The autumn onslaught of game releases heading into the holiday season is now upon us. If it felt like there were already too many games to pay attention to before, things are about to get much worse. A blessing for some, a curse for others, with heavy-hitters like Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, The Legends of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, and more leading the charge.
With Star Wars Outlaws sneaking out at the tail-end of August, this September is making up for being a mega-blockbuster or two light with a truly overwhelming number of mid-tier releases, indie games, and tons, and tons of remasters. And not just repackaged cash-ins either, but long-overdue revivals like Marvel vs. Capcom.
2024 will probably end up going down as one of the post-covid hangover “off-years” of this console generation, with 2023 being an unprecedentedly good year, and lots of major games already stacking up with vague “sometime in 2025″ release windows. But the overall pace of game releases just keeps getting faster and faster, with more and more great stuff falling by the wayside every month. Here’s a bunch of the games worth paying attention to that come out in September.
The Casting of Frank Stone – September 3
Play it on: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Genre: Narrative-driven horror adventure
The makers of Until Dawn return with an interactive story set in the Dead by Daylight universe. A group of teens investigate the legacy of grizzly steel mill murders to unravel a mystery of cosmic proportions.
Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions – September 3
Play it on: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Switch, PC
Genre: Arcade fantasy sports game
Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions sounds like Rocket League with broomsticks and quaffles. The sports-centric spin-off lets you create your own character or play as series icons as you compete online and try to secure the title of number one Hogwarts jock.
Age of Mythology: Retold – September 4
Play it on: Xbox Series X/S, PC
Genre: Top-down fantasy RTS
Gather resources, build armies, and raze your enemies to the ground, except this time with magical beats and the blessings of gods. Age of Mythology: Retold is a graphical overhaul of the original game with a few extra bells and whistles. It’s also on console this time around.
Ace Attorney Investigations Collection – September 6
Play it on: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Switch, PC
Genre: Mystery adventure game
The Ace Attorney Investigations compilation includes Miles Edgeworth and Prosecutor’s Gambit, two Nintendo DS-era spin-offs featuring Phoenix Wright’s one-time rival as players take control of the prosecution’s chair to seek justice for people’s crimes. The second game in the collection was never previously localized in North America.
Astro Bot – September 6
Play it on: PS5
Genre: Puzzle platformer
Sony’s budding mascot for the PS5 makes his standalone debut in an adventure brimming with PlayStation history and nostalgic callbacks as the titular robot saves friends cosmic danger. It’s shaping up to be an excellent Mario-style platformer adventure based on my previous hands-on time.
NBA 2K25 – September 6
Play it on: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Switch, PC
Genre: Basketball sim
2K Games’ latest annual microtransaction delivery device is out this month. The newest entry brings back the card-collecting MyTeam mode, new competitive modes, and the auction house. Who’s ready to once again break the glass and the bank?
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 – September 9
Play it on: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Genre: Online co-op first-person shooter
Thirteen years after the first game, Space Marine 2 is back to revive old-school shooter campaigns in the grim dark fantasy sci-fi universe of Warhammer 40K. Now there’s a three-person co-op horde mode where can murder aliens and case upgrades.
Towerborne – September 10
Play it on: Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC
Genre: Co-op loot RPG
The makers of beautiful tactics RPG The Banner Saga are now making an action-RPG based around loot. It’s coming to Steam Early Access this month with an Xbox version to follow early next year.
Yars Rising – September 10
Play it on: PS5, PS4, Switch, Windows, macOS
Genre: Co-op loot RPG
The hit Atari shoot-em up is getting a spin-off inspired by the original’s lore in the structure of a narrative-driven action platformer. There’s light Metroidvania elements with the shooting of a Mega Man Zero side-scroller.
Marvel Vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics – September 12
Play it on: PS5, PS4, Switch, Windows, macOS
Genre: 2D fighting anthology
Marvel vs. Capcom will once again be taking fans for a ride with another fighting game anthology that finally revives the pixel art-animated classics for modern platforms with rollback netcode for precision online multiplayer. It’s looking real good so far.
Lollipop Chainsaw RePop – September 12
Play it on: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Switch, PC
Genre: Third-person zombie hack ’n slash
Lollipop Chainsaw was treated mostly as a punchline punching bag when it first came out, but the ham-fisted zombie slasher is ready for a reappraisal from a more sophisticated audience. The team behind the remaster keeps promising zero censorship though it’s unclear how much the new version will really change or improve upon from the original.
Wild Bastards – September 12
Play it on: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, PC
Genre: Strategy shooter roguelite
Remember Void Bastards? It had some issues but also a ton of great ideas. Wild Bastards is the spiritual-successor with colorful planet hopping campaigns full of character rosters to optimize and mods to customize, all wrapped in hyper-stylistic shooting reminiscent of the vibe and vigor of a Borderlands.
Funko Fusion – September 13
Play it on: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Switch, PC
Genre: Action adventure brand activation
Funko Fusion is a third-person action game built around fans’ collective love for plastic licensed abominations. We’re still not exactly sure what it is but no IP has been left behind in this comedic shooter.
The Plucky Squire – September 17
Play it on: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, PC
Genre: Action adventure
The Plucky Squire is a coloring book doodle come to life and turned into a trippy-looking Zelda-like. Familiar dungeon-crawling combat is wrapped around the found objects of a child’s playroom in an adventure that is equal parts cute and imaginative.
Fera: The Sundered Tribes – September 17
Play it on: PC
Genre: Multiplayer hunting MMO
What if Monster Hunter with survival crafting elements by way of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s scale and Studio Ghibli’s art style? It’s a lot and it might not all work but it looks gorgeous and is out in Early Access this month.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor – September 17
Play it on: PS4, Xbox One
Genre: Action adventure Soulslite
Over a year after it originally came out, Jedi: Survivor’s last-gen versions are coming soon. It’s nice the millions of players who never upgraded will finally get to experience one of 2023’s best games, though I have no idea how it will handle or what it will look like on the decade-old hardware.
Final Fantasy 16 – September 17
Play it on: PC
Genre: Action adventure RPG
Final Fantasy XVI fans can fret over a whole new set of sales numbers for their favorite embattled franchise when the RPG hits finally hits PC. Mods can also fix some of the worst parts of the otherwise amazing game, including it’s god-awful dark sky in the late game.
Keylocker – September 18
Play it on: PS4, Switch, PC
Genre: Cyberpunk rhythm RPG
Keylock has beautiful pixel art and a fresh spin on traditional RPG systems and storytelling. Every time I see a new screenshot, GIF, or trailer from it I am mesmerized all over again.
UFO 50 – September 18
Play it on: PC
Genre: All of them
Over seven years since it was announced, the Spelunky creators’ ambitious re-imagining of a lost console’s library in the form of a 50 game compilation is almost here. UFO 50 tells the story of a defunct game studio through its back catalog which includes dozens of games each with unique styles, mechanics, and stories.
Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster – September 18
Play it on: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Genre: Sandbox action adventure
See degenerate Frank West get trapped in a zombie apocalypse all over again in the remastered version of the Xbox 360-era action game. The game is only available digital at launch, with a physical version arriving later in November.
God of War: Ragnarok- September 19
Play it on: PC
Genre: Action adventure RPG
The latest PS5 console exclusive to hop to PC is God of War: Ragnarok. I can’t imagine how beautiful it’s going to look there, especially considering how smooth the PC port of the first game was at launch.
Enotria: The Last Song – September 19
Play it on: PS5, PC
Genre: Soulslike RPG
Every year it feels like we’ve hit peak Soulslike and then another interesting stab at the FromSoftware-crafted subgenre appears. Enotria is a more colorful twist on the traditionally grim formula, with Commedia dell’arte masks tapping into Italian folklore for a Rome-infused combat gauntlet.
Frostpunk 2 – September 20
Play it on: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Genre: Post-apocalyptic survival city builder
Get ready for a whole new society to love or hate you when environmental catastrophe forces you to become a moral monster. Frostpunk 2 is supposed to expand dramatically on the first game, with much bigger dystopian cities and more intricate political dilemmas and factions to navigate.
Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed – September 24
Play it on: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Switch, PC
Genre: Action adventure 3D platformer
Epic Mickey was a fan-favorite on the Wii back in 2010. The remaster looks even more gorgeous and this time around the updated version should hopefully fix the original’s rough controls and terrible camera.
Greedfall 2: The Dying World – September 24
Play it on: PC
Genre: Colonial-era fantasy RPG
Greedfall 2 takes place a few years before the original game with a focus on the “dying continent” of Gacane and its nations plagued by the “malichore” sickness. There’s an emphasis on more tactical combat and more companions with more romances.
Ara: History Untold – September 24
Play it on: PC
Genre: Co-op loot RPG
Ara: History Untold is an alternate history take on the 4X grand strategy formula. Players explore a dynamic world full of different biomes, improving their buildings and societies by upgrading a non-linear tech tree. It’ll also feature both real-time and asynchronous multiplayer modes unlike Civilization 6.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom – September 26
Play it on: Switch
Genre: Puzzle action adventure
Zelda is finally taking the sticks in her namesake series spanning more than three decades. And instead of retreading the combat-driven dungeon crawling of other top-down Zelda:Echoes of Wisdom is experimenting with a completely new mechanic where the princess can make copies of objects in the world to solve puzzles and overcome obstacles in multiple ways. It’s go time.
EA Sports FC 25 – September 27
Play it on: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Switch, PC
Genre: Soccer sim
Now in its second year without the FIFA license, EA Sports FC 25 is promising a deep overhaul of strategy with new improvements to player roles, team tactics, and player-controlled on-the-fly shifts called Smart Tactics. There will also be new skill moves and the usual updates to rosters, stadiums, and game modes.
Starfield: Shattered Space DLC – September 30
Play it on: PS5, PS4, Switch, Windows, macOS
Genre: Co-op loot RPG
Okay, this one isn’t a full-game, but it’s still big. Starfield, Bethesda’s massive sci-fi RPG from 2023, is getting its massive story expansion for 2024 called Shattered Space. Unlike the base game which emphasized open-ended exploration of procedurally generated (and often repetitive) planets and outposts, Shattered Space focuses on bespoke, horror-imbued story missions that will hopefully live up to the classic Bethesda quest design hype.
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