim across a river and asked the developers for directions; Wych Elm said they were looking at reworking that scene.
ATMOSFAR launches in Early Access on October 29 https://www.gematsu.com/2026/10/atmosfar-launches-in-early-access-on-october-29
Developer Desu Kumiai announced that Annihilated will launch for PC via Steam on November 10. The story-driven roguelite RPG lets players rescue one of four broken hero party members and escape a four-layer labyrinth through timing-based card battles. It features a 150,000-word scenario, hand-drawn illustrations, and original music by NINOMIYA Yuji.
Annapurna Interactive is publishing Forever Ago, a narrative adventure game from developer Third Shift. Its protagonist, the aging grouch Alfred, takes a grief-stricken road trip while flashbacks reveal a long life rerouted by rainstorms and engine failures. It is Third Shift's long-delayed debut.
Push Square reviewed Order of the Sinking Star, Thekla's PS5 puzzle game with nearly a thousand puzzles, multiple endings, and four separate Sokoban-style worlds that eventually overlap. The reviewer calls the puzzle design lean and polished, but says the sheer scale, verbose dialogue, and lack of a compelling hook made it hard to stay interested after dozens of hours, so it is hard to recommend.
Publisher Shueisha Games and developer Apog Labs announced that ATMOSFAR will launch in Early Access for PC via Steam and Epic Games Store on October 29. The aerial cooperative survival game supports solo play or up to four players, who scavenge scrap and build and upgrade flying vessels and a mobile airbase among the floating islands of Tycos.
A Kotaku writer spent ten hours with Order of the Sinking Star, the Thekla puzzle game from Jonathan Blow that rebuilds four existing sokoban titles, and found the puzzles excellent but the story, characters, and visual readability weak. The review build used AI voices for roughly half the cast, which Thekla says will not be in the October 8 launch version. The four original games are free in browsers, while this one is on Switch 2 and PC.
GameSpot reviewed Order of the Sinking Star, the new puzzler from developer Thekla Interactive and director Jonathan Blow, praising its clever and numerous puzzles. The game claims over 1,000 puzzles spread across an open-world map modeled on 1987's The Legend of Zelda, all built around top-down grid-based block pushing. The review says that scale is both the best and worst part, sometimes making the game feel sprawling and unwieldy.
Order of the Sinking Star is a roughly 500-hour game that proves as complex and exhausting as its premise suggests. After more than 20 hours of on-and-off play, the author found an exceptionally complicated game that resists firm criticism. Whether it is a masterpiece or an exercise in exhaustion is a question whose answer may change from month to month.
Review: Order of the Sinking Star (PS5) - Jon Blow's Huge Sokoban Design Mixtape Made Me Weary https://www.pushsquare.com/reviews/ps5/order-of-the-sinking-star
Order of the Sinking Star is a block-pushing puzzle adventure from Jonathan Blow (Braid, The Witness) and developer Thekla, out now on Switch 2. It offers more than 1,000 puzzles in which players step through portals into characters who push, pull, teleport, reflect blocks through mirrors, or turn the environment into movable blocks. The review finds the mechanics simple yet inventive, with instant reset and rewind, but notes each puzzle steers toward a single intended solution and rejects clever workarounds.
Crymellight producer ISOBE Takumi explained in an interview that the game's narrative of sin and confession was established first, and the Roguelike action format was chosen because the story itself centers on repeating time. Combat revolves around building poker hands from five cards to strengthen card abilities, forcing players to choose between completing a hand and taking a stronger card. The confession system both powers up Alice and lets her bear the sins and final thoughts of the dead, while the tea party reveals these girls' pasts.
Patience is a Virtue is a "cozy-meets-creepy" conversation puzzle game from teaisfortoby! in which some interactions require players to answer using only the words spoken by the other party. Protagonist Louis is chronically ill and neurodivergent, and the constrained dialogue reflects his lack of privilege, including a distressing hospital check-up scene. The full game is built around a supernatural mystery involving a cassette tape, with no release date announced.
Three games launch on Xbox today, October 7, including Titanic Escape Simulator, in which players are a private investigator aboard the ocean liner solving a suspicious death before disaster strikes. Also out are a game about finding 500+ hidden dogs across 15 hand-drawn English countryside levels, and Voltaire: The Vegan Vampire, an action-farming-roguelite set in Transylvania. All three support Series X|S, PC, and Cloud.