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College football Week 5: Recapping 25 amazing games
Esports

College football Week 5: Recapping 25 amazing games

by admin September 29, 2025


  • Bill ConnellySep 28, 2025, 09:53 PM ET

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      Bill Connelly is a writer for ESPN. He covers college football, soccer and tennis. He has been at ESPN since 2019.

Oregon and Penn State went to overtime. Alabama and Georgia nearly did. Tennessee went to overtime for a second time in three weeks. Illinois watched a two-score lead vanish against unbeaten USC and then won anyway. Georgia Tech pulled off a magic act to avoid an upset in Wake Forest.

What looked to be a great Friday night was one of the best Friday nights in memory, with Virginia pulling off a stirring overtime upset of Florida State, Arizona State unearthing some more close-game magic and Houston coming back to win in overtime in Corvallis. Indiana survived Iowa City. Cincinnati and Kansas put on a Big 12 track meet. Central Washington scored 91 points!

There aren’t many things in the world better than a huge college football Saturday that lives up to its hype. We had been looking forward to Week 5 since the preseason, and it delivered. So instead of compiling a “My Favorite Games of the Week” list at the bottom of this week’s recap column, we’re going to build the whole column out of My Favorite Games!

With Florida State facing its first road test of the season and TCU and Arizona State facing off in a key Big 12 battle, Friday night looked like it was going to be awesome. It was more than that. Arizona State and TCU went down to the wire, Houston-Oregon State was surprisingly awesome, and the game between YAC kings in Charlottesville exceeded all expectations.

Thanks in part to an early fumble from FSU’s Gavin Sawchuk and an acrobatic red zone interception from UVA’s Ja’son Prevard, Virginia led 14-0 early in the second quarter. When FSU scored on three straight drives, however, this game looked as if it would belong to the “Underdog lands some shots early, then fades” category. We see a lot of those games.

Virginia just kept responding, however. J’Mari Taylor tied the game at 21-21 before halftime, Chandler Morris scored his second rushing touchdown, and Morris threw a go-ahead TD to Xavier Brown with 7:20 left. FSU sent the game to overtime with a fourth-and-goal touchdown pass from Tommy Castellanos to Randy Pittman Jr. with 36 seconds left; I was surprised FSU didn’t go for two points and the win, but perhaps coach Mike Norvell simply trusted that his offense was more likely to keep scoring. Nope! The Seminoles didn’t net a single first down in two overtime possessions. First, both teams settled for field goals. Then Morris scored again and hit Trell Harris for the 2-point conversion. Prevard picked off Castellanos’ desperation heave, and one of the most rapid field-stormings you’ll ever see followed.

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0:49

Fans rush the field after UVA upsets No. 8 FSU

Florida State is unable to convert on fourth down in double overtime against Virginia, and fans storm the field.

I’m not going to lie: That was both exhilarating and terrifying to watch. But it had been quite a while since Cavaliers fans got to celebrate such a win — their last home victory over a top-10 team was in 2005. That win was also against Florida State. And in a fun nod to history, the Cavaliers had also scored one of the great weeknight upsets of all time in 1995 against, yes, Florida State again. Thirty years later, they did it again.

The win was big because every fan base deserves moments like this. It was also big because it upended the ACC title race a bit. We head into October with Miami at the top of the pecking order, but lots of teams pretty close behind.

Current ACC title odds, per SP+
1. Miami 24.2%
2. Louisville 20.4%
3. Georgia Tech 10.3%
4. Virginia 10.2%
5. Duke 9.6%
6. Florida State 6.7%
7. SMU 5.1%

The winner of this coming Saturday’s Virginia-Louisville game is going to be awfully well-positioned to nab one of the slots in the ACC championship game. (Of course, knowing this conference’s history, we’ve got 26 more plot twists to go between now and then.)

There were six Big Ten games Saturday, and only one was decided before the final two minutes. I felt smart for suggesting in Friday’s preview that Washington might make Ohio State sweat for a while, but the Huskies’ challenge lasted only about 29 minutes in a 24-6 loss. Otherwise, however, every game was dynamite.

That included the night’s big headliner in Happy Valley, though it certainly took its time reaching a boil. In fact early in the fourth quarter it looked as if this would end up a blowout. After 47:35, Oregon led 17-3, having outgained Penn State by a 352-109 margin. (Yards per play to that point: 5.9 to 2.9.)

Out of nowhere, however, Drew Allar led two pristine touchdown drives, one quick and one languid; a lovely touchdown lob to Devonte Ross made it 17-10 Ducks, and a gorgeously designed pitch to Ross tied the game with 30 seconds left.

Penn State needed only three plays to score in overtime, and Oregon had to gut out a response, converting a fourth-and-1 and then scoring on a cluttered shovel pass up the middle to Jamari Johnson. Penn State still looked like the steadier team heading into the second OT, but two plays later, the game was over. Dante Moore connected with Gary Bryant Jr. for a 25-yard score, and Dillon Thieneman appeared out of nowhere to pick off an Allar sideline pass. That was that.

Oregon is the real deal. The Ducks are No. 1 in SP+ and are getting what they need out of virtually every new and former transfer they’ve had to call upon, from Moore and Bryant, to much of the offensive line, to guys such as Thieneman on defense. And their two best offensive players Saturday night might have been freshmen: running back Dierre Hill Jr. (94 yards from scrimmage) and receiver Dakorien Moore (seven catches for 89 yards). Dante Moore aced the biggest test of his collegiate career, and led by head coach Dan Lanning, who seems to adore coaching in games such as this, the Ducks have won 19 of their past 20 games.

Editor’s Picks

2 Related

The narrative following this one, of course, focused mostly on the losing team. I tend to hate narratives; they’re almost always lazy and oversimplified, and one of the major reasons I’ve pursued analytics as much as I have over my writing career is that I like shutting narratives down. That goes especially for the “can’t win the big one” trope. Tom Osborne couldn’t win the big one, nor could Bobby Bowden or Mack Brown. They couldn’t, and then they did. James Franklin wears the biggest, brightest “Can’t win the big one!” sign in the sport at the moment, and guess what: Of the 136 programs in FBS, at least 125 of them would trade places with Franklin’s Penn State in a heartbeat. Franklin has been undeniably awesome at his job for quite a while. Almost no team in the sport has proven to be more upset-proof. That the Nittany Lions lose only to awesome teams — and often by small margins — is a sign that they’re an awesome team.

However …

Many of Penn State’s recent losses to awesome teams have followed a very familiar script full of droughts, a lack of offensive ambition and a complete lack of faith in the quarterback. Andy Kotelnicki’s fourth-quarter playcalling was almost note-perfect — he has proven his playcalling chops for quite a while now — but it came after two straight quarters of ineffective nibbling. In last year’s CFP semifinal loss to Notre Dame, Penn State scored one TD in its first six drives, then carved down the field beautifully for two late touchdowns. In last year’s Big Ten championship game, the Nittany Lions scored one TD in their first four drives and fell behind 28-10 before finding a rhythm and surging back (only to fall short).

It’s great to hold something in reserve for when you need it, and that’s a clear part of the Penn State approach in big games. But it’s producing awfully similar results, and it’s impossible not to notice that in his seven losses as a starter, Allar has averaged just 171 passing yards per game with a 50% completion rate and a 61.1 Total QBR. (It’s also not hard to notice that in the past two games in which he had a chance to win the game on Penn State’s final drive, he threw almost immediate interceptions.)

If someone says someone “can’t win the big one,” my natural instinct is to roll my eyes and assume the tables will turn pretty soon. But it’s hard to maintain that faith, in either Allar or Penn State, at the moment, not when it feels as if we’re watching reruns.

I feel as though the Big 12 should sue the SEC for copyright infringement. An utterly nutty conference title race, loaded with close games and unexpected plot twists, is supposed to be the Big 12’s domain. But with Texas Tech’s early 2025 star turn and high-quality, unbeaten starts for Iowa State and BYU, the Big 12 race is looking pretty straight forward at the moment. Following these two huge Saturday games, however, the SEC’s title race leaves September in a place of glorious disarray.

SEC title odds, per SP+
Ole Miss 16.3%
Missouri 12.9%
Oklahoma 11.1%
Alabama 11.1%
Vanderbilt 9.7%
Texas 8.5%
Tennessee 7.2%
Texas A&M 6.2%
Georgia 5.2%
LSU 5.2%

To put that another way, the six above teams that have won a national title in the past 30 years (Oklahoma, Alabama, Texas, Tennessee, Georgia and LSU) have a combined 48.3% chance of winning the SEC. The other four teams above — which have combined for a single outright conference title in the past 50 years (Texas A&M’s 1998 Big 12 crown) — are at 45.1%.

(Other teams have tiny chances that bring the total to 100%. And no, Oklahoma’s odds aren’t affected by quarterback John Mateer’s recent hand injury.)

We basically have a 50-50 shot at a team enjoying its first conference title in a very long time.

Brilliant early play from Missouri and Vanderbilt has certainly juiced these odds in their favor a bit, and after last year’s No. 2 finish in SP+, we shouldn’t be all that surprised Ole Miss has a puncher’s shot at a conference crown. But I literally laughed out loud when I saw the list above. The SEC is in an incredibly strange place at the moment, and I’m here for it.

LT Overton and Alabama were able to reel in Cash Jones and Georgia in one of Saturday’s marquee matchups. Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Saturday’s Alabama and Ole Miss wins certainly added to the chaotic vibe, and both came down to clutch late-down conversions. First, Ole Miss outgained LSU by a 480-254 margin and led by 10 at the half and 11 early in the fourth quarter. But the Rebels settled for a field goal in the first quarter and lost a fumble in the end zone in the second, allowing LSU to hang around, and Harlem Berry’s touchdown with 5:04 left brought the Tigers within five points. When Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss foolishly allowed himself to get pushed out of bounds on a third-down rush, stopping the clock with 1:47 left and bringing up a fourth down, it wasn’t hard to see the Tigers stealing this one. But Chambliss found Dae’Quan Wright for a picture-perfect 20-yard gain on fourth-and-3, and Ole Miss kneeled out the win.

On Saturday evening in Athens, Alabama did what it did early against Georgia last season but changed the script for how things played out late. The Crimson Tide scored on four of their five first-half possessions, racking up 262 yards and a 24-14 halftime lead. Ty Simpson was 11-for-16 for 132 yards, Bama was 5-for-8 on third downs (Georgia was 0-for-3), and everything was working.

And then, in the second half, a rock fight broke out. Bama almost seemed Penn State-esque, going ultra-conservative and saving any actually good offensive plays for when Georgia finally took the lead. Only, it never happened. The Dawgs got to within three points on the first drive of the third quarter, but they punted twice and failed on a fourth-and-1 from the Bama 8 with 13:20 left in the fourth quarter when LT Overton and Deontae Lawson stormed the backfield on a hurry-up snap and knocked Cash Jones off-balance for a 3-yard loss. Georgia never got another shot. Thanks to a 7-yard pass from Simpson to Jam Miller on third-and-5 with 1:51 left, Bama was also able to kneel out the win.

By the way, if you’re a fan of the transitive property, I do have to point out that Old Dominion beat Virginia Tech, which beat NC State, which beat Virginia, which beat Florida State, which beat Alabama, which beat Georgia. ODU for the CFP???

Tennessee let a potential upset of Georgia slip through its fingers two weeks ago and is still looking ahead at a schedule that includes trips to Alabama and Florida and visits from Oklahoma and surging Vanderbilt. This was not the time to suffer an upset against an upstart — we know from Ole Miss’ and Alabama’s 2024 experiences that untimely upset losses will doom you awfully quickly — but Mississippi State sure looked as if it was going to finish the job early Saturday evening. Despite two defensive touchdowns for the Vols (and a yards-per-play advantage of 6.5 to 4.4 for UT), MSU took the lead on four separate occasions and held a 34-27 advantage midway through the fourth quarter with Tennessee forcing a fourth-and-4. But Joey Aguilar found star receiver Chris Brazzell II for a first down, and Aguilar took in a touchdown on the first play after the two-minute timeout.

Tennessee’s DeSean Bishop scored on the first play of overtime, then Arion Carter broke up a fourth-down pass from Blake Shapen to Anthony Evans III.

If the loose playoff goal for an SEC team is to reach 10-2, this comeback saved Tennessee’s bacon. The Vols still have a 40% chance of reaching 10-2 or better. That number would have been about 10% with a loss here.

Arizona State has won nine straight Big 12 games going back to last season, and four of them were decided by five or fewer points. The past two were decided by 27-24 scores.

This Friday night result seemed rather unlikely. TCU, unbeaten and confident, dominated on the way to a 17-0 lead late in the first half, and after the Sun Devils charged back to tie, Josh Hoover’s 1-yard touchdown gave the Horned Frogs another lead that they held with two minutes left. But a pair of defensive penalties and a fourth-and-goal touchdown pass from Sam Leavitt to Jordyn Tyson tied the game. And then Prince Dorbah made maybe the best play of the entire weekend.

It’s DORBAH ‼️@prince_dorbah pic.twitter.com/fMN1TulfJt

— Sun Devil Football (@ASUFootball) September 27, 2025

Dorbah’s strip sack set up a go-ahead field goal for Jesus Gomez, and Martell Hughes’ interception 25 seconds later clinched the win.

It was fair to assume that, with such an experienced squad, Illinois was going to respond with physicality and quality after last week’s humiliating loss to Indiana. The Illini ended up needing an extra reserve of resilience too.

They led 31-17 with 10 minutes left, but two Makai Lemon touchdowns (and a 2-point conversion from Lemon), combined with an Illinois fumble deep in Trojan territory, gave USC a sudden 32-31 lead with 1:55 remaining. With help from a pass interference penalty, though, Illinois was able to drive to the USC 24 in the closing seconds, and David Olano’s 41-yard field goal saved the day.

After jumping out to a 14-0 lead against NC State but falling 34-24, Wake Forest came even closer to an upset Saturday. The Demon Deacons led 20-3 early in the second half and had a chance to close out a 23-20 upset with less than two minutes left. But Robby Ashford, thinking Tech had jumped offside on a third-and-5, and he had a free play, threw an incomplete deep ball, stopping the clock. No flag was thrown — the Tech defender was in the process of jumping back behind the line of scrimmage when the ball was snapped and came awfully close — and Wake was forced to punt. With the extra seconds, Tech drove for a field goal and picked off a 2-point pass in overtime to somehow keep its unbeaten record intact.

In a game neither team led by more than 7 points, Central Connecticut looked to have forced overtime with a short Michael Trovarelli touchdown with 58 seconds left. But unfortunately for the Blue Devils, they, um, forgot to cover Ky’Dric Fisher.

THE GAME WINNING TOUCHDOWN CATCH BY KY’DRIC FISHER pic.twitter.com/QhMeLe858F

— Dartmouth Football (@DartmouthFTBL) September 27, 2025

I can’t really say Kansas did a ton wrong here — the Jayhawks got a huge day from Jalon Daniels (445 passing yards and four TDs) and Emmanuel Henderson (214 receiving yards and two of those scores) and basically split third downs with the Bearcats and committed far fewer penalties. But Cincy’s Brendan Sorsby completed passes to nine different receivers and threw two touchdown passes to Cyrus Allen.

When Levi Wentz gave KU its first lead in nearly 55 minutes with a short touchdown reception with 1:45 left, the Jayhawks left too much time on the clock. Sorsby completed a fourth-and-10 pass to Noah Jennings, and Tawee Walker plunged in with the game-winning points with 29 seconds on the clock.

The longer the road trip, the better the Cal result. The Golden Bears beat Auburn and Wake Forest on the road last season, and despite a dreadful start in Chestnut Hill — Boston College led 14-0 after just eight minutes — they produced a win in their longest ACC road trip yet. Kendrick Raphael gave Cal its first lead with 13:47 left, but Turbo Richard’s 71-yard turbo boost made it 24-21 BC. After a fourth-down pass interference call bought Cal time, Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele hit Mason Mini down the left sideline for a 51-yard score.

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0:25

Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele throws 51-yard touchdown pass pass to Mason Mini

Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele throws 51-yard touchdown pass pass to Mason Mini

BC drove the length of the field, but Luke Ferrelli stepped in front of a Dylan Lonergan pass and the Golden Bears prevailed.

Oregon State can’t catch a break. After watching a late lead against Fresno State disappear earlier in the season, the winless Beavers played their best game of the season and led 24-10 with six minutes left. But Conner Weigman threw touchdown passes to Stephon Johnson and Tanner Koziol, and when a late Maalik Murphy-to-Trent Walker completion set up a shot at a game-winning field goal for OSU, basically the entire Cougar lineup broke into the backfield to block it.

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0:31

Houston blocks Oregon State’s winning FG attempt to force OT

Multiple Houston defenders break through to block Cameron Smith’s winning field goal attempt for Oregon State.

It was Houston’s second blocked field goal of the night, and it made the ending feel preordained. In overtime, Brandon Mack and Zelmar Vedder stuffed OSU’s Cornell Hatcher Jr. on fourth-and-1, then Ethan Sanchez nailed the 24-yarder to keep Houston unbeaten.

Indiana passed yet another test, taking on upset-minded Iowa in Iowa City and misfiring for much of the middle of the game. Trailing 13-10 with less than 10 minutes left, the Hoosiers got a 44-yard field goal from Nico Radicic and a 49-yard catch-and-go from Elijah Sarratt to take the lead. This being an Iowa game, a late safety was legally required, but Indiana held on.

Last week, San Diego trailed Princeton 35-14 in the second quarter before storming back to win, 42-35. The Toreros decided the only way to follow that up was to spot St. Thomas a 27-10 lead midway through the third quarter. After a 54-yard touchdown pass from Dom Nankil to Cole Monarch cut the Tommies’ lead to 27-24, two fourth-quarter field goals from Emiliano Salazar — including a 25-yarder with two seconds left — sealed another wild comeback.

15. Div. II: No. 8 California (Pa.) 45, No. 4 Slippery Rock 38

As with FBS, Division II’s biggest game of the week went down to the wire. In front of 7,670 in Slippery Rock, Cal scored five touchdowns in 13 minutes to take a shocking 35-14 lead, but the Rock slowly reeled the Vulcans in. Kevin Roberts’ early-fourth-quarter field goal gave Slippery Rock a 38-35 lead, but Cal quickly retied the game, then took the win with Kendrick Agenor’s 14-yard touchdown run with 60 seconds left.

It was almost overshadowed by the two other wild Saturday afternoon SEC games, but A&M almost let one slip through its grasp.

The Aggies erased the Auburn defense and outgained the Tigers, 414-177, but their last six scoring chances resulted in five field goal attempts (two missed) and an interception that Xavier Atkins returned 73 yards to set up a short score. Somehow Auburn got the ball with a chance to win at the end, but poor Jackson Arnold got crushed by Dayon Hayes on fourth down — A&M’s fifth sack of the day and the 15th time Arnold has been sacked in two weeks — and the Aggies survived.

San José State did almost everything right. The Spartans methodically built a 12-point fourth-quarter lead as their in-game win probability crept over 90%. But the Cardinal drove 80 yards in the final three minutes, thanks in part to a 34-yard Caden High reception on fourth-and-10, and Sedrick Irvin’s short touchdown gave them the lead with 19 seconds left. SJSU nearly drove into field goal range, but Leland Smith couldn’t hold onto a pass over the middle, and the Spartans came up short.

18. Div. III: Alma 29, No. 15 Hope 26

19. Div. III: Maryville 34, Pikeville 30

Big week for Scots! Both the Alma Scots and Maryville Scots came up with late heroics. In front of 3,206 in Holland, Michigan, Alma took down no-longer-unbeaten Hope by bolting to an early 14-0 lead and holding on for dear life. Hope tied the game with 22 seconds left in regulation but had to settle for a field goal in the first overtime. Facing fourth-and-goal from the 2 — after a controversial hook-and-ladder fumble that was ruled an incompletion — Alma went for the win and got it thanks to a touchdown pass from Carter St. John to Miles Haggart.

About 600 miles south in Maryville, Tennessee, Maryville looked as if it would cruise over NAIA’s Pikeville in front of 5,576. The Scots led 27-10 late in the first half, but a 20-0 run put the visitors on top. No worries! Maryville drove 86 yards in 44 seconds, and Bryson Rollins found Jalen McCullough with 35 seconds left to save the day.

For the second straight week, Rutgers enticed a rock-fight connoisseur into a track meet of sorts — Iowa last week, Minnesota this week — but couldn’t actually win it. A 4-yard Drake Lindsay-to-Javon Tracy touchdown gave the Gophers the lead with 3:19 left, but Rutgers worked the ball into field goal range until a devastating, 15-yard Rushawn Lawrence sack of Athan Kaliakmanis forced Dane Pizzaro to attempt a 56-yarder. He missed.

Hell yeah, Hokies. After starting 2025 so dismally that head coach Brent Pry was fired after just three games, Tech has won two straight. Terion Stewart enjoyed a breakout performance with 174 rushing yards, Kyron Drones threw two touchdown passes and Christian Ellis broke up a fourth-and-1 pass with 42 seconds left to clinch the win.

22. NAIA: No. 15 Dordt 21, No. 14 Northwestern (Iowa) 20

Dordt entered Week 5 as NAIA’s No. 1 team, per SP+, and the Defenders rallied to score a big road win over the 2022 national champs. After trailing 17-0 late in the second quarter, they took their first lead with just 13 seconds left, when Connor Dodd capped a 93-yard drive with a 4-yard TD catch.

This was easily UCLA’s best chance at avoiding a winless 2025 season, but as with their loss to UNLV, they spotted their hosts a big early lead and couldn’t quite catch up. They cut a 17-0 deficit to 17-14 with six minutes left, but two last-ditch drives went nowhere.

Pitt made this one as messy and chaotic as Pat Narduzzi could have hoped and bolted to a 17-0 first-quarter lead, but the Panthers couldn’t hold on. Louisville remained unbeaten by pitching a second-half shutout; the Cardinals took their first lead with 7:03 remaining, and their third interception of the day, with four seconds left, closed things out.

25. Div. II: No. 17 Central Washington 91, Western New Mexico 31

I had to end this list with one of the most confounding box scores I’ve ever seen.

Total yards: CWU 499, WNMU 468
First downs: WNMU 24, CWU 20
Red zone trips: CWU 6, WNMU 4
Touchdowns: CWU 13, WNMU 4

What??

CWU played an almost perfect first quarter, gaining 253 yards in 14 snaps and going up 35-0. The Wildcats then proceeded to score touchdowns on a kickoff return, another kickoff return two minutes later and a third-quarter pick-six. And because of turnovers and special teams, they had touchdown drives of 5, 40, 44 and 47 yards. And they managed to score nearly 100 points with less than 500 yards. College football is only ever allowed to make so much sense.

Who won the Heisman this week?

I am once again awarding the Heisman every single week of the season and doling out weekly points, F1-style (in this case, 10 points for first place, 9 for second, and so on). How will this Heisman race play out, and how different will the result be from the actual Heisman voting?

Here is this week’s Heisman top 10:

1. Diego Pavia, Vanderbilt (26-for-34 passing for 321 yards, 5 TDs and an INT, plus 83 non-sack rushing yards and a touchdown against Utah State).

2. Luke Altmyer, Illinois (20-for-26 passing for 328 yards and 2 touchdowns, plus 36 non-sack rushing yards and a touchdown against USC).

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3. CJ Carr, Notre Dame (22-for-30 passing for 354 yards and 4 touchdowns against Arkansas).

4. Dante Moore, Oregon (29-for-39 passing for 248 yards and 3 touchdowns, plus 35 non-sack rushing yards against Penn State).

5. Ty Simpson, Alabama (24-for-38 passing for 276 yards and a touchdown, plus a rushing touchdown against Georgia).

6. Prince Dorbah, Arizona State (4 tackles, 4 TFLs, 3 sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery against TCU).

7. Trinidad Chambliss, Ole Miss (23-for-39 passing for 314 yards, a TD and an INT, plus 71 non-sack rushing yards against LSU).

8. Brendan Sorsby, Cincinnati (29-for-43 passing for 388 yards and 2 touchdowns, plus 63 non-sack rushing yards against Kansas).

9. Jalon Daniels, Kansas (19-for-28 passing for 445 yards and 4 touchdowns, plus 58 non-sack rushing yards against Cincinnati).

10. Xavier Atkins, Auburn (10 tackles, 2 TFLs, a sack, a forced fumble and a 73-yard interception return against Texas A&M).

I wrote about awesome running backs last week, but Week 5 belonged to quarterbacks. CJ Carr enjoyed by far the best performance of his career, and the winners of the two huge night games, Bama’s Ty Simpson and Oregon’s Dante Moore, both shined. But I gave the top two spots to a couple of veteran overachievers. Luke Altmyer completed four passes of 25-plus yards, all in the second half, and produced a 97.5 Total QBR rating. Diego Pavia, meanwhile, remains Diego Pavia: absurdly efficient via run and pass. He produced 404 total yards and six touchdowns, and if he wasn’t already in the Heisman discussion, he should be now.

Honorable mention:

• Micah Alejado, Hawaii (35-for-47 passing for 457 yards and 3 touchdowns against Air Force).

• Raleek Brown, Arizona State (21 carries for 134 yards, plus 50 receiving yards against TCU).

• Greg Desrosiers Jr., Memphis (19 carries for 204 yards and 3 touchdowns against FAU).

• Caleb Hawkins, North Texas (16 carries for 140 yards and 2 touchdowns, plus 78 receiving yards and a touchdown against South Alabama).

• Emmanuel Henderson, Kansas (5 catches for 214 yards and 2 touchdowns against Cincinnati).

• Trent Hendrick, JMU (11 tackles, three sacks, a forced fumble and a pass breakup against Georgia Southern).

• Sawyer Robertson, Baylor (24-for-35 passing for 393 yards and 4 touchdowns, plus a rushing touchdown against Oklahoma State)

• Nate Sheppard, Duke (15 carries for 168 yards and 2 touchdowns, plus 33 receiving yards against Syracuse).

• Liam Szarka, Air Force (10-for-12 passing for 278 yards, 3 TDs and an INT, plus 152 non-sack rushing yards against Hawaii).

Through five weeks, here are your points leaders:

1. Ty Simpson, Alabama (21 points)

2T. Trinidad Chambliss, Ole Miss (15 points)

2T. Taylen Green, Arkansas (15 points)

4. Jayden Maiava, USC (12 points)

5T. Jonah Coleman, Washington (10 points)

5T. Fernando Mendoza, Indiana (10 points)

5T. Diego Pavia, Vanderbilt (10 points)

5T. Sawyer Robertson, Baylor (10 points)

9T. Luke Altmyer, Illinois (nine points)

9T. Rocco Becht, Iowa State (nine points)

9T. Gunner Stockton, Georgia (nine points)

9T. Vicari Swain, South Carolina (nine points)

9T. Demond Williams Jr., Washington (nine points)

We’re seeing the beginnings of a sync-up between the points race and the betting odds. Obviously, Taylen Green (tied for second in the points race) isn’t a serious Heisman candidate, but points leader Ty Simpson is up to No. 3 in the betting odds, and Mendoza, Pavia, Stockton and Chambliss are in the top 10 of both the points and the odds. Still, it’s incredible how little has been settled as we approach the midway point of the season.





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Newzoo: Since 2021, nearly half of single-player AAA games released within a three-month window
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Newzoo: Since 2021, nearly half of single-player AAA games released within a three-month window

by admin September 29, 2025


45% of single-player AAA games have been released between August and November since 2021, a recent report has found.

Newzoo, which published its Global Games Market Report earlier this month, analyzed the first three-month player counts of 155 single-player AAA games that were released between January 2021 and December 2024 across PlayStation, PC, and Xbox (for 37 markets).

In this case, the firm identified a AAA game as “any game priced above $60,” as well as remasters of AAA games.

A blog post analysing the findings, posted by senior market analyst Michael Wagner, highlighted there are “two significant release concentrations” for AAA single-player games: February and March, when 23% of the 155 games analysed were released, and a “narrow window” between mid-August and mid-November, when nearly half (45%) were released.

These five months combined saw the release of 68% of all the single-player AAA games Newzoo analysed.

The firm noted, however, that only 22 of the games analysed were released in Q2, but they “carr[y] as much or more engagement per title than we see in September to November.”

55% of the roughly 2.5 million average first three-month player count for February was made up of Hogwarts Legacy (February 2023) and Elden Ring (February 2022), while Baldur’s Gate 3 (August 2023) accounted for half of August’s nearly three million player average.

Newzoo’s data also suggests that July is the “weakest month in terms of new title engagement,” with the average player count under one million for all single-player games analysed combined.

Image credit: Newzoo

Wagner noted in the blog post that “publishers’ reliance on traditional release windows and fiscal year reporting cycles risks reducing profitability by driving up marketing costs and limiting visibility.”

The analyst stated that, for single-player games, the first few months are the “most important” for revenue, as players are “most willing to pay full price.”

“At the same time, shrinking discretionary budgets suggest players are increasingly selective, often committing to only one or two major releases simultaneously,” Wagner continued.

“This suggests that if your title is not the top priority of players at release, they may wait until the game is discounted (sometimes heavily) to purchase, if they do at all.”

According to Wagner, this is “especially pronounced” in the PC market, as players are “more cost-sensitive and willing to wait for deeper discounts.”

Newzoo’s Global Gamer Study found that only 24% of players get news from gaming publication websites, while 32% get their news from creators and influencers. As a result, Wagner said, players’ news sources have broken into “more fragmented clusters” that make mass awareness in their competitive periods more challenging.

The Newzoo analyst also highlighted that companies releasing games in these crowded release months may have increased marketing costs.

“Few AAA publishers would collapse if they shifted release dates”

Michael Wagner, Newzoo

“Due to the flood of new titles, publishers may face higher influencer marketing costs as they compete for limited creator availability,” he explained.

“Releasing into the traditional September to November window may not only reduce visibility, but it could make marketing efforts more expensive or less efficient,” Wagner continued.

Looking to the future, Wagner said 2025 “may look different than past years” because of the original late 2025 release window for GTA 6 resulting in some publishers “hesitating” to announce release dates for their games.

“As the title was delayed to May 2026, publishers may feel emboldened, or forced, to release their game in the H2 window for 2025,” Wagner explained.

“However, this may be counterproductive as the risk around this compressed release window could become cannibalistic, particularly for mid-tier titles.

“Furthermore, this does not consider multiplayer title releases, which is sure to add pain to many when the highly anticipated Battlefield 6 launches in October 2025.”

Wagner said that “most” game release dates are “self-imposed” and that “clustering” AAA single-player releases, especially between August and November, “strongly correlates with weaker performance.”

“Few AAA publishers would collapse if they shifted release dates, yet many still tie launches to holiday and fiscal deadlines,” Wagner said.

“The industry has matured beyond being centered on Christmas gifts for children, so the smarter move is to launch when your title has the best chance, not when a calendar dictates.”



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Over half of Japanese game companies are using AI in development, states report from Tokyo Games Show organiser
Game Updates

Over half of Japanese game companies are using AI in development, states report from Tokyo Games Show organiser

by admin September 29, 2025


Over half of Japanese game companies are using AI in development, according to the country’s Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association (CESA) that runs the Tokyo Games Show.

The claim is based on responses from 54 Japanese game companies in a preview of the 2025 CESA Video Game Industry Report (as reported by The Nikkei). The survey sample is taken from CESA’s member companies, which include the likes of Capcom, Konami, FromSoftware, Square Enix and Sega, as well as smaller indie studios.

The report preview stated 51 percent of companies are using AI, with the most common use being generating visual assets and character images, as well as story and text generation, followed by programming support. Further, 32 percent of companies are using AI to develop their own game engines.

The report will be released in full in early December, so specifically cited uses of AI remain under wraps.

However, some Japanese companies have been open about their use of AI.

Back in 2024, Square Enix CEO Takashi Kiryu stated the company would be “aggressive in applying AI”, with developers admitting they “dabbled” with AI for the ill-fated shooter Foamstars.

Meanwhile Automaton reported in 2023 on Professor Layton studio Level-5 using AI tool Stable Diffusion, while earlier this year Capcom was experimenting with generative AI too. Sega also has an in-house AI team.

Nintendo, notably absent from the CESA member list, has taken a stance against AI. Last year, Shigeru Miyamoto stated the company would “rather go in a different direction” as part of its pursuit of originality.

Ahead of the Tokyo Game Show, AI was a common theme at Gamescom, seen by some indie studios as an invaluable tool.



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A cave with a skull and a waterfall where the Forgive Me quest begins
Product Reviews

There’s a sidequest in Borderlands 4 based on a meme making fun of Soulsborne games and it’s great

by admin September 29, 2025



Borderlands 4 is in a tough place when it comes to tone. The over-reliance on literal toilet humor in Borderlands 3 was so universally disliked that a follow-up was always going to pare it back a bit. Which Borderlands 3 does, though sometimes too much. The villains in particular end up feeling like personality-free zones, some of them not even having enough going on to fill the empty space on their introductory title cards. They’re just names and hit points.

The sidequests squeeze in some of the personality the main questline leaves out, and even (whisper it) reference the occasional meme. My favorite so far is Forgive Me, a quest based on a viral joke about the storytelling in Soulsborne games—a joke tweeted by Borderlands 4 head writer Sam Winkler back in 2022.

(Image credit: Sam Winkler)

Because the internet is the way it is, Winkler ended up having to explain in the replies that he actually likes FromSoftware games, saying, “I am begging anyone who thinks I’m dunking on fromsoft to learn how to make fun of the things you love”. And if you needed further evidence, the Forgive Me quest in Borderlands 4 is an extended gag about Soulsborne storytelling that clearly comes from a place of deep knowledge and appreciation.


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Forgive Me isn’t marked on your map. It begins in a cave in the Cuspid Climb area of the Terminus Ranges, with a waterfall pouring out of a giant skull at the entrance. Near a sword embedded in a fire a badass psycho attacks you, dropping a Desecrated Bolt as he dies. When you pick it up you hear the words “Zanzibart… forgive me” and begin an unmarked quest that instructs you to “Find Zanzibart’s resting place”, though it doesn’t add a marker for it.

You’ll need to find another cave in the Terminus Ranges, this one in Stoneblood Forest to the north and accessible by grappling point. There you’ll face the Cursed Myrmidon of the Cruel Dawn in combat and be left wondering if you can possibly have a crumb of context.

(Image credit: Gearbox)

At which point Vycarias, the Lore-Singer, a character who is a cross between a fantasy sage and a YouTuber who reads out flavor text will emerge from out of nowhere to monologue at you for nine minutes straight about the Shatterglass Plain, the Nevergreen, the Red Requiem, and a bunch of other proper nouns you’ve never heard before. It’s like reading a dense wiki entry for a game you haven’t played, and I applaud the voice actor who plays Vycarias for nailing the tone. It’s the kind of commitment to the bit that I enjoy about Borderlands, and I hope I keep finding it in Borderlands 4’s sidequests and inevitable DLC.

Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.



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Wolf Haus Games Reveals Co-Op Dark-Comedy Survival Game JOIN US at PC Gaming Show Tokyo Direct
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Wolf Haus Games Reveals Co-Op Dark-Comedy Survival Game JOIN US at PC Gaming Show Tokyo Direct

by admin September 28, 2025



MONTREAL  — September 28, 2025 — Today, during the PC Gaming Show Tokyo Direct, independent Montreal, Quebec-based studio Wolf Haus Games revealed JOIN US, a darkly satirical, story-rich survival game that lets players build and command their own doomsday cult to prepare for the coming apocalypse. Not your average survival game, JOIN US combines a strong game loop and novel mechanics to create an ambitious and culturally relevant single or multiplayer experience. Design your cult’s belief system and recruit new followers into a fresh, fully authored narrative that adapts to player choices.Wolf Haus Games’ debut project, JOIN US, embodies the team’s passion for grindhouse cinema, refreshing sense of humor, and over 150 years of combined experience working on feature films, major music videos, and more than 100 AAA video games. You’ll get your chance to “JOIN US”  when the game launches next year on PC.

In JOIN US, players take the role of a devout member of a doomsday cult, sent to establish a new chapter of their cult in rural Bedford County, USA. While you must heed the wise words of The Leader, this “franchise” is yours to command and shape as you please; think of it like you’re franchising a Burger King, or a KFC. You are free to explore the open world as you recruit followers, design your own robust belief system, and scale up a compound to accommodate your growing ‘family.’ Not everyone will take kindly to outsiders, so you might be forced to protect your compound… by any means necessary (including but not limited to flamethrowers and battle-pigs). 

With an Apocalypse just around the corner, you’ll want your compound to be well-stocked with the essentials: food, supplies, and ammunition. But your most important resource is your followers. After all, a cult leader with no followers is just a lonely weirdo. Get the word out with propaganda, and you can recruit poor, lost souls to a better life. As your forces grow, so will your territory; take the fight against non-believers to their doorstep to extend your cult’s territory.

Experience the immersive narrative campaign in single player or up to four-player co-op as you conquer the game’s dynamic open-world environment. Whether you roll solo or recruit your friends, cult life is your calling, and the end of the world is nigh (which, if you’re a doomsday cult, is a good thing, right?).


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Nintendo's own Zurich Pop Con display reveals five Lego games are getting Switch 2 ports
Game Updates

Nintendo’s own Zurich Pop Con display reveals five Lego games are getting Switch 2 ports

by admin September 28, 2025


A number of Tt Lego games could be on the way for Nintendo Switch 2, including Lego games based on notable franchises like Star Wars and Harry Potter.

Whilst not confirmed by either Nintendo or Lego directly, an eagle-eyed fan spotted a number of classic Lego games advertised under the Switch 2 banner at Zurich Pop Con over the weekend. Of the five games included on the banner, not a single one has been formally announced for Switch 2, although all are available on the OG Switch.

Nintendo Switch 2 – Is It Good?Watch on YouTube

However, all five games included on the banner – LEGO City Undercover, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, LEGO Jurassic World, LEGO Harry Potter Collection, and LEGO DC Super-Villains – are clearly badged beneath a Switch 2 logo.


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With several other images purportedly taken at the same event, it would appear to suggest the image is authentic, leading many fans to hope a formal announcement is coming soon. Until then, of course, all we can do is chalk this up to a convincing rumour and wait for the official reveal.

If you’re looking for the best deals for Switch 2 memory cards, cases, chargers, and other peripherals like headsets, webcams and controllers, we’ve got you covered. Earlier this week, we learned Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser is set to retire at the end of the year, and will be succeeded by the company’s first female president, Devon Pritchard.



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NFT Gaming

The Biggest Games Releasing in October 2025

by admin September 28, 2025



When it comes to game releases, the fall months have typically been a brutal gauntlet of big releases. 

Despite the significant changes in the game industry, this remains true. This month features ninjas, science fiction, an 8-bit mouse, and more. There will be something for just about any gamer.

One of this month’s releases, Ninja Gaiden 4, is the fifth major ninja-centric game this year, and the third Ninja Gaiden game specifically. 

So far, we’ve seen Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, Ninja Gaiden Ragebound, and Shinobi: Art of Vengeance. Throw Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown in there if you like, too. Incredibly, they’ve all been pretty fun, solid games.

And if you’re looking for more fresh picks, check out our list of September’s biggest game releases. But for a look at what’s ahead, keep reading for October’s top drops.

Ghost of Yōtei

Release Date: October 2, 2025
Platforms: PlayStation 5

Ghost of Tsushima was one of the stand-out releases on PlayStation 4, another remarkable Sony game release that showed why they’re so dominant in the console space. 

Ghost of Yōtei is the follow-up to Tsushima, but don’t call it a sequel. This game is set 329 years after Tsushima, well after the Mongol empire, after the death of Tsushima protagonist Jin Sakai, and even after the death of Oda Nobunaga in 1582. 

In this game, you’ll be exploring the area around Mount Yōtei as Atsu, who seeks revenge against the samurai Lord Saito and his generals, who killed her family and left her for dead.



Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2

Release Date: October 2, 2025

Platforms: Nintendo Switch (Enhanced for Switch 2)

Nintendo makes killer games, but struggles with game preservation, mainly due to their frequent changes in hardware form factors and storage formats. 

A case in point is the Super Mario Galaxy games, which were released on the Nintendo Wii in 2007 and 2010. 

Nintendo is giving the game a proper re-release on Nintendo Switch, with enhancements for Nintendo Switch 2. The game will allow you to choose between classic motion controls and a new control scheme that will play like a normal handheld. 

There’s also an assist mode for gamers looking for an easier gameplay experience. If you’re playing on Nintendo Switch 2, you’ll be able to play this great-looking game at 4K. 

While Nintendo isn’t asking for an upgrade fee for Switch 2 players, watch out–this release is $70 for an 18- and 15-year-old set of games, and they’re $40 each individually.

Battlefield 6

Release Date: October 10, 2025
Platforms: PC (Steam, EA App, Epic), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S

Gamers are hyped about a Battlefield game again. 

Can EA meet their expectations? We’ll find out in just a couple of weeks. Aside from the success of Battlefield 1, many of the series’ launches have been plagued by issues. 

This entry features a variety of new mechanics. Perhaps the most substantial of these is the latest ‘Kinesthetic Combat,’ which allows players to lean around cover, hitch a ride on vehicles, and drag comrades to safety to revive them. 

Destructibility is still a feature, but you won’t be leveling skyscrapers. Instead, the destruction is more controlled to allow for things like eliminating cover, without also making the map frustrating to play on. 

To give you an idea of how focused on performance DICE is this time around, Battlefield won’t get ray tracing at launch and perhaps ever. 

Ray tracing can make games look great, but it won’t significantly improve performance for those seeking sharp visuals in a precision shooter like Battlefield.

Ninja Gaiden 4

Release Date: October 21, 2025
Platforms: PC (Steam & Xbox store), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S

Ninja Gaiden 4 is a new mainline entry in the Ninja Gaiden series that began in 2004. 

Series protagonist Ryu Hayabusa will play a significant role in the game, but you’ll be playing as a new character called Yakumo, who will act as the game’s lead. 

This game is being developed by Team Ninja, as with their other games, but Platinum Games (known for Bayonetta and Vanquish) is contributing to enhance the game’s action sensibilities.

Dispatch

Release Date: October 22, 2025
Platforms: PC (Steam), PlayStation 5

Former Telltale developers formed a new studio, AdHoc Studio, and are back to work on another narrative-focused game. 

Dispatch is a “superhero workplace comedy,” featuring dialogue trees that are typical of the genre. But as a superhero dispatcher, you’ll also be managing a map of crimes and events, deciding which heroes are the best fit for which events. 

There’s also a hacking mini-game and some quicktime-style events. The cast is led by Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad, Bojack Horseman), Jeffrey Wright (The French Dispatch, The Batman), and Critical Role vets Matthew Mercer, Laura Bailey, and Travis Willingham.

The Outer Worlds 2

Release Date: October 29, 2025
Platforms: PC (Steam, Xbox store), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S; Day-one on Xbox Game Pass

Hey Obsidian, can you chill for just a second? Microsoft has acquired dozens of studios (and closed too many), and Obsidian stands out as one of the very best. 

While Bethesda is taking a decade in between game releases, Obsidian is on its third this year. The Outer Worlds 2 follows Avowed in February and Grounded 2’s early access release in July. 

This game features more reactive dialogue and decisions compared to the original, as well as new traversal options and expanded character customization. 

There are six companions to pick up throughout the story, and three factions to navigate. The Outer Worlds was an interesting but limited game, and we’re hoping Obsidian can nail it this time around. 

At least this sequel isn’t releasing at the same time as The Outer Wilds again.

Mina the Hollower

Release Date: October 31, 2025
Platforms: PC (Steam), Nintendo Switch & Switch 2, PlayStation 4 & 5, Xbox One & Series X/S

Shovel Knight was released in 2014 and became a massive hit for the then-new developer Yacht Club Games. 

After years of supporting that game, they finally have a new title: Mina the Hollower. You’ll play as the titular Mina, a mouse and inventor who can burrow—or hollow–underground as she explores and fights enemies. 

If this game is up to the standard set by Shovel Knight, this one should be another instant classic.

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What we've been playing - potential games of the year, and good, and only good, games
Game Reviews

What we’ve been playing – potential games of the year, and good, and only good, games

by admin September 27, 2025


27th September

Hello and welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little bit about some of the games we’ve been playing. This week, Tom reminds everyone that three stars is a good review score; Jim thinks he’s found the next Balatro; Connor returns to work and to Hades 2; Bertie struggles to climb a train; and Marie outs herself as a Lego Jurassic World lover.

What have you been playing?

Catch up with the older editions of this column in our What We’ve Been Playing archive.

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, PS5 Pro


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My review of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is live, but I thought I’d sneak in a little inside baseball knowledge about reviews here, just for those of you who are keen enough to actually read this and not head straight to the comments to paste-in what you wrote on Friday morning while you were meant to be working.

We’ve seen you ask for more reviews on Eurogamer and this week we delivered a lot. But this won’t happen every week. Reviews take a lot of time and resources. Even if I decided every member of Eurogamer staff should dedicate their time to reviews and only reviews, we still wouldn’t be able to publish all the reviews we’d like to and that you want to see on the site. We’d also then have a site that was only reviews, which might be nice for a week, until we go out of business.

Finally, a note on review scores. I’ve written this before I’ve seen the aftermath of my three-star score for CrossWorlds, but I expect it was a mixture of “I knew it was going to be rubbish” and “why does Eurogamer hate games?” The reality is I very much enjoyed Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds. It’s a good game. But four stars on Eurogamer is a strong statement that means something is better than “good”. I don’t hate video games. I’ve made my love of video games into a career. Sometimes things are just good, and that’s OK.

-Tom O

Kill the Brickman, Steam Deck

Watch on YouTube

Kill the Brickman is an eccentric cross between Balatro and Arkanoid, which, like all the best video games, is about shooting bullets into dudes. Some of these bullets explode, or clone themselves, or inflict poison damage, and the dudes in question, all of whom deserve to die for reasons, are bricks. It is my most gripping obsession of the year.

It runs beautifully on portables and it’s a solid bedtime or bus game, with big, chunky 16-bit graphics that read easily on small screens. You aim and shoot rather like you would in the old Amiga classic Arcade Pool, with a little line tracing your bullet’s trajectory. This looks and feels so much like an old Amiga game you could probably get it running on one and convince people it came out in 1994. And that’s not a diss.

It’s one of those simple ideas that’s breathtakingly executed and gorgeously presented, like the aforementioned Balatro, or like Vampire Survivors – games that genuinely cause flipped tables during a Game of the Year discussions at popular websites near Christmas time. That studios can spend 500 times this game’s budget and produce something which doesn’t feel half as good to play is frankly unconscionable.

-Jim

Hades 2, PC

I am back from a two-week stint off work due to my ear falling off like Jeff Goldblum in The Fly, and having only recently been able to put headphones on, without my jaw also falling off, the 1.0 release of Hades 2 has been a sweet succor to both my physical and mental woes.

There are like a thousand opinionated paragraphs on why a game everyone played months ago is great, and most of them are likely correct so I won’t bore you with how widely getting a Zeus lightning attack-build to work makes me smile. But I will write with great adoration about how much I loved deleting an early access save file with over 40 hours on it.

It’s shedding you’ve got to do, really. I don’t remember half of what happened in Hades 2, and plenty has surely changed in the time since I first hit its farthest reaches. The result is a weird, but not unpleasant, experience, where you’re possessed with the spirit of yourself from weekends past. It’s nice to feel lurch in surprise at how you’re able to get so far so quick; it’s nice to feel talented at something.

-Connor

Baby Steps, PC

Watch on YouTube

That fucking train, man. Can I swear here? I’ll probably get told off. But this little outburst is so indicative of how Baby Steps makes me feel that I want to keep it in. I’m not the most cool-headed person. I get agitated. I literally twist myself around my chair and grip it like a constrictor snake when agitation flares inside me – it’s a wonder it’s still in one piece. And agitation flares a lot playing Baby Steps.

Case in point: a train moment, which I don’t want to detail too greatly for fear of spoiling it, but you’ll know it when you get there. (It has to be a nod to another video game, surely.) I fell so much during it. I spent hours there. Falling, climbing back up, falling again. And as much as I want to tell you that I coolly and methodically worked through it, I absolutely didn’t. I expleted. I bitterly persevered. It’s a great game.

-Bertie

Lego Jurassic World, Switch 2

Strange fact: I can’t play Lego games on TV because they make me motion sick, but if they’re on the Switch screen I’m fine. I’m not sure why. But that’s my not-so-smooth transition into talking about Lego Jurassic World!

As a long-time lover of the movies, or at least some of them, and the books, and Lego itself, this was always going to be a no-brainer for me. As such, I’ve completed the entire game twice, though never reached 100 percent completion. But it doesn’t bother me. Just racing through the familiar stories with familiar characters, all told with trademark Lego humour, is more than enough to make a cold night warm.

-Marie



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A composite image shows the protagonist of Baby Steps, Silent Hill f, and Sonic arranged in a line.
Game Reviews

5 Games To Play This Weekend

by admin September 27, 2025


It’s officially autumn this week! Though, at least on the east coast, the weather hasn’t gotten the memo and is still hanging out at around ‘80 degrees. So now I’m stuck inside freezing air-conditioned interiors. Yes, I can tweak the temperature, but then the AC still messes with my breathing. Ugh.  I can’t win.

What I can win at, though, is a video game. And if you’re in search of one, I and my comrades here at Kotaku have some solid recommendations for you to check out. Let’s get into it.

Silent Hill f

© Screenshot:: NeoBards Entertainment / Claire Jackson / Kotaku

Play it on: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Windows PCs (Steam Deck: “Unknown”)
Current goal: Unlock a new ending.

Few genres in gaming excite me more than horror. Yes, I’m a masochist and the struggle of a solid survival horror game is wonderfully cathartic. The frights, the opportunities for rich thematic exploration, the evocative sound design and haunting soundtracks, I’m here for all of it. And thankfully, Silent Hill f delivered everything I love about this genre and then some. It’s arguably my favorite game of the year thus far (watch out Avowed, MGS Delta, and Clair Obscur) and, this weekend, I’ll be returning to Hinako’s Japanese mountainside village to unravel more of her dark, potentially cautionary, tale.

Silent Hill f has multiple endings, so I’ve got a pretty clear goal this weekend: I want to unlock at least one more. The first ending, which seems to be universally the same for any first playthrough, introduced so many new questions, along with a stunning revelation of what might be really going on with all these damn monsters and lengthy hallucinatory episodes. An unfortunate bout of the flu (or whatever it was) has kept me out of reach of exploring more of these dark depths this week, but I’m finally well enough to suffer once more. – Claire Jackson

Sonic Racing: Crossworlds

Play it on: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, Switch 2, Windows PCs (Steam Deck: “Verified”)
Current goal: Roll around at the speed of sound

Finally, I can tell y’all you should play Sonic Racing: Crossworlds this weekend. The blue blur’s latest kart racer is full of depth, style, and some of the best interactions ever between its huge cast of characters. It’s so good I can almost forgive it for falling into the annoying crossover slop trend that simply will not die because people love to see things they like in other things they like. I’ll race around as Shadow the Hedgehog on my sick hoverboard, even if it means I have to look at that damn talking sponge in the other lane. I love that guy, but there was a reason he never got his license. We should not be allowing him to drive around just because he’s in a different universe. It’s not safe. — Kenneth Shepard

Hades 2

Play it on: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, Windows PCs (Steam Deck: “Verified”)
Current goal: Make it to Chronos

It’s nice to have Hades back again, but more and different. Would it have been cool to see Supergiant Games make something else instead over the last five years? Maybe. Will they make so much money from both Hades 1 and Hades 2 that they can make something even more wild next time? Probably. But in some ways they’ve been making the same game since 2011’s Bastion. Some are more linear than others. Some lean more into story and characters while others lean more into mechanics and systems. But there is always some form of isometric action, beautiful art direction, and moody narrative.

The roguelike loop isn’t for everyone. I get that. It’s not always for me either. But as life gets busy and more of my gaming gets confined to little screens held in my hands in-between everything else demanding my time and attention, I appreciate the little 15-minute bullet hell snacks awaiting me in Hades 2. It’s like having a portable arcade cabinet oozing with in-game designs that somehow look just as good as the panel art and cool nuggets of Greek mythology littered about for me to digest on my own time. All of the cozy-sim additions weaving their way into my hack-and-slash rage-out sessions? TBD on how I feel about them. But it’s nice to be home again. – Ethan Gach

Baby Steps

Play it on: PS5, Windows PCs (Steam Deck: “Verified”)
Current goal: Stay chill

The latest existential puzzle game from the maker of hit frustration-sim Getting Over It is called Baby Steps and it’s as clever, gallling, and bizarre as you’d expect. Developed by Bennett Foddy, Gabe Cuzzillo, Maxi Boch, and others, it puts you in the role of a man transported into a AAA open-world video game where even the simplest navigational tasks feel unwieldy and insurmountably tedious. I’ve only had a couple of hours with it but the awkward bipedal movement mechanics, free-form exploration, and comedic beats have all worked together to keep tugging me along. Is it a pointless game for smart people? Quite possibly, which is why I’m intent on not giving up, even when it wants me to. Just beware the dong. – Ethan Gach

Town to City

Play it on: Windows PCs (Early Access)
Current goal: Finish all my houses

Town to City is a cozy builder that revels in the details but doesn’t overwhelm you with them. You design houses that attract people who make stuff which lets you build more stuff and attract more people and so on and so forth. In keeping with similar building sims, the objective is to have fun making stuff rather than stress out over managing a spreadsheet of tradeoffs until you’ve “solved” the game’s underlying resource problem. The voxel art style looks lovely and streamlines building, plus the tools strike a nice balance, offering plenty of options without shoving too much in your face too early. The music is nice and the vibes are chill. It’s by Galaxy Grove which also made Station to Station, a superbly relaxing train sim from a few years back. Town to City is that but for people who spend too much time marveling at the inviting walkability of old Mediterranean town squares. – Ethan Gach

And that wraps our picks for the weekend! What are you playing?



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The cast of Cyber Sleuth
Game Reviews

Best Digimon Games To Play Before Or After Time Stranger

by admin September 26, 2025


Digimon Story: Time Stranger is out next week. It’s the latest in the turn-based RPG series, but these digital monsters have shown up in a lot more games than just RPGs. Across its nearly 30 years, Digimon has been pretty experimental in the video game space. Not every swing has landed, but it has kept things interesting. A few of these games never made their way out of Japan, but the best ones came stateside, though they’re harder to come by because companies do not care about preservation. If you’ve never played a Digimon game before, here are some of the best ones to go back to.

Digimon World / Digimon World: Next Order

Despite my dislike of the virtual pet mechanics of Digimon World, I know if I don’t include the original PlayStation game on this list, someone will get mad at me. As frustrating as it can be, Digimon World’s vibes are still unmatched by most of the franchise. There’s a true sense of loneliness as your character is isekai’d into the Digital World, aimlessly wandering through this unknowable realm and discovering new friends and enemies as you explore. It also still has that PS1-era grit that has kind of washed away from more modern Digimon games, which is especially effective when you’re young and these worlds still feel vast and scary. If you can train your Digimon into something powerful enough to fight through its various challenges, Digimon World has an expansive, fascinating world to watch grow over the course of the game. It’s the training part that can become tedious. But those with the patience to fight through it found a lot to love. Next Order is a modern spin on this same loop, and if you can handle it with one monster, that game lets you manage two at a time. Godspeed, friend.

Digimon Racing

Wait, no. Come back. I swear, the Game Boy Advance kart racer rules, actually. If you ever played Mario Kart or Sonic Racing, you know the gist of what Digimon Racing has to offer. The Digimon spin is that the monster you put behind the wheel will gradually digivolve over the course of a race as you drift over a digitized track, gaining speed and power as you leave your opponents in the dust. Digimon Racing was also one of the only games that supported the GBA’s wireless adapter, as Nintendo was trying to cut the link cable in the lead-up to the Nintendo DS. I have some pretty fond memories of racing against my brother across our living room. It felt like magic at the time. 

Digimon Rumble Arena 1+2

Everyone has tried a Super Smash Bros. knock-off at some point, right? Digimon Rumble Arena and its sequel may not have become competitive darlings that had people dragging CRT TVs to conventions decades later, but they’re silly, fun party games starring your favorite Digital Monsters. The first game was on the original PlayStation and only supported two players, which could make some fights a bit of a drag as they devolved into games of tag with the two fighters chasing each other around the large arenas. Rumble Arena 2 came out two years later and leaned harder into the Super Smash Bros. comparison, supporting four players and making fights much more active, frantic, and fun. 

Digimon World 2

The original Digimon World game implemented the series’ digital pet mechanics in a way that some people get really into. Personally I can’t stand it, and was annoyed when it came back in Digimon World: Next Order. Do you know how annoying it is to try to train your partner Digimon for an hour, only for them to end up turning into one of the poop monsters? However, the World series has changed a fair bit over the years, too. Digimon World 2 left the first game’s real-time digital pet era behind, and is instead a dungeon crawler with turn-based battles. The battle system isn’t too deep, but its elaborate, experimental Digivolution mechanics set the tone for future iterations.

Digimon Survive

Digimon Survive isn’t a great tactical RPG, but it is a damn good visual novel. The combat is mind-numbingly simple and lacks the depth of much older classics like Final Fantasy Tactics. That said, its choice-driven horror story visual novel side is actually a pretty gripping tale that really brings a fresh take to the universe. Survive’s tedious fights are worth slogging through to get to the rich, often harrowing story it has to tell. 

Digimon World 3

If Digimon World 2 brought the subseries into turn-based battles, World 3 solidified it with a solid, more streamlined system in one of the coolest versions of the Digital World. The RPG’s roster of Digimon is much more limited, but its challenge comes from working within its set party compositions and finding a party that works for you in all its limitations. Outside of battles, its gorgeous PS1-era sprite work still holds up. Meanwhile, its dark story of a group of people trapped within a virtual reality MMO is a bit rote by today’s standards, but was pretty unnerving back in the day. Plus, it was the first time Guilmon, the best Digimon, got to have a starring role in one of the RPGs. More than most Digimon games, I constantly wish I could go back to World 3, but it’s been trapped on the original PlayStation for over 20 years.

Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth

I just finished a replay of Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth earlier this year, and that shit holds up. The turn-based detective RPG is one of the series’ best stories, and it perfectly marries the franchise’s mysteries, mythology, and themes of the power of friendship. It is the closest to a Persona game the series has ever gotten, and though its turn-based battles are pretty simple, the game, with its elaborate evolution mechanics that enable you, through careful planning and metagaming, to turn just about any Digimon into almost any of the other 200+ on the roster, is dripping with depth. The Hacker’s Memory follow-up, which you can find packaged with the original game on PC and Switch, adds another 50 hours of parallel story that’s also worth your time. If you haven’t played the game before and are curious about Time Stranger, you won’t find a better onboarding on modern platforms than Cyber Sleuth.



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