Military shooter vs. role-playing game: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 and Final Fantasy Resonance lead a jam-packed October week on Steam.
Steam is pulling out all the stops this October: This week, two of the biggest franchises in gaming history—Call of Duty and Final Fantasy—are going head-to-head at the same time.
But even aside from these two heavyweights, the release calendar is packed: from a new co-op puzzle adventure to a cat-themed RPG based on a well-known book series, all the way to peaceful cabin-building in the woods.
As we do every Monday, we’ve rounded up all the major new releases for you.
- The highlight of the week: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4
- More exciting Steam releases this week
- Monday, October 19, 2026
- Tuesday, October 20, 2026
- Wednesday, October 21, 2026
- Thursday, October 22, 2026
- Friday, October 23, 2026
Table of Contents
This Week’s Highlight: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4
Genre: Shooter- Developer: Infinity Ward – Release: October 23, 2026 (Steam)
Following the heavily criticized third installment of the reboot series, Infinity Ward is back at the helm for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, supported by nearly all Activision studios, including Raven Software, Treyarch, and Beenox. In terms of story, the 23rd installment in the series shifts the conflict primarily to the Korean Peninsula, where a large-scale invasion by North Korea brings the world to the brink of disaster.
In the campaign, you’ll experience the war from two perspectives: On one hand, you’ll fight as Private Park, a young South Korean soldier on the crumbling front lines; on the other, Captain John Price wages his own personal war from the shadows following the murder of General Shepherd, hunted by old comrades led by Simon “Ghost” Riley. The missions take you from trenches in Korea to house-to-house combat in New York, high-speed chases in Paris, and all the way to Mumbai.
In multiplayer, twelve new 6v6 maps await you at launch, along with larger battlefields for infantry and vehicle combat.
As the third major pillar, the DMZ Extraction mode returns: In the fictional Hajin restricted zone, you go on a looting spree alone or as a squad, complete missions, battle AI troops and other players, and—between missions—expand your own Forward Operating Base, complete with a 3D printer, shooting range, and armory.
More Exciting Steam Releases of the Week
Monday, October 19, 2026
- Athanasia (Early Access): If you’re still waiting for a sign of life from Dino Crisis, Momentum Games aims to fill that gap. In this blend of horror shooter and immersive sim, you’ll explore an abandoned South American research facility overrun by prehistoric predators. Instead of blindly firing away, you’ll need to manage resources, sneak around, hack computers, and set up improvised traps to survive against the dinosaurs.
Tuesday, October 20, 2026
- Nomad Drive (Early Access): You patch together a run-down RV, customize it to your liking—from the stove to the toilet—grow your own vegetables in flower pots, and drive through a procedurally generated post-apocalyptic world, either alone or in a four-player co-op.
- We Were Here Tomorrow: A new installment in one of Steam’s most famous co-op puzzle franchises. This time, you and your partner wake up together in a mysterious facility. As usual, you’ll see different things, have your own high-tech tools at your disposal, and need to coordinate via your walkie-talkies to solve the asymmetrical puzzles. Important: A microphone and a second player are absolutely required—you can’t play this solo.
- Star Trek: Outposts Unknown: An officially licensed narrative-driven building game. As captain, you’ll establish outposts on alien worlds, research technologies, and take care of your crew while helping a threatened civilization and investigating a cosmic threat.
- Hypernet Explorer (Early Access): A wonderfully wacky immersive sim roguelike in the spirit of Dwarf Fortress and Caves of Qud. In an alternate 2001, the Y2K bug has shattered reality, which is why modern technology is now being replaced by the occult. You choose from 64 classes—ranging from wizard to CEO—explore a 92-story skyscraper with your party, run a cursed pizzeria on the side, or install body implants. Combat is turn-based.
- A Sister’s Journey: In this hand-drawn, pixel-art 2D action Metroidvania, you help the protagonist, Violet, search for her missing sister. The gameplay offers a mix of precise platforming and run-and-gun combat, where you collect crystals and components to upgrade your weapons at the workbench.
- Baron (Early Access) : An open-world mafia role-playing game that plunges you into the criminal underworld of Turkey’s capital, Ankara. After the death of your parents, you seek revenge, complete missions from a first- or third-person perspective, engage in black-market trade, and make decisions that affect your entire neighborhood.
- Blue Ridge Hunting (Early Access): Co-op horror with a grainy PS1 found-footage look. Alone or with friends, you’ll head into the Appalachian Mountains to hunt legendary cryptids like the Mothman. In Story Mode, you’ll play as a team of three; in Free Mode, you can even play as a team of five. But be careful what you say into the microphone: the creatures in the forest can hear your voice chat and radio communications at any time.
- Akiba Lost: An interactive live-action thriller featuring real actors, set in Tokyo’s trendy Akihabara district. A struggling game developer aims to make a comeback by adapting the unsolved disappearance of six girls 13 years ago into a film. When threatening phone calls suddenly start coming in and his own sister goes missing, the line between game and reality begins to blur. You switch freely between seven characters, with every decision changing the course of the story.
Wednesday, October 21, 2026
- Stupid Never Dies: The debut title from the new studio of former Resident Evil and Dino Crisis producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi. You play as Davy, the weakest zombie in the world, who has fallen in love with Julia, a college student frozen solid in a shopping mall. To bring her back to life, you’ll battle your way through time-based dungeons in this wild action RPG, devour monsters, steal their powers to unlock eleven transformation forms—such as werewolf or vampire—and swap out your body parts for tech gear.
- Escape from Playtime (Early Access): A new co-op survival horror spin-off set in the Poppy Playtime universe. With up to eight players, you’re trapped in an abandoned toy factory, following the commands of a mysterious voice, searching for tools in ever-changing hallways, and trying to escape the monsters lurking in the darkness.
- Bruisers 2D Boxing (Early Access): Behind the 16-bit retro facade lies a surprisingly tough boxing career simulation. You create your fighter, keep your head above water between fights with side jobs, keep an eye on your weight and diet, and work your way up from backyard brawls to the professional ranks. Your boxer ages in real time, injuries accumulate over the years, and outside the ring, illegal betting, doping, and the mafia beckon.
- Demons’ Night Fever: A wacky strategy RPG where you play the archvillain. You exploit your own henchmen, grow stronger with every death, and take on clichéd heroes like Super Rangers or Magical Girls from chapter to chapter.
Thursday, October 22, 2026
- Final Fantasy Resonance: For RPG fans, this is the secret star of the week. Square Enix and co-developer Lancarse are returning to the series’ roots with stylish 2.5D pixel graphics and classic turn-based combat. You’ll travel through the world with a group of heroes and summon “Visions” in battle to avert an impending catastrophe. If you want to try it out before buying it for around 50 euros, there’s already a free demo available on Steam, and your progress from the first chapter will carry over to the full version.
- The Dead We Knew: Open World Survival (Early Access): Classic third-person zombie survival action. Play alone or in co-op with up to four players as you scavenge abandoned locations, build a shelter, grow your own food, and defend yourself against hostile survivors and the undead, who become significantly more aggressive, especially when fog rolls in or darkness falls.
- Red Chat Ritual – Tsumimi Time: A psychological horror and detective adventure that had already garnered over 110,000 wishlist entries on Steam before its release. Your favorite streamer, Mashiro, has vanished without a trace. During the day, you scour social media and fan sites for clues. At night, you tune in to her colleague Tsumimi’s livestream and directly influence the action through comments, donations, and Mega-Chat to bring the truth to light.
- Moadra: A dark sci-fi Metroidvania set on the forgotten alien planet Protea VI, strongly reminiscent of classic Metroid games. You’ll fight your way through winding cave systems teeming with grotesque creatures, absorb their protoplasm, and use the biomass in organic chambers to evolve your abilities and weapons through metamorphosis.
Friday, October 23, 2026
- Warrior Cats: Clans of the Forest: The massive young adult book series about wild cat clans is getting an official action-adventure game with role-playing elements. You’ll create your own warrior cat, hunt for prey in the forest around the lake, explore six familiar locations from the books, and engage in turn-based 3-on-3 battles featuring up to 75 maneuvers against badgers, foxes, Doberman Pinschers, or rival clans. Procedurally generated quests and characters ensure that every playthrough feels different.
- One Piece: Grand Gourmet: When the pixel-based building game specialists at Kairosoft team up with Bandai Namco, the result is a restaurant simulator set on the high seas. Together with the Straw Hat Crew, you’ll build and manage a floating restaurant, gather ingredients, create new dishes, and serve over 400 familiar characters from the One Piece universe.
- Under Canopies (Early Access): A survival-crafting game completely free of combat and time pressure. You’ll build your dream cabin in the forest piece by piece, water your garden beds, cook elaborate meals, and photograph rare wildlife for your album.
- Aspis: An atmospheric first-person horror thriller set in an alternate Soviet Union in 1987. As engineer Andrey, you connect yourself to an experimental system to see your deceased wife and daughter one last time. Instead of a harmless simulation, however, the machine opens windows into alien planes of reality, between which you switch back and forth to solve puzzles—accompanied by a talking cat.
That gives you a full selection of over 20 titles to choose from this week: Will you dive into the trenches of Modern Warfare 4 on Friday, are you more drawn to the classic turn-based battles of Final Fantasy Resonance, or does something completely different appeal to you? Feel free to let us know in the comments which game is ending up in your shopping cart!
And if nothing caught your eye this time: You can check out all the other major releases coming your way in the next two weeks of October in the video embedded above.
