Quick Hits

• Modern Warfare 4 is here-ish, and critics like what they see. PC Gamer has the full breakdown of release times and early access, GameSpot's campaign review says it "goes back to basics to properly finish its story," and Activision tells VGC the game will "close this chapter and launch a new one" for the series.
• Fortnite is officially coming to Linux. Eurogamer reports Epic buried the announcement at the bottom of its widely mocked "vibe-coding" blog post — and it could open the door to playing Fortnite (and games like Apex Legends) on Steam Deck and Steam Machine.
• The Disco Elysium successor has a date. ZA/UM's Zero Parades is confirmed for Switch 2, launching 3rd November 2026, per Nintendo Life.
• Steam's flood is historic. Kotaku reports 2026 has already seen more games added to Steam than all of 2025, with roughly 24,000 titles expected by year's end.
• Pokémon TCG Pocket is finally fixing trading and immersive cards — and slowing down its release cadence while it's at it, according to Kotaku.

Pokémon & Nintendo

It's a good day to be a Nintendo fan. Beyond the Modern Warfare 4 Switch 2 news (more below), Nintendo Life confirms Zero Parades: Director's Cut — the next CRPG from ZA/UM, the controversial studio behind Disco Elysium: The Final Cut — launches on Switch 2 on 3rd November 2026. If you've been chasing that particular narrative-RPG dragon, mark your calendar.

Nintendo is also bringing 19 playable demos to MCM London Comic-Con from 23rd–25th October, including Layton, Metaphor, and 007 titles — a rare chance to go hands-on before the holidays.

On the Pokémon side, Kotaku reports Pokémon TCG Pocket is improving its long-frustrating trading and immersive card features alongside a slower content cadence — a genuinely welcome course correction for players. Meanwhile, The Pokémon Company revealed its "Holiday Helper" plush collection, and yes, it includes a Christmas tree Pikachu and a Clodsire sled, per IGN. The r/Pokémon community is already in the festive spirit too, with a removable-hat Halloween Pikachu drawing and a shiny custom Magikarp bookmark making the rounds.

Cozy-game fans eat well too: Nintendo Life's review calls The Witch's Bakery on Switch 2 "a cosy narrative sim that rises to the occasion," and Coral Island is officially docked for Switch 2 this winter, launching alongside a major update. One bummer: Telltale's The Wolf Among Us Remastered has been delayed on Switch to a "later date."

Fortnite

The big Fortnite story today isn't a skin or a season — it's platforms. Eurogamer reports Epic Games is officially working on bringing Fortnite to Linux, with the reveal tucked away at the bottom of the blog post announcing the company's new "vibe-coded" storefront revamp. If it lands, Eurogamer suggests we may soon be playing Fortnite — and other Easy Anti-Cheat titles like Apex Legends — on Steam Deck and Steam Machine. Destructoid, for its part, is having a field day with CEO Tim Sweeney "vibe-coding" a storefront update that the outlet says blew up in his face. Whatever you think of the delivery, Linux support would be a legitimately big deal for handheld PC players.

Call of Duty

Modern Warfare 4 week is in full swing. GameSpot's campaign review praises Infinity Ward for going "back to basics to properly finish its story" — the video review dubs it "A High Price For Revenge" and calls it satisfying from start to finish — while PC Gamer's review-in-progress declares it "a campaign you shouldn't skip." PC Gamer also has release times and early access details sorted so you're not staring at a download bar tonight.

The Nintendo angle is the kicker: Nintendo Life's hands-on impressions find Switch 2 doing its best with "one hell of a 'popcorn game'" — the first Call of Duty on Nintendo hardware in nearly 13 years, since 2013's Ghosts on Wii U. And looking ahead, Activision tells VGC that Modern Warfare 4 will "close this chapter and launch a new one," hinting the next entry may not be a Black Ops or Modern Warfare title.

Arc Raiders

Destructoid has a confession piece worth reading: a writer finally bought Arc Raiders because of its PvE test — and is having a blast. They describe how the PvE mode made players unafraid to draw attention amid the gunfire and rocket blasts, which says a lot about how Embark's extraction shooter plays when the fear of other humans lifts.

Indie Games

Rock Paper Shotgun highlights The Lich Wars, a standalone prequel to cult RPG The Necromancer's Tale from Psychic Software — a storybook RPG spanning 30 years of, in RPS's words, "undead botheration." Also worth watching: Kotaku reports the anime gambling horror game Drunken Goddess Reflux is ditching its free Steam demo entirely, replacing it with a closed beta, out of fear the demo could be ripped off by AI.

Steam & PC

The Kotaku Steam deluge story deserves a second mention because the numbers are wild: 24,000 titles expected in 2026 alone, and Kotaku suggests that "could be nothing compared to 2027" — a genuinely concerning flood of AI-adjacent slop. On a brighter note, VGC reports Steam is introducing Achievement Sets, letting developers split up achievements and introduce seasonal ones — a meaningful upgrade for completionists. RPS also sniffed out references to a possible Steam Frame OLED variant in newly released kernel source code, though the outlet argues it would only fix one of the headset's minor weaknesses, not its major ones. And in Destiny 2 land, Destructoid notes Bungie is hiring new developers and plans to restore vaulted content after June's final big update — cope, or genuine hope? Probably both.

Gaming Roundup

• IGN reports Smash Bros. legend Mew2King has been banned from a tournament after posting photos of a concerning skin condition and complaining of a bug infestation — a sad, strange story.
• A Shrek 2: The Game remaster leaked via a premature Xbox.com listing, and GameSpot says it looks amazing.
• Warframe's month-long Epoch Operation: Taubound runs Oct. 15–Nov. 17, sending players to harvest Moonflesh for the voyage to the Sentient planet Tau, per Destructoid.
• And because it wouldn't be gaming news otherwise: GameSpot confirms a Fellow Espresso Series 1 espresso machine can now run Doom — Reddit user FullExtraction pulled it off on the machine's tiny circular screen. The Doom ports have officially reached peak caffeine.