Well, hello again everyone! I know, I know, it’s already the middle of October and I am only posting the September 2026 blog. Look; I was abroad in Florida and since coming back, I haven’t really had the time to sit down and really write any updates. I know I said September’s post would be posted as normal but the missions change, they always do. Without any further grovelling or explanation, let’s dive into Squashy’s September Summary. Alliteration is the best.
To kick off September, I jumped straight into Metro Last Light Redux on Xbox Series X. Now, I don’t tend to play games from the same series back-to-back, as I feel that it can cause burnout and that can sometimes ruin an entire series for me, but with Metro 2033 being on the short side, I figured I could jump straight into the sequel. I’m pleased to report that I found Metro Last Light a better experience than the previous game. Last Light leans more into an action focused experience, whilst keeping the tense atmosphere of post-apocalyptic Moscow. Naturally, this means that the weapons feel better to use, with more of the game taking place above ground in shootouts, compared to skulking around in the dark, dimly lit metro tunnels. I actually feel that 2033 and Last Light complement each other really well; showcasing that the world can be utilised in either setting. 2033 showing that the series can achieve slower paced, stealthy gameplay, and Last Light showing that it can also suit the faster, more action-packed style. Unfortunately, my main gripe with Last Light is the same one I had with 2033. The game was just a generation ahead of itself, there is a lot of fancy technology at play here. I can’t help but feel if this had been saved for the Xbox One and PS4, we would have seen a real generational leap and the game would have been all the better for it. Also, like 2033, the Redux port has some issues on Xbox Series X, with occasional crashes, and soft-locks that require a restart. I went for a 7.8 for Metro: Last Light Redux, I see the vision for this series, I just really hope it comes into its own on bigger and better hardware, we’ll have to see in Metro Exodus, and the upcoming Metro 2039.
I love the fact the achievements are identical apart from the year. Real nice touch from the devs.
I’m going to be completely honest, September was a bit of a light month for completions. I choose to blame a busy schedule and Overwatch coming back into my life for this, but I also decided to turn my attention to wrapping up the Platinum trophy for Horizon Zero Dawn: Remastered. I love the Horizon series dearly, and I want to have all the platinum trophies displayed on my profile for the series, which meant going back to where it all began. Now, I’m not going to do a full breakdown of Zero Dawn here, as I didn’t really play the story, I mostly just mopped up collectibles and side quests, but it still took a good 15-20 hours to do this and finally tick that completion off my list. I genuinely love both Horizon games, and I would fully recommend them to anyone who has a PS4 or PS5, or even a PC. I rated Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered a 9.0 at the time, and I stand by this fully. The game also looks STUNNING on PS5 Pro, and runs great.
I can already hear your question from the previous paragraph. Both Horizon games? But, Squashy, I hear you ask, there’s more than two Horizon games?! You’d be correct, there is. This leads on nicely to talking about LEGO Horizon Adventures, which I also forced myself to play through, because whether I like it or not, it counts. I popped the disc in my PS5 Pro and went to work. Since I started this blog last year, I haven’t tended to suffer many bouts of writer’s block, I can usually yap about any games I play for hours, but this one really stifled me. The game wasn’t terrible or anything like that, but it really is a LEGO game with a Horizon skin. No more, no less. There isn’t a lot of substance to it, it came and went for me. The main thing I remember is the brutal grind to get all playable characters to max level, which did at one stage consist of me having two controllers plugged in and trying to speed the process up slightly. If you like LEGO games, and you like the Horizon series, you’ll like this a lot. In my case, I’m pretty indifferent to the LEGO games, I feel like once you’ve played one, you’ve played them all. I settled on a 6.0 for LEGO Horizon Adventures. The game is serviceable, it isn’t bad by any means, it just didn’t really have anything that gripping either.
The holy trinity of platinums. Even in release order. Damn, it’s so pretty.
And, that is it for my completions in September. However, we do still have a couple more things to go through before we round out this month’s post, firstly an update on the games of 2026 list. The update is that there is no update. We’re going into October with the following games still on the list:
- Silent Hill Downpour
- Hollow Knight Silksong
- Sly Raccoon
- Jak and Daxter
Hopefully, I cross at least once of those off in October, otherwise, we could be in severe trouble, there isn’t much time before the big one in November.
On the physical games front, it was once again a pretty quiet month for me. With Florida on the cards, I chose to spend a bit less on games this month and focus on getting things over there, but I did manage to add a few things to the collection:
- Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition (Nintendo Switch 2)
- Silent Hill Townfall (PlayStation 5)
- Wall-E (Xbox 360)
- Ridge Racer Unbounded (Xbox 360)
And, with that, that wraps up a rather bite sized September blog post! October is set to be a blockbuster month, with MANY releases I am looking to pick up, and hopefully some completions for two of my most anticipated games of the year, Silent Hill Townfall and Gears of War: E-Day. You’ll have to join me in October to see how far we get on those. Until then, thanks for reading and the patience with me, I really appreciate it.
Love,
Squashy <3 x