Gaming News Digest — September 24, 2026

Patch 0.4.0.135 makes Distorted deadlier, gives operative level 2-5 rewards to all editions, and blocks item use in Hunter form.

The Viking Sagas DLC adds three civilizations and 15 scenarios following Harald Hardrada.

The Street Fighter 6 crossover adds Fighter Gear with Ryu, Chun-Li, Akuma and Dhalsim styles and turns Olympus into a fighting arena.

Frozen Trail brings a new map, four new ARC enemies, movement tech items and weapon customization after six months without major content.

A paid "Reward Pass" with two 60-level tracks arrives alongside Frozen Trail on October 8, with cosmetics only on the paid track.

The Apothecary Diaries: The False Imperial Brother began after Toho pitched an "RPG in the style of the Atelier series."

An overview trailer details survival-horror gameplay ahead of the October 8 launch on PC, PS5, Xbox Series and Switch 2.

Preload is live ahead of the September 24 launch at 17:00 MSK on PC, Xbox Series and PS5, with 2 million wishlists.

A press build leaked to torrents a day before release, and the game shipped with zero protection.

Valve's update adds a fast 3v3 "Rush" mode with random arenas, reworks Premier map picks, and improves blood and bullet-hit visibility.

A clip shows merc Wick Kingsley raiding an Arasaka warehouse; the 10-episode season premieres October 20.

Three months after entering end-of-support, Bungie and Sony reversed the decision following a petition with over 400,000 signatures.

Director Joe Shely says auto-scaling is out, leveling will feel powerful again, and procedural locations return; release is three years away.

The Philippines government blocked Discord and Reddit, leaving local gamers unable to use voice channels.

Players built the Sanguineous Rim Highway, linking 218 stations, five cargo hubs and a central comms node for new colonies.

The metroidvania left Steam Early Access after six months with a 1.0 content update and 35-40 hours of main story.

Players in Japan are getting banned for anime car liveries, angering fans.

Update 2.002 adds transmog, a "Beauty of Yōtei" scenic mode, 4 new Watanabe tracks and a high contrast accessibility mode.

Lazy Bear Games' sequel hit 50,000 peak players and 90% approval, with demo saves carrying over to the release build.

The sequel reached 88% "Very Positive" on Steam within its first day and over a thousand reviews.

Devs are considering how to make the Great Depression more interesting than a national spirit with penalties.

Kojima praised the director of the recent Backrooms film for bringing "analog" horror back to the screen.

A new trailer introduces Pearl, an Interastral Peace Corporation workaholic who takes her first week off and paints to exhaustion.

The second DLC arrives September 30.

David Jaffe called the game "insultingly unoriginal" and bland, criticizing too much story at the expense of gameplay.

The Switch 2 bundle with expanded Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War editions arrives September 30, discounted to $34.99 until October 6.

Mojang showed new story-driven action footage, with combat weapons, uncharted locations and co-op for up to four players.

An upcoming announcement is teased to turn the game's whole history upside down.

The "Golden Treant" event and a "7-day surprise" with daily gifts started September 24 at 05:00 MSK and run until the end of Season 1.

A new mod completely overhauls co-op mechanics.

Job listings point to testing, bug fixing and localization for Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, with cinematic shoots and mocap wrapped.

The company turns 137, having been founded on September 23, 1889 in Kyoto as a Hanafuda card maker.

Bethesda president Jill Braff says the move is just a reporting change, not a demotion to a Fallout support studio.

Thekla and Jonathan Blow's new trailer details non-linear exploration starting from the map's center in four directions.

Xbox is paywalling the arena shooter following restructuring.

Patch Y11S3.1 buffs operators: Buck's Skeleton Key ammo rises to 36 and Thermite's charge damage to 220.

Creative director Joshua Mills addressed team burnout, staff reshuffles and a December 2025 server hack that damaged account economies.

Ubisoft's reimagining adds voiced cutscenes, an expanded soundtrack, a sixth world, 4 new musical tracks, dragon races and 4-player local co-op.

An exclusive interview covers eras and locations, arcanist design, the Atomic Heart collab, music, merch and Russian localization.

A giant GTA 6 banner reading "Welcome to Vice City" now sits on Miami's Kaseya Center, with the county earning $975,000 from the spot.

The release slipped to February 5, 2027, testing has begun on Steam, and it will launch as a full release instead of early access.

CEO Hyung-Tae Kim said Stellar Blade was made when the company could only pay salaries for about three months.

Signups for the Dichotomy: Retrace technical test on PC and mobile run until October 10, 2026, and applying does not guarantee access.

The turn-based tactics game sold a million copies, hit 86 on Metacritic and earned around $50M, with Steam taking 69.9% of sales.

Journalists went hands-on ahead of the October 7, 2026 release, set after the Empire's fall with no Force and high speed.

Alinea Analytics reports over 1 million copies sold, with Steam at 69.9%, PS5 at 19.9% and Xbox at 10.2%.

Little Nightmares 3's second expansion brings an aquatic theme and leeches on September 30, 2026, sold separately or via season pass.

A big update makes Sims make eye contact and use the nearest sink, retunes autonomy, fixes crashes and adds free kids' content.

The game leaves early access on January 19, 2027, and its price rises from $34.99 to $49.99 on PC and $59.99 on consoles.

The Squanch Games title vanished from Steam, Epic Games Store, Xbox Store, PlayStation Store and Nintendo eShop.

Bulkhead is raising the price from $39.99 to $49.99 in a year and $59.99 at launch, with Season 2 arriving October 15.

Team NINJA confirmed a seamless open world, full-scale battlefields and a "troop command" system at Tokyo Game Show 2026.

The franchise's 40th anniversary is here, with a new release expected next year.

A passenger transportation game spanning ordinary bus driver days to rescuing disaster victims, with story scenarios and free mode.

Play an amnesiac girl escaping house arrest in a relaxing game with 18 endings, exploration, puzzles and easter eggs.

A guide to assembling a futuristic Road Trip look for a Cyberpunk photoshoot.

A graphics optimization mod that lets you set brightness or HDR and replace the original file in the main folder.

Turbo Pug returns airborne, with pug coins, costumes, giant bosses, leaderboards and secret collectables.

Bongo Cat has 153,184 players online, EA SPORTS FC 27 is the top seller, Valheim has 106,573 online, and Warframe climbed 12 spots this week.