WTF Happened October 2025
For those new to this series, welcome to the October 2025 edition of What The Fuck Happened, a series where we retroactively apply importance to a whole month of news. This is a retrospective series, so it's always late, but it serves the purpose of letting you remind yourself of all the most important gossip of the month for a wide variety of topics. For return readers, welcome back! Nice to see you all again!
We always start with...
Business, World, and Health News
AWS down!
AWS, Amazon Web Services, went down October 20th, and it was down consistently for around 12 hours, spanning from 10:30am EST to 8pm EST. It affected a good portion of all the web and many businesses, even banks, and served as a reminder than maybe it's a bad idea to put all your eggs in one basket. Even big businesses are making such mistakes, though, and we feel the consequences at times like this.
Signal went down. Zoom slowed down and had intermittent outages. Slack, down. Schools couldn't do anything with their online portals or grading systems which relied on AWS as one of hundreds of dependencies. Banks couldn't communicate with credit companies or between their locations because they stupidly relied on AWS for critical communications. Paypal and Venmo saw some functionality go away. All online Alexa services were down, and many AI home services were down as well as people's automated Playwright testing platforms were rendered inoperable. Even Meta saw outages on a lot of their services, including their Meta AI app, which refused to load the front page's video feed, making their app crash. Even ChatGPT saw downtime!
The cause of the outage was not officially announced anywhere for a while, even after the outage was over, allowing a lot of rumors to spread, but eventually, Amazon themselves chose to be as transparent as possible and provide confirmation that the outage was due to a DNS resolution issue basically caused by their extensive DynamoDB usage. (AWS Message) The main issue wasn't that Amazon fucked up but that maybe we shouldn't have relied on them for every service on the planet. For the record, my site stayed online during all of this, because I don't use AWS for anything here. I actually don't like how AWS works. I'm sure a ton of people lost a day of productivity over this, but I felt a sense of pride because I smartly avoided AWS as a host for a lot of my tools and services recently.
...
What?
Oh, you expected me to cover other news? AWS being down felt like the biggest news of the year to me, so I was just going to stop there. That's sarcasm, of course. Even as a web developer, AWS being down isn't nearly as important to my career as what's going on in governments around the world.
Largest Solar Project in United States Canceled
On October 10, 2025, the Bureau of Land management officially cancelled the Esmeralda 7 solar project citing permit issues (BLM), a Nevada-based solar farm construction that would rival the biggest solar farms in the world. This came only days before Australia started promising free electricity during peak hours thanks to excess energy (FT) being produced by their own giant solar farms. The Esmeralda 7 project was started way back in 2020 right at the end of Trump's first term and was planned to be a sprawling solar array in the middle of nowhere in Nevada, but there was major push-back from environmentalists claiming all sorts of things from the array disrupting the migration of the desert bighorn (Friends of Nevada Wilderness) to it being a large impact to rural farmland. I think the push--back was partially warranted, but the thing could be simply moved or a path left untouched in the middle or something of that nature. Something could be done but they'd rather abandon the project entirely and spend the money on something else, like a new ballroom. This project would have been huge and would have provided nearly free energy as well as hundreds of jobs to construction workers as well as some long-term staff to maintain the facility.
On the up side, the EPA is being sued for dropping their solar incentives program! (Ars)
White House Ballroom Project 2025
Trump insisted on sinking $300 million into a new ballroom at the White House. (USA Today) This was a bizarre waste of money and energy, but like everything else Trump does, it doesn't surprise me. In order to build this ballroom, they had to demolish the old structure on the east wing of the White House.
Thanks to @jakndax for the link to this funny image. Appreciate it!
A
lot of people would take one look at this picture and think this is a
travesty because they demolished the east wing, but in reality, the
White House has had remodels done in the past, and this is nothing new.
That said, the biggest problem I have with this is the cost of it all.
This president was running on reducing the cost of eggs. How does
remodeling the White House help reduce the cost of anything? 
This president cut funding to SNAP benefits at the same time he wasted
$300M on a remodeled east wing. Happy Halloween, I guess!
U.S. Protestors dressed as giant frogs
Among other things, we saw a lot of immigration enforcement protestors dressed as frogs to show they weren't dangerous mobs after Trump claimed Portland was a warzone. (Oregon Live) I never wanted to go to Portland more in my life.
ICE agent arrested for drunk driving
Footage posted by David Bier on Bsky showed a self-proclaimed Department of Homeland Security employee driving without credentials with kids in the back of his car. He was being stopped on the side of a busy highway for drunk driving. He was belligerent and racist and tried to use his employment as law enforcement to get out of his arrest and even asked one of the officers if he was Haitian and implied if he was Haitian, he couldn't arrest anybody. What a racist ass... but it doesn't surprise me. This guy should be embarrassed, and he should be fired, but I doubt either happened. I find it pathetic that DHS/ICE employees can run around with masks on and abduct people without cause but when they're legitimately arrested the old fashioned way, they complain the whole time and try to use their employment status as a get-out-of-jail-free card.
Google removes ICE-spotting app following Apple’s ICEBlock crackdown
May as well tell Apple to fuck off. I mean, come on, Google, you're paying to be their search engine, and you're literally the gateway to the internet for almost the entire internet... except for those of us who use other search engines and understand how to enter addresses into the address bar.
Luigi Mangione's Pennsylvania hearing canceled
September 30, Luigi's hearing which was originally scheduled for November 7 was canceled due to Luigi refusing remote court hearings. (CBS) A physical in-person hearing was then scheduled for December 1 titled "People v. Mangione". (his dedicated court info site) His dedicated court info site is overwhelmingly dense with information, so if you want to know more, definitely head over there to study in more detail about what's going on.
Federal indictment charged to Kat Abughazaleh
I barely know anything about this, but it seems Kat was federally indicted (Kat) for being in front of or around a vehicle driven by a "federal agent" AKA ICE agent during a protest at an immigration enforcement facility (ABC). This is a ridiculously cowardly act from the prosecutors and ICE and the Republican party by association. Thankfully, this might end up biting them in the ass later and helping Kat win her long game of getting elected.
On that note, Zohran Mamdani won his election campaign to become mayor of New York City! I'll put that in the next monthly recap, though I thought it was kind of a nice bit of news to sneak in here. Light shines brightest in absolute darkness.
U.S. Federal hiring freeze continues
The hiring freeze Trump placed on federal agencies back in January was set to expire this month, so Trump signed an executive order to restrict hiring for the foreseeable future. (White House) Part of the order reads "This memorandum does not apply to military personnel of the Armed Forces or to positions related to immigration enforcement, national security, or public safety, and does not apply to the Executive Office of the President or the components thereof." Basically, he's freezing hiring for all agencies except the ones he immediately uses to push his agenda. On the up side, the memorandum continues to say "nothing in this memorandum shall adversely impact the provision of Social Security, Medicare, or veterans’ healthcare or benefits," so we could argue that it's unable to be enforced if they did hire someone without review in any department that has anything to do with those services/departments. It's pretty standard to slow down employment channels when you want qualified people to funnel into other departments, so I think that's the purpose of this freeze: to get more people into the departments he's having trouble finding people for, things like ICE or DHS. No sane person wants to be involved in that shitshow, but when they can't find work elsewhere, they're more likely to get work in those departments and then become reliant on that employment and more willing to do whatever they have to to keep their livelihood.
South Park summed it up nicely: "I got a nut."
Celebrity News
Emiru assaulted at Twitch Con
This news hit me from many sources all at once, but the post that initially got my attention was a clip posted by Zach Bussey of the incident. Twitch Con footage shows the assailant calmly walked up to Emiru out of turn and grabbed her in a kind of hugging form and tried to get a kiss or something like that. It was really hard to tell what exactly he managed to do to her other than hug her, but it is clear she did not expect or want his presence. The security crew at the event pushed him off her but then let him go with no repercussions.
Emiru left the area for a short while but came back to continue her meet-n-greet soon after. Props to her for continuing the event after such disrespect and stress. The assailant should have been arrested for assault. He was not invited to her or anything. He was just let past security because nobody was paying attention. He interrupted an otherwise chill meet-and-greet event and ruined a good fan's time as well as Emiru's.
Lily Allen has a foot account?
Apparently, famous musician Lily Allen has an OnlyFans account for her foot. (Mirror) It's funny that anyone pays for this in the first place, regardless of who it is behind (above?) the foot, but it's even more funny that she's not playing music with her feet there. Wait, is she? Hm. No. No, I'm not paying to see if she is.
Mirror goes on to mention weird requests Lily admits to having to deal with and covers backlash which Lily responded to with "Imagine being an artist and having nearly 8 million monthly listeners on Spotify but earning more money from having 1000 people subscribe to pictures of your feet. Don’t hate the player, hate the game."
Web & Streaming News
WTF Happened domain registered
This blog feature has been extremely successful in terms of readership and popularity. It has returned enough income to justify making it into its own website.
I went to get the domain and to my surprise, wtfhappened.net was available! I registered the domain on October 28 to park it for now. I'll build an actual website there in the coming months and try to migrate the old articles over to the new site as soon as I can. The website will be called "Syrsly's WTF Happened" and will be linked to on the Syrsly blog. New WTF Happened articles will still show up on this blog as links to the other site to make the transition as smooth as possible.
This domain was previously taken last year by a Chinese septic tank company and was registered as far back as 2011. It was never utilized properly and was mostly parked all these years as part of domain reseller company assets. It's amazing that I got this domain, because this is a very recognizable keyword domain. It will be utilized to make the news into its own entity that still promotes my persona but in a less direct way and isn't polluted with my persona's other interests, like Twitch streaming and chatbots and the jokes api. We'll still be doing a separate games website, too, so stay tuned for that.
So at this point, I'm full ADHD with personal website projects. I have my personal site, my persona (Syrsly) site (which is also a blog), a WIP game reviews site, a WIP WTF Happened blog/news site, a defunct game promo site (redirects for now), a webcomic site, and a halfway functional legacy hosting service site. I might be forgetting a site or two, but you get the idea: I got a lot going on. I'll keep plugging away at all this stuff, but I think it's almost time to find help.
Henry Stockdale BSky Verified
Watch out! Doc Stock is here!
If you're not familiar with Henry, he's someone who has probably interacted with me more than anyone else on Bluesky. He's also more importantly (to some) one of the editors at UploadVR, a site that's extremely influential in the VR space. You're a verified, Henry! (Say that like Hagrid.)
I know, it's not really newsworthy, but I wanted to highlight this moment since he's such a cool guy. Go follow Henry on Bluesky. Don't follow his LinkedIn, though, because LinkedIn sucks.
Bluesky age verification started...
Bluesky started blocking adult content from anyone who had not verified their age. This was in stark contradiction to the old ways of the internet, where we could just go to a porn site whenever we want. Bluesky isn't even a kids site, guys. I miss when we had that distinction to fall back on. What innocence are we even protecting with this? Why are indie games so much better than AAA games? Nothing makes sense these days.
Bluesky hit 2 billion posts!
On October 6, Bluesky, the popular social media platform on top of AtProto reached 2 billion posts. This is a good milestone, but I half expected the number to be higher by now all things considered.
MrBeast released "Hi Me In 10 Years"
MrBeast is a worldwide candy branding powerhouse nowadays, but 10 years ago, he was sitting in a bedroom in a cheap office chair. His one wish was to be at a million subscribers on YouTube. At this time, 10 years later, he's at 450 million subscribers. Back in the day, he was so much more authentic, and it's just nice to see this footage even if it's just a nostalgia thing. Many users in the comments admitted the video was inspirational with one user named mcnana saying "This is unironically the most inspirational video I’ve seen in the past few months."
Jimmy did a react on the MrBeast2 channel (YT react video link) where he gave more context about what was going on back then.
Twitch partnered with Duolingo
In a strange partnership with Duolingo, Twitch offered a free 3-month trial of Super Duolingo + a chat badge for subbing to any streamer. (Twitch) I didn't really know about this event until it was already over or else I would have let my wife know about it. She's a big fan of Duolingo's French course.
New & Returning Shows October 2025
October, as always, is the month of spooky, scary skeleton shows! Of course, that means we're eating good this month if we like such genres such as witchcraft and sorcery and fall weather and ghosts and haunted mansions and devils and demons and uh, you get the picture.
On October 18, Ghosts season 5 premiered. I still haven't watched season 4. Need to catch up sometime. It's a really fun show, and I love the U.K. version even more.
On October 29, we saw the first episode of Hazbin Hotel season 2 on Amazon Prime Video. (USA Today) I loved season 1 and am sure I'll enjoy season 2 soon. I like to binge-watch my shows, so I'll wait for the whole season to be available and watch it over a weekend like one really long animated movie.
New & Upcoming Movies September 2025
October 3, The Smashing Machine saw The Rock inhabit the role of a UFC champion, Mark Kerr. Seems cool... but definitely not my thing.
Also on October 3, we got a Casper movie theatrical re-release for its 30th anniversary and a Taylor Swift documentary promo movie titled Taylor Swift: The Life of a Showgirl that actually made it to theaters but was basically a promo for her new music.
October 10, Tron: Ares came out. I watched it at Cinemark with my wife and I in motion chairs, and it was probably the most motion-enhanced film I've seen. I wrote about it briefly on Letterboxd. If you're into motion chairs, this movie was made for them.
October 17, Good Fortune came out, and it was a really fun comedy set in a Dogma-like universe.
October 30, Bugonia was a movie. I haven't watched it yet, but I definitely want to. It looks kind of bizarre and creepy but in a modern way without any real monsters, just humans being weird. It also seems to have alien themes? I'm into it.
Guillermo del Toro's "Frankenstein," which releases on November 7 on Netflix, was pre-released in French cinema a week early. A cam version of this movie was propagated across the internet days before the actual release date, but I suspect there was a language barrier issue for most potential viewers. I'm interested in the film, but its release date was very unfortunately timed to be well after the Halloween month was already over. I'm likely going to watch it, anyway, because it seems pretty cool, but if it was timed better, it could have gained a lot more hype from general audiences.
Predator: Badlands comes out November 7 as well and also had an early screening of about a week earlier. Angry Joe recommended the film, so I'm going to give it a try, but it's definitely not something I was hyped for as a OG Predator fan. Rumors are spreading about how this film might tie into the Alien: Earth plot, but I'd prefer to assume they don't link at all.
On November 13, the remake of The Running Man will be a must watch for me. I'm watching it as soon as I can, but I want to rewatch the original film first.
Channing Tatum confirmed he's reprising his role as Gambit in Avengers: Doomsday. (GeekTyrant)
Gaming News
Megabonk sold over 1 million units in 2 weeks
Megabonk, an indie game in an oversaturated genre of video games, specifically action roguelikes, released on _ and by October 7, it had sold over a million copies on Steam alone. (GamingOnLinux) I had wishlisted the game when I first heard of it, but I was hesitant to buy it. I still haven't bought it, but its popularity is a very good indicator that it's probably a good game. If you try it, let me know what you think.
New Video Games October 2025
October started strong with a new Digimon game, Digimon Story: Time Stranger. This was around the time I started playing an older Digimon World game to celebrate. I planned to get the new Digimon game at release, but in my usual ADHD fashion, I pivoted to Clair Obscur and forgot all about the Digimon stuff. To be fair, Digimon World: Next Order annoyed the hell out of me. I'll still give Digimon Story: Cybersleuth a try sometime since I already own it, and if it wins
me over, I'll get the sequel, Time Stranger. Comment your favorite
digimon when you share this article so I know you read it! 
We saw a free indie factory automation game, Upload Labs, release October 3. The game released on Android and Steam at the same time in very similar states with a good early game and the ability to transfer your save via an in-game menu code system between devices. I played the game on 2 different tables, a phone, a laptop and a gaming PC and saw no major issues. The late game is very unfinished and needs a lot of care, but the concepts can easily be expanded on. I have high hopes for this one, but word of caution: the mobile version has some serious performance issues after watching an ad for coins.
On the same day, we also saw a horror thriller titled Totally Spaced release on Steam. I haven't had a chance to check this one out, but it's on my wishlist. It's only $5.99, so it's easy to justify, but considering it is an Early Access title, I'll wait.
On October 7, Ricave exited early access on Steam and got its 1.0 release! I've owned this game since the demo was released nearly a year ago. I'll check it out again on stream sometime soon.
Fans of Geometry Wars should check out Abstract Wars, which released on October 7 on Steam. It has some negative reviews, but it looks worth a try.
Maybe you were a big fan of Fall Guys but didn't like how they anonymized people's names? Well, on October 9, Super Galaxy Games came out on Steam, and it's basically Fall Guys genre but with a much faster pace. It also has a level editor and other community features to give it some much needed longevity. Unfortunately, it's pricey at $14.99 for what's essentially already a "dead game". It'd be different if it was a narrative title that had some unique selling point, but this is basically the 100th game like this in just a few years, and it relies on players for the content. I don't even see reviews yet.
A game I had been keeping an eye on for quite a while on Twitter before it went to shiX was Bye Sweet Carole, which released October 9 on Steam.
It has a nice look to it that resembles a classic Disney cartoon. Very
aesthetically pleasing but also very much a medium tier price, so it may
be hard to justify if you're only going to play it a tiny bit. Reviews
are mixed with many mentions of hardlocks and necessary restarts and
completion time of only 6 hours with reportedly not much of an ending. I
still want to try it for myself someday, but it isn't at the top of my
priorities right now. Still, this game is beautiful, and it remains one
of the highlights this month.
RV There Yet? came out October 21 on Steam. I got an influencer key, so I'll be trying the game on stream sometime soon, possibly later in the week. I unfortunately didn't get any extra keys for friends, so I'll be playing solo.
Also on October 21 was Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2! I should be excited for it, because it's a game I've waited over two decades for, but I watched Angry Joe play it and realized I wasn't going to like it enough for it to be worth $60. It has a lot of obviously half-assed features and missing pieces of the puzzle which will ruin the enjoyment for me. The original was a masterpiece, so this game is a huge disappointment and bad use of the IP.
On October 27, Mimesis, a survival horror coop title, showed its ugly mug on Steam right on time for Halloween week. It looked kind of forgettable to me, but if anyone wants a fourth, I'll consider it. I'd also replay Lethal Company, though. The next day, we saw a prettier and likely more involved survival game titled Outbreak Island on Steam but that game was single player. I usually prefer a good narrative to playing with friends, anyway.
If you're looking for something less scary and more puzzling, Escape Simulator 2 also came out on October 27.
Guild Wars 2 got another expansion this month titled Visions of Eternity. It's only $25 through Steam, so it's affordable for sure, but I don't like the idea of getting back into the same MMO I played before HTC Vive existed. I want Guild Wars 3, please. Will I buy it eventually? Yeah, probably... but only because I don't have a lot of options in the MMO space right now. The good VR MMOs keep dying.
Upcoming Games October 2025 and onward...
Project Turboblast had a successful funding campaign that ended in October! I'm looking forward to playing it whenever it comes out. My name should be in the credits as a backer.
A demo for A Pinball Game That Makes You Mad came out October 6 on Steam. This looks like a fun take on a pinball title, so I'm keeping an eye out for the full game which is slated for a November 18 release.
Unreal Redux got a new trailer. Still no release date. (GamingOnLinux) Unreal Redux is a fan project where they're trying to revitalize the game, Unreal, with modern tech. The trailer looks awesome.
Also slated for a November 18 release is SpongeBob SquarePants: Titans of the Tide, which looks surprisingly fun for yet another Spongebob licensed platformer. There's a demo available on Steam already. Check it out!
Looking for a game to scratch that Myst puzzle exploration itch? Try the demo for Ungrounded, which came out October 8 on Steam. The full game does not yet have a release date but is planned for Steam Early Access.
Crabs Must Die has a demo out and is scheduled for a November 6 release. It looks like a high quality narrative survival open world game with tons of combat and scavenging. It's cheap but also seems very short (6 hours) and possibly a little shallow. I'll give this one a try soon!
Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era is slated for a 2026 release but got a Steam demo on October 9, 2025. It might be worth a look if you're a fan of the franchise or its genre.
On October 10, an indie Zelda-like titled Emery Hearts got its first demo on Steam. I haven't played the demo yet, but reviews look positive, and the trailer looks promising. I look forward to trying it out soon. The full game is slated for a vague 2026 release window.
It looks like Mightreya has been postponed til early 2026 from its original late 2025 release window. I was lightly interested in this game for its anime-esque visual style. I still look forward to trying the game whenever it comes out.
Synth Riders got a non-VR sequel, Synth Riders: Overdrive, (Gematsu) that's kind of a bizarre because Synth Riders was a really cool VR experience and if anything, I kind of hoped for a new VR rhythm game, not something for handheld. That said, this is very cool for people who don't care to be physically active. I'm not sure when the game comes out if it's not out already, but it's definitely something I want to try if only to harshly compare it to the VR game.
Virtual Reality News
New VR Games
We never have a shortage of VR rhythm games, but this one in particular looks really cool: RAGER. Rager released October 9 for Steam.
I missed Successor's release on Meta last month, but it was brought to my attention when it went on a sale. This looks like a fun board game style tactical RPG with a gimmicky mixed reality mode. I'd check it out, but I'm already sitting on a lot of Meta games I'm just not playing, so the backlog comes first.
Star Wars: Beyond Victory came out October 7 as a Meta exclusive, and I'll be honest, it looks pretty cool for what it is. Ever wanted to play pod racer in VR? Well, this gives you a watered down version of that. Want something that feels like a 90s toy set but takes up less space? This is it. Check out the trailer and consider buying it on Meta here.
On October 16, Reach, a game from the makers of Xi, The Assembly, Fracked and most recently Vendetta Forever, came out on Steam, Meta, and PSVR2 for $40.
Vex Mage, a non-VR game with VR support, came out on Steam on October 21.
On October 23, Wanderer: The Fragments Of Fate released on Steam. The original Wanderer was amazing in its immersive visuals. This one looks even better.
By Grit Alone came out on Steam on October 24. I got a curator copy of this game to try it out, but I haven't found time for it yet. Looks good, though!
Only Dwarves Dig Proper Holes came out on Steam on October 29.
Arken Age got its Meta Quest 3/3S port on October 30.
Upcoming VR Games
Of Lies and Rain
released November 4 on Steam, Meta, and PSVR2. This game came out of
nowhere with an early release and I look forward to playing the Steam
version soon.
Deadpool VR is coming November 18 as a Meta exclusive. I'll wait on this to reach PCVR before I give it a go. I don't need to be a merc with a mouth that badly, and I have a lot else in the backlog already.
Titan Isles added New Game + mode
On October 7, Titan Isles added a New Game + mode to its content. (XR Source)
$150 DIY Open Source VR Headset
DIY projects trying to make VR more affordable have been a thing for a while, but this project in particular shows how far the community and the tech has come. The headset base is built almost entirely using 3d printed parts and open source software with some exceptions made for components which are sourced from consumer shopping outlets like AliExpress. (Techspot)
Tech News
Microsoft PowerToys v0.95.x
PowerToys, a useful add-on for Windows was recently updated to v0.95.x with tons of bugfixes, performance improvements, and brand new features, including the "light switch" which is a OS-wide light/dark mode toggle! This is a major feature for those of us who are having trouble keeping Windows in dark mode. Lately, Windows 10 has started misbehaving and switching itself back to the light theme. Switching back is a hassle without the light switch feature. This also allows switching automatically based on time of day. I wish this feature was baked into Windows at this point, but that's Microsoft for you: they simply can't improve their existing OS without reinventing the whole thing.
Hyper TrackPad Pro
A Kickstarter was lauched for a Windows-focused standalone trackpad to rival offerings in the Mac world. Hyper TrackPad Pro was born! Check out the Kickstarter here, and if you back it, please let me know what you think of it whenever you finally get it.
Office Walker treadmill
"Office Walker" sounds like a parody enemy name in some horror RPG set in an office. Wait? That's the *first* thing I think of. I don't think treadmill. I mean, it makes sense. Office workers need treadmills more than anyone else.
If you know me, you know I love the concept of treadmills: running in place and feeling like you actually went somewhere. The ultimate version of this is an absurdly expensive VR treadmill, but for a lesser but still absurdly expensive amount, you can get a lesser but still cool product through its Kickstarter here. The cool thing about the Office Walker is it's quieter than usual and doesn't require electricity and just looks really well made with a cool wooden look.
Game Dev & Art Asset News
Godot 4.6 Orbit Snapping
Passivestar posted that they added orbit snapping on alt key for Godot 4.6. Passivestar also shared a rather nifty node setup preview for instance scattering in Blender 5.0 here.
Serif Affinity Suite now free as part of Canva
On October 24, the Affinity site halted all sales and placed a "Creative Freedom Is Coming!" teaser message on the front of the site. On October 30, the site revealed Affinity products are now free for everyone, forever. The problem they didn't address was what paid customers would get instead of a refund. A lot of previous customers are rightfully annoyed, some of them making sure they keep backups of installers in case the installers go bye-bye in favor of a web version. I doubt the old versions will go away. It costs Canva basically nothing to keep hosting those files for the few customers who want to stick with the old version as long as they can. That said, the safest path is finding a good open source alternative.
Fab created a showcase section for Halloween-themed spooky 'zones'
Fab's doing well to keep people engaged and pleased with new freebies and proper spooky themed sections for the Halloween holiday. See screenshot below:
The freebies during this period were Construction PROPS, 2 in 1 Nanite Environment Bundle 1, and Robot 3. Construction PROPS looks really useful for a lot of different types of games. 2 in 1 Nanite Environment Bundle 1 seems like it might be useful for outdoors woods scenes and has water in some screenshots so may have a good river vibe.
Unity Halloween Sale 2025
Unity Asset Store had a Halloween holiday sale that went on for a couple weeks at the end of October. The sale had a free gift for all orders over $25. The free gift was Stylized Tornado and Whirlwind Magic VFX by Piloto Studio. I'll be honest, I don't really care about this asset at all. It looks kind of bad for a Halloween sale. Unity could have offered something more in line with the season, like a pumpkin asset or fall leaves.
Godot still hasn't stepped up with its own asset store. I believe they're going to rely on Fab for the foreseeable future, but I was hoping Godot would at least try to take over a piece of the cake. I'd rather fund Godot than Unreal and Fortnite, and I know they have enough audience to make this a worthwhile venture.
The end of the month saw Synty as Publisher of the Week, so grab their freebie if it's still there!
Closing story?
The closing story last month was a look back at some cool anime. This month, I would like to highlight some fun Halloween outfits. Some of these were submissions from Bluesky friends and random posts I found on BSky and Reddit.
Shoshana posted photos of a rather bizarre green paint job on a Tesla Cybertruck. If that's not worthy of a Halloween outfit mention, I don't know what is! Honestly, it's just weird, and I know it's too early for Halloween, but why else would you do this kind of paint job? Oh....
There were some sexy-fied characters as always, of course, but I don't care about those. This next one, however, is an exception, because it's clever af.
It's Shy Gal! If you don't get it, let's move on....
There
were a lot of Star Wars outfits this year. I think there always were,
and I just wasn't paying attention. Star Wars is huge. I'm just showing
you a meme posted by The Onion instead of trying to pick favorites out
of all the Star Wars crap. There's a lot of good stuff out there,
though! If you're a fan, look up "Star wars halloween" and you won't
regret it.
When you get back, you'll have to knock on the owl house door mask Porble made.
If you're a Clair Obscur fan, you'll get this pic from Carli Velocci. Sorry, I couldn't find the original post again to link it here, but thankfully, I took a screenshot.
Oh, look, her husby (or friend? I really don't know) posted a pic as well! A full party!
Of course, Clair Obscur was popular this year. Below are a few pics from the search for "clair obscur halloween" after October 30.
Finally,
we had some Halloween themes in a lot of software, including a subtle
one in OneDrive. If you looked at OneDrive's taskbar icon on October 31,
it was a dark cloud instead of its usual white cloud.
Actually... I think I have one more pumpkin-related story to end on.
Buddy the elf wins giant, floating pumpkin races!
You heard me. (APNews)
Winter
is coming... but I won't let my watch end. These articles will keep
coming on a monthly basis. If you like what I'm doing and wish to
support my work, buy some merch or buy me a taco...
or buy something from Amazon through one of my referral links. Every
little contribution adds up and helps keep me motivated to work on this
monthly recap and blog in general. I'm not going to quit if you don't pitch in, mind you. Leech away!
I'll see you all next month. Happy Thanksgiving in advance!
