September is the biggest gaming month of 2023

After August, we probably wouldn't have minded a quiet September of continued journeying in Baldur's Gate 3, a new all-time great RPG, or of mech engineering in Armored Core 6, FromSoftware's triumphant return to its classic action series. Instead, September is PC gaming's busiest month of the year.

The month has already started with all rockets firing: Open world Bethesda space RPG Starfield is out now for owners of the $100 Premium Edition, and out next week on September 6 for others. That's obviously the center of attention, but it's hardly all September's bringing us. Some of the month's other big releases:

• Mortal Kombat 1 (Sep 14): Another round of ultraviolence, featuring a returning character known for ripping his own arm off to use as a weapon

• Lies of P (Sep 16): It's basically Bloodborne, but you're Pinocchio, which is weird, but also possibly very good

• Warhaven (Sep 20): A free-to-play medieval combat game to complement Chivalry 2 and For Honor

• Payday 3 (Sep 21): The long-awaited sequel to one of the most popular co-op shooters

Of those, I'm personally looking forward to Payday 3 most. I'm not sure whether I'll like the co-op heisting game's style of shooting—the enemies are kinda spongey—but my hands-on preview of its new stealth systems was pretty fun. I felt slick when things went well, like when I commandeered the camera feeds in a bank's security room, and it was funny whenever we carefully tip-toed into catastrophic errors that led to all-out wars with the police. (Consider rebinding the grenade key if it's not what you're used to. That was an issue.)

It might not be easy to gather a squad of bandits this month, though. I'm not nearly done with Baldur's Gate  3, and Starfield could easily occupy multiple months of people's time (or years, for some), and September is full of even more interesting releases from all over the genre map. Some that stick out to me:

• Indie RPGs: Martial-arts RPG Wandering Sword, "dating action game" Eternights

• Sports games: NBA 2K24, The Crew: Motorfest, and EA Sports FC 24, which is basically the new FIFA, now that EA doesn't have that license

• Roguelikes: AK-xolotl, Pathfinder: Gallowspire Survivors

• Crafting and life sims: Mineko's Night Market, Fae Farm, Rune Factory 3 Special, and Paleo Pines, a farming sim with dinosaurs

• Retro shooters: Fortune's Run, which we've called "the Jedi Knight 4 we never got," and the heavily Max Payne-inspired El Paso, Elsewhere

• Puzzle adventures: Cocoon, from the lead gameplay designer of Limbo, and a "twisted fairytale" called Ugly 

• "Open world survival shopkeeping": Saleblazers, with this month's most unique genre mash-up

I can easily go on: Deceit 2 covers social deduction games, Party Animals is your physics-based slapstick party game and Steam's second most-wishlisted game right now, Gunbrella brings side-scrolling action to the month, Men of War 2 has the RTS genre represented. You'll find even more September games in our complete guide to 2023's new games—it's a big month!

Oh, and October? Just a few minor releases there, including Alan Wake 2, Assassin's Creed Mirage, Cities: Skylines 2, Forza Motorsport, Lords of the Fallen, and Total War: Pharaoh. Guess I'd better see if I can get out of Baldur's Gate 3's second act this weekend...