Games

New Game Releases 10/21/25 – 10/27/25

Top Releases:

  • Ninja Gaiden 4 (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 21st
  • Jurassic World Evolution 3 (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 21st
  • Painkiller (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 21st
  • Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 21st
  • Dispatch (PC/PS5) – Releases Oct. 22nd
  • Double Dragon Revive (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 23rd
  • Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Switch 2/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 23rd
  • PowerWash Simulator 2 (PC/PS5/Switch 2/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 23rd
  • The Jackbox Party Pack 11 (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 23rd
  • Once Upon a Katamari (PC/PS5/Switch/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 24th

There are, if I’ve counted correctly, 48 new games this week (not including all of the shovelware that are going to hit Steam & Switch). Recently, someone asked me why I highlight so many games each week, despite my lack of (or very little) monetary gain. I mean, why not? You all like reading this each week, right? Even if this doesn’t pay the bills, I still want to give as much effort as I can, and I’d like to think that, perhaps, sometime in the future, someone may find this informative. In any case, I’m happy to do this, week in and week out, and I hope I’m able to remind you of the big titles and help you find some weird little indie you might have ignored otherwise.

Ninja Gaiden 4 (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 21st

Developed by: Team Ninja/Platinum Games
Published by: Xbox Game Studios

Jurassic World Evolution 3 (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 21st

Developed by: Frontier Developments
Published by: Frontier Developments

Painkiller (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 21st

Developed by: Anshar Studios
Published by: 3D Realms

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 21st

Developed by: The Chinese Room
Published by: Paradox Interactive/White Wolf Publishing

Dispatch: Episode 1 & 2 (PC/PS5) – Releases Oct. 22nd

Developed by: AdHoc Studio
Published by: AdHoc Studio

Double Dragon Revive (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 23rd

Developed by: YUKE’S
Published by: Arc System Works

Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Switch 2/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 23rd

Developed by: PopCap Games/The Lost Pixels
Published by: EA

PowerWash Simulator 2 (PC/PS5/Switch 2/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 23rd

Developed by: FuturLab
Published by: FuturLab

The Jackbox Party Pack 11 (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 23rd

Developed by: JackBox Games, Inc.
Published by: JackBox Games, Inc.

Once Upon a Katamari (PC/PS5/Switch/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 24th

Developed by: RENGAME
Published by: Bandai Namco

Ports and Expansions:

  • Persona 3 Reload (Switch 2) – Releases Oct. 23rd

Everything else:

Notable Releases from 10, 20, and 30 years ago:

Games:

In notable titles, from 2015, we’ve got the game The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes for the 3DS. Cut from the same cloth as the Four Swords series, Tri Force Heroes has players working together, either through online or local co-op, to solve puzzles and advance through the game’s multiple dungeons. Set several years after the events of 2013’s Link Between Worlds (though still about the same Link, I guess), players are called to the kingdom of Hytopia, along with two other “Link’s” where they are asked to lift a curse placed on their princess, Styla. As Hytopia is known for its many unique fashions, the Link’s will don multiple outfits over the course of the game, each with their own unique properties.

Tri Force Heroes received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its gameplay & sound, but felt that its single player mode was lacking, and that online matchmaking was a sometimes miserable experience due to the fact that you were forced to play with three players, where finding just one other person to play with was already difficult enough. While Link Between Worlds sold over 4 million copies on the 3DS, Tri Force Heroes only managed to move a little over 1 million copies worldwide. Pretty good for most other games, but sorely lacking for a franchise as big as Zelda.

From 2006, we’ve got another portable game, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories for the PSP. Set three years before the events of GTA III, Liberty City Stories has players taking control of Toni Cipriani, one of the many side characters in GTA III, as he attempts to re-establish himself into the Leone crime family. Having spent the previous four years in hiding, Toni finds that, while much has changed in Liberty City, the thirst for power and control never goes out of style.

Developed primarily by Rockstar Leeds, with support from the main Rockstar North studio, Liberty City Stories was a way to show that modern console quality games were possible on a portable device. In their half a decade of developing GTA games for the PS2, Rockstar had found several cheats and hacks to get better gameplay out of the console and ways to compress data, which led to a game nearly as big as the original GTA III to fit on a UMD.

Liberty City Stories received mostly positive reviews from critics, who found the level of detail in the game to be astounding for a portable title. While some critics felt it was a step backward from San Andreas, the game felt more polished and refined than GTA III. At the Interactive Arts & Sciences awards (now DICE awards), Liberty City Stories would be nominated in the Handheld Game of the Year category, losing to Nintendogs.

With total sales of 8 million worldwide, Liberty City Stories is the best selling PSP game of all-time, with roughly 10% of all PSP owners having a copy of the game. A port for the PS2 would arrive a year later, while a PS3 version would released digitally in 2013. However, each of these ports would be rushed to completion, leaving the game in a very buggy and slow running state. As of now, there is no way to play Liberty City Stories without an original copy, with PS2 emulation not being a viable options as it, too, will run atrociously.

From 1995, we’ve got the Sega Genesis game, Vectorman, from developer Blue Sky Software. Seeing the success of Donkey Kong Country over on the Super Nintendo, Sega wanted their own “3D” platformer, tasking Blue Sky, one of their best third party developers (responsible for Joe Montana Football and Jurassic Park) with putting out a viable competitor. Taking a 3D ball program used as a tech demo for the Amiga, Blue Sky used these orbs to create their new hero, the “Orbot” Vectorman.

Set in the distant future after the Earth has been rendered inhabitable due to years of over-pollution, humanity now lives in space colonies, using the Orbots to clean up their mess and make the planet livable again. One Orbot, Raster, accidentally connects itself to a nuclear warhead, turning it evil, renaming itself WarHead. Vowing to destroy humanity when they return to Earth, WarHead enlists all of the Orbots to his cause, all but one, our hero Vectorman.

Well received by critics and players, Vectorman was seen as not just one of 1995’s best games, but one of the best Genesis games of all-time. Its brilliant use of 3D polygons as 2D sprites, in which Vectorman was comprised of 23 different sprites programmed to move in unison, helped sustain the life of the Genesis in the 16-bit era for just a little bit longer, as the industry started moving closer and closer towards an all-3D (or mostly 3D) future. The game’s soundtrack was also well received, with composer Jon Holland attempting to mimic the style of electronic groups Kraftwrek, Orbital, and The Prodigy. Given the opportunity, Holland was able to remix the tracks for a CD release, called Sega Tunes: Vectorman CD, and it was released in stores alongside the game.

Being a financial success for Sega and Blue Sky, Vectorman 2 was immediately greenlit for a 1996 release. Sega and Blue Sky would try to continue things with Vectorman 3 on the Saturn, Dreamcast, and PS2, but could never fully commit themselves to it. Vectorman would be re-released multiple times over the next 30 years, typically as part of Genesis collections, most recently appear on the Switch’s online service through the Genesis app. Perhaps forgotten today, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth your time. Vectorman is a 16-bit marvel that is crying out for some love.

Movies:

In notable films, 2015 gave us the spooky family film Goosebumps, starring Jack Black as a fictionalized version of R.L. Stein, author of the book series that the film is based on. While the film is not based on one single Goosebumps novel, it is written in just about the same manner, containing many of the same themes; i.e., an awkward new kid trying to fit in, a dopey sidekick who provides the comic relief, a sassy female character for the lead boy to fall in love with, a mysterious adult of dubious character, and a crazy-ass monster to run from.

While the film was received warmly by critics, pundits and studio estimates put the film opening well below its competition, Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies, Guillermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak, and holdover film The Martian. However, Goosebumps would defy the odds and open #1 at the box office, nearly doubling its expected total, and going on to gross nearly $160 million, worldwide. Goofy, fun, light-hearted, and full of family-friendly chills, Goosebumps was the perfect film to release in the middle of Halloween season, allowing everyone from young children, to nostalgic thirty-something’s a chance to have a good time at the theatre. Despite the box office success, the film’s 2018 sequel would not retain any of the original cast (aside from a Jack Black cameo), though that did not stop it from grossing nearly $100 million, worldwide.

From 2005, we have the horror sequel Saw II, giving us yet another film full of traps and torture porn from everyone’s favorite, puppet loving weirdo, the Jigsaw Killer. I don’t think any of us could have imagined that Saw II would only be part of the early years in a franchise that would consistently put out releases over the next 20 years. Maybe if we knew we would have tried to stop it. What I find most interesting about Saw II is that the film originally started out as an original film written by a young filmmaker named Darren Lynn Bousman. Producers at Lionsgate, who owned the script, felt that, with some tweaking, it could be made into a Saw film so, that’s what they did!

It was all gravy for Bousman, who would go on to direct three more entries in the franchise, Saw III, Saw IV, and Spiral. While the film was completely eviscerated by critics who felt it failed to match the thrills of the first film, Saw II was a box office smash, opening at #1 and grossing nearly $160 million worldwide. As a fan of the first Saw, I agreed with critics that Saw II did not, heh, cut it, heh, and I always felt like it was disjointed from the rest of the franchise. Knowing now that it wasn’t even originally supposed to be a Saw film has been eye opening.

From 1995, we’ve got one of the most critically acclaimed films of that year, Leaving Las Vegas. Featuring a star-making performance from Nicholas Cage, which earned him both the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Actor. Based on the semi-autobiographical novel by John O’Brien, Leaving Las Vegas tells the heart breaking story of a suicidal, alcoholic screenwriter (played by Cage), who spends his severance check on a last hurrah, Las Vegas bender.

Immensely depressing, yet fascinating to watch, Leaving Las Vegas left critics stunned at just how raw and unhinged Cage was in the role. Critic Roger Ebert noted that two of the most impossible roles to play well in Hollywood are “the drunk” and the “whore with a heart of gold”, but Cage and his co-star, Elisabeth Shue, were able to take these cliches and turn them into something powerful and real.

While the film would win the Academy Award for Best Actor, it would also be nominated for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay (both for Mike Figgis), as well as Best Actress for Shue (they would lose to Mel Gibson, Emma Thompson, and Susan Sarandon, respectively). Easily one of the best films of the decade, Leaving Las Vegas is not the next crowd pleaser for family movie night, but it’s certainly one you should watch in your lifetime.

Albums:

In notable albums, 2015 gave us Storyteller by Carrie Underwood; it sold well and won a few awards. Moving on to 2005, we’ve got Playing the Angel by the band Depeche Mode. Peaking at #7 on the Billboard Top 200, the album was well received by critics and fans, a great sign for a band that was in its 25th year of existence. While I personally don’t know any of the singles on Playing the Angel, they did quite well (I’m not the center of the universe, apparently), the most successful in the U.S. being “Precious”, which peaked at #71 on the Billboard Hot 100.

From 1995, we’ve got an album that I am intimately familiar with, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, from The Smashing Pumpkins. Long time readers may remember that year where I posted a different Pumpkins song every week, so to call them one of my favorites is probably an understatement. I LOVE The Smashing Pumpkins, and it can all be traced back to the release of Mellon Collie. Having earned a few bucks working an odd job during the Summer, I specifically saved some of it because I knew this album would be coming out in October (see, even back then I was obsessed with release dates).

Walking to a nearby K-Mart with my buddy on the Tuesday after school, I picked up the album and we raced back to my house, giddy with anticipation. Having already become obsessed with recent single “Bullet With Butterfly Wings”, a hard driving rock song, we were floored by the soft opening of the album’s title track, before it smashes into the string heavy intro of “Tonight, Tonight” (which has one of the greatest music videos of all-time).

f course, the album would eventually get harder edged, with “Jellybelly” giving that first glimpse of the angst and rage to come (fun fact, “Jellybelly” was almost the first single, but the record company thought “Bullet” was catchier…they were right). What makes Mellon Collie so unique, fascinating, and one of the greatest albums of all-time, is its insistence to not fall into one genre. Continually oscillating between hard rock grunge tunes and soft, melodic ballads, you start to feel a bit bipolar as the album chugs along.

While I found myself drawn more to the hard tunes in my teen years, I would gain a stronger appreciate for the softer songs in my twenties, as I expanded my musical tastes. Tracks like “Cupid de Locke”, “Galapagos”, “Take Me Down”, “Beautiful”, and “Farewell and Goodnight” didn’t just become some of my favorite Smashing Pumpkins songs, they stand out as some of my all-time favorite songs PERIOD.

While you can argue that there’s some filler here, for a double album, consisting of 28 songs, I’d also argue that there’s absolutely nothing worth skipping the whole way through. While even something a little more banal like “We Only Come Out at Night” might not be what you want to hear in your random shuffle, it slots exactly where it needs to be while you listen to the album as a whole. A critical and a commercial success, the album would be hailed by critics as one of the best of the year, and would debut at #1 on the Billboard Top 200, a rare feat for not just a double album, but for one that cost more than $20 dollars.

At the Grammy’s, Mellon Collie would receive a nomination for Album of the Year, while the song “1979” would receive nominations for Record of the Year, Best Alternative Music Performance, and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group, “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” would get a nod in the Best Hard Rock Performance with Vocal category, “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” would be nominated for Best Pop Instrumental Performance, and “Tonight, Tonight” would get a nod for Best Music Video, Short Form. In the end, the only award it would receive was Best Rock Performance.

I could talk endlessly about Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, I could also listen to the album endlessly. I’ve always thought the idea of “desert island discs” to be kind of stupid, but if I was only able to listen to one album for the rest of my life, it would be Mellon Collie. I have bonded with friends over this album, cried my eyes out while listening to it, experienced euphoric highs hearing the songs played live, and am jonesing to stop writing this and spin it up right now; if you’ll excuse me.

The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes (3DS) – Released Oct. 23rd, 2015

Notable Film Release: Goosebumps – Starring Jack Black, Dylan Minnette, Odeya Rush, Amy Ryan, Ryan Lee, and Jillian Bell
Click here to watch the trailer
Notable Album Release: Carrie Underwood – Storyteller
Click here to listen to the album

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (PSP) – Released Oct. 25th, 2005

Notable Film Release: Saw II – Starring Donnie Wahlberg, Shawnee Smith, and Tobin Bell
Click here to watch the trailer
Notable Album Release: Depeche Mode – Playing the Angel
Click here to listen to the album

Vectorman (Genesis) – Released Oct. 24th, 1995

Notable Film Release: Leaving Las Vegas – Starring Nicolas Cage, Elisabeth Shue, and Julian Sands
Click here to watch the trailer
Notable Album Release: The Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Click here to listen to album

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