Hamster has announced that Console Archives The Drug Store will launch for PS5 and Switch 2 on October 15 for $11.99 / 1,200 yen. The game is a simulation title originally released by HUMAN in 1998 for a 32-bit home console, in which players manage a drug store. The release includes only the Japanese version, with all in-game text in Japanese.
Hollow Home launches January 27, 2027 https://www.gematsu.com/2026/10/hollow-home-launches-january-27-2027
Arcade Archives Thundercade launches October 15
Console Archives The Drug Store launches October 15 https://www.gematsu.com/2026/10/console-archives-the-drug-store-launches-october-15
Activision confirmed the preload and global release times for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, with the full game including multiplayer launching October 23 across all platforms. Digital preorders of the Standard or Vault Edition get campaign early access on October 16, DMZ early access starts October 20, and preload begins October 14 at 9pm PT. The PC version requires 115GB of SSD space, and the Digital Standard Edition costs $69.99 while the Vault Edition is $99.99.
Why this: Activision confirmed unlock times, preload, and campaign early access for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, so readers can plan when to download and play.
Sony has revealed the God of War Laufey Collector Box, priced at $149.99 / €149.99 / £129.99, which includes a statue, a 51-card Oracle Deck and a mini artbook but not a copy of the game. It launches on February 16 alongside the game and is available for pre-order now on the PlayStation Direct store. The game itself is sold separately as a Standard Edition and a Digital Deluxe Edition.
Ten new games launch on Xbox today, October 14, including Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2, a retro-style FPS sequel with a branching single-player campaign on Series X|S, PC and Cloud. Also out are The Witch's Bakery, a cosy narrative RPG set in modern Paris, and Ratatan, a rhythm roguelike action game with online co-op for up to 4 players on Series X|S. Other releases include Cleaning Simulator, My Recycling Center 2 and YAR: Forgotten Throne.
Sega announced that the racing simulation game Project Motor Racing will release its new DLC "World Endurance Pack" on November 10. The game is available now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. The DLC adds 4 new classes, 11 cars, and 6 track layouts for Fuji Speedway, including its modern form and 1966 original layout.
Escape Academy 2 launches on November 5. It supports split-screen co-op and Game Pass, and offers an optional no-timer mode.
Sega announced that Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds' sixth paid DLC, the "Avatar Pack," launches today (October 14), adding racers Aang and Korra, the Lion Turtle Island track, and the Gliding Air vehicle. An "Avatar Event" will run from October 16 to 19, with players split into 3 teams competing for total points in online races. The free demo also adds the "Ultimate Skateboard" vehicle, available on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, Steam, and Epic Games.
Sega announced that Total War: Shogun 2 Complete Edition launched on PC on October 13 across Steam, the Epic Games Store, and the Microsoft Store. The Complete Edition bundles three campaigns spanning 700 years of history and adds modern-hardware changes such as full Chinese voice and text, enhanced visuals and lighting, UI scaling at 1440p and 4K, a 64-bit update, and ultrawide support. Existing owners get all original DLC free, excluding Blood Pack, and can buy the Complete Edition at 25 percent of its price within one month of release.
Shifu: Traffic Masters, a solo-developed open world driving game from Boxy.Poly set in northern China in the 1990s, now has a demo on Steam. Players can haul cargo, chase criminals in a cop car, run a taxi service, drive a city bus on a timetable, and take part in arcade street racing, with weather affecting handling. It comes in Chinese and English, has no release date yet, and its Steam page makes no mention of generative AI.
Metro 2039 is now available for preorder and will launch on February 5, 2027 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, and Xbox PC. Preorders on all platforms include the Expert Pack with three blueprints that unlock three switchable backpack upgrades, though only one can be equipped at a time. The game comes in Standard, Deluxe, and Collector's Editions, with the Deluxe including post-launch story DLC and the Collector's Edition adding a replica Spartan helmet.
Planet Zoo 2 is now available as the official sequel to Planet Zoo, adding fully aquatic species and flying birds for the first time, with freshwater or saltwater tanks and customizable aviaries built from fences, posts, and dynamic netting. It also extends conservation beyond the zoo, letting players take on global projects and release animals into freely planned wildlife reserves. The game offers career, franchise, and sandbox modes, cross-platform sharing through the Frontier Workshop, and nine scenery themes made up of four new ones and five returning classics.
Fantasy Blacksmith Simulator, a co-op blacksmithing game developed by CozyPlay and published by polden, has opened a free demo covering the game's opening chapter with single-player and multiplayer co-op support. Players start as a level 1 blacksmith and grow to level 4, mining, chopping wood, forging swords, shields, bows and necklaces, and enchanting gear, while hiring a blacksmith assistant and a bard. The demo is available to download on its Steam store page, where the game can also be wishlisted.
The Immortal Legacy, a first-person soulslike from Ghostrunner developer One More Level, launched on October 14 Beijing time for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox Game Pass, and Steam. The China Steam standard edition costs 168 RMB and the deluxe edition 248 RMB, which includes a major story DLC planned for 2027 plus cosmetic packs and several free updates after launch. Players control William Dorsett, a soldier of Napoleon's army, wielding period weapons and supernatural power against mutants born of the substance known as Anima Protein.
HeartLoop Games, a Montreal-based indie studio, has launched its debut single-player roguelike fighting game Poly Fighter in Steam Early Access. The game costs 68 yuan with a 10% launch discount bringing it to 61.2 yuan, and supports Chinese. Players fight through an underground league, stealing opponents' moves and combining them to build a different fighter each run.
Cybernetic Walrus, the studio behind Roadside Research and Order 13, has released a free demo for its card-collecting incremental game Rip It! Card Collector, which launches on Steam on October 30, 2026. The demo includes 369 collectible cards with foil and gold variants, plus an early look at upgrading the ripping setup. The full game features over 1,800 cards, with players selling duplicates and buying new equipment to turn manual ripping into a card-processing line.
1999 TOKOYO Building will launch for PC via Steam on November 10, publisher Kodansha and developer TOKOYO FUDOSAN announced. The neo-nostalgic horror adventure game supports English, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese, and a demo featuring the first chapter (about two hours of gameplay) is available now.
1999 TOKOYO Building launches November 10 https://www.gematsu.com/2026/10/1999-tokoyo-building-launches-november-10
Publisher JOYCITY and developer WOORE announced that FreeStyle Football 2 will launch on December 3 for PS5, Xbox Series, and PC via Steam and the Microsoft Store. Pre-orders are open in Standard, Deluxe, and Ultimate editions priced at $29.99, $39.99, and $69.99, with different outfit, item, and currency bonuses; the Deluxe and Ultimate editions also include early access. The game is a five-versus-five online team sports title in which each player controls one character in real time, and it includes a 10 to 20 hour chapter-based Story Mode, Competitive Leagues, and Club Tournaments.
FreeStyle Football 2 launches December 3 https://www.gematsu.com/2026/10/freestyle-football-2-launches-december-3
Valor Mortis is available today on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, and Game Pass, with Xbox Play Anywhere support. Players control William, an Englishman who joins Napoleon's cause, in a plague-ravaged Europe. Developer One More Level shared combat tips: break enemy posture for heavy attacks or finishers, counter after blocking to restore lost health, aim at glowing weak points since ammo is scarce, and use Fire Transmutation to set enemies alight for finishers. Ambers change builds, such as Marksman's Bane parrying bullets for pistol rounds and Butcher's Carnage restoring health through melee at the cost of Ferrofluid Flask healing.
Why this: The development team breaks down Valor Mortis's parry, weak-point, and Amber build systems, useful before starting the game.
Shin chan: Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation - The Endless Seven-Day Journey and Shin chan: Shiro and the Coal Town coming to Switch 2 on March 4, 2027
BUZZ or DIE launches October 28 https://www.gematsu.com/2026/10/buzz-or-die-launches-october-28
Neos announced that Shin chan: Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation – The Endless Seven-Day Journey and Shin chan: Shiro and the Coal Town will come to Switch 2 worldwide on March 4, 2027. The Switch 2 versions add mouse controller support, 60 frames per second, higher resolution, selectable text and audio languages, and the ability to save anywhere. A physical "Double Pack" with both games on one game card will also be released worldwide, distributed by Clear River Games in the Americas and Europe with pre-orders opening on October 13.
BUZZ or DIE, a point-and-click game published by Kodansha and developed by Bon, will launch on PC via Steam on October 28 with English, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese support, and a demo is available now. Players join a man named Sagishima in a death-match game show for death row inmates, diving into opponents' mindscapes to turn secrets into short videos and win the most Likes.
The new Warhammer Blood Bowl game has entered playtesting after Slitherine took over the series' publishing rights from NACON. Owners of Blood Bowl 3 get it free and keep their existing teams and cosmetic items. The game is built on its predecessor's foundation with the latest official tabletop rules, launches with 14 playable teams, and adds a 7-on-7 mode alongside the traditional 11-on-11.
Animal City Cafe, an intuition-based rhythm game from Chinese indie team Yiguan Yan Studio, launched on Steam on October 13 at 48 yuan, with a 10% first-week discount bringing it to 43.2 yuan. The game features 35 original tracks spanning Jazz, Pop and House, with players taking the role of a cafe owner. The studio also plans to add a level editor about a month after launch, letting players create charts, animations, music, sound effects and narrative content and share them via Steam Workshop.
Zilong Games has released the first PV and gameplay demo for "Extreme Angler," a multiplayer realistic fishing game developed by JackWalker Studio, a sub-studio under Blackjack Studio. The game uses a high-precision physics simulation system that turns underwater lure and fish behavior into a real-time waveform display, with controller vibration feedback on PC. The debut version includes three fishing methods, with initial fishing spots drawn from the Qiantang River system and 47 fish species across three rarity tiers.
The Naruto mobile game, licensed by Bandai and developed by MoreFun, announced an international server after ten years of operation in China, alongside a three-year Naruto IP global plan called PROJECT: RASENGAN revealed at a New York Naruto event. No test or launch date has been given, and the first PV ends with both Bandai and MoreFun studio logos, with the Japanese server likely published by Bandai. The article also notes MoreFun's other two titles this year: Rock Kingdom: World announced its overseas release at Gamescom in late August with its first overseas PV passing 4 million YouTube views, and The Outcast is set for December with 34 million pre-registrations.
Indie publisher Raw Fury will show three new titles at Beijing Gcores Fusion 2026, with Deep Dish Dungeon launching October 13 on Xbox Game Pass, Xbox PC, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox cloud gaming and Steam, plus Xbox handheld certification and Xbox Play Anywhere support. The other two are Kingdom III and Cassette Beasts 2002, the latter letting players import characters from the first Cassette Beasts and supporting online multiplayer. The show runs October 24 and 25, 2026 at the Shougang International Convention Center halls 1 and 3 in Beijing, with single-day tickets at 139 yuan full price and 129 yuan discounted on Bilibili Member Buy.
Sony announced that the PS5 Midnight Black Digital Edition will release in Japan on November 19 for ¥55,000 (about $350). It is a digital edition console in the Midnight Black colorway.
PS5 Digital Edition Midnight Black Japan-only model launches November 19 https://www.gematsu.com/2026/10/ps5-digital-edition-midnight-black-japan-only-model-launches-november-19
Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan Asia announced that the PS5 Digital Edition Midnight Black (console language: Japanese only) will launch in Japan on November 19 for 55,000 yen including tax, with pre-orders opening October 20 at PlayStation retailers and online stores. The system language is locked to Japanese and the console can only be used with PlayStation Network accounts registered in Japan. A Midnight Black standalone disc drive will release the same day for 11,980 yen including tax, and Sony reiterated that physical game disc production will end in January 2028, with games released from then on sold only as digital versions.
Sony announced a Japan-only Midnight Black PS5 Digital Edition and a Midnight Black standalone disc drive, both launching November 19. Sony also reiterated that physical disc production for new games is ending in January 2028.
RibCage Games has released its rhythm action roguelite Blade of Rhythm on Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S, priced at 55 RMB / 17.99 USD with a 10% first-week discount on Steam. The game uses no input quantization, so every attack fires the moment a key is pressed and only on-beat hits become more lethal. Its weapons are based on real instruments recorded in a studio, and reverb, flanger, and delay effects reshape both combat and the mix of each run.
Nintendo announced that the Dave the Diver Subnautica 2 Content Pack will arrive on Nintendo Switch 2 and Nintendo Switch in early 2027. The official description says Dave and Bancho explore the mysterious waters of Proteus, make new discoveries, and help new friends along the way.
Apple and Hello Games announced that No Man's Sky is coming to iPhone and iPad, running on devices as far back as the iPhone 11 and the third-generation iPad Air. The version includes all content and systems updates added over the years, but building and exploring player-made planetary settlements is limited to the iPhone 15 Pro and later, and multiplayer is not supported on any iOS device. Hello Games said it will support the iOS version based on how many people play it.
Wizards of the Coast has confirmed six Magic: The Gathering sets for 2027, split into three Universes Within and three Universes Beyond releases. Confirmed sets include Nauctis: The Sunken Realm on February 5, Marvel: Darkhold Destiny on April 9, Kamigawa: Titanbreach on June 4, and Zhalfir on October 1, with the remaining Universes Beyond sets dated August 6 and November 19.