Legends of the Fall: Peter Hoskin test drives some of Autumn’s best new games, including a samurai action adventure, a fantasy RPG with a whiff of the Witcher…and a bus simulator

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By PETER HOSKIN 18:36 08 Oct 2026, updated 18:46 08 Oct 2026

OK, we have a new gold standard for action games. The sorts of games that test your reflexes above anything else. Where slashing, dodging, parrying and pirouetting are your stocks in trade.

And that gold standard is Onimusha: Way Of The Sword.

It casts you as a samurai, Miyamoto Musashi, who would be dead were it not for the soul-sapping gauntlet that was slapped on his wrist in the afterlife.

He has to return to this mortal coil to take on the Genma – which is to say, demons – who are intent on taking over.

Many of the things you do in Onimusha are familiar from other games. You have heavier and lighter sword attacks. You have a bow. You’ll have to choose the correct method for avoiding incoming damage – and, if you time it just right, you’ll have the chance to deal extra damage in return.

But what’s not so common is how all of these things come together.

Once you get to grips with Onimusha’s combat system, it’s like skating on mercury – so slick and free-flowing.

Add in the trigger pushes that make your gauntlet suck in your enemies’ souls, each with different revivifying effects, and it’s just pure bliss.

And even when you don’t feel on top of the combat – after you’ve tried and failed against one of the game’s various challenging bosses for the umpteenth time – you’ll want to keep going.

To master the way of the sword. But also to see what happens next in Onimusha’s brilliantly told story.

The Witcher 3 casts a long shadow. Not only is the 2015 fantasy roleplaying game one of my favourites of all time, it’s also still sufficiently popular that it’s getting a new expansion, a new story in its violent world, next year.

And it’s inspiring this year’s releases, too. The Blood Of Dawnwalker has been made by what is technically a new studio, though that studio is populated by veterans of the Witcher 3 team – and it shows. Here is another Eastern European, story-led, very adult serving of monster-slaying.

It feels very Witcher from the off. Instead of Geralt of Rivia, we have Coen of Vale Sangora, the top-knotted son of a peasant family in the 14th century.

All is awful in Coen’s land, with a spreading plague and unsympathetic rulers, until some vampires sweep in to make it even worse.

Their leader, Brencis, even turns our hero into one of their terrible kind.

Except the process is only half-successful. Coen has vampire powers by night, but can walk around freely by day – meaning that he’s well positioned to wreak vengeance on Brencis and his pointy-toothed cronies.

The result isn’t a perfect game. Dawnwalker has some roughness around the edges of its ambitious medieval realm; some of its systems, such as the swordplay, could have used a little more smoothing out.

But neither is it a derivative one. A few hours into Dawnwalker, its Witcher 3 influences become less important than its own innovations – chief among them, its time system.

Coen has 30 days to bring down Brencis. Every time he does something significant, like complete a quest or level up his abilities, the clock ticks on.

This might sound constraining, but it’s actually wonderfully freeing. You enter Dawnwalker knowing that you don’t have to tick off all of its possibilities – because you can’t.

Instead, you shape your own experience of the game. Perhaps next time you’ll choose different priorities; or do things in a different order.

Because there will be a next time. I’m desperate to play through this one again, and even more desperate for the inevitable sequel – when a brilliant but imperfect game might be polished into something even better.

See you again, Coen. By moonlight or by sun.

The Ace Combat series has now reached its eighth numbered instalment – and that’s before you count the spinoffs. So you’ve got to wonder: how ace is it any more? Surely there are only so many fighter-jet battles its makers can get into before the whole thing starts to feel tired?

And yet, Ace Combat 8: Wings Of Theve is actually the best the series has ever been. It’s swooped in, from behind cloud cover, to be one of my favourite releases of the year.

There’s much here that will be familiar to veterans of Ace Combat. Here, again, is flying that’s much simpler than the thousand knobs and dials of a proper flight simulator but that’s still involved enough to be satisfying. Here, again, are wild dogfights with constantly shifting priorities. Here, again, are gorgeous skyscapes and awesomely sleek jet planes.

There’s also the usual geopolitics that are one step removed from Earth’s own. Wings Of Theve takes place after the near-total conquest of the (Allied-ish) Federation of Central Usea by the (Axis-ish) Republic of Sotoa. You are one of the last pilots left aboard a creaking aircraft carrier, crammed with refugees, that is practically all the FCU has left.

What there is this time, though, is a truly compelling story. The single-player campaign has you taking on the role of a legendary pilot, the titular Wings Of Theve, because the world can’t be allowed to know that the previous guy is now at the bottom of the sea.

What follows is a surprisingly effective – and affecting – examination of propaganda, social media and the costs of war.

Add in the game’s amazing soundtrack and plentiful multiplayer options, and you have something truly special. How ace is Ace Combat any more? Very, it turns out. Over and out.

If you think the Ace Combat series is longstanding, get a load of EA Sports FC, the games formerly known as FIFA, before that association with (our legal department tells me) the most impressive and upstanding sporting body in the world came to an end. This 2027 edition is the 34th in all.

The only question that really arises each year, then, is: what’s new? Sadly, all too often, the answer is: nothing much, beyond a few micro-tweaks to heading or crossing that will only be noticed by the most dedicated of gamers.

This year’s edition has plenty of those micro-tweaks – but, somehow, they’re more apparent this time. The work put in to make defending more meaningful, corners more tactical and dribbling more possible has produced something that feels truer to the actual game of football than ever before.

And there’s a genuinely major new addition this time: The Grounds, an open area in which your little footballing avatar can hang out with other players, dive into some quick street games, or arrange bigger matches.

This social mode clearly needs more work if it’s to match up to those in, say, the NBA 2K basketball games. The world is a little threadbare, and the cameo appearances by various superstars, including Kylian Mbappé, are more excruciating than exhilarating. But at least it’s something different; a reason to play this release ahead of last year’s model.

Besides, The Grounds shifts EA Sports FC 27’s focus away from the money-grabbing Ultimate Team mode, with its expensive Panini-style packs of footballers. In real-world football, the teams with the most money tend to win. It would be nice if the same weren’t true on the sofa.

Oh, to be a bus driver! Motoring around all day, taking in the scenery, ferrying people to and from the shops, then dealing with the drunks being sick on the back seats at night…

Actually, sorry, that doesn’t sound so pleasant. But don’t let that put you off Bus Simulator 27. It lets you drive buses without much of the attendant nastiness, and in a lovely seaside region that’s a little bit Spanish and a little bit Portuguese, too. It is, for the most part, a thoroughly relaxing experience.

It’s also a broader one than you might expect. Yes, you’ll spend much of your time at the wheel of a bus, trundling from stop to stop, and pressing buttons to open the doors and sell tickets. But you can also build a public transport empire, devising new routes and optimising your company’s money streams.

There’s even a story mode that opens up this Iberian playground area by area – until you’re confidently taking passengers into the sticks. Your driver is meant to be local to the region, of course, but discovering its beautiful landscapes feels less like a shift at work than a package holiday.

Until, that is, something goes wrong and you’ve got to stop gawping and start thinking. Some of the best parts of Bus Simulator 27 are when it introduces humps in the road, such as a traffic accident blocking your route, and you’re forced to figure out a solution for your fares.

Unfortunately, though, not every hump is intentional. The other bus drivers, controlled by the computer, can sometimes drive like they’ve been at the sangria themselves – careering around and making your job impossible.

If a future update can send them back for a few more lessons, then this really will be the simulator of my dreams. As it is, I’m sticking to trains.

Our critic Peter Hoskin test drives September’s best new gamesComments are subject to our House rules and TermsNewest{{#isModerationStatus}}{{moderationStatus}}

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