Don’t miss these indie gems
Hey readers,
One game we missed in previous issues is really taking off on Steam. With overwhelmingly positive Steam reviews and a high player count, Dressmaker has become a remarkably popular indie game. As you probably guessed, it’s a cozy game about designing and assembling dresses of all kinds.
Also, Double Fine Productions is already at it after liberating itself from Xbox. The studio is releasing a quirky sim called Thank You Bus Driver in a couple of weeks. The game will have you—you guessed it again—drive a bus to its destinations, while managing the chaos brought on by unruly passengers.
And now, the news.
This issue will fill you in on:
Discord ads and age verification are proving to be nightmares
This isn’t the first time Discord has tried to roll this out.
By now, we’re all used to some level of enshittification in our most used services and applications, and the gaming-focused messaging platform Discord is no exception. After attempting to implement age verification policies earlier this year, Discord is relaunching the process.
The biggest problem with Discord’s earlier effort was that verification methods included “facial age estimation scans” and image uploads of IDs. While Discord promised that these methods would not be required for roughly 90% of users, concerns over data privacy raged within Discord’s user base. Discord then delayed its new policies, which brings us to today.
As the company claimed, the vast majority of users don’t need to do anything, as Discord has already determined their ages based on their server and gaming activity (which, admittedly, is suspicious on its own). There are newer ways for users with unverified accounts to confirm their ages, but the implementation of these processes has been buggy, with a slew of errors and mistakes.
More egregious is the prevalence of sponsored ads for the sports betting website FanDuel, and as you have to be 21 or over (in most jurisdictions) to participate in FanDuel activities, many connected the dots between this rollout and the new age verification policies.
How do I turn off these gambling ads on Discord?
In the Settings menu, go to the Data & Privacy tab and scroll down to the Sponsored Content section. Under the Manage Sponsored Content heading, select Real Money Gaming to hide these specific ads.
Replay: What else happened?
Image source: Meta
Other news hits
Meta announced the Meta VR Glasses, which come out in spring 2027 for $1,300. It’s a lightweight alternative to the Meta Quest, and it can play all Quest games.
Games announced include Beat Saber: Flux, Tetris Effect: Mixed Realities, and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Dual Destinies VR. Ace Attorney fans are understandably upset that the next game in the series is a VR exclusive.
If you thought that GTA 6 was already expensive, wait until you see this official $400 collector’s box for the game, which includes Vice City-themed sunglasses, a cap, a shot glass, enamel pins, and other goodies—all without the game itself. And yes, scalpers are already selling orders of this for exorbitant prices.
The Japan-set Forza Horizon 6 has come under fire from Japanese players for banning players who share custom Itasha-style car decorations, which usually depict anime, manga, and gaming characters. Forza developers have clarified that explicit content is prohibited, but players argue that the guidelines appear vague and arbitrary.
As part of The Last of Us Day 2026 celebrations, studio Naughty Dog stated that two new projects that will “expand the canon” of the game’s universe are in the works.
For season 3 of The Last of Us HBO adaptation—which Naughty Dog is not involved with—game actors Laura Bailey and Ian Alexander, who portrayed Abby and Lev, respectively, in The Last of Us Part 2, will appear in the show in new roles. Alexander will act opposite franchise newcomer John Goodman.
In other Naughty Dog news, the studio won’t show off its next game—the sci-fi adventure Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet—until sometime in 2027.
Minecraft is getting its first new dimension in almost 15 years: the Sift, which is a colorful and ethereal space. It’ll house the rabbit-like blub creatures, and you can already visit the Sift in the newly released Minecraft Dungeons 2.
This year’s Fortnite Halloween event will include content based on Five Nights at Freddy’s, and the announcement has already broken the game’s social media records. It turns out, people still very much like both of these properties.
Big new game releases include…
A screenshot showcasing the first-person perspective in Silent Hill: Townfall. (Image source: Konami)
Remedy Entertainment’s newest mind-bending title is Control Resonant (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S), which takes players to a Manhattan ravaged and plagued by “paranatural” forces. While the first game was a third-person shooter starring the character of Jesse Faden, Resonant is a melee combat-focused game, with Jesse’s brother Dylan as the protagonist. It’s a big shift, but most critics thought it was successful.
I’ve been playing it since a few days before its release, and I’m enjoying it so far! More on this next week.
Konami’s classic horror franchise is back with yet another new installment, with Silent Hill: Townfall (PC, PS5) bringing the series to a new Scottish setting. The first-person game has classic Silent Hill elements like unsettling monsters and the use of fog to create a familiar, tense atmosphere. While it received positive reviews, it’s overall rated slightly below more recent Silent Hill games.
Those who might be interested in the world of Minecraft but would rather play a more traditional action game can check out Minecraft Dungeons 2 (PC, Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series X/S), a dungeon crawler taking place in an open world. Receiving average reviews, critics generally agree that it’s a more impressive and ambitious effort than the first Minecraft Dungeons game.
That’s all for now. Next week’s issue will primarily be devoted to Control Resonant, with an explainer on what to expect from the game and my own personal thoughts in the form of a review.
‘Til next time,
Chris Compendio
