on Google Preferred Source Google News Link copied to clipboard By Oli Welsh Published Aug 31, 2026, 10:00 PM EDT What to Play And more must-play games besides in one of the console's busiest release months yet
Image: Intelligent Systems / Nintendo Sign in to your Polygon.com account Add Us Add on Google Preferred Source Google News Summary Generate a summary of this story Like Like follow Follow followed Followed Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap The video game industry explodes into life this September, with a deluge of exciting new releases as publishers hustle to release their titles well clear of the oncoming juggernaut that is Grand Theft Auto 6 . Even though that game is not coming to Switch 2 , it's no different on Nintendo's platform, which will see perhaps its busiest release month since launch.
In September, Switch 2 gets two very tasty exclusives — one of them a hotly anticipated new entry in a fan-favorite Nintendo franchise. There are also three AAA third-party games releasing day one on Switch 2, and one sequel to a much-loved indie.
The six games listed below are just the most anticipated all-new releases, too. A ton of cool ports hit Switch 2 in September 2, including Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight , survival games Valheim and RuneScape: Dragonwilds , action games Hell is Us and Shinobi: Art of Vengeance , and classic RPG with very long title Dragon Quest 11 S: Echoes of an Elusive Age — Definitive Edition .
2018's Moonlighter is a much-loved indie that combines a cozy shopkeeping game with a Zelda-inspired dungeon-crawler. By night, you explore dungeons and collect materials to craft and sell in your shop during the daytime. For this new sequel, developer Digital Sun moves from a 2D presentation to a 3D isometric view, and draws heavy inspiration from Hades in its action-roguelite gameplay.
Exclusive games from developers outside Nintendo's first-party network are rare on Switch 2 — heck, they're rare on any platform — and here's a particularly exciting example from Tokyo-based developer Shapefarm and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 publisher Kepler Interactive. Orbitals is a co-op puzzle-platforming adventure for two players in the vein of Hazelight's It Takes Two and Split Fiction . It's also a super stylish and charming retro tribute to the more optimistic, all-ages sci-fi anime of the 1980s, including French-produced series like Ulysses 31 . The fidelity of the art and animation style has to be seen to be believed, even in motion.
Capcom continues its full-throated support for the Switch 2 with yet another day-one release of a AAA cross-platform game. This time, it's the first mainline entry in the studio's historical fantasy action-adventure series in 20 years. Way of the Sword — which Capcom says is not a Soulslike — is focused firmly on the swordplay, with a sophisticated combat system for taking on rival swordsmen as well as the demons and other occult threats that haunt Edo-period Kyoto.
Nintendo and Intelligent Systems' cult tactical RPG series returns, and there's hope that Fortune's Weave will deliver the excellence the series is capable of on both story and gameplay fronts for the first time since 2013 series highlight Awakening . Since then, Three Houses has massively expanded the popularity of Fire Emblem, so the sky's the limit for Fortune's Weave , which tells th…