This Week in Gaming: Gears of War: E-Day Takes Centre Frame

Big week for anyone who likes shooting things from behind a waist-high wall. Gears of War: E-Day finally landed, there's a decent pile of other releases to wade through, and the rest of the news was a mix of trailers, a bit of drama and a headset that may or may not be on its way. Grab a brew and let's crack on.

Gears is back, and it's good

Gears of War: E-Day launched on 6 October for Xbox Series X|S and PC, and the critics are mostly made up. It's sitting on 88 on Metacritic, which makes it the best-reviewed Gears game in about 15 years. It's our biggest story of the week, so it gets its own full write-up on Monday.

New releases worth knowing about

Star Wars: Galactic Racer also arrived on 6 October for PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. It's an arcade racer set across a load of Star Wars locations, so if you've been itching for something loud and fast, that's your one.

Thursday 8 October was a busy one. Dragon's Dogma 2 picked up its Dark Arisen expansion, which sends you off to the Snowy North with new story content. The Kingdom Hearts Collection [I-III] is out on multiple platforms, Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival is on PC for anyone after a first-person survival horror fix, and Forever Ago, a narrative road trip adventure, is on PC too.

Friday 9 October brings Japanese Ramen Simulator to Steam Early Access, with a 15% launch discount. It's a co-op ramen shop management game for up to six players, which sounds like absolute chaos in the best possible way. Car Park Capital also lands that day on Steam, and it's one of PC Gamer's highlighted picks.

Earlier in the week, Aion 2 went live on Steam as a free-to-play MMORPG on 5 October, and Silver Pines, a survival horror with metroidvania bits, is also out.

Announcements and trailers

Bandai Namco dropped a gameplay trailer for Gundam Rogue Orbit, showing off high-speed combat and mobile suit customisation. It's coming to PC, Xbox Series X|S and PS5 on 5 March 2027.

Over on the cosy side, Goblin Island was unveiled by Good Goblin. It's an incremental farming game with customisable goblins, 30 mutatable crops and skill trees, due on PC in December. There's a demo planned for Steam Next Fest.

Meanwhile, Blizzard has been defending the new Skyborne race in World of Warcraft: Forever after some fan grumbling. The reasoning is that it's available to both factions to manage the long-term impact on population balance. Expect that one to keep rumbling on.

And the Control Resonant composer, Petri Alanko, has been talking about how the game's Manhattan setting shaped the soundtrack, including steering clear of clichéd sci-fi tropes.

Hardware and kit

Quiet week from the big three, with no major console announcements. On the accessories side, SteelSeries launched ten special edition Fortnite accessories, and Bose's president Raza Haider hinted that a new gaming headset might be coming, telling fans to "absolutely stay tuned".

Coming up

Steam Next Fest runs from 19 to 26 October, so make some room on your wishlist. Before that, Planet Zoo 2 and Total War: Shogun 2 Complete Edition both land on 13 October, and It Takes Two arrives on Switch 2 on 15 October. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 follows on 23 October, and GTA 6 is pencilled in for 19 November.

A quick note on the industry

There's a sad side note to the Gears launch. Juan Vaca, the game's story director, was among the Xbox staff laid off in late September, and there are reports of worry at The Coalition about further cuts. Our thoughts are with everyone affected, and we wish them all the best.

Frame it

If a game this week earns a place in your collection, give it somewhere decent to live. That's what we're here for at Frame-A-Game. See you next Friday.