Author: Nick

  • Scramble Knights Online Launches After Ditching Battle Royale

    Scramble Knights Online Launches After Ditching Battle Royale

    Scramble Knights Online, Funktronic Labs’ top-down action RPG, launched on October 26 on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox on PC, with Game Pass access from day one. It looks very different from the game first shown to players. It began as a PvP battle royale called Scramble Knights Royale, and the studio rebuilt it into a co-op “MMO-Lite” after its first public playtest.

    What’s in the launch

    • Platforms: Xbox Series X|S and Xbox on PC, with Xbox Play Anywhere support, so one purchase works on console, PC and supported handhelds.
    • Game Pass: Included with Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass from day one.
    • Price: The Xbox Store listing shows $12.99.
    • Co-op: Play solo or with up to four players in a shared online world, the kingdom of Terracott.
    • Dungeons: Dungeons inspired by Zelda, with puzzles, secrets and boss fights.
    • Town Square hub: A place to upgrade gear, go fishing, meet other players and form parties.
    • Chicken Mode: If you die, you watch the rest of your party as a chicken.
    • Some PvP remains: The store page says other parties of knights can run into yours and fight over resources, and it also mentions PvP invasions.

    From battle royale to co-op

    In a post on Xbox Wire, the studio explains that Scramble Knights started out mixing questing, monster hunting and dungeon looting with chaotic fights against other players. The playtest showed a split reaction. Players liked the world and exploring it, but the battle royale side frustrated them. Lobbies emptied out, a large streamer quit within minutes, and one comment kept coming up: “I’d play this if it wasn’t for the PvP.”

    Funktronic first tried other PvP modes, including Capture the Flag and Team Deathmatch. According to the post, the team kept being drawn back to the moments between fights. Founder Eddie Lee’s phrase “Adventure With Friends” became the guiding idea, and the studio moved forward with an MMO-Lite prototype. In that version, players meet in town, post missions to a quest board, sign up together and head out as a group. The “Royale” name went once the game stopped being a battle royale.

    The scale of the change stands out. The team says it had spent about three years on the PvP version and then turned that world and combat system into an MMO in under six months. Development took nearly four years in total.

    Studios rarely make this kind of change in public. A team that hears “the core loop isn’t working” will usually adjust the existing design rather than switch genres. Funktronic kept the art, combat and world and replaced the structure around them, which sets this launch apart from a typical Game Pass release. Players who skipped the playtest because of the battle royale label may want to give it another look.

    One caveat: the store page lists the game as a Game Preview and calls it a work in progress that may still change. Funktronic sends players to scrambleknights.com for status updates and feedback.

    Source: Xbox Wire – Scramble Knights Online: Changing Genres to Save a Game

  • Microsoft Flight Simulator World Update 23 Lands in Poland, Baltics

    Microsoft Flight Simulator World Update 23 Lands in Poland, Baltics

    Microsoft Flight Simulator World Update 23 came out on October 26, 2026, and it covers Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. It’s free for everyone who owns the sim, in both Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. Microsoft says this is the first time in the franchise’s history that the region has had its own dedicated update.

    What’s in World Update 23

    Asobo and Gaya Simulations built the update, with data from Bing Places. It adds 12 areas of interest made with updated photogrammetry, TIN surface texturing and digital elevation model (DEM) data. Eight of those areas are in Poland, two in Lithuania, one in Latvia and one in Estonia.

    • Photogrammetry cities: Tallinn (Estonia), Riga (Latvia), Kaunas and Vilnius (Lithuania), and Gdansk, Katowice, Krakow, Lodz, Poznan, Warsaw and Wroclaw (Poland)
    • 77 points of interest, including Malbork Castle, Sopot Pier, Trakai Island Castle, Rundāle Palace, the Riga Radio and TV Tower, and Kõpu Lighthouse in Estonia
    • Five handcrafted airports by Gaya: Kärdla (EEKA), Jūrmala (EVJA), Palanga International (EYPA), Warsaw-Babice (EPBC) and Opole-Kamień Śląski (EPKN)
    • MSFS 2024 activities: three Discovery Flights (Warsaw, Sigulda, Tallinn), four Precision Landings, a Sopot Landing Challenge, a Guided Tour of Tatra National Park and a Rally Race
    • MSFS 2020 activities: three Discovery Flights and four Landing Challenges at the same four airports
    • Price: free

    The four Precision Landings each put you in a different aircraft: a Cessna Citation CJ4 into Kärdla, an Airbus A310-300 into Jūrmala, an A320neo into Palanga and a King Air 350i into Opole. The Sopot challenge is based on a real landing by Polish Red Bull Air Race pilot Łukasz Czepiela, who put a modified CubCrafters STOL down at the famous pier.

    Why it matters

    None of the region’s major hubs are in the handcrafted airport list. Warsaw Chopin, Riga and Vilnius aren’t there; the picks lean toward smaller regional and general aviation fields. That suits the update’s sightseeing focus, since the coastlines, castles and lighthouses are easiest to enjoy from low and slow aircraft. Microsoft also released a paid aircraft on the same day, Microsoft Flight Simulator Local Legend 26: the Antonov An-28. It’s a twin-turboprop STOL plane that costs $14.99 in the in-sim marketplace and isn’t part of the free update.

    For simmers in this part of Europe, the update has been a long time coming. Poland and the Baltics finally have proper coverage of their key cities and landmarks, after years of relying on generic autogen scenery. Hopefully this isn’t the end of it, and more of the region gets mapped in detail in future updates.

    Source: Xbox Wire

  • Don’t Starve Together’s Hallowed Nights Event Returns for 2026

    Don’t Starve Together’s Hallowed Nights Event Returns for 2026

    Klei Entertainment brought Hallowed Nights back to Don’t Starve Together on October 26, 2026. The annual Halloween event fills The Constant with tricks and treats again, and players can go out and fill their candy bags. Klei hasn’t announced an end date yet.

    What’s in Hallowed Nights 2026

    Klei’s announcement is short and sticks to the basics. Here’s what we can confirm:

    • Start date: October 26, 2026
    • End date: Not announced yet
    • Candy collecting: Players can fill their candy bags with a range of seasonal sweets
    • Tricks and treats: Halloween surprises are once again scattered across The Constant

    The announcement doesn’t say whether this year adds new items, skins or mechanics, or whether it mostly brings back what earlier years offered. Klei usually adds detail during an event’s run, and we’ll update this story if more is confirmed.

    A seasonal fixture for The Constant

    Hallowed Nights has been part of Don’t Starve Together’s calendar for years. It’s one of a few recurring seasonal events that give long-time players a reason to start a fresh world or return to an old one. These events don’t add permanent content the way the big updates do. Instead they change the mood for a few weeks, swapping some of the usual grind for a candy hunt. That suits a survival game where your nights are normally spent hoping the darkness doesn’t kill you.

    The timing is familiar too. Over the past several years Hallowed Nights has usually started in late October and run well into November or beyond. Players who want to collect seasonal goodies probably have a few weeks, but until Klei confirms a closing date it’s safest not to put it off.

    Don’t Starve Together came out in 2016 and still has a large audience. Right now it’s the #39 most played game on Steam. Recurring events like this one are part of why it has lasted so long, since they give the community something to gather around each year.

    If you’ve been away from The Constant for a while, a candy bag and a few spooky surprises are a decent reason to come back. Just remember that the Halloween decorations don’t make anything in the world any friendlier.

    Source: Don’t Starve Together – Hallowed Nights Returns! (Steam)

  • Microsoft Flight Simulator Adds Antonov An-28 as Local Legend 26

    Microsoft Flight Simulator Adds Antonov An-28 as Local Legend 26

    Microsoft Flight Simulator launched Local Legend 26 on October 26, and this one is the Antonov An-28. The twin-turboprop short-takeoff utility aircraft is available now on the in-sim Marketplace. It arrived the same day as Microsoft Flight Simulator World Update 23: Poland and the Baltics, so anyone flying the new Eastern European scenery has a period-correct plane to fly it in.

    What’s in the package

    • Aircraft: Antonov An-28, a twin-turboprop STOL (short takeoff and landing) utility plane
    • Developer: AT Simulations
    • Price: $14.99 USD
    • Where to get it: the in-sim Marketplace
    • Liveries: more than 10
    • Interior: several cabin configurations
    • Systems: modeled aircraft systems and a two-pilot cockpit
    • Release date: October 26, 2026, launched alongside World Update 23

    A Soviet design with Polish roots

    The An-28 is a small, tough Soviet-era design built to work from short, rough airstrips and carry people or freight on regional routes where a bigger aircraft can’t operate. Antonov designed it, but series production moved to PZL Mielec in southeastern Poland in 1978. That history explains why it was paired with a world update focused on Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

    Coverage of the release says Microsoft first tried to license an aircraft from Poland’s main manufacturer and was turned down because of that company’s ties to Lockheed. The An-28 was the next-best choice, and arguably a natural one: it is a Ukrainian design that spent most of its production life on a Polish assembly line.

    It also fits the Local Legends series well. The series has always focused on aircraft with real regional history rather than headline airliners or fighters. Across 26 releases, it has steadily filled the sim’s hangar with workhorse aircraft that once served particular parts of the world. The An-28 belongs in that group: a utility plane that suits short, low-level hops between the small fields scattered across the new scenery.

    The An-28 is a long-awaited addition to the lineup. For simmers who like bush flying or short-field work, a twin-turboprop STOL hauler with several cabin layouts should keep them busy well beyond the Baltics. At $14.99, it costs about the same as earlier entries in the series, so trying it out is an easy call for anyone already flying the new world update.

    Source: Xbox Wire: Microsoft Flight Simulator Releases Local Legend 26: The Antonov An-28 Today!

  • Crunchyroll Launches on PS5 and PS4 in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand

    Crunchyroll Launches on PS5 and PS4 in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand

    Crunchyroll is now available on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Sony announced the launch on the PlayStation Blog on October 26, 2026. PlayStation owners in those three countries can now sign up for the anime streaming service and watch it on their console, with no extra device needed.

    What you get and what it costs

    The announcement lists one paid tier, the Crunchyroll Mega Fan membership. You can subscribe through the PlayStation Media Hub on PS5 or PS4, and the membership is also sold in the PlayStation Store on both consoles.

    • Platforms: PS5 and PS4
    • Regions: Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand
    • Mega Fan pricing: IDR 49,000 (Indonesia), MYR 14.90 (Malaysia) or THB 119 (Thailand) per month
    • Ad-free viewing across the catalog
    • Up to four streams at once on different devices
    • Offline downloads on supported devices
    • Crunchyroll Game Vault: more than 100 anime-inspired mobile games included with the membership
    • Catalog: hundreds of anime series, including Black Clover Season 2 and Overgeared

    Sony’s post doesn’t mention a free or ad-supported tier for these regions, and it doesn’t announce a launch trial or promotion. If either turns up later, it should show in the Media Hub or the PlayStation Store listing.

    Why it matters

    For many players, the console under the TV is also the living room’s media box, so a missing streaming app is a real gap. Until now, PS5 and PS4 owners in these three countries couldn’t get Crunchyroll on PlayStation. They had to watch on a phone, a laptop or another device hooked up to the TV.

    This launch is good news for anime fans in Southeast Asia. It gives them a much more convenient way to watch on the big screen, and a legal one. A native app that you subscribe to from the console’s own storefront removes most of the hassle, and that is usually what moves people from sketchy streams to an official service. The prices are set in each country’s own currency, and you can pay through your existing PlayStation account. Both of those make it easier to get started.

    Game Vault is a small extra for a gaming audience. It’s a mobile-games bundle, so you won’t play it on your PS5. Still, if you were going to subscribe for the anime anyway, it adds some value. The main draw is simple: Crunchyroll’s catalog is now on your console.

    Source: PlayStation Blog: (For Southeast Asia) Crunchyroll Arrives for PS5 and PS4 users in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand