The 12 most exciting video game releases of October 2026

Which video game are you most looking forward to in October? (Konami/Secret Mode/Microsoft/Metro) GameCentral highlights October’s most noteworthy video game releases, which includes the return of Castlevania, a new Star Wars racer, and the first Xbox console exclusive in years. Thanks to publishers running scared of GTA 6, September’s release schedule was packed with more major video games than usual, with gamers spoilt for choice since a lot of them wound up being very good. Capcom successfully revitalised another wayward franchise with Onimusha: Way Of The Sword, Nintendo’s Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave is easily the best modern entry in the strategy role-playing series, and despite proving more contentious than expected, the PlayStation 5 Wolverine game is still an enjoyably violent time. October is mercifully not as stacked, but it’s still going to be incredibly busy since, again, most publishers are keen to avoid launching their games anywhere near GTA 6 in November. To prepare you, we’ve put together a list of the most interesting video game releases scheduled for October, which includes another hotly anticipated Star Wars game, the long awaited return of a major Konami franchise, and a new Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive to whet your appetite until the Zelda: Ocarina Of Time remake. October stands to be an important month for Microsoft in particular, as it has two major first party releases; one of which will only be available for Xbox and PC, with no PlayStation 5 port in sight. Expert, exclusive gaming analysis Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. Ace Combat 8: Wings Of Theve PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC Despite being the only action flight sim around, Ace Combat’s lack of competition hasn’t resulted in the developers at Bandai Namco resting on their laurels, as evidenced by how good Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown was. Now, seven years later, Ace Combat 8: Wings Of Theve brings the series to current gen hardware and our preview session left us very optimistic about it. For as outlandish as Ace Combat plots can get, the series has always offered a surprisingly welcome level of realism to piloting its aircrafts and that remains the case for the new game. Its graphics also border on photorealistic and even in our preview there was a great deal of variety in mission structure to keep things interesting. Hopefully it’ll live up to expectations and once again prove that flight sims aren’t as niche as some seem to think. Release date: October 2 Star Wars: Galactic Racer PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC Star Wars fans were already treated to Star Wars Zero Company earlier this year (which we pray is successful enough to at least warrant some DLC) but if the premise of an XCOM-esque strategy game isn’t to your liking, how about a high speed arcade style racing game? Star Wars: Galactic Racer is the first racing game in the franchise since 2002 and is capitalising on prequel nostalgia by including pod racing alongside land speeders, speeder bikes, and skim speeders, which all have their own unique traits. We came away from our preview very impressed with its controls, its sense of speed, and its dramatic crashes. Plus, the game is in good hands at Fuse Games, which is made up of people who worked on other beloved arcade racers like the Burnout and Need For Speed games. Release date: October 6 Gears Of War: E-Day Xbox Series X/S and PC We’re still unsure what possessed Microsoft to return to Xbox exclusives, considering console sales have never been worse, nor why it thinks Gears Of War is the franchise that will help turn things around. Whatever the case, it has been a long time coming for a new Gears Of War and rather than pick up from Gears 5’s cliffhanger ending, Microsoft is playing things safe by bringing back the original cast of characters for a prequel adventure. Gears Of War: E-Day certainly looks and feels like a Gears game, both in its single-player and multiplayer components, with some very impressive graphics, but we’ll be curious to see if it’s enough of a hit to justify Microsoft’s exclusivity backpedalling. Release date: October 6 Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC Can we say it’s nice to see a classic horror movie franchise get a video game adaptation that isn’t another asymmetrical multiplayer game? That said, it’s bold of Saber Interactive to tackle something like Hellraiser, which famously touches upon more sexual and sadomasochistic material. If you’re unfamiliar with Hellraiser: Revival, it’s the first proper crack at a Hellraiser video game and is fittingly a first person survival horror game. It’s not based on any of the movies and instead tells an original story about a biker trying to save his girlfriend from Hell, after she’s whisked away by the Cenobites. Based on our preview sessions, it’s certainly authentic to the source material, no doubt thanks to Clive Barker himself being involved and Doug Bradley reprising his role as franchise mascot Pinhead. It leans more on action and gunplay than some survival horror games, but you can also use a box for some clever puzzle-solving. Release date: October 8 Valor Mortis PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC Soulslike games have become increasingly scarce in the last year or so and while that’s technically what Valor Mortis is, it’s definitely not your typical Dark Souls clone. For starters, it’s played entirely in first person, perhaps so developer One More Level can leverage its experience with the Ghostrunner games. As for its premise, Valor Mortis takes place in a fantasy version of the Napoleonic era, where you play as one of Napoleon’s soldiers who’s been resurrected to fight undead monsters. For some reason, though, the main character isn’t French but British. Amid more high profile releases, Valor Mortis risks being lost in the shuffle, but One More Level and publisher Lyrical Games are keenly aware of this. That’s why they’ve made the smart decision to lower the game’s price tag to €39.99, which comes to about £34.99 in the UK. Release date: October 13 Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC We’re still baffled it’s taken Konami this long to release a new Castlevania game, after the Netflix show successfully introduced the franchise to mainstream audiences nearly 10 years ago, but better late than never. Coinciding with Castlevania’s 40th anniversary, Belmont’s Curse promises to be a return to the traditional 2D Metroidvania formula. Konami has opted to hand the reins to developer Evil Empire, which assisted on Dead Cells’ excellent Castlevania themed DLC, so Konami must have been pleased with the studio’s efforts. While it’s not directly based on the Netflix show, Belmont’s Curse is attempting some synergy by focusing on Rose Belmont, the daughter of Trevor and Sypha, and it’s even brought back Graham McTavish, from the show, to reprise his role as Dracula. A demo will be available on October 1 and will let you transfer your progress to the full game. Release date: October 15 Ratatan PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC If you picked up the Patapon remasters last year and fell in love with their inventive mix of rhythm and strategy gameplay, you might have felt put out by the knowledge that Sony is almost certainly never going to greenlight a new one. Fortunately, it doesn’t need to as several former Japan Studio staff who worked on Patapon successfully crowdfunded a spiritual successor in Ratatan. It’s been available in early access since last year, but it’ll soon be ready for a full release. Unlike Patapon, it’s billed as more of a rhythm roguelike game, although it still requires a degree of strategy when choosing where to position your troops and when to retreat. It even comes with online co-op for up to four players, in case you have any fellow Patapon fans in your friend circle. Release date: October 15 Stupid Never Dies PlayStation 5 and PC The debut title of Japanese developer GPTRACK50, Stupid Never Dies caught our attention for the pedigree of the studio’s founder: Hiroyuki Kobayashi, who worked at Capcom for nearly 30 years on Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, and Dino Crisis. He was also a producer on Suda51’s killer7, which is appropriate as Stupid Never Dies has a similar flare to Suda51’s work, with a ‘funky zombie action’ tone, punkish visuals, and just generally being very over the top. This action role-player roguelike casts you as weakling zombie David, who can devour stronger monsters and absorb their abilities while he descends a dungeon, so he can defeat the King of Monsters and resurrect a frozen woman named Julia. A demo is currently available on both the PlayStation Store and Steam. Release date: October 21 Final Fantasy Resonance PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC While other modern Final Fantasy games have embraced real-time combat, Final Fantasy Resonance finally delivers what old school fans have long demanded: a return to traditional turn-based battles. Square Enix’s effort to capitalise on nostalgia is all the more apparent by the decision to use its HD-2D graphics, as seen in other games like the Octopath Traveler series, although Resonance’s visuals are a noticeable step up. Even in the trailers, the presentation is far more dynamic, and characters are more expressively animated during battles. It’s also another welcome attempt by Square Enix to rework one of its mobile games into a premium experience. In this case, Resonance adapts the first story arc of Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius, which has since been shut down. A very meaty demo covering the game’s first chapter is available now and will let you transfer your progress to the full release. Release date: October 22 Nintendo Switch Sports Resort Nintendo Switch 2 Having reimagined Wii Sports for the Switch generation in 2022, Nintendo is now doing the same for Wii Sports Resort. It’s even bringing back that game’s island resort setting of Wuhu Island. At 12 minigames, Nintendo Switch Sports Resort 2 offers more variety than its predecessor did at launch. Most of them are returning favourites, from both the first game and Wii Sports Resort, like tennis and bowling, but there are a few wholly new ones. Those are jump rope, skateboarding, and, most amusingly, thumb wrestling, which seems to be a favourite of Nintendo producer Yoshiaki Koizumi, considering he spent some time showing it off in the June Direct. Release date: October 22 Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC This year’s Call Of Duty game marks a couple of firsts for the series. It’s the first game to launch strictly for current gen consoles, meaning no PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions, and it’s the series debut on Switch 2, fulfilling one of Microsoft’s earliest promises for its acquisition of Activision Blizzard. It’s also the first post-acquisition Call Of Duty game to not launch on Game Pass, after Microsoft realised adding new entries day one wasn’t benefitting the service like it hoped. Modern Warfare 4’s beta didn’t make for the best first impression, but its new Kill Block mode, where the map layout and your loadout is randomised, has a lot of promise. Whatever happens, it can’t be any worse than Black Ops 7. Release date: October 23 Phantom Blade 0 PlayStation 5 and PC We wouldn’t blame you for assuming Phantom Blade 0 is another Soulslike, but Chinese developer S-Game has pushed back against such comparisons and prefers to describe it as a wuxia action game. Amusingly, its protagonist is named Soul, but combat is much faster than your average Soulslike and you’ll need to rely on not just dodging enemy attacks but blocking and countering them. It also promises multiple difficulty levels, so even an action game novice can make it to the end of the story, which sees Soul cursed to die in 66 days unless he finds a cure. Release date: October 29 Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. Arrow MORE: The Witcher 3 is 2026’s highest rated video game thanks to remaster Arrow MORE: 58 other games are out the same day as GTA 6 and we’ve not heard of any of them Arrow MORE: GTA 5 is finally on Nintendo Switch but Rockstar has already blocked it GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content.