2025 had video games. 2026 will have video games. GTA 6 might be one of those video games. However, it’s currently only pencilled in for console next year. Not that I considered writing about it in this sort of article two years running, just for a laugh. That’d be hackish and beneath the level I hold myself to. Well, by about three millimeters.
Anyway, I’ve done this properly. Here are four games slated for 2026 that I’m genuinely excited about. Only half of them are racing games, so I’ve really exercised some self-discipline. Hope you’re proud of me. Without further ado.
007 First Light
Duh-duh duhh, duh-duh duhh, duh-duh de duh-duh. Duh, duh duh duh. Duh, duh duh duh. Dingdiddleingdingding, duhduluhdiddleingdingding, duhduhduhduh, duh, duh, duh. I’ve been expecting you, IO Interactive. Your game’s called First Light, 007 First Light, and it’s like Hitman, but with a bit more of a action movie flavour to the sneaking about and rendering goons unconscious. I’m hardly the biggest Bond buff, more a casual enjoyer of an easy way to fill a Sunday afternoon with some Daniel Craig spyjinks or one of the Moore/Connery classics if the grandparents have come round.
That said, I’m well up for First Light. Especially if it can offer as satisfying a loop as Hitman’s missions. There’ll be less murder chess and more chatty car chasey shootering as part of the Bond formula, as IO have shown off at various points this year. Lenny Kravitz being one of the baddies would also have been a change of pace, if Agent 47 hadn’t started regularly rubbing shoulders with the likes of Eminem and Jean-Claude Van Damme over the past few years.
Diverting from the years-tested ‘find a way to unalive this person’ nature of Hitman’s murder box levels – each a perfectly-formed maze of killer domino runs you can set off at will, mix together, or totally abandon in favour of improvisation – comes with risk. Bond could be more of a one-time fling than a dance partner you tango with endlessly until you’ve become familiar with every surprise they have to offer. Even if that’s the case, I reckon it’ll still be a good time. If it hits Hitmanny heights, the game of the year conversation could already have a locked-in contender sipping martinis in the lobby by the end of March.
The Blood of Dawnwalker
With The Witcher 4 still a little way off, I’m keen to give The Blood of Dawnwalker a chance to get its teeth into me next year. Much has been made of devs Rebel Wolves’ witchery credentials, and you can certainly see the resemblance between CD Projekt’s dark medieval fantasy and Dawnwalker’s. That said, I’m interested to see if there’s a Witcher-level wealth of substance behind the vampire RPG’s time-sensitive mission to bust into a powerful bloodsucker’s lair and get back your family.
Rebel Wolves have been keen to emphasise dynamic changes in both how quests have to be approached and which powers protagonist Coen has to lean on depending on whether it’s day or night. They’ve also heavily pushed the idea that the choice and consequence will be abundant and fairly brutal, especially if you’re crap at deciding what to prioritise quickly. All of that looks great, even if I’m thoroughly convinced the combat might take me a little while to get into the swing of. The Witcher 3’s did too, to be fair, and I’m mainly concerned about lackluster parrying reactions letting me down in the directional thrust-heavy sword battles.
Dawnwalker seems set to offer an experience that dwells even more deeply on darkness than the Witcher games do and as such might boast less of the levity that comes from the likes of Gerry using his mutant powers to retrieve an old lady’s frying pan. So, assuming there aren’t many gags hiding amid the moonlit streets, it’ll be interesting to see whether sticking broadly to seriousness tone-wise can carry Rebel Wolves towards ruling the night.
Forza Horizon 6
I’ve not played nearly as much Forza Horizon 5 as I did Forza Horizon 4. Steam tells me the hour count stands at 245 to 81 in favour of the latter, and while I had plenty of fun in that time zipping around Mexico, I’ve not turned FH5’s keys since 2023. A lot of that’s likely down to me only coming to Horizon 4 when it plopped onto Valve’s storefront in 2021 and playing an awful lot of it in the run up to the arrival of its follow-up.
Horizon 6, though, feels well-positioned to set me off on another Forza binge now I’ve had some time away from the series’ open-world car collecting festival formula. Setting’s always key for these games, and racing around Japan seems like it’ll offer a similar sort of diversity in biomes and weather to Horizon 4’s brilliant rendition of Britain. Sure, I won’t be able to drive past Bamburgh castle like I have numerous times in real life, but leading a train of kei cars through an urban sprawl or drifting along narrow mountain passes bordered by cherry blossoms should be killer. Bonus points if I can rally through some snow in the underhills around Mount Fuji.
Star Wars: Galactic Racer
I liked Star Wars Outlaws, even if its rendition of the galaxy’s blastery bad side was a bit by the numbers at times. I like racing games, especially ones which involve hovering futuristic craft and the chance to blast through off-road trails dotted with the sort of visual vista furniture that makes you go ‘cor, that’s pretty’ midway through sliding round a bend. Star Wars: Galactic Racer looks like it could marry these two into one satisfying Sebulba-toting package. Very probably my bag, then.