Time for our regular roundup of the mostly (but not strictly) retro-interest games releases on the way for the coming month, with trailers for everything and a few of my thoughts too! And October is nuts, so let’s get going!

A few months back I bought a copy of White Dwarf magazine, partly for nostalgia but mostly because it came with about ten free GoG codes for PC Warhammer games I redeemed immediately but have never so much as even loaded a single on of since! Doesn’t stop me wanting to get in on a bit of Warhammer 40,000: Darktide’s first-person fantasy action all the same though, which is already out on PC but temptingly comes to Xbox on the 4th! Credit to IGN for the vid.

Less tempting – to me at least – is Wargroove 2, which arrives on PC and Switch on the 5th, but I totally see the appeal. I just spent a very long time trying to click with its predecessor a few years back but it never happened no matter how much it should have and how much I really wanted it to! Anyway, this is more of the same vibrant and accessible turn-based strategy in the style of the also recently resurrected Advance Wars, taking place across three campaigns built around an interweaving story, with battles happening on land, sea and in the air, with tons of new characters, abilities and other useful stuff. And having just written all that, I’m suddenly kind of tempted! Credit again to IGN for the trailer.

I still haven’t got around to the first game yet, despite liking what I played of it on the 3DS a lot, but if you’re more ready for more than me then Detective Pikachu Returns to Switch on October 6th! It’s a new mystery to investigate with new characters to interrogate, as well as special abilities to make use of and new partners in crime (though obviously not literally). All looks very adorable in a Pokemon meets Sherlock Holmes kind of a way!

Forza Motorsport comes to PC and Xbox via Game Pass on fhe 10th, bringing hundreds of cars, upgrades and tracks to the serious racing series that I’ll still be driving like a dodgem regardless! You can play multiplayer or solo against what promises to be cutting edge AI opponents, with advanced physics, powerful assists, new damage and dirt systems, and photorealistic visuals with real-time ray tracing on-track. Sounds alright for effectively free!

I think the very first Total War might also have been the very first PC game I ever bought, and with my Ancient Egypt interests on top (see here by way of Desert Falcon on Atari 7800), Total War: Pharaoh is piquing my interest more than a big-scale historic real-time strategy and empire management nerdfest like this normally would nowadays! Out on PC on the 11th and it’s looking very impressive.

If I’m reading this right, Lords of the Fallen is the sequel to the game of exactly the same name from 2014 but don’t quote me on that because it all got confusing beyond my current attention span for trying to understand it! Whatever its heritage, it’s a third-person fantasy action RPG, mixing up melee combat and magic in a Dark Souls-styled combat system, and existing in two effectively regular and death worlds layered on top of each other that you’ll need to cross-cross between, which sounds like Silent Hill for nerds! One to keep an eye on, I reckon, when it hits PC, PlayStation and Xbox on October 13th.

I’ve spent the past year playing through every one of the twenty or so 2D Sonic the Hedgehogs, almost all to completion one way or the other, so I’m not entirely sure I’m ready for Sonic Superstars on the 17th! It’s an all-new but familiar take on Sonic’s classic high-speed 2D platforming for PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC, with a bunch of favourite characters to play as, either solo or multiplayer. Looks rather marvellous but as always with a new Sonic of any kind it’s probably worth waiting for the reviews.

Gargoyles was a very late Mega Drive (or Genesis) platformer based on the Disney animated TV series of the same name, and was a very good one too, even if no one wanted it by the time it arrived! I’m not sure how the strong the license is nowadays either but hopefully Gargoyles Remastered gets a bit more love when it comes to PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC on October 19th because if it nails the animation and the art style like the original did then it will definitely deserve it!

The 20th of the month welcomes Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 to PS5, which is more than I’ll be doing because, as well as not owning a PS5 (at least until that Silent Hill 2 remake arrives!), I’m honestly sick to death of Marvel and have zero interest in this Miles Morales geezer that seems to be involved now. No denying the pedigree of this thing though, or how much fun it is to play as Spidey when it’s done right, so fill your wellies if you fancy a huge piece of web-slinging action!

If 2D platforming Sonic-style isn’t your bag this month then maybe you need Super Mario Bros. Wonder on Switch on the 20th instead! It’s a brand new entry in the side-scrolling platformer series we know and love, with twelve playable characters and up to four at once in local play, but the twist here is that every level has a Wonder Flower to find, and then anything can happen, from moving pipes to tilting terrain, bouncing Hoppos to stampeding Bulrushes, skydiving to space walks, and even transforming yourself into something else. Just not sure I’m ready to part with £50 on it yet though. We’ll see! Credit to GameSpot for the video, and also for the next one….

The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria brings procedurally-generated survival-crafting to PC and PS5 on 24th October, and I think Xbox in early 2024. I love my Tolkien but I can’t think of anything worse unfortunately! Anyway, if you fancy taking a bunch of Dwarves into the depths of the Misty Mountains to reclaim their old stuff, make new stuff and, no doubt, fight nasty stuff, then this might be what you’ve been waiting for.

First survival-crafting and now stealth… I really hope we’re near the end before it gets any worse! Actually, it can’t, but apart from that, Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1, out on everything on the 24th, is a beast of a package! You are getting no less than Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid (Including VR Missions/Special Missions), Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (HD Collection version), Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (HD Collection version), Metal Gear (NES/FC version) and Snake’s Revenge, but that’s not all! Regional versions can also be downloaded, and there’s two graphic novels in video format, and eight digital novels in, er, digital novel format, and a digital soundtrack! Not for me but I do wish it was!

You know I said it can’t get any worse… Well, maybe it’s not worse but it’s certainly hugely disappointing if the demo of Alone in the Dark I played is anything to go by! It’s a re-imagining of the 1992 granddaddy of survival horror as we know it, blending Southern Gothic and Lovecraftian horror to the apparent mild annoyance of the 11-year old you got to play as in the demo rather than any kind of the intended terror! Actually, the only terror was how dated everything felt, from the quick-time events to the inch-high fallen coat stand obstacle that none shall pass! Coming to PC, PlayStation and Xbox on the 25th but definitely try the demo first. And one more credit to IGN for the trailer.

There’s also a new Assassin’s Creed, more Disgaea, the Alan Wake sequel, the Batman Arkham games on Switch and a bunch of other stuff I’m just not interested in enough to go on about any longer here, so we’ll call it a day for this month! We’ll be back for more (but probably a bit less!) of the same for the start of November though, with WarioWare Move It and Super Mario RPG on the way among other things, so see you then!