There just hasn’t been something quite right with gaming in 2026. It seems like every week we are hit with some new terrible news. Many people are concerned for the future of this medium in a variety of ways.
But despite all the bad headlines, great games just keep coming out dang near every week and month. 2026 has actually been a slightly slower gaming year for me. I haven’t been quite as into many games as I have been in the last three years, but I still have felt overwhelmed with how much there is to play most of the year. Somehow, the golden age of game quality that we are in continues to chug along despite all of the noise around it.
I think there’s a good chance that the second half of 2026 will blow away the first half of the year. There are easily something like 25-30 games coming out in the second half of the year that I have my eye on. But to keep things simple, I limited this particular list to all of the games I’m pretty confident I will be buying day one, even if the reviews don’t end up being quite as strong as I’d hope.
With that, here is the list. If gaming itself has you down, don’t worry, there will be plenty of great games coming this year that can distract you from the problems with the industry.
Keep an eye on this blog for my mid-year ranks in the coming weeks as well!
14. Neverway
I’ve seen several trailers for Neverway now, and I still don’t quite have a complete feel for what it is going to be. And I guess that is what makes this game so intriguing to me. This is a life-sim RPG, but it has horror elements, what appears to be a real emphasis on the story, and also has some pretty intense looking action segments. The pixel artist from Celeste is involved with this, so it’s also no shocker that the game is absolutely lovely and that the animations look so good.
Whatever Neverway ends up looking like, I feel it’s going to be bold and interesting, and that is enough for me to be pretty intrigued.
13. Halo: Campaign Evolved
I recently placed Halo: Combat Evolved as my 12th favorite game of all time. Despite this, the upcoming remake hasn’t really been on my radar. I’ve experienced it plenty of times, and I just wasn’t sure how much better they would really be able to make it with this remake. We also had the Master Chief Collection remaster about 12 years ago, and that was pretty well done.
But the last batch of trailers has really sold me. The gunplay looks excellent in these trailers and has me ready to jump into this world all over again. The addition of some new missions is also pretty exciting. This feels like the perfect game to play off Game Pass.
12. Order of the Sinking Star
I’ve been of two minds about Order of the Sinking Star for a while now. I enjoy Sokoban-style puzzles, and the scope here seemed so epic that this has looked like a can’t miss game for me from the moment I saw it announced.
But that same scope has sort of intimidated me as well. It’s extremely rare for me to put 100 hours into any video game, and Order of the Sinking Star is billing itself as a game that is 500 hours long if you really want to see it all.
After jumping into the demo a few weeks ago, I think I’ve come to accept how I can enjoy a game that is this long. Simply, I’m going to view Order of the Sinking Star like my own personal version of Candy Crush. I’m always stunned at the people that have played that game for years and years, but maybe that will be the ideal way for me to approach this one. Order of the Sinking Star feels like that perfect game to knock out a puzzle or two a day on, and not worry at all about finishing it any time soon. I think if I have that approach, I can truly enjoy this one.
Also, the puzzles I faced in the demo were legitimately awesome. I truly think this could end up being the highest rated game of 2026 on OpenCritic. This really feels like it could be something special.
11. Control Resonant
Control Resonant is another one that I feel unsure about, but I just have to trust Remedy’s track record here.
I don’t think past Remedy games have bad gameplay at all, but I’d also say that it clearly isn’t their biggest strength either. Remedy has obtained its good reputation thanks to its storytelling, atmosphere, and general weirdness. The gameplay is more than good enough to get you from point A to point B, but it’s not carrying the experience.
With Control Resonant, Remedy is obviously not looking to throw away the stuff that has made them great, but this is also clearly going to have a much bigger emphasis on the gameplay than past Remedy games. That’s exciting, but also mildly risky. Frankly, the clips of the gameplay I’ve seen do not feel like they live up to what Remedy wants to accomplish with the game, but it’s also never completely possible to tell from trailers.
But even if the gameplay only ends up being average to slightly above average, I know that everything else about this will pull me in and still make this a great experience, which is why it remains on this list.
10. Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave
I was completely out on the Fire Emblem series as a whole after Fire Emblem Engage. I enjoyed Three Houses for a while until I burned out on it, and then I really didn’t vibe with Engage at all. I decided that the series just wasn’t doing it for me in the same way anymore.
But the last trailer for Fortune’s Weave has pulled me back in, and suddenly, I might finally buy a Switch 2 for this and a few other games that are coming this year.
Fortune’s Weave is doing two things that excite me. First off, it’s a game about a tournament, and I freaking love a tournament arc. That is probably not surprising from a ranking head like me. Secondly, it seems to combine the Fire Emblem formula with a Persona style calendar system, which is genius to me. I think this will make everything outside of the battles way more compelling.
I still think I’ll have a few issues with the battle system itself. I feel like there are clunky and silly elements to every Fire Emblem game, but I also still believe this is going to be the game that wins me back over to this series. It is very much set up for success with this formula.
9. Marvel’s Wolverine
We have reached the last of the games that I’m excited for but have some mild skepticisms about.
Insomniac is a developer that literally never misses for me. There is no way this game isn’t going to be really good.
Wolverine going a more linear route isn’t necessarily a bad thing; it’s something Insomniac has done really well with in the Ratchet and Clank series, but that series also thrives on variety. The best part of those games is the wide variety of guns they give you and how they really encourage you to use them all.
Wolverine seems very different. Everything I’ve seen of the combat looks kind of one-note so far. That, with a more linear formula, concerns me a little, but I will say that even if I’m not seeing a lot of variety, the core combat in Wolverine does look cool as hell. In the end, this is Insomniac, and I’m going to trust that it’s going to be great.
8. Ontos
The original Ontos trailer was so good that it inspired me to go back and play SOMA from the same developer. SOMA had some serious flaws, but the things it did well made me incredibly excited for Ontos. If Frictional Games can even slightly improve on some elements of its gameplay, while also providing a great story and incredible atmosphere, there is no way that this won’t be a banger. It seemed like Ontos will have a fair bit more interaction with other people than SOMA, which I think will help the story to flourish even more. I’m a bit worried that this game seems to have been so radio silent since the original trailer, but hopefully it still arrives in 2026 and makes some serious noise.
7. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake
I’m honestly a bit surprised at how high I have this game. There has been no gameplay, and I don’t even own a Switch 2 yet. I also don’t even have Ocarina of Time as the best Zelda game on the N64.
Despite that, I think I’m just excited to experience a more traditional 3D Zelda game again. As much as I enjoyed Breath of the Wild, I’m ready to experience a Zelda game with more in-depth dungeons and a slightly less open world. I’d honestly be more excited if this were a new game instead of Ocarina of Time, but with how outdated almost every N64 game feels these days, this should feel like a brand new experience anyway. I can’t wait to see more about how it’s going to look.
6. Fields of Mistria
It has now been a decade since Stardew Valley was released, and it is still considered the gold standard of cozy farm-sims. Nothing has come close to taking its crown. But I think we might finally have a game on our hands that is positioned to at least make things interesting when these discussions are had in the future.
I’ve heard Fields of Mistria is basically Stardew Valley on steroids. It’s bigger, deeper, and still incredibly polished. I also love the art style so much, and the music seems great too. This is sitting at an “overwhelmingly positive” on Steam, and it looks like an absolute can’t miss. It has been a while since I truly got invested in a game like this, and I can’t wait to see if it lives up to the hype.
5. Beast of Reincarnation
It’s crazy how excited I am for this game. Before I started seeing trailers for this one, I think it’s safe to say that I genuinely didn’t respect Game Freak as a developer. I am consistently disgusted and disappointed by how far the Pokemon series has fallen in my eyes. Beast of Reincarnation makes it beyond obvious that Pokemon’s declining quality is probably not Game Freak’s fault. This game looks amazing.
The combat looks so crisp and fun, and it has some slight turn-based elements (reminiscent of the FF7 remakes) that look like they will make it a bit more interesting as well. The mobility elements look great, too. There are a lot of elements here that I think will make this a very compelling action-RPG.
4. Grand Theft Auto 6
I’m in such a weird spot with GTA6. I can’t sit here and say I think about playing it all that much, despite how high it is on this list. I’ve only ever completed one GTA game, so I don’t have an amazing track record with the series. We also just haven’t seen much from the game yet, so it’s tough to get too excited about something when there is no gameplay.
But the way I made this list is by trying to really imagine how I’d feel if each game on here were coming out tomorrow, and when I do that exercise with GTA6, there is an undeniable excitement that arises.
First off, I think the “Bonnie and Clyde” element has a chance to be an interesting storytelling dynamic. I’m rarely super into GTA stories, but this one has a hook that works with me. Also, with all the time this has taken, and with Rockstar’s general penchant for detail and quality, I’m really fascinated to see what this open world will look like.
It’s also just going to be a freaking event. It’s so rare in the gaming space for a game to come out that almost everyone is playing. That’s always cause for celebration for me. Hopefully, it lives up to the hype.
3. Well Dweller
I’m sure this game coming ahead of GTA6 will be funny to those who aren’t Big Nerd Gaming sickos, but there are few games out there that are guaranteed to hit for me in the way that I know Well Dweller will.
Well Dweller is made by Kyle Thompson, who is a solo developer specializing in Metroidvanias. His game Islets made my top 10 back in 2022, and his last game, Crypt Custodian, also made my top 10 in 2024.
In this era of games taking forever to make, I have no idea how Kyle keeps putting out high quality Metroidvanias every other year, but I love him for it. I haven’t played Kyle’s first game (Sheepo), but by all accounts, he has gotten better with every game he has made, and Well Dweller looks set to keep that trend going from the gameplay I’ve seen. With how this year has gone for me gaming-wise, I will be genuinely surprised if this one doesn’t end up in my top 10 again.
2. Valor Mortis
This is probably slightly unfair, but I have a hard time getting excited for most Soulslikes these days because there always feels like a general uniformity to a lot of the experiences out there. The aesthetic and general gameplay flow rarely go far outside the lines.
Valor Mortis really excites me because it genuinely feels like something very different. It’s first-person, seems like it has an interesting mix of melee and ranged combat, and because this is from the developers of Ghostrunner, it also has some very cool looking platforming and mobility elements. The Napoleonic setting is also pretty interesting. This looks very fresh, and it is made by a developer that I have a lot of faith in. I think people are overlooking how good this one can be.
1. Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse
I enjoyed The Rogue: Prince of Persia last year, but my biggest takeaway afterward was that I wished it was just a normal Metroidvania instead of a Metroidvania roguelike. The gameplay was really unique and fun in that game, but a decent amount of that fun slowly got sucked away by the mediocre roguelike structure that was implemented.
It’s funny that after that complaint, the next game from Evil Empire is a straight-up Metroidvania that also happens to revive the iconic Castlevania series. Everything I’ve seen from this looks legitimately amazing. The combat looks great, the platforming and movement skills look slick, and the map seems very intricate. This is an absolute can’t miss for me.
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