Well, September’s coming, and you know what that means? Yep, pumpkin spice everywhere. Kids are going back to school, and of course, the gaming industry says, “You thought your wallet was safe?” Oh, oh, oh, no, no, no. We got a whole bunch of stuff coming up in the month of September.
Hi folks, this is Zaid, and today on Aura Riot, the top 10 new games we’ll be talking about in September, 2025.
10. Metal Eden
Reikon Games, the mad scientist behind “Ruiner,” they’ve got a sequel that is just full ass dystopian craziness, “Metal Eden.” Subtlety is overrated in this game, but either dropping you in a big old orbital city called Mobius. It was once humanity’s shining beacon. It is now a glittering death trap.
You are a hyper unit android. You’re tasked with rescuing human consciousness or cores, I guess. I don’t really know. I guess humanity is stored in limited edition data backups now. It’s basically “Doom 2016” meets “Ghostrunner.” Sprinkled with parkour that’s got a little bit of that “Mirror’s Edge” flavor, albeit, you have the ability to get much more violent. You dash, you grapple, you wall run, you transform into an armored ram ball. Little nod to “Metroid” there.
This was originally gonna come out back in May, but it got delayed to September 2nd, and we’ll be playing “Metal Eden” when it lands on PS5, Xbox Series, and PC that day.
9. Sonic Racing: Crossworlds
As you know, the Sonic cart racing franchise kind of gets overlooked when we’re talking about like “Mario Kart” and stuff, but it’s always really been a joy whenever a new Sonic cart racer comes out. This one is more of a multiverse oriented version of it.
Sonic hasn’t gone full open world with his race thing yet, but you have one of 15 cross worlds, which you jump through travel rings mid race, which changes up each lap as they come. There’s 24 tracks. There’s a roster that’s apparently going to have more than 50 characters eventually. I don’t know if it starts with that or what, but it’s a 12 player multiplayer mode that you’ve got. There’s also local split screen, which is great, as Sega is bringing us characters from various different franchises beyond just Sonic.
So you got Joker from “Persona 5,” Kasuga from “Yakuza,” Steve from “Minecraft”, Hatsune Miku, Pacman, SpongeBob, Avatar. I mean it looks, it looks absolutely enjoyable.
“Sonic Racing: Crossworlds” is coming to the PlayStations, the Xboxes, Switch, and PC September 25th.
8. Hell is Us
This isn’t a run-of-the-mill action adventure. You’re an UN peacekeeper who’s skipped town, gone AWOL. You know, you’re hunting for your parents in a war torn country, only to discover that the place is infested with supernatural horrors.
This game goes full 1990s immersion mode. There’s no mini map, no quest log, no handholding at all, just environmental cues, weird NPC nonsense, and all out chattering, and you just kind of have to old school “Zelda” your way through a bunch of grotesque monsters and existential dread and in a lot of ways, it is kind of like a cyberpunk “Zelda,” but not set in a cyberpunk city. A lot of “Resident Evil” going on here too.
It’s a weird looking game, but in a lot of ways, it’s a very cool looking game. There is a demo that is available now. I actually haven’t gotten to it yet, but it’s one of those ones where I’m definitely going to play it before the actual game comes out, which it is coming out very soon on PS5, Xbox Series, and PC, September 24th.
7. NBA 2K26
Yeah, the annual ritual of pouring hundreds of virtual VC into dubious micro transactions returns. (Falcon groans)
So what’s supposed to be new here? So there’s this thing where they’re using this tech, they’re calling pro play, to map actual NBA footage onto gameplay to make things look more realistic. I’m not really sure how that plays out. Like I’ll say this, in certain ways, it looks more realistic, but in certain ways, it looks more rigid and weird. I don’t know.
I don’t want to crap all over it because obviously, there’s a reason why these come out every year, and they sell well and people like them and people play them because there is like good action in these games. It’s just, I mean, you play it every year, and you end up feeling a lot like they keep adding stuff that makes it worse. So that’s kind of where I am with these games.
We obviously are gonna talk about them. It’s not always gonna be positive, but there’s also obviously something to them.
“NBA 2K26” is landing on the PlayStations, the Xboxes, the Switches, and PC, September 5th.
6. Cronos: The New Dawn
This comes to us by Bluebird Team, the folks behind the “Silent Hill 2 Remake.” It’s a new IP, and to me, this looks kind of like a “Dead Space” meets “Alan Wake” type game.
Obviously it’s got a pretty distinct European flavor because it’s set in a, well, a decaying future in 1980s Poland. You kind of jump back and forth in time traveling stuff. It’s kind of one of those things where like we know that Bluebird can kick serious ass when they’ve got the resources to, and it makes me excited for what this can be, but also, we know what Bluebird is capable of on the other end, and this is a self-published title on their part, so we’ll see.
It looks very cool. I admit, I have my hopes up for it. So fingers are crossed.
“Cronos: The New Dawn” is coming to PS5, Xbox series, Switch 2, and PC, September 25th.
5. Baby Steps
A literal walking simulator developed by Ben Fadi Gabe Cuzzillo and Maxi Bach of “Getting Over It” and “Ape Out” fame. You play as Nate, a slacker with a wobble in his step, so to speak.
Basically, you control Nate’s legs independently in a way that makes “Death Stranding’s” balance mechanics just feel like it leaves a lot of assumptions made. Like here, we’re literally unable to do the basic thing of putting one foot in front of the other, but this game, unlike Fadi’s previous games, is not designed to make you rage quit. It’s actually kind of an arcadey type game. It’s intended to be challenging but also accessible.
I don’t know, it looks like it might be funny as well. It’s one I’ve kind of been interested in, and I hope that it turns out to be a fun game.
“Baby Steps” is coming to P5 and PC, September 8th.
4. Silent Hill F
A very different, and yet not that different looking entry into “Silent Hill.” Like it’s definitely got a much more rich color palette than your average “Silent Hill,” and it’s definitely got a different setting set in 1960s Japan, but it’s also got tons and tons of mist and fog.
“Silent Hill F,” it’s kind of going for the Japanese approach on horror, finding the beauty in terror, rather than flashy scares. I’m not sure exactly how that’s going to play out within the context of a “Silent Hill” game, but we do have close quarters melee focused combat with pipes and spears and stuff, that seems maybe a little influenced by a Souls-like. You got dodging and stamina mechanics, but it’s not, according to the devs at least, not full-blown that.
We’ll see, of course.
“Silent Hill F” is coming to PS5, PC, and Xbox series, September 25th.
3. Borderlands 4
Easily the most ambitious “Borderlands” yet. They’re going for seamless loading screen free zones with lots of traversal tools, with grappling hooks, gliding, double jumping, et cetera, and it’s set on a brand new planet called Kairos where you’re fighting against a dictator called the so-called Timekeeper and his synthetic army.
I mean, it’s gonna be “Borderlands.” That’s the one thing that I think is kind of important to understand here. That stuff doesn’t necessarily sound like “Borderlands.” It’s going to be “Borderlands.” When you boot this up and you look at it, it looks like “Borderlands.” There is humor. Hopefully the humor ends up being, as they have said, better than the third entry of the series.
I mean, honestly, the “Telltale Borderlands” is still probably the best in terms of storytelling and not being annoying. If they can approach that area in terms of tone and content and give us the kind of gameplay it looks like they’re gonna give us here, this could be a very good, maybe even the best “Borderlands,” and it seems like that’s what they’re going for.
So my fingers, again, very crossed on this one.
“Borderlands 4” is landing on PS5, Xbox series, and PC, September 12th.
2. Dying Light: The Beast
They gave it a little bit of a delay for some extra polish. You are now back on the original protagonist of “Dying Light,” Kyle Crane’s shoes. He has been experimented on, and he has been infused with zombie stuff, so that there is now a werehog mechanic. I, of course, refer to it as that because I think that referring to “Sonic Unleashed” is very funny to do when talking about “Dying Light: The Beast.”
But this is a very rural looking game, a little different from the urban jungles we have seen in the past, kind of a “Twin Peak-sy” looking vibe in a weird way. The parkour does remain essential though, which is, I mean, it’s kind of a given. It’s one of the things that makes “Dying Light,” “Dying Light.” But it looks like it brings a lot of brutality to the equation that wasn’t necessarily there before.
It looks good to me. Like you got, you got the environmental chaos, you got the visceral melee, you got stealth. Looks like they’re trying to go hard with the night stuff. I like that. That’s the thing that we all want from “Dying Light.” And yes, apparently there is four player co-op. It looks great. Honestly, I think we’re in for a good one here.
“Dying Light: The Beast” is coming to the PlayStation, the Xboxes, and PC, September 19th.
1. Hollow Knight: Silksong
I will believe it when I am playing it, but “Hollow Knight: Silksong” is finally dancing onto our screens and everything looks frickin’ crazy. Like “Hollow Knight” is, of course, a classic Metroidvania. It’s kind of the one that told us, you know what? Absolutely everything can be done in a Metroidvania, and you should expect everything.
We have a much more nimble character than the first time out in a completely different kingdom called Far Loom with over 165 unique enemies, a hundred save point benches, a quest system, and allegedly a lot of new ideas for the Metroidvania formula.
I don’t know what else I could say about this that would raise or lower your hype. It’s “Hollow Knight: Silksong.” It’s supposed to come out in September, 2025, and we’re like less than a couple of weeks from it, and they haven’t said “psych” yet, so we could actually be playing “Silksong” soon, guys.
“Hollow Knight: Silksong” is coming to the PlayStations, the Nintendo Switches, the Xboxes, and PC, September 4th.
Bonus Games
EA Sports FC 26
Basically looks like they’re attempting to make this a more precision game, making it feel a little crisper, a little more serious, I guess. There’s also a facelift for ultimate team, if that’s your thing.
“EA Sports FC 26” is coming to the PlayStations, the Xboxes, the Switches, and PC, September 26th.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle – DLC: Order of the Giants
This one’s a super interesting one. It drops Indy into Rome’s shadowy catacombs, as well as the Colosseum ruins and the sewer system, crazy Roman stuff. You know, there’s cultists, there’s lore about giants, et cetera, some crazy crap.
And that’s landing on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series on September 4th.
Hirogami
Origami meets platforming basically. It is, I mean, exactly what it sounds like, a 3D platformer inspired by traditional Japanese paper folding. There’s a shapeshift mechanic. You have to, you know, use different things to get past different stuff.
Honestly, it looks like a fun platformer. It’s got a different look to it. Definitely a satisfying look. Could be one of those things with really great sound effects too. In fact, that’s what it better be.
“Hiragami” is coming to PC and PS5 on September 3rd.
NBA Bounce
A family friendly NBA, a goofy, weird looking game. You got all 30 official NBA mascots. You got custom avatars. And hey, if you like playing basketball games and you like playing them with your kids, or if you are a kid, looks like it could be fun.
That’s landing on the PlayStation, the Xbox Series, Switches, and the PC, September 26th.
Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles
This is kind of one I’ve been keeping my eye on. I love “Final Fantasy Tactics,” although I really haven’t played it since it was originally out on PlayStation. Going back to it is, I mean, it’s never really been great, but now we’ve got, not only a revamp in terms of polish, some UI stuff, et cetera, et cetera, but if it ends up not being what you like, you can go right back to the 1990s version and play it. It’s right there.
I like that you get both. With games like this, I feel like that’s how the remaster should go.
“Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles” is landing on the PlayStations, the Switches, and PC, September 30th.
That’s all for today. Leave us a comment, let us know what you think. And as always, we thank you very much for reading this blog. I’m Zaid. We’ll see you next time right here on Aura Riot.