November's double shockwave for gamers

This November promises to be a landmark month for gamers, with two of the industry's most talked-about titles arriving back-to-back.

On November 14, Treyarch will release 'Black Ops 7 Zombies', bringing back the original crew for an epic crossover. Just a day later, on November 15, the notoriously unforgiving 'Escape from Tarkov' will finally shed its beta status and launch on Steam.

For Call of Duty fans, Treyarch's reveal has been nothing short of a bombshell. After months of speculation, scattered developer teases, and fan theories, the studio confirmed that the legendary Zombies squad — Tank Dempsey, Takeo Masaki, Nikolai Belinski, and Edward Richtofen — will return.

For the first time, they will stand alongside Requiem operatives Weaver, Dr Elizabeth Grey, Major Carver, and Maya Aguinaldo in a storyline set in the Dark Aether.

The trailer paints a grim picture: the fall of Janus Towers, the team's plunge into another dimension, and a sinister new villain who drains their power while raising the undead.

Treyarch has described the chapter as both a reunion and a reset. Each of the eight characters is drawn from fractured timelines, carrying their own histories and burdens — from Richtofen's twisted alternate 1945, where the Axis prevailed, to Dempsey's cynical post-Vietnam worldview.

Fans are already hailing the crossover as one of the most ambitious story arcs in Zombies history.

If Treyarch is offering spectacle, Battlestate Games is delivering a milestone. Escape from Tarkov, long celebrated — and feared — for its brutal mix of scavenging, survival, and player-versus-player combat, will exit beta after nearly 10 years of testing.

Its arrival on Steam should mark a triumph, but controversy has already taken hold. Players who already own Tarkov through Battlestate's launcher will not be able to carry over their purchases to Steam.

Instead, they will have to buy the game again, albeit with the promise that premium edition perks will transfer once accounts are linked. The news has drawn backlash, with some predicting negative reviews on launch day.