September’s done, but Endless Mode isn’t ready to say goodbye just yet—at least to its games, which were, for our money, the only good things about September. Join us as we look back on the best new games that came out in September 2025, listed in alphabetical order. They’re all worth a spin on whatever gaming device you might fancy.
Baby Steps
To me, great art is totally absorbing. I know I’ve seen an important film when I forget I have to pee during it. Despite its demand for patience from players systematically conditioned to be inpatient, Baby Steps is engrossing. This is in part due to its relentless humor, the unexpected depth of its narrative, and its absolutely brilliant soundtrack (my partner jokes that the music always starts up at the exact right moment to piss you off). But most of all, Baby Steps is a fantastic game because it does not demand anything of you; rather, it invites you to demand things from yourself.—Bee Wertheimer
Blippo+
The art-damaged channel-surfing sim Blippo+ is almost always absurd and fundamentally ridiculous. It all comes together as a surprisingly earnest homage to a long-dead way of consuming media, though. And in its brevity—I’ve never pulled out a stop watch, but I don’t think its average show lasts even two minutes—it also recalls the bite-sized bursts of content that people consume today. Its proudly low production values are still higher than most TikToks or YouTube clips, but Blippo+ is absolutely in conversation with the internet’s quick hit approach to video. So even if you think it’s more depressing than inspiring to wistfully remember the utter aimlessness and time wasting of hitting buttons on a remote control for hours on end in the ‘80s and ‘90s, you might still be able to handle the all-killer, no-filler approach found in Blippo+’s most important shows.—Garrett Martin
Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles
The greatest Final Fantasy ever has only grown more relevant since its original release, as inequality and blatant prejudice have both increased exponentially since 1997. Seriously, they might as well slap a MAGA cap on Agarth—Tactics’ most contemptible foe would be one of Trump’s top advisors today. This two-pronged rerelease couples a lightly modernized update with a largely untouched recreation of the original Playstation game; the former avoids a lot of the common pratfalls of remakes, and is eminently playable, but there’s also much to be said about experiencing a game as close to its original presentation as possible. Either way you’re set here. Tactics wasn’t the first tactical RPG, and maybe isn’t even the best, but no other Final Fantasy can match its epic scope or rich storytelling.—Garrett Martin
Hades II
Melinoë comes from a broken home—literally. The daughter of Hades and Persephone, and younger sister of Zagreus, lives in a tent in the woods because the god of time, Chronos, ransacked their house during a war on her extended family—and maybe kind of killed her dad? Hey, we’ve all been there. It’s unclear at first what’s happened to her brother and parents, who players might remember from 2020’s excellent Hades, but suffice to say they’re out of the picture. And so, naturally, Melinoë wants revenge. That’s the foundation for Supergiant’s first sequel, Hades II, a game that attempts to do so much more than Hades did and largely pulls it off. Supergiant’s greatest strength remains its narrative excellence, though, and the writing and story-telling in Hades II is unsurprisingly top-notch.—Garrett Martin
