Train Sim developer Dovetail Games has revealed Metro Rivals: New York, a unique and casual twist on its very own train simulator that blends both simulation and arcade racing together, only with trains. Dubbed a “subway simcade game”, Metro Rivals: New York puts players in a near-future New York City where the subway system is broken up into districts controlled by one or more celebrity train drivers (conductors?) who seek to dominate the rail lines, grow their brand, and not to mention, their social media following.

Metro Rivals features a single-player campaign where players start with a barebones train, building it up over time by completing missions and cash fares. In addition to the campaign, there will also be a PvP mode where up to four players can compete online or against friends to top the asynchronous leaderboards. Of course, it wouldn’t be a sim without some laid-back vibes as well. If competition is not really your thing, you can also explore NYC in a relaxed mode that lets you plot your own course and cruise around the city.

Under the hood, Dovetail Games is utilizing Unreal Engine 5, including its Nanite and Lumen technologies. They’re also including procedurally generated music from Reactional Music that reacts to the game in a cinematic way. Sounds cool.

Check out the reveal trailer below, or wishlist it now on your favorite platform. Metro Rivals: New York is launching in early 2026 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

Ubisoft has shared a new deep dive for Anno 117: Pax Romana, the newest entry in the popular city builder franchise. A new 12-minute video hits all the highlights of what to expect when the game launches on November 13^th for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Amazon Luna, from getting started in single-player mode, customization, as well as multiplayer. So far, it is looking great.

In addition to the new video, we also received details on Anno 117’s first year of post-launch content, which will include three premium DLCs. The first is called Provinces of Ash and features the largest island ever created in an Anno game, as well as a towering volcano and new deity. The second is called The Hippodrome, which allows you to construct the massive monument inspired by Circus Maximus where you can host chariot races and attract elite specialists from around the empire. And finally, the third DLC is titled Dawn of the Delta, featuring a new province of deserts, rivers, and unfamiliar lands at the far reaches of the Roman empire.

Check out the excellent deep dive trailer below:

Free-to-play open-world Wuxia RPG, Where Winds Meet, has shared a new trailer highlighting the game’s world and everything there is to do within it. It’s a great trailer, and the one that has sold me on the game’s promise. With 20 distinct regions and more than 10,000 unique NPCs, that sort of scale in a video game world has been hard for me to wrap my head around until now.

This new look at the game includes mahjong, a card game, wrestling, pickpocketing, jail time, sword fights, and slinging a bear across a stream. I’m not joking. Where Winds Meet is looking like quite the time sink if there’s this much stuff to do, and I think I’m prepared to take the leap.

Where Winds Meet launches November 14^th for PC and PlayStation 5.

The team at Embark Studios has opened the floodgates for a free “Server Slam” playtest for its hotly anticipated PvPvE extraction adventure shooter, ARC Raiders. The test is open to everyone, with no sign-ups required, across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. The goal is to stress test servers and game systems before the full launch on October 30^th, with participants earning an exclusive Server Slam backpack reward for the full game.

If you haven’t had the opportunity to play ARC Raiders yet, boy are you in for a treat. I think it is going to be a dark horse for Game of the Year, and certainly in the running for best multiplayer game of 2025. I’m looking forward to killing you and looting your body in Speranza this weekend.

The Dungeons & Dragons team just curated an 8.5-hour playlist of music on Spotify. Calling it the "Playlist of Holding 2025" (a play on the Bag of Holding magic item in D&D), the folks at Wizards of the Coast gathered up no fewer than 108 musical track recommendations from the D&D Discord channel.

It opens with Metallica's "Master of Puppets," plants a flag at the midway point with AC/DC's "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'N' Roll)," and wraps things up with Alestorm's "Wolves of the Sea." If these sound like songs Dungeon Master Eddie Munson would play during a meeting of the Hellfire Club, you're literally on the right track.

But there's more than just '80s rock and roll bangers on this playlist. There's '80s pop, current synthwave tracks that sound like the '80s, movie soundtracks to '80s movies (like Labyrinth), or brand-new movie soundtracks to movie series that started in the '80s (like Tron: Ares).

If you were a kid that got yelled at for blasting both Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train" and Enya's "Orinoco Flow," then you and I probably grew up together. If you're an adult that can appreciate a Kate Bush resurrection because of Stranger Things and unironically appreciate a full-on Rick "Rickroll" Astley record, then you and I are probably hanging out this weekend. You might already have Tears for Fears in your favorites. But is Hildegard von Blingin and his bardcore rendition of "We Didn't Start the Fire" new to you, too?

For real, I'm adding Ayreon and Sunglasses Kid to my heavy rotation. My Slack D&D crew can expect to hear them very soon during our big bad boss fight in our Dragon Delves one-shot. Time to (gather your) party like it's 1985.

Just about all of the changes to the economies of Destiny 2 has finally been walked back with Update 9.1.5.1. They were bad ideas from the start, half-baked in preparation, and rolled out to near unanimous community disapproval. Bungie had tried to boldly refresh the game with the latest expansion, The Edge of Fate, but as I noted in my review they missed the mark badly, essentially locking the loot behind an awful leveling grind and making the entire focus of what once was an expansive game into the narrow confines and restrictions of the portal - a place where you always play at a power disadvantage and are forced to load up on negative modifiers to sap whatever fun remained in a once great franchise. But one by one the sweeping changes are being dialed back, as that update details:

• Unstable Cores - a bane to leveling up old gear is being eliminated entirely and all players are being gifted 777,777 cores to tide them over until the currency can be removed
• Reward Power - buffed across the board greatly reducing the insane time commitment required to level guardians in the game
• Techsec Supply Drop - all players who log in between now and the end of Season 27 (December 2nd, 2025) will get a free set of Tier 3 armor set to power level 300 to boost them past the initial stages of the grind

These changes aren't coming in a vacuum. Bungie knows Destiny 2 is in trouble. Player counts are hitting all-time lows. API scraping by https://popularity.report/ paints a very grim picture: 

Well, no need to kill the old gods. they are only +0 and drop +0 starsplitters, +0 worldrenders and +0 lifedrinkers. Yea they were cool but they aren't +5s so they don't have the new buffs or do the new damage.

The old world, the Starsplitter the lore...none of it matters anymore. You have killed a rat +5 and gotten a wooden stick +5 and that is the game.

Dungeons & Dragons pre-orders are now open for the Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerun and Forgotten Realms: Adventures in Faerun. Singularly, the Heroes book is directed at players, while the Adventures book is directed at Dungeon Masters. Many DMs will end up purchasing both, I'll wager, since DMs  typically want to stay abreast of player options and will then also share sourcebooks with their players.

The 192-page Heroes of Faerun compendium knows what players want. That's why, to D&D 5th Edition, it will introduce:

• 8 Subclasses, to include Bladesinger and Scion of the Three
• 18 Backgrounds
• 34 Feats
• 19 Spells, all-new Circle Magic for group spellcasting
• 3 Magic Items
• 12 Items
• 2 Monsters
• 13 Maps, giving an overview of the 10 Forgotten Realms regions

In addition, eight classic and emerging Factions come forth, like the order-bound Lord's Alliance, or the secretive, heroic Harpers. Also, turn Forgotten Realms' entirely too large pantheon of 42 gods into a Renown-earning minigame. 

The digital version also comes with:

• Baldur's Gate 3 Digital Map Pack, only usable on D&D Beyond's Maps VTT (virtual tabletop)
• Astarion's Book of Hungers, with new vampire-themed player options, monsters, and adventure content
• Netheril's Fall, a digital expansion time-traveling adventure exploring the lost Netherese Empire
• Lorwyn: First Light, with Fey-inspired character options, adventures, and monsters
• Atlas of Faerun, a digital map of the entire Faerun continent

The 288-page Adventures in Faerun guide includes:

• 5 settings, each with a lore-dumping Gazetteer
• 50+ pick up and play adventures
• 40 new monsters and villains
• Lost Library of Lethchauntos: a level 1 through 3 adventure customizable for all settings
• 7 new magic items, split with the Heroes compendium, looks like
• Bastions unique to each setting, which is awesome if you can actually get Bastions going in your campaign

Those 50+ adventures come with 50+ "quickplay" maps for use on D&D Beyond. Quickplay means they come pre-loaded with monster tokens, fog of war, and stickers, in order to shrink prep time.

We're deep into the D&D 2024 version of 5th Edition now. These are meant to be played with the D&D 2024 Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual. We rated each one of those books a 9/10 based on each one's individual merits.

The Forgotten Realms bundle releases November 11, marking the end of D&D's 2025 roadmap. 

Live from Steamfest comes a brand new demo for Escape from Ever After, a colorful adventure RPG from HypeTrain Digital and Sleepy Castle Studio. This steamfest demo allows players to playtest the game before it's full version release coming soon to PC and all major consoles.

In Escape from Ever After, players get the chance to jump into a storybook and fight the monsters inside. What monsters, you may ask? Capitalism. That's right, this whimsical adventure game is ripe with wacky cartoon animation-style villains as you work to defeat the greatest monster of all - greed.

Key features from the demo include:

• A fun, fast-paced battle system that rewards experimentation and strategy;

• Full party customization where each character has their own unique set of skills that can be equipped and upgraded throughout your journey;

• Office banter, storybook coworkers to interact with, and the opportunity to decorate your office as you climb the corporate ladder;

• Additional sidequests to explore, treasures to find, and secrets to unveil;

• Stories within stories: experience a charming and lively narrative where the rules are constantly changing;

• A jazzy, big-band soundtrack that keeps the energy pumping throughout

If you're into storybooks, or into sticking it to the man, check out the trailer here:

In a big nope for me, Level Infinite has released a demo for Dread Meridian, a VR horror game. I'm not playing it. 

You play as Daniela, researching a remote island looking for her sister. In the game, you will have access to resources to solve puzzles and defeat enemies. The game promises dread filled environments, and just looking at this trailer tells me it will get absolutely no play from me. Because no, that's why. 

Don't get me wrong. The game looks great. But I'm not doing it. I'm not. No. Stop asking me. No. You can, by getting the Steam demo here. but no. I'm not going. 

Not all sequels are bad. Turtle Beach announced today, that the long named Turtle Beach Vulcan II RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard, and the shorter named Turtle Beach Burst II pro ESports Gaming Mouse, are available globally right now. 

The ten keyless keyboard obviously gives you more space, but is also wireless. It is a hot-swappable mechanical keyboard with pre-lubed switches for easy maintenance, and sound dampening foam. It talks to the Turtle Beach Swarm app, for further RGB customization. You can expand the functionality of every key, and save up to five separate profiles whilst doing so.

The mouse promises 8K polling (the number of times a keyboard sends data to the computer per second), offering a wireless polling rate of 0.125ms latency, 8x faster than standard gaming mice. The mouse also features 30K DPI Owl Eye sensor, TITAN optical switches, and 40 hours of battery life. 

There's way more information on the keyboard here, and the mouse here. The Keyboard is available at participating retailers $119.99|£89.99| €99.99, and the mouse is priced at $139.99|£119.99|€129.99.