As the weather gets more autumnal and more and more leaves fall to the ground, the most exciting season in gaming (arguably, at any rate) begins.
The months between October and December play host to some of the biggest game releases around, and this year is no exception in that department either, with the likes of Battlefield, Metroid, and more showing their faces.
News-wise, these months can sometimes be a little quieter owing to the build-up to December’s Game Awards ceremony, but as ever, that doesn’t mean there’s nothing going on, so grab a chair and let’s take a look at this week’s gaming news!
Assassin’s Creed Mirage is getting a free update-slash-DLC pack
We bet that new DLC for Assassin’s Creed Mirage wasn’t on your bingo card for 2025, but here it is nevertheless: the Valley of Memory update is set to arrive in November.
This update will introduce an entirely new area for Basim to explore as he investigates rumours that his father may still be alive, as well as new targets to assassinate and more.
You’ll also be able to replay older missions, and they’ll come complete with new challenges that may force you to be creative or go without some of your most useful tools.
Metal: Hellsinger’s studio is closing
As part of the recent layoffs at Conan Exiles and Dune: Awakening developer Funcom, it turns out that Metal: Hellsinger developer The Outsiders, also known as Funcom Stockholm, will be closing.
Founder David Goldfarb shared the news on LinkedIn, where he also said that he and the studio will “do our damnedest” to keep going “in some new form”, so this may not be the last we’ve heard of The Outsiders.
In the meantime, however, it looks like we won’t be hearing from the studio that gave us one of the best rhythm-FPS games of recent years for a while.
Mina the Hollower has been delayed
Mina the Hollower, the latest game from Shovel Knight’s Yacht Club, has been delayed, and we don’t have any idea when the game will be launching now.
Yacht Club says the decision to delay the game was “tough”, but that it was necessary, since the game is “just not quite there yet”.
It’s pretty much always better to delay a game that isn’t ready for release than to unleash it on the public and meet with negative reception as a result, we reckon.
PowerWash Simulator 2 has a release date
While Mina the Hollower has been delayed, another hotly-anticipated indie title got a release date this week in the form of cleaning and maintenance sim PowerWash Simulator 2.
As revealed by developer FuturLab on Steam, you’ll be able to get your hands on PowerWash Simulator 2 on October 23rd, and as a reminder, it’s coming to PC and consoles.
The game will sport a number of new features, including new tools for you to get to grips with, new maps to wash, and, of course, a very cute cat to pet. N’awww.
Broken Sword – The Smoking Mirror is getting a remaster
Hey, remember the second Broken Sword game? Well, if you don’t, Revolution Software is giving you the opportunity to jog your memory via a brand new remaster next year.
The aptly-named Broken Sword – The Smoking Mirror: Reforged will introduce new reworked visuals to the classic point-and-click adventure game, as well as various other improvements.
You can also expect a new “story mode” that will allow you to make your way through the game with hints enabled, so that its famously obtuse puzzles won’t get in your way.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is getting a big new update
This week, turn-based RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 hit five million sales, and to celebrate, developer Sandfall Interactive has announced a big new update for the game.
We already knew that new content was in the works for Clair Obscur thanks to a little tease closer to the game’s release, but now we know what we can expect, and it sounds like it’ll be a substantial update indeed.
Sandfall is promising a new area to explore, new endgame bosses to tackle, and more, so if you thought you were done with Clair Obscur, it turns out you might have been wrong.
October’s remaining Game Pass haul has been revealed
Following the controversial Game Pass rework announced in early October, the remaining games to join the subscription service’s haul for the rest of the month have been revealed.
Together with day-one releases like Ninja Gaiden 4, The Outer Worlds 2, and Keeper, you can also look forward to the likes of Baldur’s Gate I and II: Enhanced Edition, Ball x Pit, and The Casting of Frank Stone this week.
It’s a fairly impressive haul, but it remains to be seen whether Xbox will continue to lose members over its new subscription tiers, which some have decried as too expensive and lacking in worth.
Hyper Light Breaker development is ending
Indie roguelike Hyper Light Breaker won’t be receiving any more major updates after January, and its developer Heart Machine is being hit by layoffs, like many other studios in the industry right now.
While the developer is still planning “something” for January, it says it wants the game to “culminate in a satisfying punctuation point”, so it sounds like there won’t be anything major after that January release.
Whether or not this means the game will be exiting Early Access isn’t clear, but what is sadly clear is that several Heart Machine staffers (although we don’t know how many) will be losing their jobs.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is getting an anniversary update
To celebrate developer MachineGames’ 15th anniversary, action-adventure game Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is getting itself a big update with some new features.
The first of these is a New Game Plus mode, allowing you to jump back into Indy’s adventure complete with all of the stuff you had at the conclusion of your last save.
You can also look forward to the iconic Cairo outfit being added to the game, as well as the ability to select voice languages and more.
