Jeremy's most anticipated games for 2026

Kungfu Cthulhu Soulslike Metroidvanias, amirite?

Oodles of games are coming retired successful 2026, and galore look impressive. There's the caller Resident Evil, yet different reimagining of Tomb Raider 1, and a 007 crippled that reminds maine of the often-forgotten cartoon bid James Bond Jr. All volition astir apt beryllium decent, and immoderate mightiness adjacent dictate my usher penning duties.

That said, erstwhile reasoning of the games I wanted to item present - the precious fewer that I mightiness marque a concerted effort to play astir my workload - I decided to constrictive it down to a fistful of mostly lesser-known experiences that whitethorn flight mainstream notice. Sorry, Bond, Lara, and Leon Kennedy - you batch person capable attraction already.

The Sinking City 2

I similar Frogwares arsenic a improvement studio. Not lone are they a Ukranian squad moving hard to marque games portion their country's being invaded, but their 2019 effort The Sinking City remains the astir expansive Call of Cthulhu-inspired videogame ever. I'll ever retrieve meandering done the flooded streets of Oakmont by boat, musing astatine the dialog of Dagon-spawned fishman NPCs portion investigating transgression scenes.

The Sinking City 2, primitively owed for a wintertime 2025 merchandise but pushed into 2026, exchanges its predecessor's unfastened satellite scope for the realm of straight-up endurance horror. The aboriginal builds that I've seen committedness thing not dissimilar to the caller Resident Evils, albeit with each of the dark, mind-corrupting flavours of Lovecraftian panic that marque the Cthulhu mythos what it is. While the sprawling representation and the much erudite investigations of the archetypal crippled mightiness beryllium out, narrowing the scope of the sequel whitethorn beryllium a bully thing. Frogwares games are admirable but janky, and a tighter absorption could enactment wonders astatine eliminating needless bugs. Also, we could usage much 3rd idiosyncratic Cthulhu endurance fearfulness experiences that aren't titled Alone successful the Dark.

Phantom Blade Zero

This is astir apt the highest-profile crippled here, arsenic Phantom Blade Zero has been successful the conciousness of everyone who likes Character Action Games since a trailer for it archetypal came retired 2 years agone and kicked ass with what the devs are calling a "kungfu punk" aesthetic. But since determination are a just fig of Chinese games localised for planetary merchandise these days, I bash fearfulness that immoderate whitethorn disregard Phantom Blade Zero arsenic yet different Soulslike riding the coattails of Black Myth: Wukong.

Luckily, impressions by our precise ain Edwin bespeak that this wuxia romp takes much inspiration from Ninja Gaiden. You play arsenic a warrior wearing a chill conical chapeau who has 66 days to unrecorded and indispensable usage a immense array of gut-slicing moves to fend disconnected assholes who privation to termination him, looking stylish each the while. Expect to wield chill weapons similar snake-themed dual blades, a chakram, and a whip sword arsenic you slaughter your mode done enemies who look similar they stepped retired of the 1993 Hong Kong flick The Heroic Trio. As anyone who work my Advent Calendar entries this twelvemonth volition know, I excavation Ninja Gaiden. I besides excavation HK cinema, truthful the inspirations present are much than capable to emergence this martial arts epic supra its lookalike peers successful my eyes.

Mortal Shell II

When it comes to Soulslikes, I can't assistance but consciousness a fondness for Mortal Shell, a crippled that slavishly imitated the consciousness of Dark Souls but added archetypal twists to the mix, astir notably 4 unsocial "shells" (AKA bodies) that your expressionless foundling could inhabit, each with their ain accomplishment tree. These shells replaced the stat strategy successful astir different Souls games and gave Mortal Shell a compact "choose your fighter" feel. This was compounded by the game's comparative brevity - a twelve oregon truthful hours stretched crossed a fistful of areas, with dungeon plan derived much from Zelda than the FromSoftware well.

I'm 1 of those folks who thinks Elden Ring's a small excessively immense, and would overmuch alternatively person a smaller, much focused Soulslike that I tin really finish. Mortal Shell II seems to beryllium larger and longer than the archetypal game, but developers Cold Symmetry are inactive calling it a "compact" unfastened world, which makes maine anticipation it'll beryllium much successful the vein of say, The Witcher II arsenic opposed to III. There besides look to beryllium astir 8 shells to take from this clip astir arsenic opposed to four, which is simply a leap but not thing excessively overwhelming. Fingers crossed that this volition beryllium a focused Souls crippled arsenic opposed to a bloated one, and volition yet again show however a tiny squad tin emulate the greats portion simultaneously showcasing their ain talents.

The Dark Rites of Arkham

Look, it's different Cthulhu game! But this one's a pixelated enigma inspired by yesteryear arsenic opposed to endurance horror, and it's besides being made by Postmodern Adventures, a one-man Spanish developer who has secretly enactment retired immoderate of the champion escapade games successful the past fewer years. His erstwhile effort, An English Haunting, took america connected a creepy travel done Edwardian-era England and Scotland, and made my 2024 Selection Box.

The Dark Rites of Arkham looks to beryllium conscionable arsenic good, putting players successful the relation of your archetypal Cthulhu-era backstage detective arsenic helium wanders done Arkham and finds immoderate shadowy transportation to the Salem Witch Trials. Many of Postmodern Adventures' games person contained slavish details to real-world humanities occult events, and I'm looking guardant to seeing however 1600s witchcraft combines with eldritch horror. Most of all, it'll beryllium absorbing to spot however The Dark Rites of Arkham holds up alongside The Sinking City 2, which besides takes spot successful Arkham. Despite the evident graphical differences, it's wholly imaginable that I mightiness similar this indie effort implicit the large fund 1 - if this year's apical 100 games proved anything, it's that I bash emotion my constituent and click classics.

Wolfhound

This sidescrolling Metroidvania crossup betwixt Wolfenstein, Metal Gear Solid, and Metal Slug made our database of astir anticipated games for 2025, but ne'er saw a merchandise past year. A 2026 debut for Wolfhound does look much likely, and the crippled continues to look grand, if the latest PAX West trailer is thing to spell by.

What we person present is simply a pixelated wonderment that's intelligibly channeling SNES and Mega Drive feels, though the chiptune euphony and tilesets astatine enactment punctual maine of thing similar the Virtual Boy, but successful glorious colour alternatively of a garish mashup of reddish and black. Starring a jarhead named Chuck Rossetti who resembles the Wolfenstein feline if you squint, Wolfhound tasks you with infiltrating an Axis basal successful the Bermuda Triangle, which is of people filled to the brim with a horde of Hitler's astir twisted experiments. Run and weapon enactment against Nazis mutated into tentacled monstronsities awaits. Plus, there's astatine slightest 1 mech disposable successful the trailer! Here's hoping that I'll beryllium capable to enactment this 1 connected my Advent Calendar oregon Selection Box for this twelvemonth alternatively of having it drift disconnected into 2027.