What to Play This Week: Valheim 1.0, Hot Wheels Infinite Rush, Luigi's Mansion 3

This Week at a Glance

Two releases and both of them are worth an evening, which is not something September has offered every week. Valheim leaves early access on Wednesday after five years, and Hot Wheels arrives on Thursday for the seat next to you. If neither is your household, the shelf has the better answer.

What We’d Play This Week

Top Tip of the Week: Valheim 1.0

Valheim 1.0 — PS5, Switch 2, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC, Mac and Linux, Wednesday 9 September. Five years in early access, and this is the version that finally calls itself finished. The Deep North biome is the headline, but the part that matters at home is crossplay across every platform at once: the longhouse no longer depends on everyone in the house owning the same box. That has been the quiet reason Valheim never quite worked as a family game, and it is fixed.

One honest caveat on the date. Our source for 9 September is Iron Gate’s own June announcement as reported across several outlets rather than a publisher page we checked ourselves — good enough to plan around, not good enough to promise.

With the Family: Hot Wheels Infinite Rush

Hot Wheels Infinite Rush — PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2 and PC, Thursday 10 September. Four open islands, free-roaming challenges and track building, and — the single most underrated feature in anything you hand to a six-year-old — nothing that has to be read before the fun starts. Milestone pulled it forward from 24 September, which is the second time this month a studio has moved a date earlier rather than later.

From the Backlog: Luigi’s Mansion 3

Luigi’s Mansion 3 — Switch and Switch 2, and a 5 out of 5 from us. A two-release week is the right week to finally start it. It remains the best co-op game on a Nintendo console for a child who is still too young for anything with a health bar: the second player is Gooigi, they cannot die, and the whole thing is built so that the adult doing the hard parts is a feature rather than a rescue.

Every other date this month is on our release calendar — the full list of what lands where, with the picks we would actually spend an evening on at the top. The month as a whole is in New Games Coming in September 2026.

When does Valheim 1.0 come out?

Wednesday 9 September 2026, on PS5, Switch 2, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC, Mac and Linux at the same time. It has been in early access since 2021; this is the 1.0 release, and it adds the Deep North biome.

Can we play Valheim together on different consoles?

Yes. The 1.0 release brings crossplay across every platform it runs on, so a PS5 in the living room and a PC upstairs can share the same world. That is the single most useful thing about this launch for a household.

Is Hot Wheels Infinite Rush good for younger kids?

It is the most kid-shaped release of the month: four open islands, free-roaming challenges and track building, with nothing that needs reading to get going. Milestone moved it forward from 24 September to the 10th.