Jeremy’s most anticipated games for 2026

Oodles of games are coming out in 2026, and many look impressive. There’s the new Resident Evil, yet another reimagining of Tomb Raider 1, and a 007 game that reminds me of the often-forgotten cartoon series James Bond Jr. All will probably be decent, and some might even dictate my guide writing duties.

That said, when thinking of the games I wanted to highlight here – the precious few that I might make a concerted effort to play around my workload – I decided to narrow it down to a handful of mostly lesser-known experiences that may escape mainstream notice. Sorry, Bond, Lara, and Leon Kennedy – you lot have enough attention already.

The Sinking City 2

I like Frogwares as a development studio. Not only are they a Ukranian team working hard to make games while their country’s being invaded, but their 2019 effort The Sinking City remains the most expansive Call of Cthulhu-inspired videogame ever. I’ll always remember meandering through the flooded streets of Oakmont by boat, musing at the dialogue of Dagon-spawned fishman NPCs while investigating crime scenes.

The Sinking City 2, originally due for a winter 2025 release but pushed into 2026, exchanges its predecessor’s open world scope for the realm of straight-up survival horror. The early builds that I’ve seen promise something not dissimilar to the recent Resident Evils, albeit with all of the dark, mind-corrupting flavours of Lovecraftian terror that make the Cthulhu mythos what it is. While the sprawling map and the more erudite investigations of the first game might be out, narrowing the scope of the sequel may be a good thing. Frogwares games are admirable but janky, and a tighter focus could work wonders at eliminating needless bugs. Also, we could use more third person Cthulhu survival horror experiences that aren’t titled Alone in the Dark.

Phantom Blade Zero

This is probably the highest-profile game here, as Phantom Blade Zero has been in the conciousness of everyone who likes Character Action Games since a trailer for it first came out two years ago and kicked ass with what the devs are calling a “kungfu punk” aesthetic. But since there are a fair number of Chinese games localised for international release these days, I do fear that some may ignore Phantom Blade Zero as yet another Soulslike riding the coattails of Black Myth: Wukong.

Luckily, impressions by our very own Edwin indicate that this wuxia romp takes more inspiration from Ninja Gaiden. You play as a warrior wearing a cool conical hat who has 66 days to live and must use a vast array of gut-slicing moves to fend off assholes who want to kill him, looking stylish all the while. Expect to wield cool weapons like snake-themed dual blades, a chakram, and a whip sword as you slaughter your way through enemies who look like they stepped out of the 1993 Hong Kong flick The Heroic Trio. As anyone who read my Advent Calendar entries this year will know, I dig Ninja Gaiden. I also dig HK cinema, so the inspirations here are more than enough to rise this martial arts epic above its lookalike peers in my eyes.

Mortal Shell II

When it comes to Soulslikes, I can’t help but feel a fondness for Mortal Shell, a game that slavishly imitated the feel of Dark Souls but added original twists to the mix, most notably four unique “shells” (AKA bodies) that your expressionless foundling could inhabit, each with their own skill tree. These shells replaced the stat system in most other Souls games and gave Mortal Shell a compact “choose your fighter” feel. This was compounded by the game’s relative brevity – a dozen or so hours stretched across a handful of areas, with dungeon design derived more from Zelda than the FromSoftware well.

I’m one of those folks who thinks Elden Ring’s a little too immense, and would much rather have a smaller, more focused Soulslike that I can actually finish. Mortal Shell II seems to be larger and longer than the first game, but developers Cold Symmetry are still calling it a “compact” open world, which makes me hope it’ll be more in the vein of say, The Witcher II as opposed to III. There also seem to be around eight shells to choose from this time around as opposed to four, which is a jump but not something too overwhelming. Fingers crossed that this will be a focused Souls game as opposed to a bloated one, and will yet again demonstrate how a small team can emulate the greats while simultaneously showcasing their own talents.

The Dark Rites of Arkham

Look, it’s another Cthulhu game! But this one’s a pixelated mystery inspired by yesteryear as opposed to survival horror, and it’s also being made by Postmodern Adventures, a one-man Spanish developer who has secretly put out some of the best adventure games in the last few years. His previous effort, An English Haunting, took us on a creepy trip through Edwardian-era England and Scotland, and made my 2024 Selection Box.

The Dark Rites of Arkham looks to be just as good, putting players in the role of your archetypal Cthulhu-era private detective as he wanders through Arkham and finds some shadowy connection to the Salem Witch Trials. Many of Postmodern Adventures’ games have contained slavish details to real-world historical occult events, and I’m looking forward to seeing how 1600s witchcraft combines with eldritch horror. Most of all, it’ll be interesting to see how The Dark Rites of Arkham holds up alongside The Sinking City 2, which also takes place in Arkham. Despite the obvious graphical differences, it’s entirely possible that I might prefer this indie effort over the big budget one – if this year’s top 100 games proved anything, it’s that I do love my point and click classics.

Wolfhound

This sidescrolling Metroidvania crossup between Wolfenstein, Metal Gear Solid, and Metal Slug made our list of most anticipated games for 2025, but never saw a release last year. A 2026 debut for Wolfhound does seem more likely, and the game continues to look grand, if the latest PAX West trailer is anything to go by.

What we have here is a pixelated wonder that’s clearly channeling SNES and Mega Drive feels, though the chiptune music and tilesets at work remind me of something like the Virtual Boy, but in glorious colour instead of a garish mashup of red and black. Starring a jarhead named Chuck Rossetti who resembles the Wolfenstein guy if you squint, Wolfhound tasks you with infiltrating an Axis base in the Bermuda Triangle, which is of course filled to the brim with a horde of Hitler’s most twisted experiments. Run and gun action against Nazis mutated into tentacled monstronsities awaits. Plus, there’s at least one mech visible in the trailer! Here’s hoping that I’ll be able to put this one on my Advent Calendar or Selection Box for this year instead of having it drift off into 2027.