rewrite this title The Most Anticipated Games of 2026 – Decrypt

This year is already shaping up to be a killer one when it comes to games, and not just because that one game we’ve all been waiting for is probably going to come out, finally.

There’s a ton of other stuff already on the docket for 2026, and this list, for obvious reasons, doesn’t even cover the stuff we don’t know about yet. 

If we get even two-thirds of this list in our hands by the end of the year, then we have a lot to look forward to.

Editor’s note: All of the games on this list are traditional “Web2” games without crypto or blockchain integrations. But you might enjoy ’em anyway!

Resident Evil: Requiem

Release Date: February 7, 2026

After two solo games, Resident Evil is once again a dual-protagonist game. 

You’ll play as Grace Ashcroft and series stalwart Leon S. Kennedy as they investigate a series of mysterious deaths in a hotel in Raccoon City. 

This game is set 30 years after the original games. Grace’s story will be more of a survival horror story as she tries to evade the villain Gideon and other monsters, while Leon’s will be an action story complete with jump kicks. 

Games like Resident Evil 2 have made an excellent case for multi-protagonist Resident Evil games, while Leon’s most recent appearance was in Resident Evil 6, a widely disliked entry in the series for critics and fans alike.

LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight

Release Date: May 29, 2026

Wait, don’t go! Legacy of the Dark Knight is a LEGO game about Batman, but it’s not a LEGO Batman game in the sense we’ve seen. 

This one is for Batman fans—people who love the Animated Series and the Nolan films and every part of Batman. This is an open-world game with a proper combat system and an homage to all the different versions of Batman over the years.

The game will draw on ideas from various films and stories. Clips shown in trailers have featured Batman walking the Joker into Arkham, like in the original Arkham Asylum game; fighting mimes à la the 1989 Batman; meeting Batman Returns’ Catwoman; and training with Ra’s Al Ghul in the mountains from Batman Begins. 

If you’ve ever been a Batman fan, this is the LEGO Batman game to watch.



Phantom Blade 0

Release Date: September 9, 2026

This stunning game is from the Chinese studio S-GAME. 

You play as an elite assassin named Soul, using a combat style influenced by Wuxia action movies. Still, the gameplay loop isn’t yet clear. 

The studio says the game will feature interconnected regions, with gameplay more like Ninja Gaiden than a Soulslike (despite the main character’s name). 

With Black Myth Wukong still in our memories and Phantom Blade 0 having tons of potential, Chinese studios are making a name for themselves as a great source of single-player action games.

Grand Theft Auto VI

Release Date: November 19, 2026

It’s going to come out this year, surely. 

Three delays sound about right for a Rockstar game. If Grand Theft Auto 6 lives up to the legacy of GTA5 and Red Dead Redemption 2, then this will be a stunningly realized version of Vice City (aka Fake Miami), down to specific details that only locals will know, with tons to do before you even get to the main storyline. 

And that’s not even counting what a hit GTAVI Online will probably become. This game is going to sell like crazy and is likely to be the biggest entertainment launch of any kind, ever.

Marvel’s Wolverine

Release Date: Fall 2026

Insomniac Games proved with Marvel’s Spiderman that someone out there could make a good Marvel game, and brought us the best web-slinging action to date with a new story that felt like it would fit right into the comics. 

Now they’ve turned their sights onto Wolverine, the loner X-Man. This game promises to be much more violent and darker–Logan spills more blood and stabs more faces in the two-minute gameplay trailer than Spidey did in two entire games. We get glimpses of classic Wolverine foes like Omega Red and Mystique, and shots of Logan fighting both in and out of his suit. 

This game promises to be a very different beast from the Spider-Man games, though we’re still hoping Insomniac will connect the two in some meaningful way.

Control Resonant

Release Date: 2026

Remedy has a lot to work on right now, with both the Max Payne remake and Control Resonant, a sequel to Control, on the way. 

A follow-up to the 2019 game, you’ll take on the role of Dylan Faden, the formerly comatose brother of Jesse Faden, as he searches for his missing sister. 

The game takes place in the city around the Oldest House, and you’ll be able to roam around, explore the city, and fight enemies. 

Dylan will be a melee fighter, with his own shapeshifting weapon called the Aberrant. We’re incredibly excited to see how weird Remedy can get with this entry.

Forza Horizon 6

Release Date: 2026

Much like with Assassin’s Creed Shadows, fans of Forza Horizon have been begging for a game set in Japan for years. 

Japan has a legacy of street racing, drift racing, and tuner culture that makes it a perfect setting for a game about racing your fantasy cars through winding mountain passes and along busy highways. 

We’re just hoping they do it right—there’s a time and place for lap-based racing, but a lot of the coolest racing happens point-to-point, whether it’s from the top of a mountain down or through a stretch of highway. 

And mountains have to be a big part of it, too. This one can’t be mostly flat, as some of the previous titles are.

Max Payne 1+2 Remakes

Release Date: 2026

Remedy is best known these days for Alan Wake and Control, but the bullet-time action shooter Max Payne is how the studio got its name in front of us. 

The studio developed Max Payne 1 and 2 before licensing the franchise to Rockstar for Max Payne 3. 

The studio is working with Rockstar on these remakes, which could disrupt the schedule, but otherwise, Remedy appears to be on track to release this in 2026. 

While voice actor James McCaffrey has passed away, his voice work in the original games remains iconic, and no one has quite replicated the series’ trademark gunplay inspired by The Matrix and the works of director John Woo.

Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis

Release Date: 2026

We’re excited about next year’s entirely new Tomb Raider game, Tomb Raider: Catalyst. 

In the meantime, though, we can look forward to the first game from Crystal Dynamics and Amazon Studios, Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis. 

This game builds on the story of the original 1996 game to create an entirely new action game, rendered in Unreal Engine 5. It’s both familiar and fresh. 

It appears to be a great mix of combat and puzzles. And yes, there’s a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Honorable Mentions

Release Dates: 2026, we hope!

We’re looking forward to a bunch of games this year, and we couldn’t fit them all here. 

Other games we’re looking forward to include 007: First Light, a James Bond origin story from the team behind the Hitman series. If they draw on their experience, this could make for a genuinely unique spy game. 

Onimusha: Way of the Sword is a great-looking samurai action game that continues the series, but puts you in the shoes of legendary kensei (sword saint) Musashi Miyamoto. Capcom worked with the estate of the late Toshiro Mifune to secure the beloved actor’s likeness for the game as the face of Musashi. 

Galactic Racing? Now that’s pod racing! We haven’t had a good pod racing game in decades, and the trailer for this one looks absolutely killer. 

The Blood of Dawnwalker is a vampire-themed RPG from some of the people behind The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. 

Fable from Microsoft should finally come out this year, though we’ll believe it when we see it. 

Meanwhile, Ontos is a spiritual successor to the excellent horror game SOMA, from Frictional Games, the team behind SOMA and the Amnesia series.