Gaming News · Issue #74 · 20 October 2026

TL;DR

• Modern Warfare 4's DMZ early access opens today on Hajin, and extraction-mode XP still counts when your squad dies before exfil.
• SAND adds a lava biome and a new final extraction island, so mech crews have a real reason to reinstall.
• A leak says Halo Studios built a Flood-infested extraction shooter, then binned it.
• The Finals Season 12 is live, and the announcer can now roast you by username.
• Phantom Blade Zero wants 135GB of your PS5 before it launches October 29.

🎯 Extraction shooters

Modern Warfare 4's DMZ Opens Today, and You Keep Your XP Even if Nobody Exfils

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's DMZ extraction mode opens in early access today, October 20, at 10 AM PT for every region at once, for digital pre-orders of the Standard or Vault Edition on PS5, Xbox, PC, and Switch 2. The full mode is in: the Hajin Exclusion Zone, the Forward Operating Base, story missions, and free roam. XP and weapon XP carry into launch on October 23, and DMZ XP counts even when a squad fails to extract.

Player impact: Squads get three days to learn Hajin before the full launch crowd arrives. Vault Edition owners start with a third Active Duty Operator slot, so expect the first pay-for-advantage arguments by tonight.

Sources: KeenGamer · Call of Duty (official)

SAND's First Big Update Adds a Lava Crater That Cooks You and a New Final Extraction Island

Hologryph and TowerHaus released Last Port in the Storm, the first major content update for SAND: Raiders of Sophie, the PvPvE extraction game where crews loot a desert in walking mech fortresses called tramplers. It adds Spaceport, a loot-heavy island that becomes a final extraction point in Storm Dive, and the Obsidian Crater biome, the only place Aurogen Crystals spawn. The crater has lava cracks and a heat meter that damages players who stay too long. A timed dropship crash site event also spawns Ironclad enemies.

Player impact: Aurogen Crystals only drop in a biome that hurts you for standing in it, so the best loot now sits on a clock. Spaceport as the final exit gives every crew one obvious place to fight over.

Sources: SAND: Raiders of Sophie on Steam (official) · Steam store

Halo Reportedly Had a Flood Extraction Shooter With Spartans vs Brutes, and Then Killed It

New unverified details on Project Ekur, a cancelled Halo extraction shooter, came from YouTuber HiddenXperia on October 19, citing anonymous sources. Players would have picked a UNSC Spartan or a Banished Brute, run faction missions against rival squads and AI-controlled Flood, and used kits like a grapple hook and VISR. Leaker Rebs Gaming had already claimed the project died in July over mismanagement; HiddenXperia says moving staff to Halo: Campaign Evolved finished it. Halo Studios has not commented.

Player impact: Treat this as rumour. If it holds, Halo tried to enter the extraction genre and changed direction too many times to ship, which says a lot about how hard the genre is to crack.

Sources: Game Rant · GamesRadar+

🔫 FPS

The Finals Season 12 Is Live, and Scotty Can Now Call You Out by Username

Embark Studios' The Finals Season 12 launches today, October 20. Announcer Scotty can now say players' usernames in real time through a text-to-speech system, limited to set scenarios so Embark controls what he says. The season also adds the Mimic Device and Translocator gadgets, Solo Showdown (a 12-player tournament built from three random rounds of eight mini-modes), reworked destruction where buildings sag and bend, smoke that reacts to explosions, and clearer footsteps.

Player impact: Clearer footsteps change how teams hold cashouts, and reactive smoke changes how they push them. Solo Showdown also gives solo queue players a mode that doesn't need a full squad.

Sources: PCGamesN

Bungie Is Reportedly in the Running to Make the Next Star Wars Battlefront

A rumour relayed by Giant Bomb's Jeff Grubb from the source 'Quarterman' says Lucasfilm wants an outside studio for a new Star Wars Battlefront, with EA DICE and Sony's Bungie as candidates. Nobody has confirmed it. A day earlier, Lucasfilm Games vice president Douglas Reilly said the company is exploring projects 'large and small' with partners that will 'continue to surprise folks', and that a studio doesn't need to be a top five publisher to land Star Wars.

Player impact: Unconfirmed, but Bungie making a big licensed shooter would pull talent away from Destiny 2 and Marathon. Battlefront fans should treat this as a signal Lucasfilm wants the series back, nothing more yet.

Sources: Push Square · MP1st

NAVI's Aleksib Faces a Suspended Prison Sentence Over Untaxed CS Sticker Money

Finnish prosecutors are seeking a four-month suspended prison sentence for Counter-Strike 2 player Aleksi 'Aleksib' Virolainen on an aggravated tax fraud charge, Dexerto reported on October 19, citing Iltalehti and court documents. They allege he left €53,000 of 2020 sticker sale income off his return, avoiding about €28,000 in tax, while he was playing for OG. He has pleaded not guilty, saying he didn't know the income was taxable. No ruling has been announced.

Player impact: A suspended sentence would keep him playing for NAVI, so the roster isn't at immediate risk. The bigger story is that sticker money is taxable income, and plenty of pros may be checking their old returns today.

Sources: Dexerto

🔜 Coming soon

Phantom Blade Zero Needs 135GB on PS5, and There's No Disc Version

S-Game's action game Phantom Blade Zero takes up about 135GB on PS5, according to PlayStation Game Size data reported by Push Square, likely before any day-one patch. Preloading opens October 27 and the game launches October 29 at 2 AM GMT for $59.99 or £54.99. It's a PS5 console exclusive and digital only, likely because a physical edition would need two discs.

Player impact: Clear space now if you're on a base 825GB PS5, since 135GB is a big share of what's usable. Buyers who wanted a disc have no option.

Sources: Push Square

Moonlighter Studio Shrinks Its ReVamp Playtest Because It Fears AI Clones

Digital Sun Games, the studio behind Moonlighter, has scaled back a planned public Steam playtest of its next game, the tower defence and Metroidvania hybrid ReVamp, to a smaller test through its Discord starting October 29. The studio said it was concerned by games being reverse-engineered, cloned, and published before the original ships. Developers report people feeding demos and trailers into generative AI tools to rebuild games quickly. Another team cancelled its Next Fest demo around the same time.

Player impact: Fewer open playtests means fewer chances to try games before buying. If more studios follow, demos could shift into Discord-gated tests you have to sign up for.

Sources: Game Developer

🆕 Just released

Castlevania: Belmont's Curse Sets a Series Steam Record of 21,000 Players Despite Its Black Screen Bug

Konami's Castlevania: Belmont's Curse, out since October 15, peaked above 21,000 concurrent players on Steam over its first weekend, the best in the series' history on the platform, according to Gamemag.ru. User reviews sit at Mostly Positive, with 4,936 of 6,725 positive. Konami's patch 1.1.3 on October 16 targeted a launch black screen on high refresh rate monitors, but the studio says the bug can still appear on some PCs.

Player impact: PC players on 144Hz or faster monitors should update first and contact Konami support if the black screen remains. Everyone else can buy in, since the record crowd suggests the game is landing.

Sources: Gamemag.ru via Steam News · Konami on Steam (official)

🆓 Free to try

Mortal Shell 2 and Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy Get PS Plus Premium Trials Today

Sony's PS Plus Premium tier adds Game Trials for Mortal Shell 2 and Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy on PS5 from today, October 20, Push Square reported. Both are limited play windows with nothing to keep, and Premium trials usually cap at around three hours of play. Sony has not announced an end date for either trial. Essential and Extra members don't get access.

Player impact: If you pay for Premium, test Mortal Shell 2's combat before spending full price. Run the trial on a quiet evening, since the clock usually counts playtime.

Sources: Push Square

XGUN, Expedition: Into Darkness, and Blackout Route Bring Free Co-op Extraction Demos to Next Fest

Several PvE extraction games launched free Steam Next Fest demos on October 19, playable through the event's end on October 26. XGUN is a co-op zombie extraction shooter on a flooded Persian Gulf resort, with online, offline solo, and split-screen play. Expedition: Into Darkness is a medieval co-op dungeon looter for up to four players where you lose what you carry on death. Blackout Route mixes base defence with extraction raids. Outbound, an island extraction shooter with a 22:00 return deadline, lists its demo for October 23.

Player impact: These are free demos, so try them before Next Fest closes on October 26. They suit squads who like extraction loot loops but are tired of losing runs to other players.

Sources: XGUN on Steam · Expedition: Into Darkness on Steam · Blackout Route on Steam

🕹️ Console specifics

Saros' Free Zenith Update Adds a Boss Rush, New Game Plus Layers, and Auto-Aim on PS5

Housemarque's PS5 exclusive Saros got its free Zenith update on October 19, a 3.5GB patch that moves the game to version 2.0. It adds Overlord Rush, a boss rush covering any or all eight bosses with online leaderboards, and Eclipse Layers, a New Game Plus system with harder rules unlocked through 20 new Carcosan Modifiers. New accessibility options include slower game speed, auto-aim, gyro aiming, and high contrast visuals.

Player impact: Finished players get a reason to reinstall and chase leaderboard times. New players who bounced off the difficulty now have slower speed and auto-aim to get through.

Sources: Push Square · VGC

🖥️ Hardware

Two Pallets of RTX 5090s Worth About $470,000 Vanished at a Brazilian Airport

Brazilian distributor Oderço says two pallets of Zotac RTX 5090 graphics cards, valued at about R$2.5 million (roughly $470,000) at cost, disappeared at São Paulo's Guarulhos International Airport, Dexerto reported on October 19. It's unclear whether the cards were stolen or misplaced, and the distributor went public on Instagram after getting no official answer. The RTX 5090 already sells for about R$34,000 (around $6,400) in Brazil, and supply has been thin since September.

Player impact: Stock in Brazil just got thinner for a card that's already hard to find. Anyone shopping used 5090s should check serial numbers and seller history closely.

Sources: Dexerto

A Teardown of the Revised Switch 2 Finds the Same Chip, the Same 12GB, and the Same Screen

Console technician @Modyfikator89 opened the revised Nintendo Switch 2 (board OSM-CPU-01, replacing BEE-CPU-01) and found the same Nvidia chip revision and 12GB of RAM, Wccftech reported on October 19. The changes are a revised motherboard, a different fan, a part from a new supplier, and a user-replaceable battery. The unit checked still had the original LCD, so the Sharp-made panel rumoured this summer didn't show up.

Player impact: Don't trade in a working Switch 2 for the new model expecting a better screen or performance. The replaceable battery is the only upgrade, and it mostly matters years from now.

Sources: Wccftech

📦 Other

Decomp.dev Shuts Its Project Index After AI Users Started Hijacking Game Decompilations

Decomp.dev, a site that indexes and tracks progress on hundreds of fan game decompilation projects, is sunsetting, VGC reported on October 19. Its creator, @encounter, disabled the main index and new project submissions, keeping existing project pages and history. The reason given is 'bad actors' forking unfinished projects and completing them with AI, then presenting low-effort ports as real decompilations. The creator said the progress bars had turned into a leaderboard that does 'more harm than good'.

Player impact: Decompilations are how classic games get PC ports, mods, and fixes. A weaker community hub could mean fewer reliable ports of old favourites and more rushed ones nobody can maintain.

Sources: VGC

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