In a moment of incredible strength earlier this year, I actually cancelled my Amazon Prime subscription. The incredible strength didn't lie in cancelling it—I can live without free delivery on my pantaloons and draining racks and whatever else it was I bought on there—but in remembering I had it in the first place.

Well, maybe now I regret that, because Big Jeff Bezos is taking some time away from making the Washington Post worse to dole out some very good games this October via Prime Gaming. Who says the capitalist class never does anything for you?

You can find the full list below, but the big-ticket items here as far as I'm concerned are Fallout: New Vegas (either the best or second-best Fallout game, depending on what day you catch me) and Fallout 3 (slightly worse than Fallout 4; come at me). The former will be available on October 16, the latter on October 23.

I suspect the timing here might just be deliberate: the very good Fallout TV show, brought to you by Amazon, is set to hit on December 17 this year, and Lucy and the gang are set to head to New Vegas itself. A great time, then, to catch up on the lore of the game. And then also to play Fallout 3, I guess.

Both Fallouts are GOG codes, and both come with all their various DLCs, which I gotta admit is a pretty good get. As you might have surmised and might even be writing a furious comment about right this second, I'm less hot on Fallout 3 than New Vegas. Nevertheless, both are worth your time, offering one of the best RPGs Obsidian ever made (New Vegas) and a fairly fun romp about a distraction-filled Wasteland (FO3).

A brief shoutout for a couple of the other games being given away this month. On October 9, Amazon will give away XCOM 2 (another GOG code), which remains to this day an absolute banger of turn-based strategy that I am mystified still hasn't gotten a proper sequel.

It's also giving away (on the Amazon Games App, remember that?) Vampire: The Masquerade – Reckoning of New York, which I'm less keen on, despite adoring its immediate predecessor: Shadows of New York. You can also pick up another World of Darkness visual novel, Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Heart of the Forest (also on the Amazon app) on October 30, which is… pretty good! It's a perfectly solid one of those.

Anyhow, here's the full list of games and the dates they're available. We have a pretty strict filter on the comments section around here, so make sure to only use swear words from before, like, 1750 when you lambast my Fallout opinions.

Prime Gaming free games for October 2025

• DragonStrike (GOG code, available now)
• Tormented Souls (Amazon Games App, available now)
• XCOM 2 (GOG code, coming October 9)
• Vampire: The Masquerade – Reckoning of New York (Amazon Games App, coming October 9)
• Empty Shell (GOG code, coming October 16)
• Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition (GOG code, coming October 16)
• True Fear: Forsaken Souls Part 1 (GOG code, coming October 16)
• Hellslave (GOG code, coming October 23)
• True Fear: Forsaken Souls Part 2 (GOG code, coming October 23)
• Lost and Found Agency: Collector's Edition (Legacy Games code, coming October 23)
• Fallout 3: GOTY Edition (GOG code, coming October 23)
• You Will Die Here Tonight (GOG code, coming October 30)
• Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Heart of the Forest (Amazon Games App, coming October 30)
• Halloween Stories: Horror Movie Collector's Edition (Amazon Games App, coming October 30)

Indie hit Megabonk came out of nowhere and has suddenly hit the 1 million copies sold mark in just two weeks.

Between the likes of REPO, Schedule 1, and Peak, I think calling 2025 the year of the surprise indie would be an extremely fair assessment. And considering September had two of the biggest indie releases of all time with Hades 2 and Hollow Knight: Silksong – the latter of which caused a number of indies to delay their release dates to avoid – I figured we wouldn't have much left in terms of surprises with those two being the center of attention.

But two weeks after Silksong and a week before Hades came Megabonk, which can best be described as a mix of Risk of Rain 2 and Vampire Survivors with PS1-inspired graphics. Featuring the likes of skateboarding skeletons, chimps with sunglasses, and all manner of weird creatures, it's no wonder it blew up.

The game was clearly a success with 4,000 Very Positive reviews within a week, but now we know exactly how well it did. Megabonk's developer vedinad tweets on the Megabonk account confirming that within its first two weeks, the game sold 1 million copies, saying: "THANK YOU GUYS!! ill be eating spaghetti with EXTRA sauce tonight."

They add that they "really appreciate all the great feedback. There are definitely a lot of things I wanna fix and change," noting that they plan to "get a roadmap created or something." Vedinad continues, saying "Im just a bit overwhelmed and tired atm, so I think I will take a few days break," but the updates should come shortly after.

I had actually never heard of this game until I started writing this, and now I feel like I'm cursed because I can see myself sinking hours into it thanks to that damn sunglasses-wearing chimp.

Digimon Story Stranger Time has no trouble plugging the Pokemon Legends Z-A hole on PC, as it beats the last JRPG's Steam record 32 times over and lands 'Very Positive' reviews.

The 43rd Golden Joystick Awards' shortlist has just been revealed, and the voting is now open, but the hardest part has only just begun. This year, there are 21 categories, such as PC Game of the Year, Best Multiplayer Game, and Best Indie Game, all of which are completely stacked with stand-out games—it'll be almost impossible to pick between them.

"2025 is our most hotly-contested and unpredictable awards yet," Daniel Dawkins, content director of Golden Joystick Awards, says. "Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Ghost of Yōtei and Hollow Knight: Silksong, lead our nominations, but the shortlist’s breadth and quality reflect a fast-evolving industry, where indies, AAs or IIIs—whatever you’d like to call them—frequently dominate play time and social discourse."

The categories that will have the closest race will likely be Best Multiplayer Game, as you have Peak, Battlefield 6, Mario Kart World, and my personal favourite, Elden Ring Nightreign, all duking it out for top spot. Meanwhile, over in the Best Indie Game - Self-Published category, you have the likes of Hollow Knight: Silksong, Hades 2, Peak, and Deltarune all fighting it out, and honestly, I don't know who will win—actually, on second thought, it'll be Silksong, Silksong will win.

"As gaming evolves, so do our categories, with the creation of a new award for Best Remake/ Remaster," Dawkins says. "As the past becomes the present, the Golden Joystick Awards’ mission remains the same—to celebrate the very best in gaming, and give players the chance to reward the hardware, people and amazing virtual worlds that command our affections."

But you at least have a bit of time to mull it all over, as voting will remain open until Halloween night, October 31 5pm PDT / 8pm EDT / and midnight GMT. The winners of each category will be announced during the awards ceremony on November 20. But you don't have to head all the way over to central London, as it will be live-streamed globally.