Phantom Blade Zero. Image: S-GAME, via its Steam page.
Aloha, gamers. S-GAME's kung-fu action RPG Phantom Blade Zero launched today on PS5 and PC, and Steam players piled in hard: SteamDB tracked it past 700,000 people playing at once on day one, the biggest single-player launch on Steam this year. Early reviews are loving the combat (GamesRadar+ called it a GOTY contender) while flagging some story and PC shader hiccups.
Why it matters: a smaller studio (S-GAME, the team behind Rainblood) out-launching everything else in 2026. Proof that a game that just feels good to play still wins. (Robot League garage crew, take notes.)
PS Plus November is set: Dead Island 2, Tomb Raider IV–VI Remastered and Monster Train 2 hit PS Plus Essential on Tue, Nov 3. October's games (F1 25, Hunt: Showdown 1896, EDF: World Brothers 2) leave Mon, Nov 2, so grab them now. PlayStation.Blog
Witchbrook finally has a date: Chucklefish's cozy witch-school life sim lands Jan 28, 2027 on PC, Switch, Switch 2, Xbox and (newly announced) PS5, with up to 4-player online co-op. Revealed at Nintendo's Indie World. Witchbrook dev blog · Polygon
See-through controllers are back: Sony's Prism Collection brings transparent DualSense controllers ($84.99) and PS5 covers ($74.99) in orange, green and gray. Pre-orders Nov 10, launch Feb 4, 2027. Very 1998. We love it. PlayStation.Blog
Valve on Steam's AI-clone problem: Valve admits low-effort AI games and copycats are a real problem, but says it won't police which tools devs use. Its advice to creators: build a community and keep updating. PC Gamer
Browser games get a big backer: payments company Xsolla bought web-games platform GamePix (10,000+ browser games, 4,000+ devs). Browser games are having a moment, and we're here for it. Xsolla
RumorElder Scrolls VI name? Kotaku, citing a report from The Verge, says The Elder Scrolls VI will be subtitled Sentinel and that the name could be announced as soon as November. Bethesda hasn't confirmed anything. Treat it as a rumor until they do. Kotaku
🤖 Block Bros Wire
International Robot League. Block BrosBlockChat. Block Bros
The Square is now review-first: new community games get checked and approved before they show up on the Public Square. Every game has to pass our house rules first. No hate, no shame. See the Square → · Listing rules →
BlockChat tune-up: sending works properly again, you get an image preview (with caption + cancel) before you post, the GIF button is labeled, and timestamps show Hawaiʻi time. Public rooms now hide phone numbers and emails automatically. Hop in →
Prompt-to-Play is open: type one tiny kid-safe game idea and we build a quick version. It only opens for you after it passes a playtest. Free, no sign-up, no ads. Try an idea →
Robot League check-in: build your bot in the Garage, then take on the 16-robot World Cup bracket, Missions in Tokyo and Hawaiʻi, the Weekly Cup, or Online 1v1. Play it →
Weekly IRL tourneys are coming: we want to take Block Bros games off the screen and into the room, with a weekly in-person tournament here in Hawaiʻi. Can't wait? Robot League already runs a Weekly Cup in-game. Tell us in BlockChat which game you'd bring and where we should host it. Vote in BlockChat → · Warm up in the Weekly Cup →
🎮 Made in 808
Our own games, made right here. All free, all play in your browser. One spotlight a day, and today we're starting with the newest kid on the block.
Spotlight: Lantern Float. Tap the paper lanterns before they float away. Gold ones score more, and if you miss too many the night ends. Fresh on the Public Square. Play →
International Robot League: build it, paint it, win the World Cup. Our flagship. Play → · itch.io
Super Fly Ninja: fast hands, faster fireballs. A quick-reflex platformer for chasing your best run. Play → · itch.io
The Great Wagon Trail: pack the wagon, pick your crew, make the tough calls and reach the end of the trail. Play → · itch.io
Mugshot Mayhem: sirens on, chaos loaded. Read the witness report, spot the suspect, build your streak. Play → · itch.io
Quick Fun: Brainrot Pack: tiny games, big laughs. Dodge the brainrot, grab the rizz coins. Play → · itch.io
These are Block Bros games, so yes, we're biased. All games →
🌺 Island Devs
New beat, same aloha. Every edition we'll shout out game makers from Hawaiʻi and across the Pacific, from first-time jammers to folks who've been shipping for years. Here's who's on our radar:
Teens, make a game in a weekend: Hack Club's Haven teen game jam is coming to Honolulu Nov 14–15. It's free, it's for ages 13–18, and no coding experience is needed. The Eventbrite listing puts it on Sun, Nov 15, 9 AM–6 PM at Treehouse Coworking Kahala, but the Hack Club page still says venue TBD, so check the sign-up page before you go. Hack Club Haven · Eventbrite
Save the date: Gameheads: Hawaii Showcase. Young local devs show off games about Hawaiʻi at the Honolulu Museum of Art on Sat, Dec 19. Games are playable at a 6 PM reception, with presentations at 7 PM. It's free with registration. Gameheads: Hawaii is a nonprofit that teaches game dev to people ages 15–24, in partnership with Liliʻuokalani Trust. Honolulu Museum of Art
Play it in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi:Nā Hōkū by nico ailani is a free, cozy browser game where you explore an island by following the stars. It's written to be played in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, and you can switch languages in Options. The dev says it was made in four weeks for a grad-school game studio class. itch.io
Deep cut:He Ao Hou: A New World is a Hawaiian-language point-and-click game where you pilot your grandfather's space canoe to find your missing sister. Haumāna made it in a 2017 workshop run by Kanaeokana and the Initiative for Indigenous Futures. Proof you don't need a big studio to tell island stories. Kanaeokana · Skins 5.0
For older players: Honolulu-raised Native Hawaiian solo dev Silver Spook shipped the cyberpunk adventure Neofeud 2 on Steam in June after about nine years of work. He made the art, writing, code and music himself. Heads-up: the dev says it contains violence, police violence and drug use, so it's not one for younger Bros.Steam · Dev log · IndieDB
Who should we spotlight next? Making a game in Hawaiʻi or anywhere in the Pacific? Know a classmate with an itch page? Drop the link in BlockChat, or put it on the Square so everyone can play it.
Island Devs shout-outs are unpaid. Nobody paid or gifted us anything for these.
Denmark's sub record: Danish streamer Rasmus Søndergaard's "Sønderthon 2.0" set a new Danish Twitch record, passing 56,000 subs. DR (Danish)
New Valorant agent = new clips: Patch 13.09 dropped Hush, a telekinetic Duelist from Guangdong, China, who can pull enemies, steer her flashes and float people with her ult. Feeds are full of Hush aces. Patch notes · @VALORANT
Shout-outs here are unpaid. Nobody paid or gifted us anything for these.
📅 Events & Drops
Sat, Oct 31: Halloween 🎃. Go play something spooky. Then tell us about it in BlockChat.
Mon, Nov 2: Last day to claim October's PS Plus games. PlayStation.Blog
Thu, Nov 5, ~7 PM HST: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Season 1 kicks off (midnight ET Nov 6) with new maps, modes and the X01 zone in DMZ. PlayStation.Blog
Thu, Nov 19:Grand Theft Auto VI launches on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. Three weeks to go. Rockstar Newswire
Thu, Jan 28, 2027: Witchbrook launches. Witchbrook
Times in HST. No sponsored listings today. When there are, they get a clear "Sponsored" tag.
🗯️ Comics & Culture
GTA VI's soundtrack era begins: French duo Justice, who are scoring GTA VI, dropped "Pusher," a seven-minute track with Gesaffelstein. The full 30-track score arrives Dec 11 on digital, CD and vinyl. Consequence · Rolling Stone
Strip of the day: no comic today. We're lining up original Block Bros strips (and artists who want credit) instead of borrowing anyone else's. Draw? Holler at us in BlockChat.
🤙 Sign-off
That's Edition #001, the first one ever — now with Made in 808, Island Devs, and a heads-up that weekly IRL tourneys are coming. Go claim your free PS Plus games, float a lantern, build a robot, and save some energy for November. GTA's coming. See you tomorrow. Shaka from Hawaiʻi. ~ The Block Bros
Phantom Blade Zero on Steam →
