There’s a large storm forming on the horizon. This October, around 40 games across all kinds of genres, franchises, and scales are set to launch on every major platform under the sun. There’s no escaping it. There are likely at least two games (or more!) in October that you’ll want to play, including stuff like Battlefield 6 and Moonlighter 2. So batten down the hatches and get ready to ride out the video game super storm that is coming in just a few short months.
Here’s the full list of planned October releases as of August 20:
- Ghost of Yotei – October 2
- Gigasword – October 2
- Neon Inferno – October 2
- Borderlands 4 on Switch 2 – October 3
- Digimon Story: Time Stranger – October 3
- Absolum – October 9
- Painkiller – October 9
- Barbie Horse Trails – October 10
- Battlefield 6 – October 10
- Little Nightmares 3 – October 10
- Nascar 25 – October 14
- Just Dance 2026 – October 14
- Ball x Pit – October 15
- Pokemon Legends: Z-A – October 16
- Keeper – October 17
- The Elf on the Shelf: Christmas Heroes – October 17
- Escape Simulator 2 – October 21
- Bloodlines 2 – Oct 21
- Jurassic World Evolution 3 – October 21
- Ninja Gaiden 4 – October 21
- Double Dragon Revive – October 23
- Moonlighter 2 – Oct 23
- Plants Vs. Zombies: Replanted – October 23
- The Crazy Hyper-Dungeon Chronicles – October 23
- Fast & Furious: Arcade Edition – October 24
- Once Upon a Katamari – October 24
- Ire: A Prologue – October 28
- The Outer Worlds 2 – October 29
- Arc Raiders – October 30
- Terminator 2D: No Fate – October 31
- Mina the Hollower – October 31
On Tuesday, during Gamescom Opening Night Live, I noticed a few games received October launch dates. I wondered to myself how many other games were arriving in that same month. Checking online, I discovered a giant list of October releases. This is one of the most jam-packed months I’ve seen in some time. It’s not just that a lot of games are arriving in a short window, but how varied the list is. We have big open-world AAA games, like Ghost of Yotei and, on Switch 2, Borderlands 4. But we also have smaller games like Ball X Pit and Moonlighter 2. There’s a park builder courtesy of Jurassic World Evolution 3 and a massive online shooter in the form of Battlefield 6. New Pokémon and Digimon games, a fresh Ninja Gaiden, a big Obsidian RPG, a creepy horror game, vampires, and even a fucking Christmas game. Heck, the new Double Fine game, Keeper, is out in October, and I’ve been waiting years for that studio’s next project. Now it’s coming, but sandwiched between, like, six other games I want to play.
What’s going on here? Well, some of this is just normal video game industry stuff. Studios want to get their games out before the holiday shopping season. But I bet some of these games were holding off until they knew what Rockstar was planning with Grand Theft Auto 6. And once it became clear October and November wouldn’t be dominated by GTA 6, as Rockstar delayed the open-world game to May 2026, some publishers and devs likely committed to launching in the spookiest month of the year.
Sure, maybe a few of these get delayed, but I’m not holding my breath. October isn’t that far away, so I’d expect most of these games to be locked in and not budge to November or later. That’s a scary thought as someone who works at a video game website. While I’m excited to have new stuff to play and write about, I wish it were a bit more spread out. Such is life. Good luck out there, folks, and remember: You can’t play it all, so play what you can and enjoy the ride.
