Gears of War Returns; Korean MMORPG World of Dokkaebi

The weekly game rankings saw significant movement across the top 10, with 'Onimusha: Way of the Sword' maintaining its lead while 'The War of Genesis Side Story: The Rhapsody of Zephyr Remaster' held second place. However, the arrival of 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4' at third position and a five-spot jump by 'Hearthstone – Dominion of the Black Empire' to fourth place triggered substantial reshuffling in the upper ranks. 'EA Sports FC 27' climbed to fifth, while 'Dynasty Warriors 2: Complete Edition Remaster' dropped three positions to sixth after holding third place the previous week.

New entries continued to reshape the rankings throughout the rest of the top 10. 'Final Fantasy Resonance' debuted at seventh, 'Ace Combat 8: Wings of Thebes' entered at eighth, and 'Princess Maker: Children of Prophecy' fell two spots to ninth. 'Trails in the Sky The 2nd' experienced the week's steepest decline among established titles, dropping five positions to tenth place. Despite the volatility lower down, the top two positions remained stable, indicating sustained player interest in the leading franchises.

❮
❯

Recent esports achievements highlighted Korea's competitive gaming strength at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. The nation's League of Legends team captured back-to-back gold medals by defeating Chinese Taipei 3-0 in the finals, building on a previous victory at the Hangzhou Asian Games. Korea's fighting games contingent also earned gold with a 5-2 victory over Japan, while individual competitors secured additional medals: Dong-shin Kang took silver in Puyo Puyo Champions, and Young-chan Kim claimed bronze in Gran Turismo 7. The national Pokémon UNITE team rounded out the medal haul with bronze, giving Korea five total medals across the esports competition.

Major game publishers unveiled significant projects this week. Kakao Games released development footage for 'ArcheAge S: Strait of Freedom', showcasing a structure linking gear-based skill combinations with life content including gathering, production, and trading, alongside large-scale inter-server player-versus-player combat. The studio targets a global launch in the second quarter of 2027. Nexon similarly revealed key systems for its upcoming title 'Overgeared', emphasizing gear-centric progression where players acquire equipment from elite monsters and exchange unused items through a Royal Armory system, with Signature Equipment allowing gear makers to imprint their names on items.

KRAFTON announced the cancellation of 'PUBG: Black Budget', an extraction shooter that supported up to 45 players in a player-versus-player-versus-environment format. After two closed alpha tests, the company determined that the project's current development status and future direction warranted termination. In contrast, NCSoft's 'Aion 2' achieved strong early momentum, reaching 171,530 concurrent players on Steam during its global Early Access launch on September 30 and claiming the top position on Steam's global Top Sellers chart. The official global launch is scheduled for October 5.

The upcoming G-STAR 2026 gaming convention will run from November 19 to 22 at BEXCO in Busan, featuring major publishers including KRAFTON, HoYoverse, and Webzen. Exhibition Hall 2 will host a Global Game Showcase with participants such as Koei Tecmo, SEGA, NetEase Games, and CD PROJEKT RED. The event will include indie game exhibitions, the G-CON conference, and the Overwatch esports tournament OWCS ASIA Stage 3 Grand Finals 2026. Additionally, Sony announced plans to expand its AI upscaling technology to the standard PlayStation 5 through a simplified neural network called QSSR, which optimizes image clarity and stability. The technology will first appear in 'Marvel's Wolverine' and 'Ghost of Yōtei', with broader developer access planned for the future.

This week's major releases begin on October 6 with 'Star Wars: Galactic Racer' and 'Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed', the latter being a modernized reimagining of the classic action-adventure title. On October 7, 'Gears of War: E-Day' launches, taking players back to Emergence Day when the Locust invasion first began, following Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago through the conflict's origins. October 8 brings 'Hell is Us', a third-person action-adventure blending science fiction and supernatural elements, where players navigate exploration without quest markers or explicit guidance. Domestically in Korea, Kakao Games releases the mobile MMORPG 'World of Dokkaebi' on October 9, developed by Supercat and based on the web novel 'Myeol-Gwi Su-Do-Jeon'. The game combines Korean folklore with Oriental fantasy using 2.5D graphics featuring 2D pixel characters against 3D backgrounds. Also on October 9, Capcom's 'Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen' launches as an expanded version of the original open-world action RPG, adding the new exploration area Bitterblack Isle with additional monsters, dungeons, and equipment.

Metacritic scores for recent releases generally fell within the 70s and 80s range. 'Star Wars: Galactic Racer' earned the highest score at 88 from 58 reviews on PlayStation 5, praised for its sense of speed, precise controls, and roguelite-style campaign where players upgrade vehicle performance across repeated races. The game's planetary environments, craft designs, and audio design drew particular acclaim, though some reviewers noted monotony from repeated play and difficulty identifying obstacles at high speeds. 'Gears of War: E-Day' received an 87 based on the Xbox version, with critics highlighting its revival of the series' dark atmosphere, heavy cover-based gunplay, improved traversal systems, and Unreal Engine 5 graphics. However, some open areas disrupted pacing, and boss encounters felt repetitive. 'Transport Fever 3' scored 84 on PC for its logistics systems and management features, despite interface clunkiness and pathfinding issues. 'Dynasty Warriors 2: Complete Edition Remaster' achieved 79 from 8 Nintendo Switch 2 reviews, praised for Unreal Engine 5 enhancements but criticized for repetitive combat. 'End of Abyss' registered 76 on PS5 for its dark atmosphere and Metroidvania-style exploration, though complicated maps and traversal mechanics disappointed reviewers. 'Minecraft Dungeons 2' scored 75 from 31 Xbox reviews, with intuitive combat and expanded gear systems offset by a short campaign and repetitive end-game content.