Halloween Horror, a Weekend in Japan, and Two Game Pass Gems

Co-op puzzles with my son, a 10/10 bird I play alone, and a steering wheel in the living room every weekend.

This week I played four games: Call of the Elder Gods on PC with my son, Well Dweller on PC by myself, Forza Horizon 6 on PC via GeForce Now, and Fears to Fathom Episode 1 on Steam with an audience of teenagers on Halloween night. Exophase files the first three under Xbox, but I own no Xbox: everything here is PC, installed or streamed. Few hours in each, strong opinions in all of them.

A chill Lovecraft for two

Call of the Elder Gods is the sequel to 2020's Call of the Sea, made by the Madrid indie Out of the Blue Games and published by Kwalee in May 2026. First-person Lovecraftian puzzle adventure, six to eight hours long, on Game Pass from day one. I am 1h07 and 2 of 31 achievements in, and I am playing the whole thing with my son, which changes every verdict below.

The press gave it a 77, calling it a step down from the original, while Steam players sit near 90% approval. I land with the public: a provisional 85. The best quality of this game, for us, is exactly what one reviewer meant as an insult: it is possibly too chill for Lovecraft. No jump scares waiting to traumatize a kid, just old mysteries and clever locks. We took exactly one hint, lost in a giant mansion, and after that it has been smooth. Easy puzzles, satisfying like a good escape room.

I never played the original, and the studio swears each game stands alone. True enough: nothing so far assumes I know anyone or anything. But now I want to play the first one, because apparently I am a puzzle-game person and nobody told me. The catch is pacing: this only moves forward when my son is free, so the finale may take a while. Some games you speedrun; this one you schedule.

Game facts
Developer	Out of the Blue Games
Publisher	Kwalee
Released	May 12, 2026
Genre	First-person puzzle adventure
Platforms	PC, Xbox Series, PS5, Switch, Switch 2
Steam	Store page

A 10/10 with a matchstick

Well Dweller is a dark fairy-tale metroidvania about Glimmer, a tiny black bird carrying a matchstick into a well to kill its queen. It is basically the work of one man, Kyle Thompson, with Top Hat Studios publishing. It launched September 22, 2026 straight into Game Pass; a first run takes ten to fifteen hours. I am 1h16 and 7 of 41 achievements in, and I am calling it early: 10/10.

The consensus agrees with me for once: 89 on Metacritic, 98% positive on Steam. Thompson also made Islets, which is my other 10/10, so maybe I am just easy for this man. Crypt Custodian, his middle child, just entered my backlog on the strength of this hour alone.

The one real complaint is that veterans find it easy and short on new ideas. Fair, and I do not care. Compared to the genre's usual punishment, this one respects your evening. My single gripe is the climbing: it makes traversal feel slow, with none of that Silksong air-combo mobility where you stitch jumps together mid-flight. Everything else, the exploration, the bosses, the mood, is exactly where it should be. And this one is mine alone: no co-op, no audience, just me and the bird.

Game facts
Developer	Kyle Thompson
Publisher	Top Hat Studios
Released	September 22, 2026
Genre	Metroidvania
Platforms	PC, Switch, Switch 2, PS5, Xbox
Steam	Store page

My weekend game

Forza Horizon 6 is Playground Games' open-world racer set in Japan, out since May 2026. The press worships it: 90 on Metacritic, the best map in series history. Steam tells a spicier story: over a hundred thousand Very Positive reviews, but most of the top helpful ones are furious about corrupted saves, some players losing hundreds of hours, plus crashes and stutters. I am 2h04 with 4 of 57 achievements, playing on GeForce Now, where it runs beautifully and looks absurd.

I am not worried about the save saga: the worst sounds patched, it is awful that it happened, and the game is too good to hold a grudge. This is now officially my weekend game: wheel mounted in the living room, months of Japan ahead. I played little of Horizon 5 and liked it, but so far the only thing I miss from it is the nature.

I also prefer it arcade: technical racers demand a lifestyle I do not have, and I just want to have fun driving around Japan. Peak of the week: racing through Japanese streets at night to IDOL. What a game.

Game facts
Developer	Playground Games
Publisher	Xbox Game Studios
Released	May 19, 2026
Genre	Open-world arcade racing
Platforms	PC, Xbox Series, PS5
Steam	Store page

Halloween with an audience

Fears to Fathom Episode 1 is the free first chapter of solo dev Rayll's VHS horror anthology: you are fourteen, home alone at night, and that is the whole pitch. About an hour long, Very Positive on Steam with thousands of reviews. I played 42 minutes for 2 of 3 achievements on October 31st, but here is the twist: I barely touched the controller.

We played it as a group on Halloween: my son plus three of his friends, thirteen and fourteen years old, taking turns while the house sat completely dark with only the TV on. I just watched, and it was agonizing in the best way. The first run was fantastic. Then we decided to chase the good ending, which meant repeating the same stretch over and over, and repetition is fear's natural predator: no more scares, just routing. Still a great night. Full respect to the dev: with almost nothing, a normal house, a VHS filter and good sound, he built total affliction.

Game facts
Developer	Rayll
Publisher	Rayll
Released	July 2, 2021 (free episode)
Genre	Episodic VHS horror
Platforms	PC
Steam	Store page

What is next

Call of the Elder Gods continues at the speed of my son's calendar. Well Dweller gets my solo evenings until the credits roll. Forza Horizon 6 owns my weekends for the foreseeable months. And there is a postponed guest: I booted MIO: Memories in Orbit for 25 minutes, liked the smell of it, and shelved it until the Well is done. That one comes with a heavy backstory, the studio behind it closed after shipping, so it deserves its own post when I actually play it.