Morning Save Point: Final Fantasy Resonance Gets 36/40 Famitsu Review, Castlevania Launches, and More

Thursday opens with Square Enix’s first HD-2D Final Fantasy earning perfect scores from Famitsu, a launch-day slate anchored by Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse, and a study in why everyone refuses to play as the blue team. Final Fantasy Resonance arrives on Switch and Switch 2 in a week. The blue team’s losing streak is, somehow, getting worse. Here is your morning brief.

The big one

Final Fantasy Resonance landed its first review in this week’s Famitsu, and Square Enix has its first confirmed hit for the HD-2D treatment: four reviewers, four 9s out of 10, 36/40 total. Famitsu also gave players a campaign-length window they did not have before. The main story takes 20 to 30 hours. With side content, it can stretch to 70 hours. The review pulled out three standout beats. First, the new “Visions” equipment system, which lets you recruit classic Final Fantasy characters as party members. Second, the break-and-Resonance combat loop. Third, the “triumphs of the concept of Final Fantasy” framing.

Final Fantasy Resonance launches October 22 on Switch and Switch 2 in a week, with a demo live on the eShop right now. The Famitsu verdict is the first official score attached to the HD-2D Final Fantasy line (Octopath Traveler and Triangle Strategy shipped without one). Our Famitsu Resonance coverage has the full translation. The practical read for players: if you bounced off Octopath’s slow start, Famitsu’s reviewers say Resonance’s pacing and “casual” quality-of-life features make it easier to stay engaged. If you bounced off Triangle Strategy’s tactical combat, the action-driven break system is the bigger change. Our read: 36/40 from a historically stingy outlet is the cleanest signal yet that Resonance is the HD-2D Final Fantasy to try first.

Also happening

• House House confirms Big Walk stays off Xbox over BDS. Untitled Goose Game developer House House will not bring Big Walk (91 Metacritic, 1M+ first-week sales) to Xbox Series X|S until Microsoft is removed from the BDS priority-target list, the studio told outlets on Wednesday. The full statement: “We would love for people to be able to play the game on Xbox, but not until Microsoft and/or Xbox have been removed as BDS boycott targets.” Our Big Walk Xbox story has the studio’s full post.
• FIFA postpones the 2026 FIFAe Finals in Jeddah. The October 16-25 tournament in Saudi Arabia is on hold with no new date, FIFA’s official esports arm said overnight, “following an assessment of recent developments in the region and their impact on the logistical arrangements required.” Japan and Brazil had already pulled out over security. Our FIFAe Jeddah postponement has the official X statement.
• Tales of Eternia Remastered ships with first reviews in. The 2000 Bandai Namco action JRPG, the western “Tales of Destiny II,” lands today worldwide on PS5, Xbox, Switch, and PC with the first official English release to include camping skits and a toggle between remastered and original pixel art. Hardcore Gamer calls it “an easy recommendation for fans of Japanese RPGs who want to dig into some of the old magic.” Siliconera agrees. Our Tales of Eternia Remastered calendar entry has the platforms and price.
• Ubisoft Germany buyouts hit Anno 117 studio Mainz and Rayman developer Düsseldorf. Game File and GamesIndustry.biz confirmed Wednesday night that Ubisoft is opening voluntary departure talks at three German sites targeting roughly 100 roles, with >50% at Düsseldorf alone. The same week Microsoft ran an Xbox exclusivity survey for Fallout, Elder Scrolls, and Minecraft. Our Ubisoft Germany buyouts story has the studio-by-studio math.
• Netflix lays off 1,000 employees, its biggest round ever, hitting games. Variety published the full co-CEO memo Wednesday morning; PocketGamer.biz confirmed Next Games staff are among those cut. Six percent of Netflix’s workforce, including product, tech, and games. Netflix Q3 earnings are scheduled for October 20. Our Netflix games-division layoffs coverage has the cross-2026 layoff comparison.
• Final Fantasy Resonance first reviews (bonus): separate from the Famitsu story above, the Square Enix site confirmed a Switch 2 demo is live and the Visions unlock lets you recruit characters from older FF entries. Pixel Herald’s full launch coverage will follow the Oct 22 release.

Launching today

Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse is the headliner (PS5, Xbox, Switch, Switch 2 backwards-compatible, PC) after three out of five stars at VGC and IGN’s “magnificent” combat verdict. Tales of Eternia Remastered lands worldwide on PS5, Xbox, Switch, and PC (Hardcore Gamer’s review is in). Enshrouded 1.0 leaves Early Access on PS5 and PC after 18 months, the Enshrouded release-time guide has the per-zone unlock box. It Takes Two finally hits a Nintendo console on Switch 2 (release-time guide) . Ratatan ships from the creators of Patapon on PS5, Xbox, Switch, and PC. Warframe’s Epoch Operation: Taubound opens across all platforms through November 17, with the new permanent Tau Prologue quest.

Deal of the day

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is 75% off at $14.99 on Steam, down from $59.99, through October 24. Space Marine 2 is Focus Entertainment’s third-person action shooter set in the Warhammer 40K universe (Steam app 2183900), and the live-service update “Operation: Echoes” went live on PC and consoles yesterday with two new free SMGs (UM45 and MP40) plus a Season Pass of paid gear. The $14.99 price is the cheapest Space Marine 2 has been in our recent tracking; if you’ve been waiting for a reason to try it, the deep discount plus a fresh update is the moment.

One more thing

The free-for-all military shooter Wardogs has a real, documented problem: the Blue Team, codename Lonestar, wins only 15% of its matches. Red wins 36%, Green wins 49%. IGN confirmed the numbers with developer Bulkhead this week and asked color psychologist Karen Haller why. Haller’s diagnosis: it’s not the color. Early alpha had a map-design advantage for Blue that drove competitive players to Red and Green. Once they left, the perception stuck. The plan for Season 2 is to move spawns and run a “social experiment to help change the perception of Lonestar.” In the meantime, the blue team meme is not a meme. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy, and competent players have already left.

Edited by the Pixel Herald newsroom.

Edited by Kerwin Stewart, Editor-in-Chief · How we report