“Continuing this project would not have been sustainable for the future of the studio,” wrote the CEO on LinkedIn. “Regrettably, this also means that there will be redundancies following this decision.”

The CEO also revealed that the studio will not be working on a follow-up to Unknown 9: Awakening owing to the game not hitting the sales performance expected by the company. While Hoerdt refers to Unknown 9: Awakening as having a “rich transmedia universe,” a follow-up would not be in the works.

“The performance of the release didn’t come near the company expectations, after numerous timeline adjustments and investments, both financially and other, and didn’t warrant any further exploration in this universe,” wrote Hoerdt.

The studio has not yet confirmed which teams at Reflector Entertainment will be affected by these layoffs. However, Hoerdt did mention that the back-office staff will be affected, and moving forward, the studio will focus on the development of single projects rather than work on multiple titles in parallel.

Unknown 9: Awakening was released back in October on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. For more details about the title, check out our review.

Star Wars Outlaws

As iffy as certain things looked before launch, there was still some hope for Star Wars Outlaws from Massive Entertainment’s involvement alone. The Reputation and Wanted system, more organic exploration, and focus on single-player were all the right moves, but it didn’t land for consumers. Those who took the plunge suffered numerous bugs and issues with movement, combat, AI, stealth, and so on. It’s a better game now, but Outlaws still needs work.

Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League

Even with successes like Helldivers 2, this year just wasn’t it for live-service titles. However, the negative response to Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League began well prior, with many criticizing the looter shooter’s format. The release sadly did nothing to rise to the occasion, featuring a horrendous story that falls off a cliff, insufferable characters, and the same dreary games-as-a-service mission structure seen hundreds of times before. With a $200 million impact on Warner Bros. Discovery’s revenue, Suicide Squad clearly didn’t meet expectations.

Skull and Bones

Alleged reboots, high-profile departures, constant delays, and a ballooning budget – Ubisoft’s Skull and Bones had all the key ingredients for a potential disaster. Adding in all the live-service staples like seasons, always-online gameplay, a focus on multiplayer, and whatnot hastened the game’s doom (calling it a quadruple-A title also didn’t help). With player numbers reportedly coming in at less than a million around launch, it was a failure before it even got started.

Planet Coaster 2

Incredible visuals and the studio’s penchant for attention to detail did little to make a difference for Planet Coaster 2, which is, by all accounts, a hotly awaited sequel, that much more palatable. The awful UI, pathing issues, lackluster pools, awful characters and various bugs were just too significant to ignore, even with the better campaign. Frontier has rolled out improvements, and it will likely excel in the long run, but for now, Planet Coaster 2 is an underwhelming ride.

Farming Simulator 25

After the failure of Farming Simulator 23 (at least on Nintendo Switch), Farming Simulator 25 marked a return for the franchise to consoles and PC. It shipped with extensive bugs, an annoying user interface, jarring physics, and multitudes of other issues that remain. That’s on top of the unoptimized performance on PC, which hinders the otherwise strong environmental effects and textures. Mods will likely make it a better experience over time but at this point, fans would appreciate a strong title out of the gate (which certainly applies to our next choice).

Starfield: Shattered Space

Starfield had its share of mixed impressions after launching last year and Shattered Space seemed like the perfect opportunity to address many issues while offering a fresh slate. However, the hand-crafted planet of Var’uun’kai delivered the most rudimentary content and barren surroundings to go with lackluster characters and story-telling. Even the intriguing gravity anomalies barely appear after a point.

A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead

I was excited about Stormind Games’ first-person horror, especially with how it leveraged the films and their mechanics. Unfortunately, A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead is a hugely linear, highly scripted experience with bizarre AI, questionable design decisions, and a predictable story that fails to really leverage its endearing characters.

Concord

Sony’s biggest first-party failure in years, Concord was seemingly doomed from its first proper reveal, especially when the hero shooter elements became apparent. After a beta with abysmal numbers, it would launch to middling reviews and reportedly sold only 25,000 copies. Sony initially pulled the title from sale and shut down servers before eventually shuttering it and Firewalk Studio.

Rise of the Ronin

Director Fumihiko Yasuda revealed around June that Rise of the Ronin was Koei Tecmo’s best-selling game so far, with the publisher even reporting higher sales than Nioh. That’s all great, but the game itself fell short of what we expected in terms of open-world activities and storytelling. At least the combat remains enjoyable, and Team Ninja has provided some extensive post-launch content for free.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard

The first Dragon Age title in ten years was bound to have astronomical expectations, especially with all the rumors and reports of reboots. Combat was sharp despite pivoting to a real-time hack-and-slash approach and the environments are gorgeous, without a doubt. It’s everything else that either whelmed or disappointed, from the uneven characterization and writing to the mission structure. Though it wasn’t BioWare’s worst, it’s far from being its best.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

Significant improvements over last year’s game don’t excuse Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 from disappointing in other ways. Despite a superior campaign, its story ultimately felt flat (and continued the same cliffhanger approach), while multiplayer fell short with its map design. Zombies is surprisingly good despite some balance issues, and while the overall experience classifies as “good,” it’s nowhere near the series’ heights.

Unknown 9: Awakening

There’s always some skepticism when a developer gets ahead itself and plans out an entire universe for its IP before the first game even launches. Unfortunately, Unknown 9: Awakening loaded its bland premise with dull writing and boring combat, while various bugs and performance issues weighed even heavier. Suffice it to say that with an all-time peak concurrent player count of 285 on Steam at launch, Unknown 9: Awakening failed to meet any expectations heaped on it.

MultiVersus

From promising platform fighter to being pulled and relaunching earlier this year in a worse form, MultiVersus has had quite the journey. It’s hard to pinpoint all the issues, be it the sheer lack of quality-of-life features at launch or how underwhelming Rifts felt after they finally went live, but above all else, the feel and fluidity from the open beta felt like it was missing. And unfortunately, Player First Games hasn’t been able to capture the magic ever since.

XDefiant

Initially revealed as part of the Tom Clancy series, XDefiant would become a standalone entity while still crossing over with the publisher’s various other titles. However, despite some responsive shooting, it couldn’t match the features and content of other free-to-play shooters at launch. Various issues like network performance also affected it, causing a sharp downturn. Maybe there’s still time to right the ship, but based on the company’s other live-service endeavors, XDefiant’s days could be numbered.

Outcast: A New Beginning

Developing a sequel to a niche title from the late 90s is unusual on its own, but perhaps Outcast: The New Beginning could cater to long-time fans. What it offered was a massive world with nothing exciting, loading up players with menial tasks and awful writing. Appealing as it may be for those seeking more old-school-style titles, A New Beginning felt more like an awkward continuation for a cult-classic series.

I mentioned how the game was cinematic earlier, and while it has the framework and elements of a blockbuster film, it doesn’t overly rely on rendered cutscenes to tell its story. Most of the story is told through character dialogue and in-engine scenes, and it’s the former where Unknown 9 really shines. While I do appreciate the occasional scenes, there’s some awkward transitions here and there that gave me scripting whiplash, as it were. One minute we’re arguing on the airship, the next we’re abruptly searching through a jungle by ourselves without context. These jarring scene transitions aren’t prominent through the experience, but you’ll notice them when they occur. By contrast, the dialogue between characters is well-written, with communication occurring organically between the characters and not with the player directly, as so many games clumsily do. There’s a subtlety and wit here that reminds me of classic BioWare at times. Nowhere is that better reflected than through companion conversations aboard your airship hub. You’ll be introduced to the airship a couple levels into the game, returning to it after every other level to interact and catch-up with crewmates.

"Conversing with your crewmates aboard the the airship displays some of the game’s best writing and characterization."

It was in these moments aboard the airship getting to know all the companion characters where I enjoyed Unknown 9 the most. The crew aboard the ship have updated dialogue every time you return after an outing on land in true Mass Effect Normandy fashion. I find the characters’ personal stories and personalities to be a highlight of the game, despite the protagonist’s more abrasive and untrusting persona. I wish I liked the protagonist of Unknown 9, Haroona, as much as the rest of the cast, but even by the end of the narrative, her standoffish distrust and arrogance didn’t really evolve or charm me. That said, Haroona, just like the rest of the cast, have a well-developed backstory that informs their motives. Characters like the quirky navigator trying to get Haroona to listen to opera, or the casual and likeable bartender reminiscing on his time in the American Civil War continued to be the highlight of the whole experience for me, prompting me forward even when other parts of the game kept trying to get me to quit.

As for plot, it follows a more or less traditional structure; the protagonist realizes their potential after losing their mentor and gets embroiled in a wider scheme as they join a ragtag resistance group. I could see some of the plot twists a mile away, but everything is well-told and presented with sincerity, so I didn’t mind when it stepped into tropes. Also, props to the story not beating me over the head with themes or endlessly repeating plot points as if I were an idiot; the game respects the player’s intellect.

"You journey through a number of diverse environments from Indian jungles to Portuguese mansions, all housing numerous collectables."

While we’re on the subject of things Unknown 9 does well, exploring the baubles and furnishings within the airship is a delight thanks to the variety of doodads and scattering of collectables hidden throughout. I enjoy the exploration in general, whether it be the jungles of India or the subterranean caves hiding secrets of the mysterious godlike Unknown 9 and their influence of historical events. Environments are decorated with a high attention to detail, which is helped by the game’s superb graphical quality and dynamic lighting. You really get a sense of the dampness of the Indian forests and the dry heat of the desert locations, but facial animations aren’t nearly as great. Facial animations look stilted, almost like they’re placeholders, which is an unfortunate contrast to the wonderfully textured and detailed environments.

While I thoroughly enjoyed my time exploring the dense jungles and Victorian mansions, the same can’t be said for the game’s combat. We’ll start with what I do like about combat first. Much of the game’s early combat scenarios involve sneaking through tall grass to overcome foes through stealthy back attack assassinations and ranged tampering of explosives through the Crush ability. You can even throw psychic ‘stones’ to distract enemies and use a psychic Peek ability which acts as a survey lens to see enemies and interactables through objects. I rather enjoyed these early stealth-oriented sections of the game and favor them to the more direct tanky approach the latter sections necessitate.

"The Step ability grants you control of an enemy’s body until your Umbral meter drains, giving you the upper hand in most encounters"

Integral to to most encounters is Haroona’s Step ability, which grants control of an opponent for a limited time, allowing you to attack other enemies or set off explosives. Step is particularly useful when overwhelmed by large groups, something that happens far too often halfway through the game. While I do like the kit available to Haroona, the abundance and size of the enemy encounters halfway in the game don’t accommodate her Umbric abilities very well. Haroona is no tank, and your occasional combat companion barely does anything to help you overcome your foes, making a majority of the later encounters feel tedious and mismatched. Sure, you have a magical shield with parries and a brief invisibility trick to evade potential disaster for a time, but there’s only so much you can do when there’s devices that restrict those abilities in tandem with heavy ‘mini-boss’ enemies.

"Gearhead enemies restrict your Step ability. Many other machines and enemies restrict other Umbral abilities as well, although you can overcome some restrictions by advancing in the skill tree"

Take Gearheads for instance. Your first encounter with a Gearhead is awful, as you have no defensive terrain to hide behind nor tall grass to fall back to. Worst of all, you cannot use Step on Gearheads, rendering your most valuable tool worthless. So many of these fights whittle down to clunky melee bouts where your coolest Umbral abilities are taken away, and there’s a tad too many of them considering how emphasized the stealth and Umbral abilities are in general. It doesn’t help that the number of bugs increases as more opponents get thrown at you. I’ve had several instances where I couldn’t jump across gaps because my character was stuck in a combat animation, resulting in a swift death. I’ve also been stuck in terrain during certain fights involving busier terrain featuring rocks and the like. Unknown 9 is at its worst during these large group battles with heavy opponents that restrict certain Umbral powers. The melee in this game isn’t great, due to inconsistent lock-on and vague punch hurt boxes, yet the second half of the game insists on overwhelming you with waves of these kinds of enemies.

"Overwhelming combat encounters featuring a dozen-plus opponents are common mid-way through the game, unfortunately"

Repetitive melee-based encounters aren’t the only hiccup in Unknown 9’s gameplay though; character dialogue and banter often gets cut off when progressing or triggering an encounter. In a different vein, companions often nag on you to “hurry up”, repeating their demand incessantly until you follow the main path forward. This nagging really discourages exploration, which as I stated earlier is one of the game’s best qualities. I was especially annoyed when being yelled at for not progressing the main story aboard the airship; I wanted to hear all the companion dialogue and explore the wonderful environment, so why doesn’t the game want me to?

Some other slight niggles are the absence of performance or graphics modes on console. I was stuck with the game hovering around 40 FPS, with frames getting choppier during some of the overwhelming group fights. Oh, and you cannot change difficulty after you start up a new game, so select between the four difficulty settings wisely because you’ll be stuck with it.

"Despite its flaws, Unknown 9 delivers some wonderful story moments and fun gameplay when it wants you to explore"

I really was beginning to fall for Unknown 9: Awakening as I approached the midway part of the narrative, but then the game insisted on me going melee and threw repetitive enemy encounters at me like it forgot what makes it tick. The game shines in its explorative moments, and especially so when conversing with the crew aboard the Morning Star airship. The game’s combat works well when it encourages stealth and allows you to use your umbral abilities without abandon, making me question why they threw enemy waves at you like they do during the second half of the game. The story and worldbuilding are a treat though, and you’re bound to find one or two characters to grow attached to throughout your time in Unknown 9’s world. I’ll be interested to see the related projects within the Unknown 9 universe since Awakening has shown promise with its worldbuilding, despite its gameplay irritations.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

A new cinematic trailer offers another glimpse at the many high-flying powers that protagonist Haroona (played by Anya Chalotra) will be able to unleash in both stealth and combat, including being able to temporarily possess foes to set off deadly chain reactions of attacks and combos. The game will see Haroona travelling to a number of different locations on her journey to stop the Ascendants, which we also see some glimpses of in the trailer. Check it out below. 

Unknown 9: Awakening is out later this week, on October 18, for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC. 

UNKNOWN 9 UNIVERSE

Unknown 9: Awakening is technically a new IP, of course, but as Bandai Namco and Reflector Entertainment have stressed on a number of occasions, it’s also part of a larger multimedia franchise, spanning books, comics, and more. The game itself is, however, going to tell a standalone story, focusing on protagonist Haroona, played by Anya Chalotra of The Witcher fame. Haroona possesses unique supernatural abilities that allow her to tap and venture into the Fold, a mysterious dimension that overlaps the real world. That sets her on a path to uncover hidden, long lost knowledge, though not, as it turns out, without consequences.

STORY DETAILS

In Unknown 9: Awakening, Haroona is going to have to contend with a villainous group known as the Ascendants, a splinter faction of the Leap Year Society, which itself is a group that aims to uncover forbidden knowledge to help hasten human advancement and progress. The Ascendants, however, have nefarious goals of their own, with plans of using knowledge taken from the Fold for the purposes of altering human history, and in doing so, messing with powers that they do not understand. Haroona, who has the ability to tap into the Fold, catches the Ascendants’ attention, kicking things into motion, while she and her companions also know that they are the only ones who can stop the Ascendants.

COMBAT DETAILS

Combat will take a couple of different forms in Unknown 9: Awakening, with players being given a few different options in how to approach situations. Your most basic, straightforward approach will be to engage in melee combat, using your fists to chip away at enemies’ health bars. Alternatively, you can also use abilities known as Umbric talents to fill up an enemy’s gauge, which, once filled, will leave them temporarily weak and vulnerable, following which you can unleash more powerful melee strikes to deal higher damage, or even finish them off. As for when you want to take a quieter approach…

STEALTH DETAILS

Unknown 9: Awakening give players a number of interesting options for when you want to deal with enemies quietly. Using her Fold abilities, Haroona can spot enemies in her vicinity even through walls, can lure them to specific spots to isolate them from their companions, and can attack them from distances- while the good old fashioned method of walking up behind someone and silently taking them out yourself will, of course, also always be an option. Meanwhile, Haroona always has access to an ability called Shroud, which lets her temporarily turn invisible, and can even be triggered in the middle of combat. As you might imagine, that’ll probably come in pretty handy when stealthing around.

Oh, and speaking of Haroona’s abilities…

STEPPING

Stepping is probably one of Haroona’s more high-flying and useful abilities (or seemingly useful, at the very least). Stepping allows you to step into the Fold, following which you can possess a number of enemies in turn, using them over short windows to set up all manner of explosive chain reactions. How far you can take things with Stepping will depend on how many Stepping tokens you have, which you gain by defeating enemies and performing successful takedowns. The more tokens you have, the more steps you can take while Stepping, letting you unleash more powerful attacks.

MORE ABILITIES

Stepping and Shroud aren’t the only abilities that Haroona has at her disposal. For instance, she can use Umbric abilities known as Push and Pull, which do exactly what the name implies, allowing you to telekinetically push or pull enemies towards or away from you. You can also use these abilities on objects in the environment to your advantage in a number of ways, like Pushing an enemy off a ledge, or Pulling an explosive barrel into an enemy’s back. On the stealth side of things, there’s the Ripple ability, which attracts the attention of nearby foes, drawing them to a specific point. So you can, for instance, use Ripple to drawn multiple enemies to an explosive, and then trigger that explosive while you’re a safe distance away yourself.

ENEMY TYPES

Unknown 9: Awakening will throw a number of different enemies at you as you make your way through its story, and each will present unique challenges in combat, from muscular brutes who dole out hard-hitting knuckle-breakers to those that like to keep their distance and attack you with ranged weapons, to those that come equipped with a variety of different melee weapons, and more. As you might imagine, not only will that be something that you have to contend with during combat and stealth sections, but on the flipside, while using your Stepping ability, you’ll also be able to use these different enemy types’ unique abilities to deadly effect yourself as well.

PROGRESSION

By its very nature, Unknown 9: Awakening is obviously not going to be this huge, sprawling RPG, but the game will make use of its own set of focused progression mechanics to allow Using rifts known as anomalies – which can be found scattered throughout the game – to invest in skill trees that allow you to both power up Haroona’s abilities, and also customize them in unique ways, letting you alter them (at least to some degree) to fit the way you want to play.

LOCATIONS

Unknown 9: Awakening is, as we’ve mentioned, going to be a linear experience, though there’s still going to be a fair bit of variety in the environments that you’ll traverse and explore. Over the course of Haroona’s journey, players will find themselves in all manner of locations, from 19th century Portugal and dense and overgrown jungles in India to gorgeous, sandy locales in Mauritania and more.

PC REQUIREMENTS

For those who’re looking to play Unknown 9: Awakening on PC, the game’s system requirements thankfully aren’t terribly demanding (which isn’t surprising, given that this is very much being billed as a smaller, AA experience). On minimum settings, the game will require any processor with either 4 or 6 cores and 8 threads at a base 3.6 Ghz, along with an 8 GB VRAM GPU, and 12 GB of RAM. On recommended settings, meanwhile, you’ll need a processor with 6 cores and 12 threads at a base 3.4 Ghz, along with 16 GB of RAM, though your GPU requirements remain the same. On either setting, you’ll also need an SSD and 55 GB of free storage space.

The story follows Haroona as she attempts to learn more about the Fold, an alternate dimension granting her mysterious powers. An organization called the Ascendants are also interested in the Fold, and together with her allies, Haroona must prevent them from exploiting it to their own ends. While she can engage in combat with various Ascendant foes, there are other abilities to rely on, like Shroud and Stepping.

Stepping is interesting because it allows for possessing enemies to use their abilities. As you take down foes with stealth or combat, you get Stepping Tokens for more steps and lethal attacks during possession. Of course, there are ability upgrades, such as Bracer Overdrive, for increased damage and movement speed if you deal a bunch of damage and don’t get hit.

Unknown 9: Awakening launches on October 18th. Head here to see more gameplay of Haroona’s abilities.

Until Dawn Remake

Before it dabbled in horror anthologies and that one underwhelming Dead by Daylight crossover, Supermassive Games had its big break with Until Dawn. It’s getting the remake treatment, launching on October 4th for PS5 and PC, courtesy of Ballistic Moon. Rebuilt from the ground up on Unreal Engine 5, it features improvements to character models and textures, liquid physics (like, say, blood spatters), effects, facial animations, and more.

There’s also a new third-person camera, providing an alternative perspective on classic scenes, new areas prompting new interactions, and even a reworked prologue. PC players will have to suffer mandatory PSN requirements, but if you’re interested in Supermassive’s best work yet, then Until Dawn’s remake could be worth it.

Silent Hill 2 Remake

Counterpoint: Wait four more days and experience Bloober Team’s remake of one of the best horror games ever. Silent Hill 2 remake arrives on October 8th for PS5 and PC, with “other platforms” (they know who they are) having to wait another year. The story of James Sunderland as he ventures into the mysterious Silent Hill at the behest of his deceased wife is intact, as is the series’ iconic fog and horrors like Pyramid Head.

However, almost everything else has seen an overhaul. A new third-person view and combat mechanics, new enemy attacks, changes to enemy locations and items, more buildings to explore – the list goes on. Whether it lives up to the original or not, Silent Hill 2 remake looks to prove itself.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms 8 Remake

Of course, if neither of the previous two options works out, there’s one more remake – Romance of the Three Kingdoms 8. Based on Koei’s turn-based strategy from 2001, it features a revamped aesthetic, new features like Tales and Destiny (the latter altering events significantly), and the option to play as any officer (with the total number raised to 1000 from 600). Unorthodox? It doesn’t offer the over-the-top hack-and-slash action of Dynasty Warriors, but Romance of the Three Kingdoms 8 Remake is still worth checking out for fans when it launches on October 24th for PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered

Following numerous rumors over the years, Guerilla Games finally revealed Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, and it’s on track to launch on October 31st for PS5 and PC. Leaving aside the necessity of the release, several changes and features could make it worthwhile for old and new fans. Hours of conversations have been re-recorded, and multiple improvements can be seen in the character models, animations, and lighting.

There’s also support for the DualSense’s haptic feedback and adaptive triggers, support save transfer from the original game, accessibility features from Horizon Forbidden West (which should make grinding for materials less painful), and a $9.99 upgrade option for current owners. At $49.99 for new players, it’s not the worst way to experience the 2017 open-world action RPG and its expansion, The Frozen Wilds, especially given the sheer amount of content. It even supports the PS5 Pro out of the box.

Throne and Liberty

A new free-to-play MMORPG? In this economy? Technically, Throne and Liberty was meant as a sequel to Lineage and announced as such in 2011. Plans changed, and it morphed into the current game, which launched in December 2023 for South Korea. It’s coming to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on October 1st, bringing its mix of castle sieges, massive PvP battles, combat styles, and even transformations to North America, Europe and Japan. Will it stand out and offer a fun new experience? We’ll find out soon enough.

Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred

You’d be forgiven for not remembering the ending to Diablo 4, especially with how its big bad turned out. Venturing to Nahantu to search for Neyrelle, the Wanderer encounters new enemies, dangerous new locations, and the Spiritborn, a new friendly faction that joins the fight. Players can choose the Spiritborn as a new class, harnessing different spirits and elemental properties to annihilate their enemies.

Regardless of how the story turns out, Vessel of Hatred promises tons of new content, from new Mercenaries with unique skill trees, the return of Runewords, and a new co-op activity, the Dark Citadel, to master. It launches on October 8th for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, and PC, alongside a free update that overhauls progression, introduces new skills per class, and much more.

Starship Troopers: Extermination

Arrowhead Game Studios’ latest update for Helldivers 2 appears to have dragged it out of an unfun state. However, if it’s another co-op-focused alien bug-stomping shooter that you want, then Starship Troopers: Extermination may be the ticket. Exiting early access on October 11th and becoming available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC, it features a new campaign starring Johnny Rico from the original film with 25 missions. This is on top of all the base defense, fast-paced first-person shooter combat, 16-player co-op, and extraction that makes the current product such a blast.

Undisputed

Amid all its sports titles, it’s a shame that Electronic Arts hasn’t brought back Fight Night. Until then, Steel City Interactive’s Undisputed will have to fill that gap when it exits early access on October 11th for PC while also becoming available for Xbox Series X/S and PS5. Featuring over 70 fighters, multiple traits and attributes, +60 punches, and a Career Mode with champions from the World Boxing Council, World Boxing Organization, and International Boxing Federation, it could very well be worth the wait.

Post Trauma

October isn’t just about highly anticipated sequels and blockbusters – it’s also prime horror season. If Silent Hill and Until Dawn aren’t enough, Red Soul Games’ Post Trauma launches on October 29th for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. It sees a train conductor, Roman, trapped in a bizarre world and attempting to escape, solving puzzles and escaping from horrifying monstrosities. While it channels old-school survival horror titles with its fixed camera angles, Post Trauma offers various control types, from modern style to tank style, for a truly classic experience.

A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead

Those seeking something scary based on a film franchise might want to check out A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead. Picking up right after the murderous aliens arrive on Earth, players control Alex Taylor as she attempts to evade their cruelty and protect her loved ones. The focus on not making any sound, avoiding unnecessary contact with the environment at all costs, and even retrieving inhalers makes for some tense gameplay. Whether it translates into genuine scares or a memorable story remains to be seen, but it’s out on October 17th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC.

Unknown 9: Awakening

Reflector Entertainment’s Unknown 9: Awakening is out on October 18th for PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC after being announced in 2020. The action-adventure occurs in the 19th century and stars Haroona, who possesses unique abilities tied to the Fold. She seeks answers while fighting off a dangerous organization known as the Ascendants, who have sinister plans for the Fold.

With the ability to cloak, possess enemies, and slip into the Fold, Haroona will traverse the globe, visiting India, Portugal and many other locations. Even if the gameplay could use more polish, the set-up is intriguing, and we’re curious to see how it pans out.

Europa

If an adventure with a more animated art style is your thing, Future Friends Games’ Europa is an option. Launching on October 11th for PC and Nintendo Switch, the story sees an android, Zee, venturing through Jupiter’s moon Europa. With utterly gorgeous environments to discover secrets, the gameplay mixes exploration, platforming, and puzzle-solving combined with a mystery that could make for a more emotional tale amid all the serious offerings this month.

Alan Wake 2: The Lake House

Something wicked this way comes in Alan Wake 2’s second and final paid DLC, The Lake House. It returns to Cauldron Lake in Bright Falls, venturing into a facility of the same name set up by the Federal Bureau of Control (of Control fame). While very little is known about the story, it’s clear that something has gone wrong. Narrated from the perspective of Kiran Estevez, the story occurs parallel to the base game’s events, potentially opening up new clues about the lake’s powers and the Dark Presence.

Perhaps the most appealing aspect of the expansion is that this isn’t a humorous or kitschy experience like Night Springs. Remedy Entertainment has focused on delivering a “chilling survival horror experience”, and while there’s more yet to be revealed, it’s teased that “monsters wear many faces.” Alan Wake 2: The Lake House launches in October and is available only with the Deluxe Edition and physical Collector’s Edition.

MechWarrior 5: Clans

Suffering a slight delay from October 3rd to 17th, Clans is the other half of the MechWarrior 5 experience, the first being Mercenaries from 2021. It features a standalone cinematic story where players participate in Operation Revival after graduating from the Smoke Jaguar program.

With your customizable BattleMech and numerous options, including an overhauled MechLab and Hardpoint systems, you harness new weapons, upgrade pilots, and lead your squad to victory. With dynamic destruction, the same brutal grounded combat fans know and love, and support for up to five players in multiplayer, MechWarrior 5: Clans could be a dark horse when it launches for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC.

Sonic X Shadow Generations

Sonic X Shadow Generations offers a remaster of Sonic Generations, which features a “Greatest Hits” compilation of 2D and 3D Sonic levels from across the series (up to 2011). However, the main attraction is the standalone campaign starring Shadow the Hedgehog, which sees him battling the mysteriously resurgent Black Doom.

Shadow sports new powers and traverses areas from his memories, whether it’s venturing through Kingdom Valley from Sonic ’06, or battling the Biolizard from Sonic Adventure 2. There’s a lot to look forward to and some excellent re-renditions of classic tracks when Sonic X Shadow Generations launches on October 25th for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch and PC.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure

Max Caulfield, protagonist of the first Life is Strange, returns in Double Exposure. Located at Caledon University, she settles down and finally feels comfortable after a long time. Unfortunately, when her new friend, Safi, is murdered, Max attempts to reawaken her Rewind powers and instead opens a portal to a parallel dimension.

Not only is Safi alive in this world, but things are significantly different all around. Time is ticking down, however, and Max must locate her killer before it’s too late again. With intriguing mechanics and puzzles that facilitate carrying over items between dimensions, Life is Strange: Double Exposure offers another compelling supernatural mystery. It’s out on October 29th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PC, and Nintendo Switch.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Last but certainly not least is Dragon Age: The Veilguard, the first new title for the series in almost ten years. While Solas, the Dread Wolf, is a wild card, you have seven companions to join your cause, each with distinct abilities and skill trees, unique quests and motivations.

Unlike Inquisition, Veilguard offers a mission-based campaign with real-time action RPG combat. Players can choose from three classes, each with three Specializations, and command two other party members, setting up combos and destroying enemies accordingly (with a tactical wheel available to plan everything). With an immense scale, gorgeous visuals, and a promising story, Dragon Age: The Veilguard could be BioWare’s long-awaited redemption when it launches on October 31st for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC.

A new trailer is also available, mixing live action with gameplay showcasing some of the abilities players can harness. Utilizing Stepping, Haroona can possess enemies and use their weapons against each other. Telekinesis is also available to push enemies, but you can pull them close for melee attacks.

If an up close and personal approach doesn’t suit you, entering stealth and surprising targets is a viable strategy. Haroona will tackle more challenging threats on her journey, but the sights are gorgeous enough to deal with them.

Unknown 9: Awakening will be available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Besides the Standard Edition, there’s a Deluxe Edition, which includes the base game and three DLC packs containing other unique outfits for players to don. There’s also a physical Collector’s Edition with some goodies like a Quaestor’s Journal, Metal Amulet, and more.

The focus here is on showing protagonist Haroona’s set of supernatural abilities, with details and commentary on the same being provided by creative director Christophe Rossignol. Several abilities are shown off, as well as their uses in combat and stealth (primarily the former), including Stepping, which allows players to momentarily possess enemies; Ripple, which attracts enemies to a nearby environmental hazard; using a Shroud to turn temporarily invisible; being able to telekinetically push and pull foes, and more.

The gameplay walkthrough also showcases some stealth gameplay, melee combat, and a number of different locations that players will be exploring throughout the runtime of the game. Details are also revealed on different enemy types, as well as exploration. Where the latter is concerned, players will get plenty of opportunities to go off the beaten path, with the gameplay showcasing some light traversal and exploration mechanics in a dense, overgrown environment. 

Check out the walkthrough below for more information. 

Unknown 9: Awakening will launch this fall for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC. It will also be playable at Gamescom next month.

Specifically, the company has revealed its plans for its physical booth, where players will be able to play new and exclusive demos for upcoming titles Unknown 9: Awakening, a single-player action-adventure title due out this fall, and Little Nightmares 3, which is targeting a 2025 release. Also playable at the Bandai Namco booth will be upcoming arena fighter Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO, which is due out in October.

Whether we can expect release dates for the former two titles remains to be seen, but you would imagine Bandai Namco will be preparing to announce a specific date for at least Unknown 9, which supposedly isn’t too far away from release.

Other companies that are confirmed to be attending Gamescom this year so far are Microsoft, NetEase Games, Ubisoft, and THQ Nordic, among others, though the likes of Sony and Nintendo will not be attending.