Let’s be honest, the gaming industry is about to have one of its most explosive years yet. We’re talking serious heavy hitters, sequels that have been brewing for over a decade, and franchises making their long-awaited returns. This year isn’t just another calendar flip for gamers. It feels different, like the industry saved up all its best ideas and biggest budgets for this moment.
The release slate includes Grand Theft Auto 6, which is widely anticipated as one of the biggest entertainment launches of all time. That alone would make headlines, yet it’s just one of many titles demanding your attention and hard-earned cash. From samurai epics to organized crime dramas set in Sicily, the variety is staggering.
Grand Theft Auto VI Returns to Vice City After Years of Waiting
Grand Theft Auto VI is scheduled to be released on November 19, 2026 for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, closing out what has been an agonizingly long wait for fans. The game follows Jason and Lucia, a pair of Bonnie and Clyde-like bank robbers who stumble upon a conspiracy set within a fictionalized Florida called Leonida. It’s probably safe to assume most new games will try and steer clear of the days and weeks around Grand Theft Auto 6’s release date, which speaks volumes about the sheer gravity of this launch. Rockstar has faced multiple delays getting here, pushing from a planned late 2025 window to May 2026, then finally settling on November. Rockstar is already counting its chickens before they’ve hatched, too, calling GTA 6 “the largest game launch in history,” in a job posting.
Resident Evil Requiem Brings Dual Perspectives to Raccoon City
Capcom takes us back to Raccoon City soon with Resident Evil Requiem, and director Koshi Nakanishi says the next Resi stars a new lead, Grace Ashcroft. This fresh take on survival horror launches February 27 and splits its narrative between two distinct playstyles. As FBI analyst Grace Ashcroft, players are thrust into classic survival horror territory, where jump scares are frequent, and evasion is key due to Grace’s limited combat abilities, while the other half places players in the blood-soaked boots of returning fan-favourite Leon S. Kennedy, who dispatches enemies with explosive kicks, bone-crunching suplexes, and chainsaw carnage. Beyond its dual-protagonist structure, Resident Evil Requiem also allows players to switch between first- and third-person perspectives, adding customization rarely seen in the franchise.
Crimson Desert Delivers Massive Open World After Multiple Delays
Pearl Abyss has been working on this one for years, and the wait might finally be over. Crimson Desert’s first launch delay was back in 2021, but it sounds like the March 2026 date is its for-real-this-time plan. It’s the first singleplayer game from the studio behind Black Desert Online, and one my colleague Harvey Randall called “an absolute riot” in his Crimson Desert preview. Here’s the thing: this game is enormous. The open world is gigantic: the developers said it’s twice as large as Skyrim and also larger than Red Dead Redemption 2. Originally announced as another MMO back in 2019, the project pivoted entirely to focus on single-player storytelling with a March 19 release date.
007 First Light Puts James Bond Back in the Gaming Spotlight
007 First Light is a Bond story set early in his career, before he earned his reputation for being a smooth, smug bastard, and it’s fittingly from the Hitman studio IO Interactive – a team with plenty of experience making espionage action adventure games. The game arrives May 27 and presents a younger, grittier version of the legendary spy. IO Interactive’s 007: First Light will launch March 27, introducing a rebooted James Bond as a 26-year-old agent working toward his 00 status, drawing on the studio’s experience with the Hitman franchise, the title emphasizes stealth and player-driven solutions while balancing Bond’s cinematic expectations. It’s safe to say that ol’ 007 has some serious work to do to restore his reputation among players, considering the last Bond game came out in 2012 and was utterly forgettable.
Nioh 3 Expands Team Ninja’s Brutal Action Formula
Nioh 3 is planned for February 6, continuing Team Ninja’s soulslike series with refined combat and expanded weapon stances, integrating deeper Japanese mythology and new yokai encounters. If you’ve played the previous entries, you know what you’re in for: punishing difficulty, precise combat mechanics, and boss fights that’ll have you questioning your life choices. Nioh 3 pushes Team Ninja’s series forward by introducing an open-world format alongside dual combat styles, allowing players to shift between traditional samurai techniques and faster ninja mechanics. February is shaping up as one seriously stacked month, with both Nioh 3 and Resident Evil Requiem competing for players’ attention.
Phantom Blade Zero Brings Chinese Mythology to Action RPG Combat
Steeped in Chinese mythology and wuxia traditions, Phantom Blade Zero is one of the most-anticipated action RPG games of the year, following an elite assassin who works for a mysterious organization in an alternate medieval China. This one’s a bit of a wild card since it comes from S-GAME, a studio making its first foray into the AAA console market. Soulslike games are everywhere nowadays, and Phantom Blade Zero isn’t even the first Chinese title in the Japanese genre, but Phantom Blade Zero looks insanely polished, to say nothing of its breathtaking fidelity. The combat system appears lightning-fast and brutally satisfying, potentially offering something fresh in an increasingly crowded genre.
Marvel’s Wolverine Promises Mature Take on Mutant Hero
Marking a clear tonal departure from Insomniac Games’ Spider-Man series, Marvel’s Wolverine looks ready to fully embrace the ultraviolence of its comic book roots with an unapologetically brutal video game to match, voiced by Liam McIntyre of Spartacus fame. Insomniac has kept this project mostly under wraps following the devastating ransomware attack in December 2023 that exposed development details. During September 2025’s State of Play, we got our first look at in-game footage, where we also learned that Wolverine will be voiced by actor Liam McIntyre, and that in the game we’ll see characters like Mystique and Omega Red as well as locations like Canada and Japan. If Insomniac maintains the quality bar they set with Spider-Man, this could absolutely be a game of the year contender.
Ghost of Yotei Legends Extends Feudal Japan Adventure
Ghost of Yōtei is a 2025 action-adventure game developed by Sucker Punch Productions and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, and it is a standalone sequel to the 2020 game Ghost of Tsushima. The base game actually launched in October 2025, but what makes 2026 exciting is the upcoming free multiplayer expansion. A sequel to Tsushima’s co-op multiplayer Legends mode was announced, titled Ghost of Yōtei: Legends, featuring two-player story missions and four-player survival matches where players will fight against gigantic, monstrous versions of the Yōtei Six and enemies inspired by Japanese mythology, set to release in 2026 as a free update. Sucker Punch nailed the Legends formula with the first game, creating a cooperative experience that felt entirely distinct from the main campaign while respecting the source material’s atmosphere.
Mafia: The Old Country Explores Sicilian Crime Origins
Mafia: The Old Country was released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on August 8, 2025, making it technically a 2025 release. Still, the game remains incredibly relevant heading into 2026. Set in Sicily, Italy, in 1900s, the game follows Enzo Favara, a teenaged carusu who becomes embroiled in the rise and fall of the fictional Torrisi crime family. What makes this entry compelling is its period setting, transporting players to the brutal origins of organized crime before it migrated to American shores. Digital Foundry listed Mafia: The Old Country among the best game graphics of 2025, citing its “incredible art and handsomely lit countrysides”. The game runs on Unreal Engine 5 and showcases what modern technology can achieve when paired with strong artistic direction.
Dragon Quest VII Reimagined Modernizes Classic RPG Experience
Producer Takeshi Ichikawa says that the upcoming DRAGON QUEST VII Reimagined is a ground-up remake full of tweaks and quality-of-life updates that will plant the game firmly in the modern era. The original Dragon Quest VII launched way back in 2000, making this reimagining particularly significant for both longtime fans and newcomers. Dragon Quest VII Reimagined revisits a classic RPG with fully voiced dialogue, a diorama-inspired visual style, and modernized systems that streamline progression while keeping the core structure intact. Square Enix clearly learned from Final Fantasy VII Remake’s success, understanding that modern audiences want more than simple visual upgrades. February 2026 brings this ambitious project to players hungry for traditional JRPG storytelling with contemporary polish.
The sheer density of major releases packed into 2026 feels almost unprecedented. Whether you’re into open-world chaos, survival horror, samurai adventures, or classic RPG quests, something here will demand your gaming hours. The industry clearly saved its biggest ammunition for this year, and honestly, our backlogs might never recover. Which one are you most excited to dive into first?
