September was, at one point, set to be the triumphant release of the highly anticipated Cyberpunk 2077. However, we’re now waiting until November to finally get our hands on what some people have pre-rated game of the year. Regardless of your stance on how stupid that may be, September still has quite a few exciting entries coming up in a decent variety of genres.
5) Iron Harvest – September 1
Iron Harvest is a real-time strategy developed by King Art Games that takes place during the 1920s in an alternate timeline inspired by the Polish-Soviet War. The anachronistic giant mechs and weapons make the game look unique given its setting nearly a century ago. The gameplay seems to be inspired by the tactical RTS Company of Heroes with lower numbers of units requiring heavy micromanagement to find success.
4) Spelunky 2 – September 15
The sequel to the classic roguelike from 2008, Spelunky 2 launches on PlayStation 4 to finally expand on the cave-exploring adventures.
The lasting popularity of that game and it’s procedural replayability has given it a cult following even as many other roguelikes and roguelites have followed it. Now, more than a decade from its original release and seven years since its re-release, we’ll see if it can rise above the many games of this genre and retake its throne!
3) Pacer – September 17
Hover racing games made a big comeback after losing their popularity some time ago. Now there are quite a few out there like FAST RMX, Redout, and even GRIP. If you want to go ridiculously fast and potentially fight other people doing that, you can do that. Pacer previously launched in 2017 but withdrew their game from Steam to rebrand and rebuild it to be a better experience. From what I’ve seen it may be one of the cleanest and most authentic games of this racing genre, so I think it might stand above the rest.
2) Star Renegades – September 8
This strategy RPG is a new franchise from Massive Damage, Inc, the creators of the Halcyon 6, isn’t one I’ve gotten a lot of information about. From the videos I’ve seen, the process includes fighting a bunch of large enemies with a group of regular-sized people. The combat system is all about putting combo moves together to manipulate the impending attacks of these giant mechs and other strange foes. What makes it so appealing to me, is that the art style and animations look incredible. I’ll definitely be checking this out.
1) Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 – September 4
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater was my introduction to the skateboarding culture as a kid. Obviously, it wasn’t the real thing, but the skaters were real people, the video cutscenes showed their real tricks, and the music was like nothing I’d heard before. Nostalgia may be the driving force here, but I am excited to get into this remake/remaster of games I sank many hours into decades ago.
Honorable Mention – Rebel Galaxy Outlaw – September 22
Rebel Galaxy Outlaw originally released over a year ago back when Epic was buying up every indie game they could to exclusively release on their hot, fresh, and featureless Epic Games Store. This homage to the classic space sims of yore like Freelancer and Wing Commander: Privateer has you zipping around a galaxy shooting down ships, collecting bounties, mining, trading, and all of that fun stuff. It also features a fun story to go along with all of the freeform content. I know I enjoyed it, so it’s great to see it coming to Steam, PS4, Xbox One, and Switch all on the same day.
September is set to be a solid month with some great-looking games on deck. I don’t know if it will go down as the biggest month of the year, but it won’t disappoint. If nothing else, it will provide some variety from August’s more standard releases. Next month is looking just as good as well though, continuing the trend of 2020’s otherwise poor experience counterbalanced by some great games.