Money Monday Sept. 28th

Money Monday – September 28, 2026

Last Monday of September. Witcher 3 Remastered drops tomorrow and it's free. Minecraft Dungeons II hits Game Pass day one. Remedy proved the doubters wrong with Control Resonant. Rockstar's charging $400 for a GTA 6 merch box that don't even come with the game. Gears E-Day is a week out. Let's close this month out.

🔥 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered — Tomorrow, Free

Review embargo lifted this morning. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered goes live tomorrow, September 29, on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch 2. If you already own the game on PC, PlayStation, or Xbox, it costs you nothing. Switch 2 is a separate purchase.

CD Projekt Red didn't just slap a coat of paint on it and call it a day. They went in (per IGN and Notebookcheck):

• Reworked combat and Sign casting. Rebalanced stamina, new execution finishers, refined monster hitboxes.

• Roach overhaul. Better handling through dense areas like Novigrad. Eleven years late but I'll take it.

• Transmog system. Keep your stats, change the look. Should've been there from day one.

• Skill tree rebalance. Hybrid builds on Death March are viable now.

• Photo mode, water, lighting, visuals all upgraded across the board.

This sets up Songs of the Past (paid expansion, 2027) and The Witcher 4 (targeting 2028). If you ain't played Witcher 3, tomorrow's the best version that's ever existed. If you have, it's worth going back. Can't beat free.

PC heads, heads up: per Tech Insider, an RTX 5090 is hitting 59fps. Not 60. Fifty-nine. Temper your expectations. Download is about 45GB on most platforms, 50GB on Switch 2.

🎮 Minecraft Dungeons II — Tomorrow, Game Pass Day One

Minecraft Dungeons II drops tomorrow on everything. PC, PS5, Xbox, Switch, Switch 2. $29.99 or free on Game Pass. Reviews landed and they're good:

• GamesRadar — "How the first game should have been done."

• The Outer Haven — 4.5/5. Great story, great loot, great co-op. Some late-game freezes on Series X.

• AltChar — 7-8 hours for story. Solid dungeon crawler for all ages.

• Checkpoint Gaming — Mixed but positive.

It ain't trying to be Diablo. It's trying to be a better version of the first Minecraft Dungeons, and it nailed it. If you got Game Pass, just download it. Couch co-op with the kids, solo grind, whatever. It works.

Mojang also dropped Minecraft Live on September 26 and announced a new dimension called The Sift coming to Java and Bedrock in 2027, plus Minecraft on Switch 2 launching October 27 (per Shattered).

✅ Control Resonant — Remedy Cooked

I said last week Remedy don't miss. Control Resonant launched September 24. Metacritic: 84. OpenCritic: 86% recommend. Steam: 89% positive user reviews (per Shattered and Streamline).

GameSpot gave it a 9/10. GamingTrend hit it with an 88 and called the combat the best in Remedy's history. Vice called it "a mind-bending action masterpiece." Even the lower scores (CGMagazine 7.5, Eurogamer 3/5) still said it was good, just that combat wore thin late. That's the minority take.

Here's what separates Remedy from the pack: they dropped a day-one hotfix (1.3.3) that rebalanced enemy health pools, stagger requirements, and Dylan's early combat strength. The exact stuff reviewers complained about, fixed before most players even booted it up. That's how you launch a game. Insomniac, you watching?

Game cost 50 million euros with Annapurna co-financing. Needs 3-4 million sales to fully return. Based on this reception, they'll get there.

💥 GTA 6: $400 Collector's Box — No Game

Rockstar dropped The Goodtime State: Vice City Collection this week. $400. You get a Macca the Gator figurine, Oakley Frogskins sunglasses, a fanny pack, a hat, stickers, a keychain, a shot glass, a swizzle spoon, a razor blade keychain, and a poster with the Leonida map on the back.

You don't get the game.

Four hundred dollars and they couldn't throw in a download code (per GameSpot, IGN, and CNET). Marathon, Diablo 4, and Borderlands 4 all pulled the same crap with standalone merch bundles, so it ain't new. Still trash. GTA 6 has already pulled in over $400 million in pre-orders alone and they're still nickel-and-diming people. Scalpers already flipping it on eBay. Peak Take-Two.

GTA 6 launches November 19. So that's $400 for the box, plus another $80-$100 for the actual game. Five hundred bucks to play GTA and have a shot glass. What a time to be alive.

🎮 Game Pass — September Wrap / October Preview

Per Xbox Wire:

Live now:

• Dune: Awakening — Ultimate, Premium, PC.

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 — Premium, Ultimate, PC.

• Ninja Gaiden 4 — Premium.

• Well Dweller, Mad King Redemption

Tomorrow:

• Minecraft Dungeons II — Day one.

October:

• Gears of War: E-Day — Oct 6. Day one. Early access Oct 1 for Premium pre-orders.

• Keeper — Oct 2. Premium.

• Echo Weaver / Neon Abyss 2 — Oct 8.

September started weak as hell and ended loaded. October opens with Gears. That's how you do it.

📅 What's Next

• The Witcher 3: Remastered — Tomorrow. Free.

• Minecraft Dungeons II — Tomorrow. Game Pass day one.

• Gears of War: E-Day — Oct 6. Game Pass day one.

• Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen — Oct 9. $49.99.

• GTA 6 — Nov 19. $80-$100 for the game. $400 extra if you want sunglasses.

That's your Monday. September's going out swinging. Witcher 3 Remastered drops tomorrow for free and CDPR put in real work. Minecraft Dungeons II is Game Pass day one and it's what the first game should've been. Remedy showed everybody how to launch a game with Control Resonant. Rockstar wants $400 for a shot glass and some Oakleys. Gears E-Day is a week away. October's coming in hot. See you next Monday.