Twenty stories made the cut today: a free stress test week in World of Warcraft: Forever, Steam's next Next Fest, a run of new releases on GOG, and a big batch of trailers out of PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo.
Free games
World of Warcraft: Forever goes free for a stress test next week
Blizzard's running a free stress test for World of Warcraft: Forever, the overhaul of its original MMORPG, starting October 19 at 2pm Pacific (5pm Eastern), GameSpot reports. No subscription or existing beta access is needed to jump in, so it's open to anyone curious about the new version without paying the usual $60 beta access fee. The catch is in the name: it's a stress test, not an open-ended freebie, so it's only free for that window.
Source: GameSpot
Deals and sales
Steam's October Next Fest runs from the 20th
Steam's next Next Fest, the regular showcase for demos of games still in the works, runs from Tuesday 20 October at 4am to Tuesday 27 October at 4am, Sydney time. It's Steam's own event listing, so expect the usual spread of demos, developer streams and wishlist bait across the week.
Source: Steam
News
Modern Warfare 4's campaign goes into early access
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's campaign component went into early access on Xbox on October 16, Xbox Wire's post says. It doesn't go into detail on what's included, just that the campaign's now playable ahead of the game's full release.
Source: Xbox Wire
DMZ's early access lands October 20
Xbox Wire says DMZ's early access on Xbox starts October 20. The post itself is short, just the headline and a publish date, with no further detail on what DMZ includes this time around.
Source: Xbox Wire
Beyond These Stars lands on GOG
Beyond These Stars, a sci-fi city building game, is now available on GOG. You play as the Peeps, a people living on Kewa, a sentient space whale travelling across the galaxy, managing relationships and expansion as you go, GOG's release post says.
Source: GOG
Penguin Colony brings Lovecraft to the ice, now on GOG
Penguin Colony is also now on GOG, a Lovecraftian horror game told through the eyes of a penguin. GOG describes it as a reimagining of H.P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness, with rival human factions descending into madness in Antarctica while hunting an ancient, incomprehensible being.
Source: GOG
Tenebris Somnia's retro survival horror is live on GOG
Tenebris Somnia, a 2D retro survival horror adventure in the vein of Silent Hill or Resident Evil, is now on GOG too. GOG's post says it's got live-action cutscenes carrying a lot of the story, on top of the usual puzzle solving and fighting off horrible creatures.
Source: GOG
I Want to Play the Villain! is coming to GOG
I Want to Play the Villain! is coming soon to GOG, a theatre-themed logic puzzle game about putting on a show. GOG's listing has you matching actors to roles while juggling each one's own ambitions, fears and wishes, and it's up for wishlisting now.
Source: GOG
MAFATE heads to GOG
MAFATE is also coming soon to GOG, a cozy adventure inspired by the real Mafate valley on Réunion Island. GOG's listing has you playing a mail carrier, hiking through the valley to deliver letters and connect isolated communities.
Source: GOG
WW2 Rebuilder is out now on GOG
WW2 Rebuilder is now available on GOG, a historical building game set in 1945. Rather than combat, GOG's post frames it around reconstruction: rebuilding hometowns and communities after the war, with a Remagen and Caen DLC also on offer.
Source: GOG
Xbox's Latin American developers get their own camp
Xbox held its first Game Camp in Mexico City on October 17, part of its 25th anniversary year, with seminars and a keynote from Mojang's Jens Bergensten, Xbox Wire says. It's tied to Xbox's ID@Xbox Developer Acceleration Program, which it says has backed more than 60 studios across Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Honduras and Uruguay, bringing over 30 games to Xbox since 2023. Six of those games got a spotlight, including Mariachi Legends, a Day of the Dead set Metroidvania from Mexico's Halberd Studios, and Treetopians, a vertical colony sim from Argentina's Aparato Games.
Source: Xbox Wire
Next week on Xbox: what's landing October 19 to 23
Xbox's own weekly rundown has a busy spread landing October 19 to 23. Shoresy: Legends of the North, a hockey RPG, opens the week on the 19th, and the week closes on the 23rd with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 ($69.99) launching alongside a string of smaller releases including The Walking Trade ($10.79).
Source: Xbox Wire
Trailers
Stranger Than Heaven's Act 1 gets a story trailer
Stranger Than Heaven's latest trailer covers Act 1: Kokura, part of what PlayStation describes as a fifty year action adventure saga following protagonist Makoto across five cities and eras of modern Japan. It's pitched as mixing extreme violence with musical talent as ways to survive and thrive. The game's due on PlayStation 5 on January 15, 2027.
Source: PlayStation, also reported by Xbox
Kitaria Fables 2 shows off its new heroes
Kitaria Fables 2's overview trailer introduces new heroes Alice Skylar and Dusty Tuftkin, travelling across the Endless Ocean to the settlement of Whitewall Town on the Arkadera Peninsula. PlayStation's description bills it as an action RPG with farming, crafting and two player co-op.
Source: PlayStation
Beyond These Stars gets its Xbox launch trailer
Beyond These Stars is now out on Xbox on PC and PC Game Pass too, going by its Xbox launch trailer. It's the same sci-fi city builder as the GOG release above: managing supply chains and alien contact while building outposts on the back of a Space Whale.
Source: Xbox
Ghostless shows its uprising against AI
Ghostless's narrative trailer sets up an uprising against AI in a post apocalyptic world where you're never sure who's human and who's a machine. PlayStation describes it as a 2.5D action adventure mixed with colony building: scavenging resources, finding survivors and rooting out android infiltrators.
Source: PlayStation
Tenebris Somnia's PS5 launch trailer arrives
Tenebris Somnia's PS5 launch trailer confirms it's available now, a 2D retro survival horror adventure with live action cutscenes shot by a film crew from Argentina. PlayStation's description frames it around solving puzzles and fighting off horrible creatures while asking whether the nightmares are really just nightmares. It's rated Mature.
Source: PlayStation, also reported by Xbox Wire
Tenebris Somnia lands its Xbox launch trailer too
Xbox has its own launch trailer for the same game, covering the same live action, retro 2D survival horror pitch for its own audience.
Source: Xbox
Jackbox Party Pack 12 launches on Switch
The Jackbox Party Pack 12 is out now on Nintendo Switch, with five new party games in the mix. Nintendo's trailer runs through We Forgot a Card, Hyperface, Debate and Switch, Idol Factions and MegaPals.
Source: Nintendo
Snoop Dogg teaches Stranger Than Heaven's hero to rap
Game Informer's covered a separate Stranger Than Heaven story trailer, where protagonist Makoto Daito arrives in Japan and starts learning to rap, courtesy of Snoop Dogg's character. It's part of developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios drip-feeding Makoto's decades-spanning story ahead of the game's January release.
Source: Game Informer
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