XBOX turned 25 this week and Microsoft marked it with a swag of free updates and classic games on PC. There's also free games on Epic and Game Pass, three Steam deals, and a solid run of new trailers.
Free games
Halo: Campaign Evolved is getting a free Firefight update
XBOX is adding Firefight to Halo: Campaign Evolved as a free update this winter. It's a four-player co-op mode where squads hold a position and survive wave after wave of enemies, with new maps and weapons included. Microsoft showed it off first at XBOX FanFest on November 12, with more details promised at Halo Fest on December 12 and 13. You'll need to already own Halo: Campaign Evolved to play it.
Source: Xbox Wire
Free Play Days: Sumerian Six, Hypnospace Outlaw, Sunderfolk and STUFFED
XBOX Game Pass Ultimate, Premium and Essential members can play Sumerian Six, Hypnospace Outlaw, Sunderfolk and STUFFED for free from Thursday 12 November until Sunday 15 November. Anyone who buys one of the games during the event keeps their achievements and Gamerscore, and Hypnospace Outlaw is 75% off if you want to buy it outright. Sunderfolk needs a free companion app on your phone to play, and STUFFED supports four-player online co-op.
Source: Xbox Wire
Alien: Isolation is going free on the Epic Games Store
Alien: Isolation is free to keep on the Epic Games Store from Friday 20 November until Friday 27 November, Sydney time. It's a survival horror game built on Creative Assembly's CATHODE engine, set aboard a space station stalked by a single, persistent Alien. Epic's own description promises an atmosphere of constant dread and mortal danger.
Source: Epic Games Store
Mark of the Deep is going free on the Epic Games Store
Mark of the Deep is also free to keep on Epic from Friday 20 November until Friday 27 November, Sydney time. It's a pirate-themed Metroidvania with Souls-like combat, where you explore a cursed island looking for your missing crew.
Source: Epic Games Store
Knightica is free on the Epic Games Store right now
Knightica, a roguelike autobattler, is free on the Epic Games Store now and stays that way until Friday 20 November, Sydney time. You build an army by placing troops on a battlefield, choosing between lots of small units or a few big ones to find useful combinations, then fight to free a run of kingdoms.
Source: PCGamesN
Deals and sales
On sale on Steam
9 Kings is 50% off, A$14.97 down from A$29.95, until Friday 27 November. It's a roguelike strategy game where you grow a kingdom through combinations of buildings, units and spells, then fight other kings to survive.
One More Lawn is 30% off, A$6.93 down from A$9.90, until Friday 27 November. It's a co-op lawn mowing game where you and up to five others take on increasingly odd mowing jobs around town, from backyards to golf courses.
Main Sequence is 20% off, A$27.96 down from A$34.95, until Friday 27 November. It's an early access space builder where you design ships and stations and set up automated production lines across procedurally generated star systems.
Source: Steam
News
XBOX's 25th birthday brought a swag of anniversary extras
XBOX turned 25 on November 12 and Microsoft marked it with a new XBOX Playback feature that shows your first game, total playtime and longest streaks. Twenty five original XBOX games are now playable on PC through backward compatibility, including Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, with achievements added to some of them. A run of games got anniversary extras too: Forza Horizon 6 has a GR GT livery in the original XBOX colours, Halo: Campaign Evolved has a Damascus Prototype armour style, and Minecraft's OG Green character creator item is free until December 10.
Source: Xbox Wire
9 Kings has left early access on GOG
9 Kings is officially out of early access on GOG. It's a strategy fantasy RPG where you grow a kingdom by combining buildings, units and spells, chasing chaotic combos and perks to make your kingdom as powerful as you can.
Source: GOG
DOOM: The Dark Ages is getting a free Slaughter Mode
Bethesda used XBOX's 25th anniversary to confirm Slaughter Mode is coming to DOOM: The Dark Ages on November 16, free for anyone who owns the DLC or the Premium edition. The same anniversary post is where Microsoft confirmed Wolfenstein 3 is officially in production at MachineGames.
Source: Xbox Wire
Once Human's fifth season goes live November 18
Once Human's fifth season, Dissonant Resonance, launches globally and free to play on November 18. It adds four Emotion Zones, Joy, Anger, Sorrow and Fear, where you shoot musical notes scattered across the battlefield to build melodies for squad rewards, plus a new companion called Silent Statue. The season's big fight is against the Sky Living-Machine Colossus, a pipe-organ-themed boss that reacts to the notes you shoot. Once it's pushed down far enough, a four-player squad can enter its raid, where the job is to sprint around a ruined cathedral silencing resonating pipes before the melody finishes.
Source: PlayStation Blog
XBOX Insiders get more control over Home, library and the Guide
XBOX Insiders can now save favourite dynamic backgrounds for Home and have them rotate automatically, hourly, daily, weekly or on every sign-in. Anyone who's claimed a digital licence for a disc-based game can see those titles in their own library category now, or turn that off in Settings and keep everything together. The Guide can also open on the left or right of the screen, set through Settings, General, Personalization, Guide. The features are rolling out first to Alpha Skip-Ahead Insiders before reaching everyone else.
Source: Xbox Wire
Candy Crush Saga crossed over with XBOX for its 25th
Candy Crush Saga's new Game On! season brings XBOX characters into the puzzle game for XBOX's 25th anniversary, mixing in Halo, Fallout, Sea of Thieves, Forza, DOOM, Banjo-Kazooie, Crash Bandicoot and Spyro. It runs for four weeks and adds collectible pins and music from the games.
Source: Xbox Wire
GOG's newest Tech Talk covers Wing Commander: Prophecy
GOG's newest Tech Talk goes through the preservation work on Wing Commander: Prophecy, done with Electronic Arts and the Wing Commander community. The 90s space combat game now runs with an OpenGL renderer, full HOTAS and gamepad support, and newly digitised FMV cutscenes.
Source: GOG
Nocturne is out now on GOG
Nocturne, a fantasy adventure RPG, is now available on GOG. It's set after humanity's gone, in a Digital Afterlife that's stayed silent for a thousand years until now, and GOG describes a story that questions what it means to be alive as the world falls apart around you.
Source: GOG
This week's Nintendo eShop highlights
Nintendo's eShop highlights this week include Pikmin 4 – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Dandori Academy, an enhanced version of Pikmin 4 with voice commands, and Metaphor: ReFantazio, the RPG from the team behind the Persona 3, 4 and 5 games. Also featured are the roguelike deckbuilder RACCOIN: Chaos Max Edition, the bullet-hell Warhammer Survivors on both Switch and Switch 2, and SONIC PICO PARK, a crossover between Sonic and the co-op puzzle game PICO PARK. MARVEL Cosmic Invasion also picked up a DLC pack, The Siege of Castle Doom, adding The Invisible Woman and Doctor Doom. Nintendo didn't list prices, pointing players to the eShop or each game's page instead.
Source: Nintendo UK
Company of Heroes 3 is free to play this weekend
Company of Heroes 3 is free to play on PC via Steam from now until Monday 16 November, ahead of its first single-player DLC, Operation Torch, going live on November 25. Operation Torch covers the US invasion of North Africa in World War II across 15 missions. The base game is also discounted during the free weekend, which PCGamesN says is its deepest cut yet, following the Company of Heroes 3.0 relaunch on November 5.
Source: PCGamesN
Jeff Kaplan still isn't happy with the Overwatch 2 reveal
Former Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan has criticised how Overwatch 2 was first revealed, speaking to Gaming World Interviews. He singled out the 2019 BlizzCon opening ceremony, where Blizzard showed off a string of features for the sequel that it later walked back or cut.
Source: GameSpot
Slay the Spire 2's biggest beta patch yet
Mega Crit has pushed what it calls its biggest patch so far to the Slay the Spire 2 beta branches. It adds the game's first new early access character, described as "foolish," two new game modes, and a long list of smaller tweaks. Mega Crit says the patch needs more testing before it reaches the main branch.
Source: Rock Paper Shotgun
Pocketpair giving staff time off for GTA 6's launch
Palworld developer Pocketpair is giving its staff time off for what it's calling "a 5-day business trip in Vice City" when GTA 6 launches, PC Gamer reports.
Source: PC Gamer
Barbie Rewind collects decades of Barbie games, including one that never came out
Barbie Rewind is out now: a collection Rock Paper Shotgun describes as "a whole bunch of life in plastic classics," gathering a chunk of Barbie's decades-long video game history in one place. One of the included games was previously unreleased, according to RPS, though its piece doesn't list the full line-up or platforms.
Source: Rock Paper Shotgun
The seven days I spent with you is out on GOG
The seven days I spent with you, a classic anime-style visual novel, is now available on GOG. You play as someone who wakes with no memories, locked in an unfamiliar room with a girl who insists you're her most important person and that the room is your sanctuary, with your choices steering where the story goes.
Source: GOG
Wolfenstein 3 confirmed in production at MachineGames
Wolfenstein 3 is officially in production at MachineGames, confirmed as part of XBOX's 25th anniversary celebrations alongside the Halo Firefight update and DOOM: The Dark Ages' new Slaughter Mode. Beyond the confirmation, no release window or further details have been shared yet.
Source: PC Gamer, also reported by GameSpot
Trailers
Hiru gets a cinematic trailer
Hiru is a 3D African action-adventure game from Kunta Content, revealed with this cinematic trailer at the Origin Point Games Showcase 2026. You play a Maasai warrior protecting his tribe from wildlife and rival tribes, tracking down poachers and exploring desert regions. It's coming to XBOX Series X|S and PC via Steam.
Source: GameTrailers
Vindictus: Defying Fate gets a game overview trailer
Vindictus: Defying Fate is coming to PS5 in 2027, and this overview trailer runs through its world, story and combat. It's an action RPG inspired by Celtic mythology, where you parry, block and dodge to open up counterattacks against colossal foes, with your own crafted weapons and customisation.
Source: PlayStation, also reported by PlayStation Blog, GameTrailers
Metaphor: ReFantazio gets a Heismay trailer
This trailer introduces Heismay Noctule, a skilled thief, in Metaphor: ReFantazio. The RPG launches on Nintendo Switch 2 on November 12, and is already out on PC, XBOX and PlayStation.
Source: GameTrailers
Ball x Pit's Risen Ballbylon expansion has launched
Risen Ballbylon is a new expansion for the roguelite Ball x Pit, adding levels, characters, balls, passives, enemies, bosses and buildings.
Source: PlayStation, also reported by Xbox, GameTrailers
Exterminauts shows off its chaos in a new trailer
This trailer walks through Exterminauts' Overdrive mechanic, Work Orders, Pests and three-player teamplay, as a crew drops onto the planet Tian to keep its facilities running: repairing pumps, patching pipes and clearing infestations with weaponised power tools.
Source: Xbox, also reported by PlayStation, GameTrailers
Hazard Levels launches with a free demo
Hazard Levels, a 1-4 player co-op survival horror from Wales Interactive, is out now on PS5 with a free demo. Players enter unstable rifts, survive otherworldly creatures and grab strange ingredients for a secret brewery hidden under a British pub.
Source: PlayStation, also reported by GameTrailers
Dragonkin: The Banished adds the Harrower class
Dragonkin: The Banished has added a new class, the Harrower, which can use any of the Wyrmling's skills. The update also brings a survival mode and a new permadeath mode. Dragonkin: The Banished is available now on PC, PS5 and XBOX Series X/S.
Source: GameTrailers, also reported by PlayStation
Hillthorn launches on Switch, mobile and PC
Hillthorn is a Lovecraftian detective puzzle game from Fool Moon and Finnegan Motors, now out for Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android and PC via Steam. You play an investigator chasing a peculiar disappearance with limited time to solve the case, and the whole thing plays out without a single spoken word.
Source: GameTrailers
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