After a few busy weeks of new game releases, this week is a bit slower, but it doesn't mean that there aren't a lot of new releases, just nothing that really stands out. This week's major release takes us off-roading in a very colourful game. We kick off the week with some RTS planning in a WW2 setting, which is followed by a first person RPG set in the Napoleonic era, followed by another first person game, but this time with trolls in the Finnish forests and we're not talking about the Moomin kind. We end the week with a 2D platformer set in a familiar universe and finally we have a very different city builder which brings Discworld vibes. Don't forget to check out this week's other releases as well.

Over the hill / This week's major release / Wednesday 14 October
Explore the world in the golden age of offroading. Drive iconic 4x4 vehicles from the 60s to 80s by yourself or with friends through challenging trails and beautiful scenery. Take to the trails solo or with up to three friends. Cruise through scenic landscapes, tackle challenging off-road routes, and work together to overcome the obstacles standing between you and your destination. Steam link

SharpEmu, an experimental PS5 emulator, now lists eight games as playable at 60 FPS. Developer Scarecrow (@CursedIfElse) said on X that 12 of 55 tested games can reach gameplay and six of those run at 60 FPS, but ever since their tweet, the compatibility page has been updated. The post came with v0.0.4-release.2, released September 25, but now the number has risen from 12 to 17, with eight being listed as "playable." The eight are Quake, DOOM + DOOM II, Castlevania Dominus Collection, Dead Cells, Dreaming Sarah, Void Terrarium, New Joe & Mac: Caveman Ninja, and Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered. According to the developer, none of these titles have been tested from start to finish, and minor graphical or audio issues may remain. It looks like most are small indie or retro-style games, with Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered the biggest name.

While the progress is certainly commendable, SharpEmu appears to be far from running demanding 3D titles, and eight games is a small slice of a PS5 library of more than 9,000. Another PS5 emulator, KytyPS5, has shown more progress on heavier 3D games. It ran the PS5 version of GTA 5 at up to 60 FPS on a Ryzen 9 9950X3D and Radeon RX 7900 XT, however, it only held that for a few minutes before crashing. It also got Astro's Playroom into gameplay, and showed rapid progress in Demon's Souls Remake. SharpEmu says it prioritizes accuracy and infrastructure over game-specific compatibility, while KytyPS5 says it targets wider compatibility and boot reliability. That could partly explain the gap in progress, but things could certainly change quickly. Nonetheless, it's certainly nice to see great progress in the emulator space in such a short time.

It was announced in February 2026 that Evil Empire and Motion Twin, the indie studios behind the massively successful Dead Cell franchise, is working with Konami on Castlevania: Belmont's Curse. Ahead of the game's October 15 launch, Konami just announced in a Tokyo Game Show livestream that it would be releasing a demo for Castlevania: Belmont's Curse on October 1.

The demo will be available on all platforms on which the game is planned to launch—that is to say PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch, and the demo will allow players buying the game on the same platform they played the demo on to keep their progress if they buy the full game. The demo will run at 60 FPS on PC and full-size consoles, but only 30 FPS on the Switch, and content and features will be restricted in the demo version. The full livestream with the demo details is available below (in Japanese).

It seems as though nostalgia is trending again, with game reboots proving to be a particularly successful vehicle for those yearning for the good old days. Konami is no exception, according to comments made by Konami Representative Director and President, Hideki Hayakawa in a recent interview with Nikkei Gaming. According to the executive, Konami has determined that rebooting its beloved game franchises "would be an effective way to make the most of them."

Hideki HayakawaOur company has been making games for more than 50 years, and we hold several IPs that are beloved globally by many fans. We concluded that rebooting these properties would be an effective way to make the most of them. In addition to METAL GEAR, SILENT HILL, and Momotaro Dentetsu, we are also actively developing Castlevania (known in Japan as Akumajō Dracula).

Castlevania: Belmont's Curse, the latest game in the Castlevania series was revealed as a 2026 game release currently in development as a collaborative project between Konami, Evil Empire, and Motion Twin—the latter two being behind The Rogue Prince of Persia and Dead Cells, respectively. Belmont's Curse is a 2D action-adventure game that follows Trevor Belmont's successor through 1499 Paris as she wields the classic holy whip for both combat and traversal through the looming castle and eerie Parisian streets. Based on the Steam Store page, Belmont's Curse will feature fast-paced combat, a variety of weapons and abilities to wield and develop, challenging environmental puzzles, and plenty of enemies to keep things fresh.

Castlevania: Belmont's Curse will see the return of a number of classic Castlevania tropes and mechanics, like secret chambers, buried items, and challenging boss battles, but the game also switches things up with colorful twist on the series's gothic art style, seemingly blending some of the Dead Cells aesthetic with that of the famous vampire-killing franchise. Belmont's Curse doesn't have a fixed release date just yet, but it is slated to launch in 2026 for PC via Steam, the PlayStation 5, and the Xbox Series consoles via the Microsoft Store.

The news we've been waiting to share with you all is here! Bloodstained: The Scarlet Engagement is coming in 2026. Helmed by Creative Director SHUTARO and produced by IGA. Bloodstained: The Scarlet Engagement is an entirely new 2.5D side-scrolling RPG that will introduce exciting new lore, characters, gameplay and features to the Bloodstained franchise.

THE STORY
16th-century England drowns in the shadow of the Ethereal Castle and its deadly inhabitants. All attempts to fight this evil have been met with failure and death. In a desperate, final attempt, two heroes rise together against the Demon Lord Elias' reign of terror: Leonard Brandon and Alexander Kyteler. Leo is a young fighter with the Church's Black Wolves clan. Alex is a knight of the kingdom's White Stags and the lone survivor of an earlier expedition to fight Elias.

Blades of Fire takes place in an age of petrified steel. An all-powerful witch queen's spell turns all the world's steel into stone, apart from that wielded by an army of brainwashed minions who once served her father. This one small technological twist changes everything for this unique fantasy world. Granted a legendary hammer, Aran de Lira is the only one who can forge new weapons and fight back, becoming an unwilling hero on an unlikely quest. MercurySteam's much-anticipated follow-up to Metroid Dread, Blades of Fire is a brand-new IP that aims to reforge the action adventure genre with strategic combat, the debut of a rich sword-and-sorcery fantasy world, and a deep weapon forging system that hopes to deliver unlimited customization. Each weapon you forge is one-of-a-kind, ready to carve out its own destiny. You don't build a character—you build an arsenal. We recently played the opening stages of Blades of Fire and spoke to the team about how they're reforging the action adventure and making players think about weapons from a fresh perspective.

Closing the circle
It was a long path to get here for Enric Alvarez, MercurySteam Co-Founder, CEO, and Game Director. Just as the age of iron and steel was preceded by 2,000 long years of the Bronze Age, Blades of Fire is the culmination of a 24-year journey, a period the Madrid-based studio spent sharpening their skills and burnishing a prestigious reputation. In 2001, the founding members of MercurySteam worked at Rebel Act. The studio only released one game: Blade of Darkness, a PC cult classic sometimes regarded as a precursor to the Souls games for its minimalist storytelling, challenging stamina-driven combat, and a dark fantasy world beyond redemption. The influence of Conan and The Lord of the Rings (pre-Peter Jackson adaptations, as The Fellowship of the Ring came out that December) was strong, pairing exhilarating sword-and-board action with epic grandeur. Perhaps too ahead of its time, Rebel Act closed its doors after Blade of Darkness failed to find a sufficient audience.

Back in 2021, award-winning development studio MercurySteam and publisher 505 Games announced an official partnership that would bring their latest title (codenamed Project Iron) to life. For several years, the talented team at MercurySteam have been hard at work forging their next adventure. The time has come to finally unveil what they've been up to behind closed doors.

FORGE YOUR LEGEND
Introducing Blades of Fire, an all-new action-adventure that takes you across a beautiful world full of uncertainty and challenge. You take on the role of Aran de Lira, firstborn of the King's Ward. The newly crowned Queen Nerea has cast a powerful spell that turns steel into stone and only her arms of abominations wield the divine metal against which other blades shatter. Get ready to forge your own weapons and put them to the test in a unique combat system, as you work towards becoming a master in forging. Develop your skills and craft weapons that suit your preferable fighting style. Remember, when facing your foes, your choice of weapon will be key to success! Only the right weapons will allow you to take down certain enemies.

From Programancer, the developer of Prison City and Dumpy & Bumpy, comes a brand new title: The Transylvania Adventure of Simon Quest! You're supposed to be the hero, but your spotlight was taken away! Rival Stan Helsing defeated Dracula first, now Simon Quest must embark on a journey of retribution to raise the Count from the dead piece-by-piece, slay him, and obtain the glory he deserves! Go on a perilous journey through the world of Transylvania.

Explore dark mansions, discover minigames, and collect different parts of Dracula to raise him from the dead…then kill him! The Transylvania Adventure of Simon Quest (TASQ) is a parody/homage platformer set in a dark 8-bit world. Reclaim your glory by resurrecting Dracula piece by piece and slaying the dark count yourself! Coming to Steam, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, and Epic in 2025. Stay tuned for more platform announcements. Retroware is excited to announce this new project in development with Programancer! AND, if you're itching to get your hands on playing a preview of The Transylvania Adventure of Simon Quest (TASQ), YOU CAN at MAGFest 2024 at the National Harbor from January 18 to 21!

Team Cherry, the indie development outfit responsible for producing smash hit 2D platformer Hollow Knight (2017), has this week announced that the sequel - Silksong - will be missing its proposed early-ish 2023 launch window. The Australian team's publishing and marketing manager Matthew Griffin confirmed via a tweet that Hollow Knight: Silksong is still a work-in-progress project: "Hey gang, just a quick update about Silksong. We had planned to release in the 1st half of 2023, but development is still continuing. We're excited by how the game is shaping up, and it's gotten quite big, so we want to take the time to make the game as good as we can."

Hollow Knight: Silksong was first revealed to the public back in 2019, with Team Cherry taking a quiet approach to the release of preview material since then. A playable demo was on show at E3 2019, but a wider internet-based public has only had access to a pair of video trailers, some screenshots and minimal written details on official sites and product pages. Silksong was initially conceived as a DLC/expansion for the base game, but the designers expanded their project's scope - thus creating a standalone and entirely new entry in the series. It seems that the development team's ambitions have grown over the years - Griffin has not confirmed a revised release date but requests that fans wait for further announcements: "Expect more details from us once we get closer to release."

Detectives, we've arrived! At long last, The Last Case of Benedict Fox is here! Go on, enter the world of limbo, and discover the reason for your father's demise. For your final preparations, watch our launch trailer (see below). Mesmerized? Hold your demon companion close, and run toward the mansion!

Before we leave, we just want to say a huge thank you to our family and friends for their support throughout our game development journey. We feel grateful for their patience and love as it allowed us the opportunity to create a game that we always dreamt of making. And we would love to thank you, our fans, for all your support and encouragement ever since our reveal last year. We had so much fun with this game, and we hope you will too.

The Penitent One awakens as Blasphemous 2 joins him once again in an endless struggle against The Miracle. Dive into a perilous new world filled with mysteries and secrets to discover, and tear your way through monstrous foes that stand between you and your quest to end the cycle one and for all. The second scripture in the Blasphemous series portends the return of The Penitent One, with a story that continues from the free Wounds of Eventide DLC for the original game, where The Heart in the sky heralded the return of The Miracle and foretold the birth of a new miracle child.

Awakened in a strange new land, and displaced from his final resting place, The Penitent One is thrust back into the endless cycle of life, death, and resurrection, with no other option than to explore this perilous new world and uncover its long-forgotten secrets. Hordes of grotesque enemies stand in your way, awaiting final judgement by the brutal hand of the Penitent One, with titanic twisted bosses also lurking in the darkness, waiting for their chance to return you to the grave from whence you came. Taking them down won't be easy, but with Blasphemous 2 offering more chances to customize and improve your skill set, along with several new unique weapons to wield with righteous zeal and unending fury, victory might just be within grasp. Ultimately, only one thing is certain… Penance Never Ends