Seven Games For September You Need to Wishlist Now

I thought it was going to be easy – talk about the games in September that might slide underneath your radar with all of the bigger titles trying to escape the 100-pound guerilla in November.

Let’s take out all of the sequels coming out because they seem like games that will be at the tops of minds this month. Graveyard Keeper 2, Toem 2, and Moonlighter 2 all look to raise the bar on already great titles. Easy to talk about. Easy recommendations. Not for this article.

As you dive into the month, my list of five titles went to seven games. And then another and another kept popping up. Welcome to Elderfield combines horror and farming. Wanderburg is a city builder combined with Twisted Metal in a rogue-like. Kernel Hearts lets you live out your magical girl dreams as you attack and dethrone god in this multiplayer adventure. And that about wraps up –

Lily’s World XD lets you search through a haunted computer.

Thousand Hells is what happens when you let Choose-Your-Own adventures grow-up.

20 Somehow Even Smaller Mazes is … just as it says on the box but it’s amazing.

BRAZILIAN DRUG DEALER BEFORE 4: DEMONS FROM THE PORTAL TO HELL I OPENED ARE STILL IN THE FAVELA AND NOW I HAVE TO SAVE MAMADAS FROM RONALDO is the sequel to one of the most broken first-person shooters with one of the best soundtracks you will hear all year.

And – I still have seven games I want to pitch for your wishlist. There are probably more games out there that you need to know about but this article has to go up sometime before the month ends. Keep your eyes open and your thumbs limber. There are some great games waiting for you to experience them this month.

Rivage

Pitch: Trapped in a time loop, find out the fate of your crew before you meet their fate.

Genre: Puzzle / Narrative / First Person

• What do you do: Poke around a space station picking up clues, reading through journals, and solving traditional adventure puzzles.  
• What does it feel like: Cozy mystery game with a touch of danger.

Shroom and Gloom

Pitch: Develop your deck of cards to survive the endless bowels of the deep while slaughtering and eating your foes

Genre: Deckbuilding / Strategy

• Hand-drawn textures and design
• Deal with two decks: Fight and defend with one deck. Explore and upgrade with the other.
• Catch things on fire, throw it on a skewer, and you have yourself a handy little snack

Roman Sands RE:Build

Pitch: Two stories. Both strange. Made by the team behind the IGF winning title, Paratopic. (Paratopic: Overdub comes out at the same time.)

Genre: Narrative / Puzzle / Surreal

• You wash up on shore beside the last hotel after the apocalypse. Be the best bell girl you can be while trying to solve the mystery.
• You awake in a decaying zoological research station as one of the last people left alive. There’s a parasite running wild in the station as well.
• How does this all work together? What does it mean? Why can’t I play it right now?

Well Dweller

Pitch: To save your family, you only have one match to burn the queen in this action metroidvania.

Genre: Action / Metroidvania / Platforming

• The team behind this game also made Crypt Custodia and Islets, two other highly overlooked and excellent metroidvanias. (Don’t make this a third.)
• Your main character is absolutely adorable while everything else is very creepy.
• There’s a demo out of this if you’re not convinced.

Nivalis Nights

Pitch: Manage a noodle bar in a cyberpunk future world

Genre: Management / Narrative / Cozy?

• Nivalis nights like Nivalis days more often than not are hotter than hot in a lot of good ways.
• More than management, you’ll meet new people and go on sidequests while maintaining the bar (or not).
• Yes, there’s a fishing minigame.

Songs of Glimmerwick

Pitch: Learn to be a wizard through music at school while interacting with the world around you

Genre: Narrative / Cozy / Musical

• Comes from the developers of Eastshade, an overlooked gem of a game where you help a community out through art
• Feels more like a living world with people to meet, classes to attend, and villagers in need of help
• Yes, there’s a demo out for this now.

Normal Golf Game

Pitch: It’s a normal golf game.

Genre: Physics / Simulation / Weird

• It is not a normal golf game.

Let me know what I'm missing on my list by yelling at me on BlueSky or find other great games along with dumb ramblings on my Player GG page.