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This Week (Oct 18th - Oct 24th) |
The third week of October brought spooky season into full swing, with Dead by Daylight opening the gates of Hell for a Diablo collection featuring Lilith, Mephisto, and Belial. Speaking of things being sent to the grave, EA shut down BioWare after more than 30 years and canceled the next Mass Effect alongside it. Steam Next Fest also broke records with more than 8,000 demos, although the flood of AI-assisted projects made finding its most promising games feel like the real horror. The Finals, meanwhile, continued embracing AI with personalized commentary capable of calling players by their usernames. Elsewhere, Palworld teased its winter Side by Side update, while Tencent-owned COSMICPUP unveiled Ordinary Oddness with an ambitious 22-minute reveal trailer.
The anime and gacha side of gaming was no quieter. FuRyu brought demos for ANOMALITH and CRYMELIGHT to Steam Next Fest, while Digimon Alysion announced that pre-registration will open within the next few weeks. Love and Deepspace also launched an unexpected Blade Runner 2049 crossover, but the collaboration quickly drew criticism for borrowing from a film about manufactured intimacy.
For this week, our review slate is a little quieter, with GTA 6’s gravitational pull continuing to reshape the release calendar. Zenless Zone Zero released its 3.3 Journey to the Sky update with sky-high narrative highlights, while a former gacha game, Final Fantasy Resonance, is quickly becoming an instant classic after shedding off live-service aspects. Escape from Playtime is a co-op spinoff in the Poppy Playtime universe that lore theorists will spend hours dissecting. Finally, a former Capcom producer brings along veterans from the company for Stupid Never Dies, a roguelike co-published by SEGA.
Time to take a quick look at some of the week’s biggest gaming headlines.
Gaming News At A Glance
Mass Effect Series Will Still Happen, Despite BioWare Shut Down
Steam Next Fest Record-Breaking 8000 Demos Are Filled With AI-Assisted Games
Love and Deepspace X Blade Runner 2049 Fans Highlighting Thinking Whether the Developers Understood the Films
New Action RPG Game Ordinary Oddness Debuts With a Trippy 22-Minute Trailer
Rockstar Spent Years Reinventing GTA 6's Weapon Wheel, Only to Come Back to It Anyway
Other News and Developments This Week
Review Roundup: Oct 19th to Oct 23rd
A Great Week for Loreheads
⚫︎ Zenless Zone Zero 3.3
⚫︎ Final Fantasy Resonance
⚫︎ Escape from Playtime
Other Reviews This Week
Gaming News At A Glance: Mass Effect Series Goes on Despite BioWare Closing, Steam Next Is Filled to the Brim With AI, Love and Deepspace Has an Ironic Collab With Blade Runner
Mass Effect Series Will Still Happen, Despite BioWare Shut Down
BioWare, the company behind three decades of legendary franchises like Baldur's Gate, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age, and Mass Effect, has announced it will close on October 21. The studio also said the next Mass Effect game is ending, adding to EA's long history of disrupting development on anticipated IPs. However, there's a silver lining: the TV series in development with Amazon MGM Studios is still moving forward, and the studio hopes to replicate the success of its Fallout adaptation.
Steam Next Fest Record-Breaking 8000 Demos Are Filled With AI-Assisted Games
Steam Next Fest, an event filled with free playable demos for unreleased PC games, reached a record-breaking catalog of over 8,000 free demos, more than doubling last year's 3,000 entries. While players were able to try and wishlist anticipated games like ANOMALITH and CRYMELIGHT, the event has amassed criticism as it's flooded with AI-assisted demos or, as the players put it, "vibe-coded AI slop", causing players to beg for an option to filter it out. Some developers were so worried about the harmful effects of AI cloning their game that they held back from releasing demos, as with Drunken Goddess Reflux and ReVamp.
Love and Deepspace X Blade Runner 2049 Has Fans Thinking Whether the Developers Understood the Films
Love and Deepspace seems cursed to attract controversy after controversy ever since the Valko incident, as fans criticized their latest collaboration with Blade Runner 2049. Fans critique that their crossover PV "Love is real" showcased a severe mismatch in themes between the otome game and a film that has themes about dystopian megacorps using AI to profit off loneliness. Still, other fans are holding off on their thoughts until the collaboration drops.
New Action RPG Game Ordinary Oddness Debuts With a Trippy 22-Minute Trailer
Tencent's newest project, Ordinary Oddness, debuts with a 22-minute trailer showcasing its zany visuals and action-RPG combat rooted in urban legends. The video gives a better look into the playable character, Consulting Investigator (Investigator for brevity) of the Mythoids Investigation Agency (MIA), and takes on commissions from humans and Mythoids. Pre-registrations are now open on its official website.
Rockstar Spent Years Reinventing GTA 6's Weapon Wheel, Only to Come Back to It Anyway
As the GTA 6 release date draws near, Rockstar has been revealing more details about the anticipated game. One such detail comes from the studio's interview with Bloomberg, where it told the outlet it tried for years to replace its classic radial menu, as Rockstar wanted a loadout system more like Red Dead Redemption 2. However, after years of trying different UI and loadout systems, like webs and trays, GTA 6's final iteration is returning to the iconic weapon wheel.
Other News and Developments This Week
⚫︎ Phantom Blade Zero Launch Trailer Confirms 2027 Physical Disc Release
⚫︎ Cyberpunk 2077 Edgerunners 2 Update (2.5) Launches October 22 With Cyberware Customization and Dual-Wielding
⚫︎ Palworld: Side by Side Update Revealed for Winter 2026; Fans Think Zoe, Auri, and Saya May Join Players
⚫︎ Dead by Daylight's Diablo Collection Brings Lilith, Belial, and Mephisto to the Fog
⚫︎ ANOMALITH and CRYMELIGHT Celebrate 200k Wishlists With Collabs and Giveaways
⚫︎ Digimon Alysion Pre-Registrations To Open in the Next Few Weeks
After Months of Silence
⚫︎ Monster Hunter Outlanders Celebrates 13 Million Pre-Registrations and Rewards Players a Free Raya
⚫︎ The Finals AI Commentators Will Call Out Your Name Like an E-Sports Player During Highlights in Its Upcoming Update
⚫︎ Chasing Kaleidorider Closed Beta “Doki Test” Now Open, Celebrates 2 Million Pre-Registration Milestone
⚫︎ Dispatch Anniversary Adds Behind-the-Scenes Modes, a Mobile Release, and More
⚫︎ [INTERVIEW] STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT Devs Tease "We’re Pouring Our Hearts" Into the Series' Next Game
⚫︎ Aion 2’s Brilliant Pet Collection Has Me Hooked and Exhausted
⚫︎ Deadlock’s City Never Sleeps Heroes Review: The Good, The Bad, and The Cursed
⚫︎ GTA 6 Triggers the Great Release Evacuation as Rivals Flee and a Few Park Beside It
⚫︎ Earth Defense Force 5 Switch 2 Edition Is the Definitive Version
Review Roundup: Oct 18th to October 24th
A Great Week for Loreheads
Loreheads and players who are into deep narratives will have a kick out of the games this week. Zenless Zone Zero released its 3.3 Journey to the Sky update with sky-high narrative highlights, while a former gacha game, Final Fantasy Resonance, is quickly becoming an instant classic after shedding off live-service aspects. Escape from Playtime is a co-op spinoff in the Poppy Playtime universe that lore theorists will spend hours dissecting. Finally, a former Capcom producer brings along company veterans for Stupid Never Dies, a roguelike co-published by SEGA.
Zenless Zone Zero 3.3 Journey to the Sky
Zenless Zone Zero’s Journey to the Sky continues the Roscaelifer storyline as the Proxies infiltrate Quietude Isle and dig further into the mysteries surrounding Sunbringer. The chapter transitions smoothly from Version 3.2, balancing an entertaining mech sequence and lighter character moments with an increasingly dire crisis and several major revelations.
Version 3.3 lands its emotional beats particularly well, giving Phoenix greater depth and making Sunbringer the chapter’s standout. Severian feels awkwardly inserted into the plot, while Carinus receives too little development for his arc to carry its intended weight. Some late developments also pass too quickly, but the story’s heart and expanding mysteries still leave us eager to see what comes next.
Final Fantasy Resonance
Final Fantasy Resonance rescues the opening storyline and cast of the discontinued mobile game Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, rebuilding them as a traditional HD-2D RPG without gacha pulls or microtransactions. Rain, Lasswell, and Fina embark on a familiar Crystal-saving adventure filled with kingdoms, airships, and other series staples, elevated by expressive pixel animation and cinematic presentation.
Its turn-based combat rewards exploiting weaknesses, staggering enemies, and building characters around Visions of familiar Final Fantasy heroes. The cast is likable, and the gameplay is rewarding, though battles can get repetitive once you understand their patterns. However, a predictable, trope-filled story, straightforward dungeons, fetch-heavy side quests, and a hesitation to take narrative risks despite teasing bigger themes still hold it back, but its early hours still deliver a satisfying old-school Final Fantasy adventure freed from its gacha roots.
Escape from Playtime
Escape from Playtime brings the familiar gather-and-extract formula of Lethal Company and R.E.P.O. into the Poppy Playtime universe. As miniature Smiling Critters, teams climb through the ruined Playtime Co. factory, solve puzzles, collect materials for an escalating quota, and evade toys like Cat-Bee, Boogie Bot, and Miss Delight. Its climbing mechanics and vertical environments give the well-worn co-op formula a welcome Playtime-flavored twist.
The Early Access build still feels underassembled, with unreliable traversal, repetitive procedural rooms, slow progression, and several poorly balanced items. Its oppressive darkness, excellent monster sound cues, and lore exploring the aftermath of the Hour of Joy are considerably stronger, offering longtime fans plenty of context and new questions to pursue. The foundations are promising, but it needs more variety, better balance, and more polish before we can fully recommend it.
