Gears of War Goes Back to Day One, Plus October Games Worth It

Why October 2026 Still Looks Like the Industry Is Running

The GTA 6 exodus that emptied September has not stopped — it has just changed shape. Where September was mostly RPGs and one PS5 exclusive fleeing the calendar, October is a Switch 2 catch-up month with two genuine headline releases bolted on either end of it: Gears of War: E-Day in the first week, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 in the fourth.

In between, four different games reach Switch 2 without technically being new: two Square Enix RPGs getting a resolution bump, a free upgrade for a platformer that already existed on the older Switch, and a LEGO bundle nobody had to build from scratch. None of that is a complaint — a console having a strong catch-up month is still a strong month for the people who own it — but it is worth knowing going in, because a few of these dates will read as launches on a calendar site when they are not.

And there is one game every corner of the internet insists is coming this month that we spent an afternoon trying to confirm and could not — more on that at the end, because being told what is not real is worth as much as being told what is.

Ad

Nintendo Switch 2 (opens in a new tab)

Seven of this month's releases land on Switch 2, including It Takes Two and Resident Evil 4 Gold Edition a day apart. Quietly the console's busiest month yet.

Early October: A Samurai Returns, and Two RPGs Catch Up

Rayman Legends Retold is our top pick for the month, also out 1 October on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2 and PC. It is a full remaster of 2013’s Rayman Legends — the platformer that still gets cited as one of the best pure 2D platformers ever made, now running at a proper resolution and frame rate for current hardware. If it is a blind spot in your house, this is the easiest possible entry point.

Ghost of Yotei: Complete Edition opens the same day, PS5 only. It bundles the base game with the free Legends co-op mode, a new story expansion called Echoes of Sekigahara, and a fresh single-player survival mode named Most Wanted. New buyers pay $69.99; anyone who already owns the game gets the whole package for a $14.99 upgrade, which is the number that actually matters here — this is not a “buy it again” situation.

Dynasty Warriors 3: Complete Edition Remastered lands the same day on PS5, Switch 2, Xbox Series X|S and PC. This is a genuine curiosity: the 2004 original plus its Xtreme Legends expansion, remastered with refined controls, a new Evasion move, and two-player co-op. It was originally due 19 March 2026, quietly delayed with no new date attached, and only resurfaced when Koei Tecmo confirmed this one. If you played the PS2 version in someone’s dorm room, this is squarely aimed at you.

Octopath Traveler and Octopath Traveler II both reach Switch 2 the same day, sold separately or as a digital bundle. Worth being precise about what this is: not new games, but enhanced ports of two HD-2D RPGs that already existed on the original Switch, with a resolution and frame-rate bump. If you have never played either, the Switch 2 versions are simply the best way to now.

Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve follows on 2 October for PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC — the next entry in Bandai Namco’s arcade flight-combat series. Deluxe Edition buyers had early access from 28 September, and depending on region and storefront you may see it listed a day earlier than the official date; Bandai Namco’s own release date is the 2nd. If dogfighting is not usually your genre, this is a good month to find out — there is very little else competing for the same evening.

First Full Week: A Prequel, a Free Upgrade, and Every Kingdom Heart at Once

Gears of War: E-Day is out 6 October on Xbox Series X|S and PC, day one on both Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass. This is a prequel set on Emergence Day itself — the actual moment the Locust first surfaced — which is either the most interesting place this franchise could go next or the most obvious one, and we will not know which until it is in our hands. Premium Edition buyers got up to five days of early access starting 1 October. Being on Game Pass from day one makes this close to a free question to answer.

Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed reaches Switch 2 the same day, and it is not a launch — it is a free upgrade for anyone who already owns THQ Nordic’s remake on the original Switch, with save-file transfer and a genuine resolution and frame-rate improvement. The remake itself came out in March 2026. If you have a Switch 2 sitting under the TV and a kid who liked the Wii original enough to remember it, this costs nothing to grab.

Kingdom Hearts Collection [I~III] arrives 8 October on Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. This bundles Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5+2.5 ReMIX, HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, and III plus the Re Mind DLC — the entire mainline story running natively on current hardware for the first time, rather than through a cloud version. It was announced for Tokyo Game Show 2026 alongside the less exciting news that Kingdom Hearts IV itself will not arrive until late 2027, so treat this as the thing to actually play in the meantime rather than a warm-up for a game still more than a year out.

Ad

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 | Standard Edition | Xbox Series X (opens in a new tab)

The full package for the month's biggest release, out 23 October — if you prefer to own it outright rather than play through Game Pass.

Mid-October: A Zoo, a Retro Shooter, and a Co-Op Comeback

Planet Zoo 2 launches 13 October on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S — Frontier’s full sequel to the management sim, adding aquatic and flying habitats and Wildlife Reserves for the first time. No Switch 2 version has been announced. This is one of the few genuinely new releases all month rather than a port or a collection, and it is the kind of low-stakes, no-deadline game that survives being played in twenty-minute bursts across a week.

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2 follows 14 October on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, with a Switch 2 version confirmed but not yet dated. It is a fast, ugly, retro-styled FPS with two playable characters — an Ultramarine and a Sister of Battle — and a final-boss track composed by Mick Gordon, the same composer behind DOOM’s soundtrack. Not a game for a shared family evening, but a genuinely good one for the hour after everyone else is in bed — and if the retro throwback has you nostalgic for the real thing, our Halo: The Master Chief Collection review is still the best value in that genre on Xbox.

It Takes Two reaches Switch 2 on 15 October — already the site’s top-rated co-op game at a full 5 out of 5, now playable split-screen on a console you can carry between rooms. Nothing to add to that review except: if you have never played it, this is genuinely the best two-player game we have covered, full stop.

Resident Evil 4 Gold Edition follows a day later on 16 October, also Switch 2 — the remake, now portable, alongside base Switch 2 ports of Resident Evil 2 and 3 the same week. If the remake was a PS5/Xbox blind spot, this is the version to actually own; the original PS5 release is still reviewed here if you want the case for why it holds up.

Late October: The Month’s Biggest Release, Then a Switch 2 Wrap-Up

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 arrives 23 October on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC and Switch 2, and it is the biggest release of the month by a wide margin. The campaign centers on a North Korean invasion of the peninsula, with a parallel thread following Captain Price running his own shadow war. Preorder buyers had campaign early access from 16 October, a full week before the standard release. This is also one more entry in the same list September’s article opened with: the industry keeps clearing its calendar around GTA 6’s 19 November date, and a Call of Duty launching in October rather than its usual slot is exactly that pattern playing out again.

Ad

Rayman Legends Retold – PS5 (Pre-Order) (opens in a new tab)

Our pick for the month — a full remaster of the 2013 original, out 1 October.

Minecraft Switch 2 Edition closes out the month on 27 October — Mojang’s own Switch 2-native build, rather than the older Switch version running through backward compatibility. If Minecraft is already the household’s default, this is the upgrade worth taking; if it isn’t yet, this is as good a month as any to start.

What We Are Not Recommending, and Why

Skylanders: Eternal Power is not, as far as we can tell, a real game — at least not yet. It circulates on fan wikis with a firm 31 October release date, sourced back to a years-old social media post that has been recirculated as if it were new. We looked for an Activision press release, a store listing, or a platform product page, the same bar every other title in this article cleared, and found nothing. That is not proof it will never exist, but it is not something we are willing to tell you to wait for either.

We are calling it out because it is exactly the kind of thing a nostalgic dad would want to be true — Skylanders was a genuine phenomenon a decade ago, and “it’s coming back” is a rumor that writes itself. If an official announcement lands, we will cover it properly. Until then, treat any calendar or wiki page listing it as unverified.

Dadnology Take

If you own an Xbox or a PC and a Game Pass subscription, Gears of War: E-Day on the 6th is the easiest recommendation on this list — the risk is already covered by the subscription you are probably paying for anyway. If you do not subscribe and want the one game worth buying outright, wait for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 on the 23rd; whatever you think of the series by now, it is the release the rest of the industry built its whole month around avoiding.

If you have kids in the room, It Takes Two on the 15th is the pick to build a weekend around — two controllers, one couch, no arguing over turns. For something gentler with littler ones, Luigi’s Mansion 3 is still the ghost hunt that never actually frightens anyone under eight.

And if a listicle or a group chat tells you Skylanders is making a comeback this month, ask for a source before you get anyone’s hopes up. We looked, and there is not one yet.

The Switch 2 keeps having strong months without a single true console exclusive driving it — free upgrades, RPG ports and a LEGO bundle are quietly doing more for the platform’s October than any one headline release could.

Every date above is on our release calendar too, next to the month’s film and TV arrivals, so you can see what a given weekend actually holds before you commit an evening to any of it.

What is the biggest game released in October 2026?

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 on 23 October, and it is not close — it is the month’s only release with that scale of marketing behind it, and preorder buyers already had a week of campaign early access before the official date. If you want the more interesting bet instead, Gears of War: E-Day on 6 October sends a long-running franchise back to the day it all started.

Which October 2026 games can I play with my kids?

It Takes Two on Switch 2, out 15 October, is the clear one — a full two-player co-op story with no way to play it wrong. Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed reaches Switch 2 on 6 October as a free upgrade if you already own it on Switch, and it is a gentle platformer built for exactly the age that struggles with a health bar. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 and Gears of War: E-Day are both mature-rated and are not family games, whatever the trailer looks like on a shared screen.

Is Ghost of Yotei's Complete Edition worth buying again?

Not if you already own the base game and only want the new content — the upgrade is $14.99 and adds the Legends co-op mode, the Echoes of Sekigahara story expansion and a survival mode called Most Wanted. If you never played it, $69.99 for the whole thing on day one is the better entry point than buying the original and the expansion separately would have been.

Is Skylanders: Eternal Power actually coming out in October 2026?

We could not confirm it. It shows up on fan wikis and in a recirculated social post, but there is no Activision press release, store listing or platform product page anywhere — the same bar every other title on this page cleared. Until that changes, we are treating it as a rumor rather than a release and it does not appear in our count above.

What platforms is Rayman Legends Retold on?

Rayman Legends Retold releases 1 October 2026 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2 and PC. It is a remaster of the 2013 original, not a new game.