The video game industry is cyclical. We have great years that are usually followed by weaker ones after all the heavy-hitters collectively release their big games. We saw this happen a couple of years ago, when, after a phenomenal 2023 with several Game of the Decade contenders, we got a relatively subdued 2024.
This year cranked the intensity back to 11 with generational titles, phenomenal sequels, and industry-shifting developments. So, it would be reasonable to assume that 2026 will also be somewhat quiet. Yet, when you look at the release calendar, it’s evident that the cycle could be broken.
So, let’s take a look at the seven most anticipated games of the next year. It’s worth noting that the list contains titles that are confirmed for a 2026 release at least tentatively. That’s why you won’t see The Witcher 4, The Elder Scrolls VI, Divinity, or any other unconfirmed game here.
Grand Theft Auto VI
Developer: Rockstar Games
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
Release Date: November 19, 2026
Rockstar delayed GTA VI again. The game was moved to May 26, 2026, and then pushed again to November 19, 2026. Yet, delay or no, this is still the gravitational center of the universe, the biggest release of the decade, and a genuine event unlike any other. Expect many Autumn-bound games to be clearing the way around November 19, because even its shadow is impossible to contest with.
What’s making it such a big deal isn’t just “new GTA.” Rockstar is going back to legendary Vice City in a modern setting and expanding out into the wider state of Leonida. The game is framed around dual protagonists, Jason and Lucia, who get themselves entangled in a statewide conspiracy after one of their jobs goes wrong. The setup is as Rockstar as it gets: small-time crime that escalates into everyone’s problem.
Gameplay-wise, Rockstar is still playing it close to the chest in terms of specifics, but their public materials make it clear this is meant to be the next biggest game ever, with most of quite literally everything. Dense world with phenomenal attention to detail, realism, reactivity, all on the biggest-ever map that’s also supposed to feel lived in and not just an open-world sandbox.
But GTA Online’s success and RDR2 Online’s relative failure have also taught Rockstar a thing or two. GTA VI isn’t going to be just a game; it’s a whole ecosystem on top of it, and you can bet your last 2 cents that it’s going to be near the top of the studio’s priorities.
One thing’s clear already: Grand Theft Auto VI will be the biggest game in history in terms of splash it will produce.
Resident Evil Requiem
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, Nintendo Switch 2
Release Date: February 27, 2026
Capcom has had several shaky releases in the last couple of years, but the Resident Evil franchise has always been a pillar of stability for the Japanese studio. We’d have to go back to 2016 for the last truly awful project in the franchise, Umbrella Corps.
Resident Evil Requiem is Capcom at its most competent and confident. Remade Resident Evil 4 was a resounding success, and it looks like the ninth mainline entry is going to capitalize on both the hype and the technological findings.
It’s structured as two games, two Resident Evil legacies in one. FBI analyst Grace Ashcroft, Alyssa Ashcroft’s daughter, will give us a pure survival horror experience, as even the developers describe her as the most easily frightened character in the history of the series. On the other hand, we have Leon Scott Kennedy, our resident superhuman superagent, who will provide the flashiest combat RE has ever seen. He even learned how to use a chainsaw for such an occasion.
Beyond the marketing hype, it’s hard to know what to expect out of this split in practice. Will it be cohesive or super disjointed? We’ll learn soon enough. Capcom is evidently trying to push the entirety of its toolbox into Resident Evil Requiem, and no self-respecting Resident Evil fan will miss out on that.
Marvel’s Wolverine
Developer: Insomniac Games
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Platforms: PlayStation 5
Release Date: Fall 2026
Insomniac Games’ pitch for Marvel’s Wolverine is exceptionally simple: “We know you want a Spider-Man quality game, but with Logan ripping out enemies’ bloody guts instead of the friendly neighborhood experience.” And they’re completely correct. The reveal trailer emphasizes brutal claw combat and a darker tone than what people associate with Insomniac’s current superhero catalog.
What needs extra attention is framing. Spider-Man is your everyday hero who will go out of his way to help anyone he can. He will gladly go and entangle himself in anyone’s problem, but Wolverine isn’t like that. He’s darker, broodier, and problems need to knock on his door for him to do something about them. Unless Insomniac manages to subvert this, we’ll gladly take this as well. But it looks like we’ll have Logan digging into his past to get much-needed answers. Sounds personal to us.
Gameplay-wise, combat feels fast, impactful, and extremely violent. Movement feels deliberate, and attacks feel crisp, without any noticeable floatiness. We’ll have to play it first to be certain, but the game looks extremely promising indeed.
007 First Light
Developer: IO Interactive
Publisher: IO Interactive
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, Nintendo Switch 2
Release Date: May 27, 2026
IO Interactive making a Bond game is one of those deals that just makes so much sense. IOI is known for its Hitman games, and the supremely talented and charming super spy isn’t far from a supremely talented assassin. The studio knows how to make something like this work.
007 First Light is framed as an origin story for James Bond, who’s recruited into MI6’s and is learning the hard way what it actually takes to earn that 00 status. While this is a somewhat tired formula, and we’ve seen it play out for Lara Croft, Nathan Drake, and many others, James Bond has always had this aura of confident superiority. We haven’t seen him in this role before.
Gameplay-wise, 007 First Light looks like an expansion of Hitman’s systems, but with less emphasis on stealth and more focus on better gunplay and melee combat instead of immediate takedowns. It’s hard to imagine this game having the same agency that Agent 47 enjoys – Hitman games are systems-first, and 007 will have a Bond story to tell. Still, we hope it’s a rare licensed game that will have a point to it, rather than being just a setpiece checklist.
The Blood of Dawnwalker
Developer: Rebel Wolves
Publisher: Bandai Namco Entertainment
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
Release Date: 2026
“Game X from the former developers of Y” is a very cheap marketing trick that usually means nothing and tells you even less. But the case of Rebel Wolves is a special one. The founder of the studio is none other than Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, CD Projekt Red’s former game director and one of the architects behind some of the best games of the generation: The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077.
So when someone with that pedigree founds a new studio to make an ambitious action RPG that defies narrative progression as we know it, “Game X from the former developers of Y” becomes a glowing recommendation.
The Blood of Dawnwalker’s (and everyone will continue misspelling it as Blood of the Dawnwalker) setup and structure are unique: After the prologue, you have 30 days and nights to rescue the protagonist’s family from the ruling class of vampires. It’s not just a ticking timer in the background like in Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII; time only advances with major actions and quests, and you’re told what will consume time before you commit. It’s a great design decision to communicate the sense of urgency, create meaningful consequences, but not turn the minute-to-minute gameplay into a mad dash.
Another highlight is the day/night duality: the protagonist Coen is human by day and vampire by night, with different tools, abilities, and approaches depending on when you tackle content. With extended gameplay demos hinting at a very deep, almost Kingdom Come: Deliverance-style combat, it’s no surprise everyone is excited for this game.
Phantom Blade Zero
Developer: S-GAME
Publisher: S-GAME
Platforms: PlayStation 5, PC
Release Date: September 9, 2026
Phantom Blade Zero has been in the oven for years at this point, and for a good reason. What S-GAME envisioned as a small-scope wuxia game turned into an incredibly ambitious action role-playing game. Wuxia elements didn’t go anywhere: they lie at the core of the game’s fantasy.
Narrative setup is extremely simple: you play as Soul, a warrior with sixty-six days left to live, trying to unravel conspiracies while fighting for your life, as everyone wants you dead. Cinematic “one vs dozens of enemies” fights with all the classic Chinese cinema elements are also there.
But the real meat of Phantom Blade Zero is its combat system. After S-GAME first presented the combat system, everyone immediately drew premature conclusions, calling it another Souls-like. But as someone who actually tried the press demo of the game at gamescom, I can confidently state that we should stop branding every game as such.
Phantom Blade Zero’s gameplay is much faster-paced and combo-oriented, while being challenging and even unforgiving at times. Unlike Souls games, you have more agency to force your playstyle upon your enemy and not just sit there, dodge-rolling, and learning patterns.
Strong gameplay fundamentals make almost everything else more bearable, but we hope that Phantom Blade Zero delivers a full package.
Tides of Annihilation
Developer: Eclipse Glow Games
Publisher: Eclipse Glow Games
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
Release Date: 2026
Just a decade ago, we were wondering, “Why aren’t there any big AAA Chinese games?” Little did we know how the industry would change. Black Myth: Wukong won countless awards, Where Winds Meet delivered three games-worth of content in one, and today, we have two Chinese games on our most anticipated list.
Tides of Annihilation is a bombastic spectacle action game, marrying what looks like post-apocalyptic modern England, Arthurian legend, and Final Fantasy XVI’s Eikon battles. Eclipse Glow is developing a fantasy action-adventure where Gwendolyn fights through a shattered London while summoning spectral knights from the Round Table as active partners in combat.
Eclipse Glow Games showed us several boss battles that wouldn’t look out of place in the aforementioned FFXVI. They did, however, also look a bit overly cinematic, with QTEs and long, unskippable animations that took us a bit out of the otherwise solid-looking gameplay.
Battles against normal enemies look to be more technical and actually skill-based, so if those bombastic and spectacular moments with little agency are there to just ham up the presentation, we’re all for it. The audience seems excited regardless.
This list is decidedly non-exhaustive, as our wishlist for 2026 is quite literally bursting at the seams. Housemarque’s Saros seems to build upon Returnal’s ideas to give us the ultimate third-person shooter rogue-lite. Arc System Works is trying to make tag fighters accessible to everyone by unifying the healthbar in Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls. Pearl Abyss seems to fit every gameplay element imaginable into Crimson Desert. We want to play all of these games, as well as all the surprises that await us next year!
