As much as I love ranking things, I traditionally hold back on revealing what my top games are through the first three months of the year. Most of the time, it’s going to end up being a pretty redundant task. I always post what my top 10 games of the year so far are at the end of June, and then of course I end up listing all of my top 10 games and honorable mentions once the year is over. So giving an update this early just means I’m going to talk about these games one too many times.
But this year, I changed my mind because I’m not sure if that redundancy will exist this time around. For the first time since 2022, I have not been completely blown away by the number of games there have been to play this year. There have been plenty of good games for sure, but not many games that feel like sure-fire bets to be in my top 10 or even in my honorable mentions at year’s end. In 2024, I played The Lost Crown, Balatro, and Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth all in the first three months of the year, and I just knew I’d be talking about them all year. Last year, Split Fiction, Wanderstop, and Citizen Sleeper 2 all blew me away before April hit (though Wanderstop and Citizen Sleeper 2 both fell off my top 10 lists as the year went on, much to my surprise).
This year, I’d say only one game has truly blown me away, and it only happened in the past week or so. Other than that, I’ve enjoyed many of the games I’ve played, but I’ve also had plenty of opportunities to go back and play older games this year, which I did not have any openings to do whatsoever last year. Several of the year’s most hyped games have not landed for me quite in the way I hoped, even if I still liked them.
I am still incredibly optimistic that 2026 will be another amazing gaming year for me. Only three of my 25 most anticipated games have been released so far, and nothing in my top 10. April looks set to have several bangers, including a very likely “Game of the Year” contender for me with Saros.
Despite the sour note on which I’m beginning this post, these five games are all games that you should look into playing, and they all deserve to be celebrated. Just, maybe not as much as some other games that will hopefully be coming out and blowing me away later this year. Here are my top 5 games of 2026 so far.
5. MIO: Memories in Orbit
MIO: Memories in Orbit is a search-action game that is clearly heavily inspired by the Hollow Knight games. Hollow Knight: Silksong was one of my favorite games from last year, so this was a no-brainer for me to play.
The problem for MIO is that is has almost everything I dislike about Hollow Knight, but it doesn’t have platforming or combat even close to on Hollow Knight’s level to help make up for it. My frustrations with a stupid runback in Silksong were covered up by some of the most responsive combat and best designed bosses that I’ve ever seen. MIO doesn’t have that. But it’s certainly competent and even good most of the time. It also isn’t as hard (though it is still challenging), which takes away a small bit of the frustrations that I have with the Hollow Knight series.
So essentially MIO is like Hollow Knight, but the lows aren’t quite as low, and the highs aren’t nearly as high. That sounds like a giant backhanded compliment, and I guess it is, but it is still a very solid search-action experience. I don’t love all of the platforming mechanics or every single boss, but there are also moments of brilliance with both, and the art direction is lovely. If you love this genre like I do, this is an easy one for me to recommend, despite my complaints.
4. Resident Evil Requiem
If I were to rank just the first half of Resident Evil Requiem, it would probably be my #1 game of the year so far. If I were to rank the second half of the game, it would probably be #5 or not quite on the list.
The first half of Requiem is damn near perfect survival horror. It has excellent gameplay, very likable lead characters, some big time frights and tension, and a dose of search-action that makes exploration very satisfying. The occasional more action heavy segments all feel worthy of something like Resident Evil 4, which is a huge compliment.
But in the second half, it feels like the game turns into a pretty average zombie action game. The pacing and level design aren’t nearly as tight, with the Leon segments in particular, and almost all of the tension from the first half of the game gets completely wiped out. The set pieces and boss fights also just don’t work as well as in the first half of the game.
I absolutely love the concept of Requiem, as it tries to blend together the best elements of past Resident Evil games, but I think the execution falters the deeper in you go. I still really enjoyed my experience for the most part, but this one gives me a tinge of disappointment because of what I think it could have been.
3. Mewgenics
Mewgenics is in an interesting place for me. Much like Requiem, it is kind of a tale of two games.
I absolutely love Mewgenics as a turn-based SRPG game. I genuinely think that it has some of the best combat that I’ve ever seen in the genre. Battles are snappy, but there’s a lot of depth, even if many fights are over within 3 or 4 turns. There’s a lot of thought that goes into taking out enemies and keeping your allies safe, and you get many abilities that tie into movement as much as attacking or defending, which is incredibly valuable and really gets you thinking. The game also has clever systems that punish you, but not overly so, if an ally goes down in battle (as long as you don’t allow them to get hit with permadeath).
Best of all, since this is a roguelike, it’s different with every run. In a lot of SRPGs, you end up getting into a flow where you kind of do the same things every single time, but that is not the case here. Depending on my team setup, or even the items I happened to have, I was using different strategies almost every run, which really kept things fresh. Mewgenics also has some of the most creative boss designs I’ve ever seen for a game in this genre. There are also tons of passives and environmental hazards that add more spice to everything you are doing. The decision making for what abilities to give your cats in each run is also excellent. The gameplay here is just so damn good.
Unfortunately, I really do not like the other side of the game, which is breeding. It’s a bit too random for my tastes, and it can be a chore to manage everything that comes with it. The progression systems in the game are also dreadfully slow. As I play the game and upgrade my house, I get slightly better cats via breeding and the strays that pop up, but it’s all pretty minor. The game does a poor job of rewarding you for the work you put in for the most part. I also wish that some of the progression in the game wasn’t tied to doing runs with weird conditions attached to them.
I really want to experience the gameplay of Mewgenics in a more standard kind of roguelite fashion, and with a bit more control over how the breeding goes. If this were the case, this could easily be my #1 game of the year, but everything around the gameplay holds it back from its highest potential for me. Despite my complaints, I’m still hoping to plug away at it throughout the year and roll credits. But even if I don’t, I’m pretty satisfied with the amount of hours and enjoyment I’ve gotten out of this one, and I will mostly remember it fondly if I call it quits here.
2. Nioh 3
Nioh 3 easily has one of the most rewarding open worlds of all time. Because of the general difficulty of the game, every task you can do feels worthwhile. Anything to build yourself up even a tiny bit is one step closer to taking out that upcoming boss that you just know will be punishing. If I ever get into a spot where things get tough, I can move on, check some more tasks off my screen, and soon enough I’ll be ready to go.
Of course, any great open world is nothing without excellent gameplay to go with it, and Nioh 3 more than delivers there. The game has an absolutely insane amount of options and ways to play between all of the weapons, the different movesets, and the two different styles you can play with. The Ki Burst technique means that while you can play the game like a traditional Soulslike, you can also play it a bit more like a classic action game as well. And most of the enemy and boss design is excellent and a lot of fun (though it doesn’t reach the cinematic heights that FromSoft does).
I have never completed a 3D soulslike in my life, but Nioh 3 has given me everything possible to make it happen this time around, between its badass combat and an open world that gives it at least a slight level of accessibility. I am currently on the last of the three major open worlds, and I guarantee that I will see the finish this time because Nioh 3 has earned that from me.
However, I will say that while Nioh 3‘s open world is very rewarding, it isn’t always terribly compelling. The side quests are mediocre, and the tasks you have to do are mostly mindless. I also feel like Nioh 3 does a very poor job of engaging you with its many systems. You have to really want to explore the depths of the combat to get there. You won’t naturally find yourself getting significantly better and more into it just by playing.
The one way that the game does try and force you to engage with more of its systems is really clunky to me. I hate the way that Nioh 3 forces you into its different styles when you parry major attacks, as I just do not flow with the ninja style in this sort of game. But even with those complaints, this game has made me a Nioh fan for life, and this game combined with Rise of the Ronin has solidified Team Ninja as a “must-play” developer for me.
1. Paranormasight: The Mermaid’s Curse
It’s safe to say that Paranormasight being at #1 and being a near lock for my top 10 games of the year was an incredibly unexpected development. I never played the first game, and despite strong reviews (it sits at an 84 on Opencritic), it still wasn’t really on my radar. I bought it on a whim, solely because I haven’t had many new releases that I’ve been into this year, and then it went and blew me away.
I believe I’m very close to the end, though the game has multiple endings and I want to see as many of them as possible, but this is true visual novel gold. First off, I just love the entire structure of the experience. You play the game in “episodes,” and those episodes encompass different characters’ experiences, and it’s not all told in order. The narrative will be telling one story and then let you circle back to the past, which might seem odd at first, but then you’ll quickly see that everything ties together masterfully. It keeps you on your toes and makes things just a bit more interesting throughout. I don’t even want to talk about all of the themes that the game has, as they can be slight spoilers, but the game tackles plenty of deep concepts in really powerful ways as well.
The Mermaid’s Curse constantly throws big twists at you, but if you look back at what you’ve learned, they are all telegraphed in subtle ways. It was amazing how every time a twist would come, I would remember a scene that I thought was odd at the time, and it would suddenly all make sense. There’s also a diving mini-game that is shockingly addictive, though I wish it ended up being more consequential to the plot in some way. I also enjoy the visuals and music a lot (though a few facial animations are a bit too over the top in serious moments).
I’ve seen multiple endings now, including one that could be considered the “main” ending, and yet I still want to dive in and learn more, because this world is that intoxicating.
Of course, it’s not perfect. A few characters feel a bit underbaked, and there are some long stretches of exposition that are important but not always told in the best ways. Because you play as many different characters, you can also hear some of these same lore dumps multiple times, though admittedly, it can be helpful for making it so you really understand all of the things that you need to know to truly comprehend every element of the story. But once you get through some of the slower stretches, the pacing of the game becomes unbelievably good, and I’ve been very on board ever since. Even as I write this, I can’t wait to pick it up and get a few of my final questions answered. Sometimes, the weebs know what they are talking about, and this is very much one of those cases. If you are open to visual novels at all, you should be giving this one a go. I love it so much that I know I have to go back and play the first game now.
Even in a year I’ve considered to be a bit slower, The Mermaid’s Curse is one of those games that reminds me why I love this medium so much. It’s so different from any other game on this list, and I don’t really play all that many visual novels, yet it is the game I’m thinking about the most this year. If you truly love gaming, there are so many vastly different experiences out there that could blow you away at any moment. I love this freaking art form!
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