Why Nivalis Nights intentionally avoided transactional romances https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/i-was-nice-to-you-three-times-in-a-row-so-can-i-have-one-sex-please-why-nivalis-nights-intentionally-avoided-transactional-romances/
As of October 1, Valve has given developers access to frame rate data reported by Steam Deck users, showing what percentage of sessions run at each frame rate. The data is only from users who opt in, and Valve claims a majority of Steam Deck players have opted in. Developers can use it to adjust graphical options, though it currently only applies to Verified games and can't be used in the verification process.
Steam Deck compatibility could be about to get much better https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/handheld-gaming-pcs/valve-is-telling-devs-how-well-their-games-actually-run-on-steam-deck-with-real-world-data/
Amanita Design announced Machinarium 2, a sequel to the 2009 puzzle adventure, with no release date yet but a trailer out now. The game again stars the robots Josef and Berta, and this time players switch between them to solve puzzles with their different abilities, while the text-free communication through speech bubble icons, symbols and gestures remains. After escaping the city of Machinarium the pair crash-land in the barrens and find a hidden valley home to two robot tribes, one in the Elektrona monastery and one in the city of Oilton below, both slowly running out of power. Composer Tomáš Dvořák returns, and the game supports gamepads from the start while keeping point-and-click controls.
The Galaxies Showcase returns on October 15 with announcements from ZA/UM, Embark Studios, and Frontier Developments, among many others. The stream starts at 12pm PT and can be watched on IGN's YouTube channel, Facebook, and Twitch. Other participating companies include Krafton, Square Enix Collective, Team17, Raw Fury, and Saber Interactive.
A MachineGames sale is running on Steam with big discounts on Indiana Jones and Wolfenstein. It's a good chance to catch up on the Wolfenstein series.
Pony Island 2's free Steam playtest is now live for anyone who doesn't mind it being "incomplete and subpar." The developer's own words describe the build that way.
Shadow of the Road delayed to March 10, 2027 https://www.gematsu.com/2026/10/shadow-of-the-road-delayed-to-march-10-2027
Publisher Owlcat Games and developer Another Angle Games have delayed the story-driven turn-based RPG Shadow of the Road from its previously planned November 12, 2026 release date to March 10, 2027. It will be available for PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG. The extra time will be used to polish tactical encounters, fine-tune combat balance, and refine the progression systems.
Trivia Murder Party 3 still needs some work, but that's what early access is for. https://www.siliconera.com/preview-trivia-murder-party-3-has-a-ways-to-go-to-match-the-sequel/
Christopher B. Didriksen, a student at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, based his Master's thesis on a biometric system that identifies Counter-Strike 2 players by their mouse and keyboard movements. In a dataset of more than 1,000 players, keyboard use identified the right player 98% of the time, and the method found unreported smurfs. He proposes the system could work alongside Valve Anti-Cheat and Trust Factor, and his thesis received an A.
In Arc Raiders' Pendola Pass, Storm Huts only appear on the map and become accessible when the Flash Freeze weather event hits. They function as small loot rooms containing crafting materials like the Epoxy Bucket, Insulation Roll, and Radial Press, plus a Mountaineer Detector and gun cases. Rather than sheltering in any building during the cold, players can rush a Storm Hut to loot while waiting out the storm.
PC Gamer ran a knockout tournament of graphical effects, and in a final poll of close to 2,000 entries, motion blur beat chromatic aberration 80% to 20% as the worst effect in games. The author concedes motion blur can occasionally help at low frame rates, especially on consoles, and in genres like racing games, and is usually optional on PC. Still, because it is often on by default, he turns it off in the settings menu of every game he boots.
World of Warcraft: Forever associate production director Clay Stone says there's a real longing for a slower, more deliberate pace in MMOs, calling it a deliberate pushback on the "go go go" nature. He pointed to the success of Classic, the 2023 response to Hardcore, and players who skipped Season of Discovery because seasons felt ephemeral. Stone says Blizzard is deliberately building WoW Forever to answer whether it's too late to start with an emphatic "no."
Why Deadlock is my favourite videogame setting in years 😍 Subscribe to our FREE Play This Right Now newsletter: https://pc-gamer.visitlink.me/GCMIEt
When the weather turns bad in Arc Raiders' Pendola Pass, head to a Storm Hut for some great looting https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/when-the-weather-turns-foul-in-arc-raiders-pendola-pass-take-a-trip-to-a-storm-hut-theyre-some-of-the-best-loot-spots-ive-found/
Playground announced on the Forza website that the PS5 version of Forza Horizon 6 has been delayed to 26th January 2027, after the PC and Xbox versions launched in May. A £110 Premium Edition offers early access from 21st January, the same day the game's first paid expansion arrives and is included in that edition, while everyone else gets a free update that day. The PS5 version runs at 4K 30FPS in Quality mode and 60FPS in Performance mode, with cross-platform play, cross-saves and cross-platform user content such as liveries and tuning setups.
Charlie Cox confirmed to IGN at New York Comic Con that he will star in an untitled upcoming game from Sega. He previously voiced Gustave in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and recorded around 40 hours of lines for the Sega project. Cox also said the praise for his Expedition 33 performance made him feel like a "total fraud," crediting motion-capture actor Maxence Cazorla.
Bubsy 4D is $13.99 on GOG https://buff.ly/oE2DJ9w #ad
Bendy: Lone Wolf (Steam) is $7.79 on Fanatical https://buff.ly/OIafNSH #ad
Astral Ascent (Steam) w/ 2 more games is $4.95 on Fanatical Build your own Decks and Dungeons Bundle https://buff.ly/DknRfLj #ad
Easy Fox, the developer of Teach My Little Sister How to Drive, has taken out a bank loan to keep the AI-powered demo running as daily costs reach $1,000. Demo players grew more than twentyfold over the past month, and the four-person team says financial pressure may force it to close the demo earlier than expected. The game uses Google Gemini and ChatGPT for its dynamic NPC, and the paid release will factor expected AI usage into its price.
Eurogamer reports that Forza Horizon 6 has been officially delayed to 2027 on PS5. The game's first expansion has also been announced.
European consumer protection authorities announced a series of coordinated actions against 10 video game companies, accusing them of dark patterns that put minors and players at risk of gaming addiction. The action, coordinated by the European Commission, focuses on practices such as premium in-game currencies that obscure real-world spending, selling virtual currency in set quantities that force overspending, and insufficient parental controls. The article cites Destiny 2's Silver bundles of 500, 1,000 and 1,500 units against item prices of 600 to 1,500 Silver, and notes Fortnite will let players buy the exact amount of V-Bucks they need starting October 14, a change also coming to Rocket League and Fall Guys but not PlayStation for now.
Mexico-based studio Interactive Dreams has announced This Is Not For You, a dimension-defying maze game in which you play Ulysses, a shipwrecked sailor trapped in a strange lighthouse that is bigger on the inside. Inspired by Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves, the game has you draw maps on a doodlepad while each step slowly drains your blood, and it is out next year.
CD Projekt Red Delivers The Witcher 3 Remastered Fixes, Improvements in Patch 5.01 https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2026/10/cd-projekt-red-delivers-the-witcher-3-remastered-fixes-improvements-in-patch-5-01
Eurogamer's review calls Gears of War: E-Day a conservative but technically solid prequel whose campaign, Horde Siege, and Versus each have strengths and problems. Horde Siege splits 12 players into four-person squads that pick their own difficulty and complete objectives across the map, and the reviewer says 15 hours in it still produces emergent moments. The review also notes balance and mechanical issues in Versus and baffling checkpoints plus some repetitive beats in the campaign.
Xbox has outlined the games arriving October 12 to 16, including Castlevania: Belmont's Curse, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, Planet Zoo 2, and Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 pre-orders grant Campaign Early Access on October 16 ahead of its global launch on October 23. Deep Dish Dungeon, Valor Mortis, Bluey's Happy Snaps, and Chained Beasts are among the titles coming to Game Pass.
Eurogamer published its review of Gears of War E-Day under the headline a hole new world that grubs me up in all the right ways. The full review is available at eurogamer.net.
CD Projekt Red has released The Witcher 3 Remastered patch 5.01 on PS5, delivering performance improvements and fixes for various technical issues. The update adjusts frame rate limits across graphics modes on the base PS5, adds Bloom, Light Shafts, and Depth of Field options to the graphics menu, and fixes settings resetting on every launch. It also addresses gameplay and UI issues, including automatic blade oils, dodge delay, and skill tooltips.
The latest GTA VI leaks show several signs of coming from a development build, including NPCs not reacting to a fully naked Jason, a tank spawning out of nowhere, missing textures and broken animations, and a HUD without controller button prompts. The footage also shows first-person mode, which Rob Nelson said was not available at the recent previews. These signs do not prove such features will be in the final game on November 19.
IGN's preview of Militsioner shows players trapped in a town watched by a giant policeman, with freedom to explore and interact however they choose. The game includes roguelike elements, letting players spend points earned by improving the policeman's mood after death.
Playground Games announced that Forza Horizon 6's first Premium Expansion will launch on all platforms on January 21, 2027, the same day the PS5 version arrives, with the full PS5 release following on January 26 and early access five days sooner. The PS5, Xbox, and Steam versions support cross-platform play and cross-save, and PS5 pre-orders are live now with an in-game Ferrari J50 as a reward. Details of the first Premium Expansion have yet to be revealed, and a free content update will also arrive for all players at the same time.
French content creator J0nathan was banned from YouTube after uploading gameplay from Hellraiser: Revival, with the platform citing its sex and nudity policy. He said the explicit parts of the video were covered with black bars and that it carried a "not for kids" label but was not age-gated. Publisher Saber Interactive urged creators to follow platform community guidelines, and J0nathan said he has not heard back from YouTube or Saber.
Nivalis Nights, a cyberpunk slice-of-life simulation game, is discounted just after launch. Players take over a noodle bar in Nivalis, befriending or feuding with local vendors and restaurant owners in a cozy experience despite a curfew and a serial killer. It's described as a mix of Stardew Valley and Cyberpunk 2077.
miHoYo announced that Zenless Zone Zero version 3.3, titled Journey to the Sky, will launch on October 21 for PS5, Xbox Series, PC, and mobile. The update adds S-Rank Anomaly Agent Phoenix in the first half and S-Rank Attack Agent Severian in the second half, plus new mech combat gameplay with switchable melee and ranged attacks. It also brings system improvements such as Fairy team recommendations and Agent tutorial videos, with check-in events offering 10 Encrypted Master Tapes and 10 Boopons.
Bandai Namco announced that Ace Combat 8 sold 1 million copies in roughly a week, making it the fastest-selling entry in the series. It is also the second highest-rated game in the series with a Metacritic aggregate of 86-88, behind Ace Combat 4's 89. The game launched on 2nd October and drew solid player numbers on Steam, though the PC version's bundled The Belkan War is not standalone as it is on console, causing related issues.
Charlie Cox, the voice of Gustav in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, said he has just finished recording for an unannounced Sega game. Speaking to IGN at New York Comic-Con, Cox said the game has no name yet and hasn't come out, and that he recorded around 40 hours of lines. He had said earlier this year that Clair Obscur opened a new avenue for his professional work and that he would record for a new game this year.
Paramount Pictures is adapting a live-action film set in the Cyberpunk 2077 universe, with CD Projekt Red co-producing alongside Transformers producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura. CDPR co-CEO Michał Nowakowski said the studio looks forward to sharing more details at the appropriate time. CDPR has produced the Netflix anime Cyberpunk: Edgerunners with Trigger since 2022, and its second season premieres later this month.
After roughly four hours of hands-on time, Kotaku's Lex Luddy argues Phantom Blade Zero plays closer to a hybrid of Sekiro and Devil May Cry than to Soulslike peers such as Black Myth: Wukong. Attacking and successful blocking do not drain stamina, only dodging and reacting to certain color-coded attacks do, and light attacks do not take animation priority over other inputs. The game offers 30 primary and 25 secondary weapons, with two primaries equipped at once and a left-trigger combo swap, while the author traces S-Game's Rainblood series back over 15 years and a 2021 open letter citing hundreds of millions of dollars in Tencent funding for two large-scale action RPGs.