Gaming News · Issue #39 · 15 September 2026

TL;DR

• Active Matter launches today, a 30 dollar PvPvE extraction shooter throwing SCP-style anomalies into your loot runs.
• Bungie delays Marathon's next update to December 8 and scraps its seasonal calendar entirely.
• Marvel's Wolverine arrives on PS5 with reviews landing in the high 70s.
• Apex Legends targets cheat hardware while Valorant reveals a new Warden rifle for patch 13.06.
• Prime Gaming's mid-month drop adds Wall World 2 and Rims Racing free to keep.

🎯 Extraction shooters

Active Matter Launches Today as a 30 Dollar Extraction Shooter Full of Reality-Bending Anomalies

Active Matter, the PvPvE extraction shooter from Matter Team and War Thunder studio Gaijin, launches September 15 on Steam, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S at 29.99 US dollars. PvPvE means you raid a map against both other players and AI enemies, then try to extract your loot alive. It carries over 60 firearms across a Soviet island, a Central African quarantine zone, and a decaying US city, with gravity-warping anomalies and SCP-style monsters as hazards. Gaijin early-access buyers get free Steam access and keep their progress.

Player impact: If Tarkov and ARC Raiders feel stale, this is a fresh raid loop to test tonight for the price of a smaller game. Watch server stability and cheating in the first 48 hours before you sink real time in.

Sources: Active Matter · GamingOnLinux

Bungie Delays Marathon's Next Update to December and Kills Its Seasonal Calendar

Bungie confirmed on September 14 that Marathon's update planned for September 22 is delayed to December 8. The content now ships inside a named update called Symbiosis, adding a new Runner shell, a permanent PvE mode, a reworked Perimeter zone, a social space with a firing range, and a test team deathmatch mode. Bungie also scrapped Marathon's fixed seasonal schedule, moving to named updates released whenever they are ready. Marathon reviewed well but missed Sony's sales targets, and most of Bungie now works on it.

Player impact: If you bought Marathon expecting steady seasons, that cadence is gone, and the next real content is nearly three months out. The push toward permanent PvE reads like Bungie chasing Helldivers-style staying power over a competitive extraction grind.

Sources: GamesRadar+ · Push Square

Arena Breakout: Infinite Drops Zombie Extraction Modes in Season 7 Utopia on September 16

Morefun Studios launches Arena Breakout: Infinite Season 7 Utopia on September 16. The free-to-play Tarkov-style extraction shooter adds two zombie modes: Infected Zone, a PvPvE mode where you fight players and mutants while looting and extracting, and Zombie Endless, a PvE wave-survival mode. Season 7 also adds two guns, the A545 and AK-15SC, the game's first seasonal weapon attachments, and a broad balance pass the community has asked for. It runs on PC.

Player impact: Zombie modes give solo and PvE-leaning players a lower-stress way into an extraction shooter that usually punishes mistakes hard. The balance pass is the real test: if it fixes the meta guns, lapsed players have a reason to reinstall this week.

Sources: Insider Gaming · Games Press

Exoborne Opens a New Playtest September 16 With Solo-Only Lobbies

Sharkmob's open-world extraction shooter Exoborne opens a fresh playtest on September 16 to test its latest build. The headline change: turn off Group Fill and you drop into solo-only lobbies where every player runs alone, while duos and trios stay in their own raids. The build also brings matchmaking that separates early and late-game players, new Storm Surge objectives, and daily login rewards. Players who log in before September 30 get bonus rewards. Exoborne mixes exo-suit traversal with dynamic weather like tornadoes.

Player impact: Solo-only lobbies are a big deal for players tired of getting third-partied by full squads. If you dropped Exoborne over unfair solo runs, this playtest is the window to see whether Sharkmob fixed the problem.

Sources: GamingTrend · Exoborne on Steam

🔫 FPS

Apex Legends Midseason Patch Targets Cheat Hardware and Reshuffles the Legend Meta

Respawn's midseason patch for Apex Legends' Marked season landed September 14, with ranked Split 2 starting September 15. The anti-cheat headline: new systems to detect players using unauthorized controller hardware or software, meaning devices that fake aim assist or convert mouse input into controller signals, across PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch 2. The patch buffs Conduit, Fuse, Catalyst, and Bloodhound, nerfs Axle and Seer, adds more healing to the ground loot, and buffs three long-range guns.

Player impact: The cheat-hardware crackdown matters most for ranked players climbing in Split 2, where input-faking devices have quietly warped fights. Check whether your main got buffed before you lock in a new grind.

Sources: EA / Respawn

Valorant Reveals a New Warden Rifle and Ability-Draft Mode in Patch 13.06

Riot unveiled Valorant's 13.06 patch on September 14, going live September 22. It adds the Warden, a 2,900-credit automatic rifle that deals 50 damage at any range and 200 on a headshot, giving players a long-range option without buying a sniper. A new mode, Gauntlet: Glitched, has eight duos draft a random pool of abilities into a hybrid agent. The patch also replaces the Agent Gear progression with a new Agent Mastery system and launches Valorant on console in Australia and New Zealand.

Player impact: A third rifle in the premium price tier could shake up the Vandal-versus-Phantom buy that has defined Valorant for years. Riot is holding it out of the Shanghai Champions to avoid warping pro play, so ranked will be the testing ground first.

Sources: Insider Gaming · Valorant

A Leaked Trailer Points to Helldivers 2's Ironclad Democracy Warbond on September 22

A trailer that reportedly leaked from PlayStation early has revealed Helldivers 2's next premium Warbond, Ironclad Democracy, apparently due September 22. This is a leak, not an official Arrowhead reveal yet. The leak shows two primary weapons including the GL-15 Evictor, a pump-action grenade launcher, plus a secondary weapon, two throwables, and a Helmet Durability Check emote. As a premium Warbond, one of Helldivers 2's paid content passes, it should cost 1,000 Super Credits, the same as past premium tiers.

Player impact: If you grind Super Credits in-game rather than buying them, now is the time to bank 1,000 before September 22 so the Warbond costs you nothing real. Treat the date as a leak until Arrowhead confirms it.

Sources: Beebom

🆕 Just released

Marvel's Wolverine Hits PS5 Today With Reviews Landing in the High 70s

Insomniac's Marvel's Wolverine launches September 15 as a PS5 exclusive. It trades the Spider-Man open world for a linear, adults-only action game built on brutal claw combat, running around 15 hours. Reviews sit near 79 on OpenCritic from 73 critics, with 71 percent recommending it. Reviewers praise the visuals, especially on PS5 Pro with ray tracing, and the story pace, but several say the combat gets repetitive before the end. It is Sony's last big first-party exclusive of the year.

Player impact: This is the PS5's marquee September release, so it will fill clips and chat all week. A score in the high 70s means it is worth playing, though a deep backlog is a fair reason to wait for a discount.

Sources: Push Square · PlayStation Universe

🆓 Free to try

Prime Gaming's Mid-September Drop Hands You Wall World 2 and Rims Racing to Keep

Amazon's Prime Gaming refreshes its free games on September 17 for anyone with a Prime membership. The new batch includes Wall World 2, a roguelite mining and tower-defense sequel, and Rims Racing, a motorcycle sim, both free to keep once claimed. DOOM Eternal also returns that day as a claimable Microsoft code, riding alongside earlier September claims like Botany Manor. Codes redeem through the Amazon Games App, Epic, or GOG depending on the title. Free to keep means the games stay in your library after Prime lapses.

Player impact: Free to keep beats a rental, so claim Wall World 2 and Rims Racing even with a huge backlog, since they are yours forever once redeemed. You need an active Prime subscription to grab them.

Sources: gg.deals · Game Rant

📦 Other

IGN Cuts Staff Again, Including Longtime Hosts Brian Altano and Seth Macy

IGN went through another round of layoffs on September 14, hitting multiple departments and well-known on-camera staff including Brian Altano and Seth Macy, according to reporting and to those affected posting publicly. It follows earlier 2026 cuts at the outlet. IGN sits under Ziff Davis, which absorbed Eurogamer, Rock Paper Shotgun, GamesIndustry.biz, and VG247 in the 2024 Gamer Network deal, and editorial roles have been trimmed across the group since.

Player impact: Fewer staff at the biggest gaming outlet means less coverage, fewer reviews, and more of the personalities you follow moving to YouTube or their own channels. Expect the creators you trust to scatter and the review pipeline to thin.

Sources: Noisy Pixel

Read the full issue on the site →

10 stories in this issue. Same digest goes out in the Warhogy Discord — reply to this email if there is a story I missed.