Quick Hits

• Arc Raiders is free to play for the next four days. Embark opened the extraction shooter's doors to celebrate the launch of Frozen Trail, the game's biggest update yet, which the studio has spent days detailing (Eurogamer).
• The Witcher 3 Remastered keeps smashing its own Steam records. Player numbers are still rising a week after the overhaul dropped, with millions returning and sales skyrocketing (Eurogamer).
• Activision and Bethesda are sending legal notices to "vibe coders." GenAI-made Modern Warfare 2 and Fallout recreations are the newest targets in a widening crackdown on AI-generated projects (Kotaku, Destructoid).
• Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve is the series' biggest Steam launch ever, following its official October 2 launch after three days of early access (Eurogamer).
• Two live events you can jump into right now: Fortnite's Fortnitemares 2026 (Chica from Five Nights at Freddy's is lurking on the island) and Pokémon Go's Astronaut Pikachu weekend.

Pokémon & Nintendo

The first weekend event in Pokémon Go is here, and Destructoid has a guide for earning the Astronaut Pikachu cosmetic skin that was teased ahead of time — go grab your space-suited mouse before the window closes. Over in console land, PlatinumGames offered a "brief yet tantalising" comment on the future of Bayonetta in an interview with Famitsu (via Nintendo Everything) — no confirmation yet, but the Umbra Witch's door is clearly still open.

Minecraft Dungeons II is having a moment: Nintendo Life's Switch 2 review calls it "a fun but flawed" dungeon-crawler with great co-op, while questioning whether a traditional adventure format suits Minecraft's freeform DNA — but commercially it's a winner, debuting at No. 2 in the UK charts while Metroid Prime 4: Beyond climbs back into the Top 10 and Xenoblade Chronicles 2: NS2 Edition makes its chart debut. Sadder news: Genius Sonority is ending service on free-to-play RPG The New Denpa Men later this year — "Denparessing," as Nintendo Life puts it. And for collectors with deep pockets, Sonic is getting an extremely expensive porcelain statue, with only 50 available worldwide.

The Pokémon community is doing what it does best: a fan drew Torchic entirely in PowerPoint using 2,035 free-form scribble shapes (each hand-drawn with a mouse, with 3D bevels applied), another is continuing a Mega Evolution design series with fan-made Mega Goodra X and Y, and someone hand-drew connecting cards of Piplup, Prinplup, and Empoleon under a starry night sky. Meanwhile, one Redditor is sincerely asking whether Bulbasaur is plant-based enough to fit their diet. We salute you.

Fortnite

Fortnitemares 2026 is live, and Destructoid warns the island is more dangerous than usual this year — a couple of menacing foes are lurking and ready to ruin your match. If you're hunting the crossover content, they've also got a guide to finding Chica from Five Nights at Freddy's on the map.

Call of Duty

The big story is legal, not loadouts: Kotaku reports that Activision and Bethesda are cracking down on GenAI projects recreating Modern Warfare 2 and Fallout, with "vibe coders" receiving cease-and-desist notices. Destructoid adds context: it's the latest ripple in days of chaos around AI-generated mods, which began when the creator of the SFO mod for Total War: Warhammer 3 had to purposefully damage their own work. The message to AI modders is getting loud and clear.

Arc Raiders

The headline event: Embark is running a four-day free trial of Arc Raiders alongside the launch of Frozen Trail, billed as the extraction shooter's biggest update yet. The studio spent the last few days detailing everything incoming, so whether you're a lapsed raider or extraction-curious, this is about as low-friction an entry point as you'll ever get.

Steam & PC

The Witcher 3 Remastered is the PC story of the week: Eurogamer reports millions have returned since the upgrade launched last week, the game just set another personal best on Steam, and sales are skyrocketing from people buying it fresh post-overhaul. Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve joins the pile of September–October releases crushing it commercially — it's officially the series' biggest Steam launch after going live October 2.

If you're browsing, the Steam Autumn Sale is in full swing: PC Gamer staffers shared 12 "PS2-pilled" recommendations from writers who cut their teeth on PlayStation 2 magazines, plus 11 underappreciated picks from their resident "genre sickos." And in opinion land, PC Gamer makes the case that Deadlock is the king of MOBA character design, crediting Valve's wholehearted embrace of New Yorkiness.

Gaming Roundup

• RuneScape is expanding aggressively: at RuneFest in Birmingham, Jagex announced a fourth RuneScape MMO built with Unreal Engine, plus an animated RuneScape adaptation with MoistCr1TiKaL (IGN).
• Gears of War: E-Day is out in early access on PC and consoles, and Destructoid has a countdown with the exact date and time for the Standard Edition and Xbox Game Pass release.
• Saturday Night Live ran a sketch mashing up GTA 6 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and Destructoid's verdict is blunt: "weaksauce," and proof you need comedy writers who actually know the source material.
• Finally, a PC Gamer essay on Silent Hill: Townfall makes a fascinating claim — it's the first horror game to make the writer feel genuinely bad about using a shotgun. Consider our curiosity piqued.

That's the digest for October 5 — see you on the Frostland island, raiders. 🎮