Most Anticipated Games 2026
Whoever said single player games are dead didn’t see the games that are releasing in 2026. Every game in our Top Ten Best Upcoming Games of 2026 is a single player first experience. If you are missing the old days of gaming when everything wasn’t trying to be a live service, then get these ten games on your radar, wishlist or however you plan to keep track of 2026’s best upcoming games.
We have already compiled our list of the Top 26 Best Upcoming Indies of 2026, but as with indie games, there are a lot of variable and some of these might not be able to live up to the promises they make. What about the system sellers, or the games that push the envelope, or the games that are sure to be hits. These are the Top 10 Most Anticipated Games of 2026 that are guaranteed to be hits, to be the best selling games of the year and are sure to be the best reviewed games of the year. In no particular order, here are the ten best games coming in 2026.
Gears of War: E-Day
If Halo is the most iconic Xbox franchise, then Gears of War is 1B and when a series tries to go back to its roots, there is always a reason to be excited. This is exactly what looks to be happening with Gears of War: E-Day. For starters the game is titled Gears of War and not just Gears, which was a change that was made to the series to make it more modern. Characters that the audience adores and grew old with are returning like Marcus and Dom. From the trailers, it certainly looks like E-Day will be putting the focus back on the gritty and visceral horror that Gears of War burst onto the scene with on the original Xbox. Finally, in the trailer the song Mad World was used again, which made its debut when Gary Jules reimagined a Tears For Fears classic from 1993 for a Gears of Wars trailer in 2006.
All of this indicates how important the series still is to Xbox as they want to bring it back to its glory days and there is no better way than to get back to what made it iconic in the first place. A Dark, Gritty, and Visceral experience about a small squad of regular people trying to overcome the insurmountable and save the world.
E-Day takes place during emergence day when the locust began their invasion and fourteen years before the events of the original Gears of War. Placing the game at this particular moment when the emergence holes were just beginning and so far ahead of the events of the first game, give The Coalition a lot of freedom to create some incredible stories within this universe and flesh out characters we already love. However, this also comes with a little risk of alienating fans of the series as well.
With Halo just being announced to be coming to PlayStation in 2026 with Campaign Evolved and Gears of War Reloaded releasing on PlayStation in 2025, along with many other previously Xbox exclusives, it’s safe to assume that Gears of War E-Day will be on PlayStation day one.
SAROS
This might be a hot take, but Returnal is one of the best PS5 exclusives. What most people see in Returnal is just another roguelike that makes you do the same thing over and over, which it technically is.
However, the gameplay of Returnal is deeply connected to the narrative as it’s an allegory for someone dealing with a traumatic loss in their life, which is something that you would live over and over in your head infinitely similar to a rogue-like. Few games can achieve synergy between narrative and gameplay like Returnal did. All of the bosses were named after Greeks gods including loss, punishment horror and fear. When you combine the gameplay with the layered meanings, it becomes clear that Returnal is a much more powerful experience than it appears on the surface and much more than your average roguelike.
This brings us back to Saros, which is Returnal 2, in all but name. PlayStation and Housemarque want to give Saros the best chance at success and tying it to Returnal wouldn't do that. In Saros, you play as Soltari enforcer Arjun who is finds himself trapped on the hostile, shape shifting planet of Carcosa. What Arjun finds on Carcosa is the remnants of an ancient civilization that is fuelled by the eclipse. What’s evident when watching Saros gameplay is that it’s another unquestionable product of housemarque as it features all the staples with the third person action and fast paced movement the studio is known for.
The main talking point that Saros has used during its reveal was to “come back stronger”. Arjun has the ability to use eclipse corruption energy to unlock permanent progression items like the one shown in the trailer, which was called “second chance” that essentially gives you a bonus life in the game. Saros is a lot of things; it’s arguably the sequel to Returnal, it sounds like a roguelite this time around making the experience slightly more accessible to a wider audience, and it definitely seems like Saros is the next certified PlayStation hit.
Grand Theft Auto 6
The easiest game to put on the list is GTA 6, but I'm likely hoping for something from the game very different than most. It’s evident from the two trailers that this game is going to look stunning and features some incredible missions, but what I'm most interested to see is what the studio does with a narrative after their great work with Red Dead Redemption 2. The story of outlaws coming to terms with becoming extinct, while dealing with terminal illness and doing the right thing created some poignant moments in the experience. It’s not a stretch to say that the narrative prowess of Rockstar greatly evolved between GTA5 and RDR2. As someone who didn’t enjoy the three tiered approach from GTA 5, or connect with any of the three characters, I'm hoping for a more serious and grounded tone, despite taking place in an over the top setting.
Obviously from a technology and visual standpoint, seeing what Grand Theft Auto is capable of since the last series release in thirteen years ago in 2013. Grand Theft Auto 6 appears to be focusing on a more intimate story about love or a relationship. Two people who are in love and are trying hard to live a happy life.
In Grand Theft Auto 6, you play as Jason and Lucia, two lovers who are on the wrong side of things after an easy job goes wrong. Jason was raised around crime and tried to get away from it all with some time in the Army, but still found himself in a life of crime helping local drug runners in the Florida Keys. Lucia was raised to be tough from her dad and not take crap from anyone. Using the lessons her father taught her, she ended up serving time defending her family. With her new found freedom, Lucia wants to turn things around and have the good life, but at what cost. Can Jason and Lucia find the good life together or is history doomed to repeat itself like Bonnie and Clyde.
The trailer showcases the missions that we have come to expect from the series such as big heists and small robberies, but it would be safe to expect a lot of new ideas in mission structure as the studio has grown a lot since 2013, and will hopefully bring a lot of their RDR2 mission experience into Grand Theft Auto 6. In between all of this, players will be exploring a world that blurs the line between reality and satire. It will be very interesting to see how Rockstar handles a lot of the hot button issues happening in the world today.
Luigi’s Mansion 4
Luigi's Mansion 4 hasn’t been announced yet, but I have never been more sure that a game will release than this. Next Level Games from Vancouver had a very long and successful relationship creating games for Nintendo dating back to 2005 with Super Mario Strikers on the GameCube. They also created Luigi’s Mansion 2: Dark Moon for the Nintendo 3DS and Luigi’s Mansion 3 for Switch in 2019. In 2021, Next Level Games were acquired by Nintendo.
Luigi’s Mansion 3 was a breakout success for the series and sold nearly 15 million copies. What makes Luigi’s Mansion 4 a lock is that Next Level Games have been operating like clockwork prior to their acquisition from Nintendo. Every three years Next Level Games would release a title. In 2022 there was Mario Strikers Battle League, in 2019 there was Luigi’s Mansion 3, in 2016 it was Metroid Prime Federation Force and in 2013 it was Luigi’s Mansion Dark Moon. This means that 2025 should have been the year for the studio to release a new game, but it’s likely that Nintendo offers the studio more time to work on games.
A new Nintendo console and a new Luigi's Mansion looked like a sure thing for 2025, but Nintendo probably made the decision to push it to 2026 since first party games like Donkey Kong Bananza, Mario Kart World, along with other high profile releases like Metroid Prime 4, Pokemon Legends ZA and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment had planned 2025 release dates.
I think Luigi’s Mansion 3 was one of the best games for the Nintendo Switch of which there were many. If there were any criticisms is was that it was one of the best co-op games of recent memory with Gooigi, but it took too long to acquire the Gooigi ability. Getting the second player involved right away is crucial. The other thing I would love to see is for Luigi’s Mansion to embrace the tone of the first one, which felt like a Nintendo version of Resident Evil. Hopefully giving Next Level Games will provide an extra year to polish, allow the studio to add all of the ideas that they want to put in and make it the best entry in the series yet. If you combine the gameplay of LM3 with the tone of LM1, you will have a bonfire hit.
007 First Light
I love James Bond, I love Hitman, and what IO Interactive has done is combine the world of 007 with the gameplay of agent 47. However, their combination in 007 First Light hasn’t won me over just yet, but IO Interactive have created enough goodwill with the recent hot streak of Hitman in 2016, Hitman 2 in 2018 and Hitman 3 in 2021. Since Hitman 3 released in 2021, the studio has constantly updated, added content, and evolved the title into world of assassination. After their past decade of high quality releases and support, I am a believer and will trust that it will feel and look incredible when the hands are actually on the controller.
007 First Light is releasing during a pivotal moment in the long running series as it’s currently between actors and direction. Every Bond has brought something different to the role including tone, including the more serious tone and direction that Daniel Craig took the series. This period of blank for the series, is likely a very good thing for 007 First Light as the tone and Bond wont be directly compared to the silver screen.
In 007 First Light, you don’t actually start the game as 007, but as a fledging recruit in the MI6 training program as the game attempts to tell his origin story. After a heroic act, James is offered the chance to join the newly revived Double 0 training program. Despite starting at the beginning of his career, it looks like 007 First Light will feature all of the iconic items that the series has become known for including stunning locations, incredible cars, conspiracies gadgets and plenty of sharp wit. These are already areas that IO Interactive has shown they can excel in. Hitman has been full of gadgets since its inception in 2002 and the recent reboot of the series has taken players to some incredibly stunning locations like blank and blank.
The Bond series has been known for romance and with the most recent iteration, Bond has also become more emotionally complex. These are areas that I am interested to see how IO Interactive handles them as Agent 47 is quite devoid of romance and emotion, which means that this will be fairly uncharted territory for the studio. The origin story that they have developed sounds promising with James losing his parents during a mountain climbing expedition when he was 11 as they cut their own rope to save his life. The big question is how will they evolve this setup and do they have the writing chops to create a nuanced experience to pair with First Light as the recent iteration of the series has become more mature than previous generations.
Resident Evil 9/RESIDENT EVIL REQUIeM
Resident Evil has been on an incredible streak since they soft rebooted the franchise with Resident Evil 7 in 2017. That means over the past 8 years and 5 releases Capcom has kept the momentum going with three remakes and two mainline entries. The highlight for me is an all new main character, which is a big change of pace from Ethan Winters who was the main protagonist in RE7 and RE8.
In RE Requiem, you play as FBI analyst Grace Ashcroft. One day while working on many of her open cases, Grace is called into an urgent meeting where another body is discovered in an abandoned hotel. This body has the same unidentifiable disease from another case Grace worked on, which makes her the perfect candidate to lead this case. In a dark twist of date, the body was discovered at the same hotel that her mother, Alyssa Ashcroft died at over eight years ago.
Since her mother’s death, Grace has become somewhat introverted and buried herself in work to occupy her mind and emotions. Due to this, Grace has decided to investigate the hotel alone and investigate, while also facing her past. Resident Evil Requiem brings the series back to Racoon City, the epicentre of the 1998 biological disaster that shook the world. With the world teetering on the brink of a complete zombie apocalypse, the government approved a sterilization operation in an attempt to control the zombie outbreak with a missile strike that was swiftly covered up. Grace’s mother Alyssa was a journalist and one of the survivors of the Raccoon City incident, who was determined to find the truth behind what happened.
Requiem features the four pillars that the series was founded on with puzzles, combat, resource management and investigation. Grace will not only be trying to face her demons, but also try to uncover the truth behind what really happened in Racoon City and why it was covered up. Not only does the lead character of Grace interest more than Ethan from more recent entries, but adding in a psychological aspect will be interesting as you question what is real and what isn’t.
Wolverine
Insomniac doesn’t miss. I could leave why Wolverine is on this list here and it wouldn’t need any other justifications. Since their beginning they have been making exceptional experiences that began with what are now iconic 3D platformers like Spyro The Dragon, Ratchet and Clank, but eventually evolving with the more mature series Resistance: Fall of Man. More recently, Insomniac have been faultless with some of best PlayStation titles of recent memory with Marvel’s Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2 and Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart.
After three great games set in the Marvel universe, Insomniac have set their sights on Logan with Marvel’s Wolverine, which will without a doubt push the studio into new territory as this will be their most violent and visceral experience yet. In the preview, the over-the-top violence is on display at all times. Not only during the epic set pieces and cinematics, but during gameplay you can see an enemies arm get sliced off in real time, which will create an immersive experience.
Insomniac will have their hands full creating a new Wolverine as over the past three decades, we have gotten to know Hugh Jackman's version quite well, but the studio has earned trust after their work on Spider-Man. The series released parallel to multiple theatrical releases with Tom Holland in the role Peter Parker, but Insomniac was still able to carve out an identity of its own with a unique story and different Peter Parker.
In this unique story, Wolverine finds himself on the hunt for answers of his dark past across the globe from the tropical sun drenched island of Madripoor, the unforgiving wild of Canada and the neon soaked streets of Tokyo. Insomniac states that this will be the “much darker and more brutal” that what you might expect from the studio. The last time that the studio took a darker approach was for Resistance, which was dark for 2006, turned into a big studio success and blossomed into a series with five entires: three on the PS3, one on the PSP and one on the PSVITA.
Blood of Dawnwalker
In The Blood of Dawnwalker, you play as Coen, a young man from the 14th Century, who is trying to survive during the Black Death plague. During this moment of weakness, Vampires have chosen to rise up against the royalty and in the madness, Coen has been turned into a daywalker or half breed or half vampire. Coen now has 30 days to save his family or exact revenge and destroy everyone.
In this short period of time you wont be able to complete everything you want to and must make hard choices, as there isn’t a distinguishable line between main and side quests.
Will you save your family or will you seek revenge?
In the words of the Director “Time is a resource and with each quest progressing its passage, it’s impossible to complete all stories and arcs before the deadline, making each play through unique. We call it a narrative sandbox”. In most RPG’s, you have the luxury of time to complete quests at your leisure, which is often juxtaposed by the severity of the situation in most games.
Rebel Wolves want to revolutionize the RPG genre and this is one way that Rebel Wolves might be able to revolutionize the genre. The other way is your extremely unique skills as a daywalker. The 30 days also includes 30 nights, because as a daywalker, you walk a tightrope between human in the daylight and vampire in the darkness. This means that your skillset will change depending on the time of day. According to the studio “players will have different skills, abilities and storyline outcomes. Do you fight for humanity or do you embrace the cursed powers?”
Blood of Dawnwalker is easy to get excited about because of the studio pedigree of Rebel Wolves. The studio was founded in early 2022 by ex CD-Project devs including the director of The Witcher 3, along with many other talents that include directors, developers and writers who have worked on The Witcher series, Cyberpunk 2077, and Thronebreaker. In addition to the wealth of experience at the studio, Rebel Wolves comes from the pack mentality as wolves are stronger as a pack.
“The team always comes first. Happy people make great games”
You can’t talk about studio values without mentioning that the co-founder of Rebel Wolves resigned from CD Projekt Red after accusations of bullying, which he had always denied. Although, when you combine the guiding principles of Rebel Wolves, along with seeing how many other developers from CD Projekt followed to Rebel Wolves, and that the investigation ruled not guilty, it points to the conclusion that these allegations might have been fabricated.
Vampires are under-utilized in gaming, especially in the AAA level. Rebel Wolves were founded with the goal being to revolutionize the RPG. Blood of Dawnwalker might have big expectations to live up to, but from what we have heard and seen, it also has high potential.
Mouse: PI For Hire
Mouse has come a long way from just looking like something trying to capitalize on Mickey Mouse going into the public domain and the popularity of Cuphead. Mouse has also come even farther from the first clips Fumi Games showed of the game in early development with concepts and grey box assets. It appears that my early judgement was wrong and I couldn’t be more happy about it. I still consider Mouse to be an indie game, but it has enough clout and support behind it, that it makes the push into the big leagues with publishing support from PlaySide, being featured at Summer Game Fest and getting Troy Baker to voice the lead actor.
In Mouse PI, you play as former war hero turned private investigator Jack Pepper, who is trying to get to the bottom of a conspiracy filled with police corruption, kidnapping, gangs and murder. I was fortunate enough to get a behind closed door look at Mouse PI for Hire with the dev team back at Summer Game Fest Play Days, and what I saw looks more than your average first person shooter and when the team said one of the major inspirations was Metroid Prime, which is evident in the level design that features metroidvania elements.
First Person Shooter is a genre that has been done to death, which means that you need to offer something that players haven’t experienced before and Mouse is attacking this problem from a variety of ways. There is the obvious art direction that immediately demands your attention with a 1930’s rubber hose animation style, but Mouse goes far beyond that with a pulpy noir detective story, an immersive sim approach to the levels and innovation in the weapon and abilities department.
In the short demo that we saw where you need to gain access to the opera, there were a variety of ways to do that. One option was to bribe the waiter, who would help sneak you in, if you had the money, which is an entirely different problem, but with a little exploration, you could discover a vent cover that could be unscrewed. Once off, you could use the vents to gain access to the areas of the opera that were previously inaccessible and guarded.
As a detective, every mission will start at the hub, where you will be able to put pieces of the case together at your office, go to the mechanic for upgrades, and the pub where you can find mini-games. Once you figure out where your next clue will lead you, Jack gets in his car and heads to the overworld, where he can go to one of the games many biomes. Mouse will feature over ten different biomes, that are filled with missions that pay tribute to the cartoons of the era.
Pragmata
I went back and forth putting Pragmata on the list because there is already another Capcom title on the list with Resident Evil Requiem or RE9 and wanted a wider variety. However, at the end of the day I want to have the games that I am most excited about and it’s hard to bet against Capcom, a developer that has made some of the most iconic franchises in gaming with some of those being more popular than ever including Street Fighter, Resident Evil, Monster Hunter. Between the 30 minutes we played at Summer Game Fest and what we have seen, there is good reason to be excited for Capcom’s newest IP.
In addition to Pragmata being a brand new IP, it also speaks volumes about their faith in the franchise that they didn’t cancel when they clearly have had plenty of opportunities to do so after the first trailer was revealed in June 2020 with a 2022 release date. In 2021, Capcom released a short trailer saying that it was now coming in 2023. In June 2023, we got yet another trailer, but this time with no date and that would be the last that we hear about Pragmata until it gloriously resurfaces at Summer Game Fest with a promised 2026 release date.
One of the more exciting aspects of Pragmata is that it’s Science Fiction, which is different from the average Capcom experience which is typically horror, action and fantasy. In the near future, Hugh and other members of the research team are sent to the lunar research station to investigate the loss of contact. Shorty after arriving on the Moon, Hugh gets separated from the rest of the team during a lunar quake. Hugh awakens to find that his life had been saved thanks to an android named Diana and now they need to work together to find a way back to Earth. It will be interesting to see how the relationship between human and ai is handled during the game, but that is only part of the equation.
The other part that I can speak from a place of experience is the movement and the combat. The movement was intentionally heavy and felt reminiscent of Dead Space and the combat system incorporated a hacking mini game, which might look clunky and jarring in the middle of a third person action experience, but it fit well. In just the 30 minute demo, evolved nicely. The lunar base is filled with evil android who are equipped with hard outer shells that block most of the damage. With the help of Diana, she is able to override their security system and expose them to major damage through this hacking game that is reminiscent of Pipe Mania from 1989.
The game doesn’t slow down as you try to override their defenses, which becomes stressful as you feel vulnerable and exposed. At the start of the demo, you only had to connect a few nodes on a grid, but as the experience evolved, new mechanics were slowly added like passing through more nodes to do extra damage. This was just a taste, so it will be interesting to see how it evolves throughout.
