Feature

Our 35 Most Anticipated Games Of 2026

Look into the future with the WellPlayed crew

Published

January 21, 2026

2025 will be remembered for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 sweeping The Game Awards, Hollow Knight: Silksong finally releasing, and generative AI dominating headlines for all the wrong reasons. In 2026, there’s no doubt that Grand Theft Auto 6 will be the industry’s most anticipated title, but there are plenty of other games coming this year that the team at WellPlayed are excited for, and who knows, maybe you’ll find yourself a few games to get excited about.

Here are the WellPlayed team’s 35 most anticipated games of 2026:

Romeo is a Dead Man

Here’s the thing – I have no expectation of Romeo is a Dead Man being good, great or god-awful. I’m not convinced those are criteria that can even be applied to a Suda51 joint, at least in the ways that I tend to appreciate them. A shattered reality, a girl named Juliet that needs rescuing, buckets of blood and constant genre switches? So far, so Goichi Suda. What I think I’m hoping for most from this one is a level of sophistication that can bring all these familiar efforts together in a way that previous Grasshopper Manufacture joints have struggled with.

Kieron Verbrugge

Mario Tennis Fever

Developer: Camelot Software Planning | Publisher: Nintendo | Platform: Switch 2 | Release: February 12

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Despite allegedly being a qualified and practising plumber, Mario seems to have all the time in the world for extracurricular sporting activities. His last tennis outing didn’t set the scene on fire, but Mario Tennis Fever looks like it might be serving up a winner. Heaps of playable characters (including baby Waluigi), a raft of unique modes, a campaign, and 30 Fever rackets that look to switch up gameplay in fun and interesting ways. The Switch 2 is lacking in exclusives at present, but in a few short weeks, Nintendo fans will have something new to swing at.

Adam Ryan

High on Life 2

Okay, stay with me on this one. High On Life wasn’t a great game, but it was a curious experiment – an outright, overt goof-fest of almost-comedy and parody. Amusing in some places, cringe in others …I appreciated it for being so spectacularly different during a time where games were mostly formulaic garbage and sequelised yawnfests. But the one thing I did not fucking like was the presence of one Justin Roiland.

Before he was outright revealed to be a scumbag, there was plenty of evidence to suggest it, so he was just a bit yucky to experience in any form of media. High On Life was not just a game that I wanted to like, it was an experiment I wanted to succeed, if only because it might set off a trend of games that didn’t take themselves too seriously. With Justin Roiland ousted from the studio and his phalanges now far from the sequel’s development, I am quite curious to see how it comes together. If they can take what worked from the first game, tighten up some mechanical gumpiness and revel in a distinct lack of Roiland’isms, it might be an alright time.

Or at its worst, fine.

Ash Wayling

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Reanimal

Reanimal is the next game from Tarsier Studios, the team behind the original Little Nightmares and its first sequel. Acting as a kind of spiritual successor to the horror-adjacent adventure series, Reanimal leans a bit further into unsettling imagery and spooky situations, making for a more mature and all-around more intense experience. You’re still a little dude in a massive world, but you can bring your friend or significant other with you this time, through couch co-op or online play (I hope you’re listening, Supermassive). The demo set an excellent tone, and we’ll only have to wait a little while to see if it can keep that momentum, as the game launches on February 14.

Adam Ryan

Key Fairy

Developer: Owl Machine | Publisher: Owl Machine | Platform: PC | Release: February 19 | Wishlist

I’ve talked about Key Fairy so much that I’ve gone blue in the face, but it’s for good reason. Where else have you heard of a monochromatic, pacifist bullet-hell game where you pacify your enemies instead of dispatching them? I’ll wait. In the beautiful black-and-white title, movement is your weapon and forgiveness is your ammunition. It’s quirky, it’s unique, it’s Aussie-made, and it’s as addictive as it gets.

Adam Ryan

Resident Evil Requiem

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Returning to Raccoon City for the first time (mainline entries) since Resident Evil 3 (1999), Resident Evil Requiem will see new and old characters join forces in what is a new dawn for the legendary survival horror series. Set after the events that saw the midwestern city vapourised, Requiem introduces a new protagonist – Grace Ashcroft, an FBI agent whose family roots stem from the Resident Evil Outbreak spin-off series. Heading to Raccoon City to investigate strange deaths that are linked to her mother’s passing, Grace runs into Resident Evil veteran Leon Kennedy, who is seeking answers about a host of deaths in the area. Capcom is promising a bigger focus on horror in Requiem, which I’m keen to experience. Players will also be able to switch between third-person and first-person viewpoints, so you can experience said horror from whatever perspective floats your boat. I’m a long-time Resident Evil fan, so I’m excited to return to the city where it all began.

Zach Jackson

John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando

With apologies to any potential Back 4 Blood fans out there, the co-op zombie shooter formula hasn’t really been replicated since Left 4 Dead. Saber Interactive are taking a pretty meaty swing with Toxic Commando, however, dropping you and three friends into an open environment filled with nasty enemies, a bunch of weapons with which to dispose of them, and a collection of vehicles to mud run around in. Fusing Left 4 Dead with SnowRunner seems like an impossible fit, but if our preview was anything to go by, we think it might be a perfect bloody match.

Adam Ryan

Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection

I like Monster Hunter, but it can be a stressful experience at times. Dodging and weaving around fire-breathing creatures the size of buildings can wear you down. The Stories series cranks the setting down a few pegs on the seriousness scale, telling a tale of Pokémon-style animal friendship and battling, and feels like a summer vacation from the usual high-stakes worlds of Monster Hunting.

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Each game has had a fun little story within it, usually involving some mythical beast that your “monstie” rider has been fated to deal with – and it is a hoot watching the cartoony denizens of that world go about their business. Every entry in the series is a blessing, and I am very equipped to receive the next one.

Ash Wayling

Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss

I know what you’re thinking: another Lovecraftian game. I hear you – but hear me out. French developer Big Bad Wolf has form when it comes to unique narrative-driven experiences, so I have faith they can handle adapting Lovecraft’s cosmic tentacle terror with its first-person horror adventure. Set in 2053, Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss sees the world’s struggle for resources result in corporations plunging the depths of the big blue in search of survival. But in doing so, they awaken an ancient horror, and when a team of miners goes missing in the Pacific Ocean, Noah is sent in to investigate, leading him to the sunken city of R’lyeh. Featuring a branching narrative where your decisions shape Noah’s fate, can you uncover the truth before Noah descends into madness?

Zach Jackson

Pragmata

For the longest time, it felt like Pragmata might never make it out of vague trailers in the occasional online games showcase, but it was just last September at Tokyo Game Show that I finally had the thing in my own hands. And truly, this is one of those titles where it takes getting your hands around it to properly grasp what it’s going for.

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Pragmata has the vibes of an early 2010s third-person sci-fi shooter – immaculate, in other words – but it’s the buddying up of the gruffly generic Hugh Williams and his ride-along android foster child, Diana, that cinches the aesthetic. The pairing creates an indescribable but intoxicating blend of shooting and hacking in real time that could honestly be some of the most exciting action gameplay I’ve touched in a minute. And if you don’t want to wait until April 24, 2026 to get a taste for yourself – there’s a demo out on PC right now.

Kieron Verbrugge

Saros

Developer: Housemarque | Publisher: SIE | Platform: PS5 | Release: April 30

Returnal remains one of my favourite games on the PS5 and a soaring high point in PlayStation’s modern first-party catalogue. While it would’ve been cool to see Housemarque continue to deliver unique, new projects, I’m also totally down for a spiritual successor that builds on what made Returnal so compelling. I’m expecting bigger and better in every sense, along with more of a focus on story and characters. But most of all, I’m expecting to get my arse absolutely handed to me and say, “Thank you, Rahul Kohli, may I have some more?”

Kieron Verbrugge

LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight

Instead of continuing the bricky trend, TT Games took a look at the dormant Arkham series and said, “If Rocksteady won’t do it, we will.” Legacy of the Dark Knight takes the Arkham-style combat and clicks it into the campy craziness of the LEGO series, complete with a huge cast of heroes and villains, and more references than you can handle. The game also serves as a mixing pot for all of Batman’s cinematic adventures, blending elements from the Burton flicks through to Robert Pattinson’s The Batman.

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Adam Ryan

1348 Ex Voto

Revealed during the Future Game Show 2025, 1348 Ex Voto is an action-adventure game set in Italy during the year, you guessed it, 1348. Playing as a young knight errant by the name of Aeta, players will make their way across 14th-century Italy, taking part in brutal sword fights along the way as they search for their lost companion. Two weapon stances will need to be mastered, one-handed and two-handed, as you clash steel with a variety of armoured warriors who stand in your way. It looks brutal, it looks beautiful, and it doesn’t look like a Soulslike. Hooray.

Adam Ryan

Witchfire

Developer: The Astronauts | Publisher: The Astronauts | Platform: PC | Release: 2026 | Wishlist

Shooter season is typically the last quarter of the year, however Witchfire has already been making waves over the past few years in Early Access. The rogue-like, extraction shooter has players assume the role of a gun-toting witch hunter. With a buoyant movement system and a sick arsenal to collect and upgrade during missions, Witchfire always had me on the edge of my seat as the difficulty consistently cranked itself. Without Doom or other high-calibre demon shooters on the horizon, Witchfire is the adrenaline-pumping junk food I’m most excited for this year.

Nathan Hennessy

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Mixtape

The Artful Escape remains the kind of eclectic indie banger that could only have come from a team fronted by the likes of Johnny Galvatron, and the studio’s follow-up effort couldn’t be more in tune with its talents.

Mixtape explores how music connects to everything around us, how it shapes experiences and nostalgia, and looks back on a time when music was more a part of our tangible world. The title is no misnomer – this is a mixtape in and of itself with tracks from DEVO, The Smashing Pumpkins, Iggy Pop, Joy Division, and more, scoring a succinct 80s/90s coming-of-age story.

We recently visited the offices of Beethoven & Dinosaur and played a chunk for ourselves, so make sure to check out Christie’s written thoughts right here.

Kieron Verbrugge

Big Walk

Developer: House House | Publisher: Panic | Platform: PC | Release: 2026 | Wishlist

Big Walk is an Aussie-made online cooperative walker-talker that allows you to explore the Australian outback and put your mind to work in order to complete various puzzles with your friends. You’ll use many types of tools and toys at your disposal to stay in contact with each other on your adventures, as Big Walk is all about doing what you want to do, and not always relying on proximity chat. This includes things like exploring, hanging out with your friends, or maybe even just taking in that gorgeous sunset. Wholesome.

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Jade Garrett

Silver Pines

Silver Pines could be the coolest game I’m looking forward to this year. This slick side-scrolling survival-horror metroidvania features a tantalisingly moody art style set in a Twin Peaks-inspired world. You play as Red Walker, a private investigator who wakes up in the titular town of Silver Pines looking for missing musician Eddie Velvet. But the town is hiding a dark past, and Red’s investigation soon takes a turn, descending into a nightmare in which Red will need to scavenge for resources, solve puzzles and fight for survival.

Zach Jackson

Dawn of War IV

Developer: King Art Games | Publisher: Deep Silver Platform: PC | Release: 2026 | Wishlist/Demo

One of my first ever gaming ‘moments’ was playing the preview build of the original Dawn of War. I had spent days downloading the client and had the loosest NDA you could imagine, and so I went to a local LAN and was permitted to play it on the stage for others to watch. For its time, the game was revolutionary – a proper 3D base-building RTS in the vein of something like Warcraft III, just without hero units. That, and it was a proper 3D incarnation of the Warhammer 40,000 franchise.

I loved the game, but I loved the sequels less – desperately wanting something closer to the very first game. And lo, in 2025, a beacon of hope: Dawn of War IV.

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With a developer promise touting that they wanted something closer to the OG title, it had my curiosity more than piqued …it was downright turgid. Now I pore over each gameplay trailer to observe what those folks at King Art Games are cooking up. And when I am not watching those videos, I am shaking my fist angrily at the fact that I still have not been selected to play in the alpha.

Ash Wayling

Witchbrook

Developer: Chucklefish and Robotality | Publisher: Chucklefish | Platform: Xbox One/Xbox Series X|S/Switch/Switch 2/PC | Wishlist

Head to the seaside town of Mossport and attend Witchbrook College as a witch-in-training in this life sim and social RPG by Chucklefish and Robotality. You’ll attend classes, make friends, and find love, all while building up your magical skills on the path to graduation. The game will offer co-op with up to four players, so grab your coven and immerse yourself in this pastel-hued, witchy world.

Jade Stevenson

Denshattack!

Developer: Undercoders | Publisher: Fireshine Games | Platform: PC | Wishlist

A stylish, high-speed, trick-based platforming experience on literal rails. Because you’re a train. I believe I have said enough.

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Kieron Verbrugge

Hello Sunshine

Red Thread Games has a knack for making every game unique. They always have a strong narrative focus, but they’ve always got different themes and art styles. The studio’s next game is Hello Sunshine, a third-person survival RPG that has you playing as the Final Employee, whose mission is to traverse a desolate wasteland dominated by machines and the penetrating sun, alongside your gigantic robot companion, to make it to a white tower where answers about the state of the world can be found and decisions about its fate will be made. Your robot buddy will protect you from the intense sun and keep you warm at night, so befriend, repair and customise it with resources found throughout the world, as you make it through another day on your long journey.

Zach Jackson

Trails in the Sky: 2nd Chapter

Developer: Nihon Falcom Corporation | Publisher: Nihon Falcom Corporation | Platform: PS5/Switch 2/PC | Release: 2026 | Wishlist

This is a no-brainer. It was only a couple of months back that we gave Trails’ first chapter remake a glowing 8.5. That game ended with an extended tease of the 2nd Chapter, and oh boy. Falcom has proven itself a capable JRPG studio, consistently cranking out good Ys and Trails games, but these remakes of Trails’ first chapters are an ambitious display of everything the studio has learned up to this point. Gorgeous, kinetic, and emotional, I think this series may have had a little limelight taken away in 2025 due to an Obscur little game. 2026 might see an expedition with less overshadowing competition. Play this series if you dig JRPGs.

Nathan Hennessy

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The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker 2

Developer: D’Avekki Studios Ltd | Publisher: D’Avekki Studios Ltd | Platform: PC/PlayStation 5 | Release: 2026 | Wishlist

The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker 2 is a Lovecraftian investigative choose-your-own-adventure game where you play as a psychiatrist, much like the first title. It features an in-depth story with real actors on screen, you’ll need to treat and pick apart to figure out what happened to Doctor Dekker. To keep things interesting, at the beginning of each time you replay this title, the murderers are chosen at random, again much like the first game. Explore and achieve multiple endings, just don’t forget to write everything you can down, you never know what might help.

Jade Garrett

Control Resonant

Control remains one of my favourite titles of all time, and still the best thing I’ve played from the folks at Remedy, so this one gets an easy plug just by virtue of being a follow-up to that. I’m incredibly curious to see more of the studio’s pitch for Control Resonant, if only because it seems to be charting a very different path from its predecessor. If a twisted Manhattan and supernatural melee combat system turn out to have the same panache as the brutalist architecture and Twin Peaks fawning, this could be as confident and strongly resonant a sequel as Alan Wake 2.

Kieron Verbrugge

The Sinking City 2

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Frogwares returns to its Lovecraftian series The Sinking City in 2026, heading to the flooded streets of Arkham, which are now plagued by eldritch monsters thanks to a supernatural event. Telling a standalone story with The Sinking City 2, Frogwares has promised a “full-scale survival horror,” with a focus on exploration and improved combat with 1920s weapons. And this time around, investigations are optional, but completing them will uncover more lore, new options, and secrets. I was a big fan of the original, so I am excited to check out a new and tighter horror experience from the Ukrainian devs when The Sinking City 2 launches in the first half of the year.

Zach Jackson

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book

Developer: Nintendo | Publisher: Nintendo| Platform: Switch 2 | Release: 2026

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is a brand-new platforming Yoshi game where you go on an adventure, making all sorts of discoveries about various new creatures that are featured in Mr E, a living encyclopaedia. You’ll write down info about these adorable creatures to solve puzzles, finish quests, and most of all have fun. It’s Yoshi, just shut up and get on board.

Jade Garrett

Lords of the Fallen II

It was very hard to pick just one upcoming Soulslike game for 2026. It could have easily been Nioh 3, or perhaps even Code Vein II. Instead, I’m choosing the sequel to the dual-dimensions, grimdark Lords of the Fallen. The original game was gorgeous, and I found seamlessly moving between overlapping realities quite cool. With a different team at the helm, I’ve no doubt that the presentation praise points will remain. Rather, I’m interested in seeing what this spiritual sequel of a spiritual successor will have for its strange gameplay twist. The realm-shifting lamps are seeing a return in the trailers, even if they’re not emphasising it. I can’t imagine this sequel not having some new element as significant as the realm-hopping lamps. I want a new tool in my arsenal for when this Soulslike is inevitably too hard.

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Nathan Hennessy

Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy

Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy is a prequel to the last two award-winning A Plague Tale games. It is a stealthy action adventure that takes you on Sophia’s journey to Minotaur’s Island, fifteen years before A Plague Tale: Requiem. Face myths, trials, combat, terrifying creatures, and more than a few puzzles to find out what secrets Sophia’s past truly holds.

Jade Garrett

Darksiders 4

For all the faults of our awful reality, the one thing that has me feeling blessed is the absurd story of how the Darksiders series ceased to exist and then managed to re-manifest itself. I have revelled in the additional two games that I never thought I would play, and now another proper sequel is coming to continue – and maybe even finish – the story.

With the teaser showing all the horsemen coming together, there is a bittersweet possibility that this could well be the climactic conclusion to the Darksiders tale – finishing the story that started back in 2010 when the horseman War turned up on Earth to an apocalypse he didn’t even start.

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While only a teaser trailer exists at this time, a few murmurs have said 2026 could well be the year that players get to mount up as their favourite horseman and traverse another post-apocalyptic world. Online listings have even dropped the information that the gamer apparently touts four-player co-op, so start arguing with your mates over who will play who.

Ash Wayling

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream

Developer: N/A | Publisher: Nintendo | Platform: Nintendo Switch | Release: 2026

After more than ten years, Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is finally here. The life sim where you create your own Mii’s gets to come truly to life on their own island gives you that intoxicating god-like control of the destiny of digital avatars we all crave. Create whoever you want, and unleash them into the Mii world. Much like the original Tomodachi Life, you get to help out your Mii’s, watch them make friends, see what’s on their mind, and most of all see their lives flourish. What’s not to love?

Jade Garrett

Onimusha: Way of the Sword

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Every now and then, Capcom reminds us that it hasn’t forgotten about some of its long-dormant IPs that fans have been craving new entries for. The most recent one is Onimusha, a series that received a lot of playtime on the PS2 but has been gathering dust since 2006. That is, until Onimusha: Way of the Sword was announced in 2024, a new entry that sees players as the sword-wielding and soul-sucking-gauntlet-wearing Miyamoto Musashi during the Edo period. Explore the demon-infested city of Kyoto, where Musashi will battle hordes of Genma as he tries to find his true purpose. Onimusha is one of my favourite series, and I am very excited that Capcom is dusting it off for a new entry, and I get to slice and dice demons once more.

Zach Jackson

Bradley the Badger

Developer: Day 4 Night | Publisher: Day 4 NIght | Platform: PC | Release: 2026 | Wishlist

Bradley the Badger is an upcoming action-adventure platformer that explores the magic of having game developer powers. Explore strange new worlds, save your home and friends, and uncover a literal genre-bending satirical story that will have you laughing at both at with and at yourself. Even better, experience live-action moments with the dulcet tones of Evan Peters on the VA work. Nice.

Jade Garrett

Dragon Quest VII: Reimagined

Over the past few years, we have seen Square Enix returning to many classic role-playing titles in its catalogue for remasters. Between its two tentpole franchises in Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, it’s surprising that it’s the latter that is getting the ambitious reimagining. Only a few months after the great Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake, we are now weeks away from arguably the series’ most ambitious remake yet.

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After being thoroughly impressed with my hands-on time with Dragon Quest VII: Reimagined, I’ve made the heavy decision to clear my gaming calendar for February. The longest of the Dragon Quest titles, with a runtime sprinting past the 100-hour mark, the scale of this remake is staggering. Visually, Akira Toriyama’s (Dragon Ball) timeless characters and monsters have all been brought to real life as physical dolls, then scanned back into the game, effectively achieving a diorama-like visual effect for this world and its inhabitants. The presentation has seen much of the series’ decades-old menus and systems completely revamped and modernised to appeal to new players.

Most excitingly for me is the evidence that Dragon Quest VII: Reimagined’s team has not only remixed the many vignettes that make up this story, but they’ve also completely remade the enormous world to be full of surprises for the exploration-inclined fans returning to this entry for their second, third, or fourth 150-hour playthrough.

Nathan Hennessy

The Blood of Dawnwalker

It is my firm belief that every good year in gaming isn’t complete without a compelling vampire action game. While I’m still not entirely certain what this game is claiming to be in its moment-to-moment, it had me at ‘vampire RPG’ from some former CD Projekt Red talent that worked on The Witcher 3. Its Central European medieval setting of the Carpathian mountains harkens to titles like Kingdom Come: Deliverance, yet it’s been a hot minute since we’ve been in this kind of setting with dark fantasy elements.

Based on the small handful of trailers we’ve had, the titular Dawnwalker has been turned into a vampire himself at the hands of some enterprising bloodsuckers masquerading as soldiers, captains, and lords. They’re bolstering their forces in a campaign of forced conversion through the land. Something goes wrong (right) for our protagonist, who resists full conversion and can now possess his new powers during the day and night. He will now master the sword and vampire parkour to re-enter society and usurp the hold of the baddie vampires, while also slaying the grotesque monsters that seem to wander outside the town walls.

It also kind of just looks like the closest thing to a new Witcher game, and we’ve not played one of those in a minute. Superpowered Geralt alternative? Yes please.

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Nathan Hennessy

Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis

Tomb Raider was one of the first games that really made one of those indelible impressions on me, and I distinctly remember watching my stepdad play most of it on our brand spanking new PlayStation. A couple of years later, I played it myself, and like most of the games I played on the PS1, it helped chart the course my video game interests have taken. I never got around to the 2007 reimagining for whatever reason, but I’m glad, as Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis will allow me to relive it again after all these years.

Zach Jackson

The release calendar is chock full of interesting and exciting titles in 2026, but we’d be here forever if we spoke about them all. Better still, there are undoubtedly a bunch of games being worked on in secret that will blow us out of the water out of nowhere. There’s nothing quite like the beginning of a new gaming year.

What games are you looking forward to in 2026? Let us know in the comments or on our social media.

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