Games

New Game Releases 09/15/26 – 09/21/26

Top Releases:

  • Wolverine (PS5) – Releases Sep. 15th
  • Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave (Switch 2) – Releases Sep. 17th
  • Aniimo (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Sep. 15th
  • Runescape: Dragonwilds (PC/PS5/Switch 2/Series X|S) – Releases Sep. 15th
  • Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter (PC/Switch/Switch 2) – Releases Sep. 16th
  • Woodo (PC/PS5/Switch/Switch 2/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Sep. 16th
  • The Walking Dead: Streets of Survival (PC/PS5/Switch/Switch 2/Series X|S) – Releases Sep. 18th

Well there’s certainly been a lot of talk over the last week since reviews dropped for Wolverine. I’m sure Sony and Insomniac were expecting overwhelming praise and “Game of the Year” rumblings to roll in for this new action title. Instead it has turned into a discussion on accessibility, player hand-holding, and fart gas. There have been plenty of anecdotal messages on social media of people cancelling their pre-orders for Wolverine but it is, as of this writing, the #1 selling game on the PlayStation Store, so I guess the negative news wasn’t enough to stop the masses from coming out (that and this being only, like, the second PlayStation exclusive of 2026). I would have easily accepted Wolverine being one of the biggest GOTY contenders at The Game Awards this year but, after reading the reviews and seeing the online discourse, I think it’ll be lucky to even be remembered as a game that released in 2026.

Our other big release this week is Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave, the latest entry in the long running tactical RPG series from Nintendo and Intelligent Systems. Unlike the series previous entry, Engage, which had a single protagonist (though you could replay as a different gender), Fortune’s Weave has four protagonists to choose from, similar to that of Three Houses, in which this game shares not just a similar gameplay philosophy, but also the same in-game universe. This should be welcome news to fans of Three Houses, as Fortune’s Weave seems to return to the more in-depth, social management side of things, as Engage put less emphasis on this. On the flip side, those who found the more straightforward approach to gameplay in Engage might be put off by the return to this more hands-on style. Personally, I am very excited for Fortune’s Weave and, after seeing how poorly Wolverine was received, I am not at all sad that I decided to skip it in favor of Fire Emblem.

Wolverine (PS5) – Releases Sep. 15th

Developed by: Insomniac Games
Published by: Sony Interactive Entertainment

Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave (Switch 2) – Releases Sep. 17th

Developed by: Intelligent Systems
Published by: Nintendo

Aniimo (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Sep. 15th

Developed by: Pawprint Studio
Published by: Pawprint Studio

Runescape: Dragonwilds (PC/PS5/Switch 2/Series X|S) – Releases Sep. 15th

Developed by: Jagex
Published by: Jagex

Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter (PC/Switch/Switch 2) – Releases Sep. 16th

Developed by: Nihon Falcom
Published by: GungHo Online Entertainment America/Nihon Falcom/Clouded Leopard Entertainment

Woodo (PC/PS5/Switch/Switch 2/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Sep. 16th

Developed by: Tiny Monks Tales
Published by: Daedalic Entertainment

The Walking Dead: Streets of Survival (PC/PS5/Switch/Switch 2/Series X|S) – Releases Sep. 18th

Developed by: Odaclick Game Studio
Published by: Trailmark Games

Ports and Expansions:

  • Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed (Switch 2) – Releases Sep. 15th
  • Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising (Switch 2) – Releases Sep. 17th
  • Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight and Mayhem Collection DLC (PC/PS5/Switch 2/Series X|S) – Releases Sep. 18th

Everything else:

Notable Releases from 10, 20, and 30 years ago:

Games:

In notable games, 2016 gave us Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse, a sequel to 2013’s SMT IV, set in an alternate timeline that follows the story of Nanashi, a demon hunter who is resurrected from death by a demon in exchange for becoming a “Godslayer”. Reception to the game was mostly positive, with critics and players praising the quality of life adjustments made to the game. These included adjustments to the combat to make it simpler and easier to understand, as well as improvements to the game’s map and navigation, making it easier to get around and understand what to do next.

From 2006, we’ve got the game Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team and Red Rescue Team, a new release in the long line of Mystery Dungeon games, but the first entry to focus on Pokémon. For those unfamiliar with the series, players direct a character (or group of characters) through a randomly generated dungeon level. The goal in each level is to find the exit, typically a staircase that leads to the next level of the dungeon. After a set number of levels are completed, players will typically have to fight some kind of boss, exiting the entire dungeon with whatever loot they have collected. This gameplay loops repeats several times, with dungeon levels getting progressively more difficult.

As you can see, this gameplay style differs drastically from the mainline Pokémon games, which are more traditional RPGs, in which players control a human that captures and trains the little pocket monsters. With Mystery Dungeon, players got to, for the first time, play as the Pokémon themselves, as well as understand their dialogue as if it was in their own language. What didn’t change, however, was the dual release strategy, in which two versions of the game would release, each with their own unique Pokémon. This also had an added unique property, in that Blue Rescue Team was a DS exclusive, while Red Rescue Team was a Game Boy Advance exclusive.

The game was a bit hit with players, going on to sell over 5 million copies combined. Critically, though, it was not so well received, receiving the same complaints that all Mystery Dungeon games received in the past, namely that it was too repetitive and simple. The negative critical reception didn’t matter much, though, as the series would receive six more entries over the next 20 years, the most recent being 2020’s Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX (a remake of this very game we’re discussing).

From 1996, we’ve got The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, the second entry in the now 30+ year old franchise. Like most games in the series, players take on the role of an unnamed protagonist, choosing their race, gender, & class, then are set free to explore a massive, open world with the freedom to complete the game in whatever fashion their desire. While set in the larger continent of Tamriel, players only have access to two provinces, High Rock and Hammerfell.

The plot of the game involves two major points; the first is that players must find the ghost of King Lysandus and free him from his earthly shackles, and the second is that players must discover what has happened to an important letter that the emperor had sent off to the former queen of Daggerfall, the largest kingdom in High Rock. The size, and scope of Daggerfall is massive, with a map roughly as large as Great Britain, containing over 15,000 cities, towns, villages, and dungeons.

The caveat here, however, is that much of the map is procedurally generated, making the world fairly generic and repetitive. That didn’t really matter much to critics and players, however, with Daggerfall receiving glowing reviews and universal praise. It would go on to sell nearly 1 million copies and be recognized as one of the best PC games of the year by multiple outlets. The scope of Daggerfall, and the ability to go anywhere and do anything, was a major influence on game design moving forward, particularly in the RPG space, and helped to solidify The Elder Scrolls as one of gaming’s biggest franchises.

Movies:

In notable films, 2016 saw the release of Sully, director Clint Eastwood’s film about airline pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, and his “Miracle on the Hudson” flight. The movie opens with that fateful day, January 15th, 2009, in which Sully’s plane is hit by a flock of birds shortly after takeoff, causing its engines to fail. With no time to return to the airport runway, Sully makes the decision to crash land the plane into New York’s Hudson River. His quick thinking and skills as a pilot save everyone on board, eventually rescued by passing NY Waterway ferries.

While Sully’s actions seem heroic and brave, the ensuing public fascination with Sully, as well as intense scrutiny over his decision to ditch the plane instead of returning to the airport, add unwanted stress and attention to both Sully and his family. The film, then, goes on to show how the National Transportation Safety Board conducts their investigation into the crash, discovering that one of the plane’s engines was still technically functional and could have allowed for a safe landing at the airport.

The film was both a critical and commercial hit, earning over $240 million at the box office, with critics calling it one of the best films of 2016. At the Academy Awards, Sully would earn one nomination for Best Sound Editing (losing to the science fiction film Arrival). There was some controversy with the film, however, as members of the NTSB denounced their portrayal as bureaucratic pencil pushers who tried to make Sully out to be a bad person for his decision. The film, famously, shows the NTSB constantly using simulation data to show that Sully could have easily returned the plane to the airport, while in real life, the NTSB claimed no assurances that a return would have been successful, only that it was technically possible. I’m sure Eastwood’s politics had nothing to do with this misrepresentation.

From 2006, we’ve got the film Gridiron Gang, starring wrestler turned actor, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. In the film, which is based on a true story, Johnson portrays a high school football coach in 1990’s Los Angeles, helping to keep his players from entering a life of gang violence & crime. The film is also inspired by a documentary of the same name that came out in 1993.

Not quite a box office smash, earning only $40 million against a budget of $30 million, and not quite a critical hit, either, Gridiron Gang just kind of exists. It’s not terrible, it’s not great, it’s just one of those movies that, if this were still the 1990’s, would have played on cable TV some Sunday afternoon and you’d watch it because there was nothing else on TV.

From 1996, we’ve got the film Feeling Minnesota, an independent crime comedy from writer/director Steven Baigelman. One of several “crime comedy” films released after the success of Pulp Fiction, Feeling Minnesota reached neither the critical or commercial success of Tarantino’s masterpiece, becoming yet another indie film thrown into the pile of obscurity.

It wasn’t because of lack of trying, though, as the film contained an all-star cast; Keanu Reeves, Cameron Diaz (hot off The Mask), Dan Aykroyd, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Courtney Love. For whatever reason, though, audiences just didn’t leave their couches to watch Feeling Minnesota. Probably too busy sitting on the couch, Sunday afternoon, watching whatever movie was playing for free on TNT.

Albums:

In notable albums, 2016 saw the release of Skeleton Tree by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. This was the group’s sixteenth album that, at the time, spanned an impressive 33 year career. While writing and recording the album, Cave’s son Arthur would tragically die from an accidental fall. This would drastically change the direction of the album, which, unsurprisingly, took a darker turn, with the songs featuring themes of death, loss, and personal grief.

Skeleton Tree was met with widespread critical acclaim, and was only the second album from Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds to crack the top 30 on the US Billboard Top 200 chart (peaking at #27). The album would appear on over a dozen “Best of 2016” lists, reaching the top 5 on at least four of them. Despite the critical praise, the album would not receive any Grammy nominations. In fact, Cave wouldn’t receive his first nomination until 2025; far too late for such a legend, in my opinion.

From 2006, we have the album Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor, from rapper Lupe Fiasco. The big single from this release was “Kick, Push”, a song about two skateboarders in love. This caused a minor controversy in the skateboarding community, however, as Lupe Fiasco does not skate in the music video, and instead uses the subculture to sell albums and build an image; sure.

Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor would debut at #3 on the Billboard Top 200 and eventually reach Gold status. Multiple outlets would call it one of the best releases of 2006, with many of those also naming it the best rap album of the year. At the Grammy’s, it would be nominated for Best Rap Album, while “Kick, Push” would be nominated for Best Rap Solo Performance & Best Rap Song (it would not win any of these). However, at the 2008 Grammy Awards, the song “Daydreamin” would win the award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance.

Closing this out this week, we have the 1996 album Pinkerton by the band Weezer. While the album has become well regarded among fans and critics as Weezer’s finest album, it was a massive commercial flop at release. The band’s sudden success following the release of their self titled debut took a major toll on lead singer/songwriter Rivers Cuomo. He would describe how, while on tour, he would listen the 1904 opera Madama Butterfly after finishing a show. Using it as inspiration, Cuomo would aspire to write a rock opera, initially calling it Songs From the Black Hole.

However, two major events would derail this project. In 1995, Cuomo would undergo surgery to strengthen his right leg (which was shorter than his left), leading to months of painful physical therapy and cause him to spend much of his time indoors, alone, in the dark, unable to move much. The second event was Cuomo’s acceptance to Harvard University. After writing a paper about the loneliness of fame, he became a student, with much of that work taking up his free time, further alienating himself from his bandmates and fans.

In this period, the poppy, upbeat tracks for Songs From the Black Hole became darker, moodier, and far more self reflective. While the album would move away from the rock opera idea, the new title, Pinkerton, was a reference to the Madama Butterfly character BF Pinkerton. Furthering this Madama Butterfly connection, the album’s themes deal with an outsider (Cuomo) and his feelings towards Japan and its culture as both fragile and sensual.

If all of this doesn’t sound like a fun time, it’s because it wasn’t! Weezer certainly felt like a band on the verge of breaking up at any moment, with all three other members starting and/or devoting more time to existing side projects, as they wondered just when Rivers would be ready to move forward again with Weezer. While Pinkerton certainly feels like a monumental artistic achievement now, it was almost universally hated when it released in 1996.

While the reviews from critics weren’t TERRIBLE, they certainly weren’t glowing. The fresh, poppy sound from their debut was completely missing from Pinkerton, and not even a little; it was like night & day. In a recent interview with Questlove, Rivers described how Ric Ocasek, producer on the self titled album, heard a cut of Pinkerton shortly before release and, in Cuomo’s recollection, did not seem all that much into it. It was here that Cuomo says he got the feeling that things were not going to be okay with Pinkerton.

In a 1996 Rolling Stone user poll, Pinkerton was voted the worst album of 1996; the once promising career of Weezer seemed all but over. However, outside the mainstream, Pinkerton was being discovered by a new generation of sensitive dudes who played guitar. These sensitive dudes would go on to make bands in a genre called “emo”; forming groups like The Get Up Kids, Dashboard Confessional, Taking Back Sunday, and Fall Out Boy, among others. These emo bands would see Pinkerton as a rallying cry, as something to aspire to and, as such, help Weezer attain an almost god-like status in the underground music scene.

Weezer’s career would, of course, skyrocket at the beginning of the 2000’s following the release of their third album, another self-titled joint known as “The Green Album”. This would, however, fall much closer to the sounds of their debut and, over time, that underground emo audience they built with Pinkerton would get pushed far, FAR away as each subsequent Weezer album would dive further and further into pop mediocrity. While it’s hard not to fault Cuomo for wanting to disassociate himself from his darker side and embrace the more lucrative lighter side, it’s hard not to wonder what a jaded Cuomo and Weezer would have been like instead of the, you know, “Pork and Beans”/Raditude Weezer.

Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse (3DS) – Released Sep. 20th, 2016

Notable Film Release: Sully – Starring Tom Hanks, Aaron Eckhart, and Laura Linney
Click here to watch the trailer
Notable Album Release: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Skeleton Tree
Click here to listen to the album

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team and Red Rescue Team (GBA/DS) – Released Sep. 18th, 2006

Notable Film Release: Gridiron Gang – Starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Xzibit, Kevin Dunn, and Leon Rippy
Click here to watch the trailer
Notable Album Release: Lupe Fiasco – Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor
Click here to listen to the album

The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall (PC) – Released Sep. 20th, 1996

Notable Film Release: Feeling Minnesota – Starring Keanu Reeves, Vincent D’Onofrio, Cameron Diaz, Delroy Lindo, Courtney Love, Tuesday Weld, and Dan Aykroyd
Click here to watch the trailer
Notable Album Release: Weezer – Pinkerton
Click here to listen to album

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