Best Games to Play in 2026: Top Picks Across PC, PS5, Xbox & Switch

The first half of 2026 has already dropped a stack of strong releases, and with GTA 6 and Marvel's Wolverine still to come, there's plenty to keep you busy in the meantime. This is our running list of the best games to play right now across PC, PS5, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch 2 — some brand-new, others a few years old but still at the top of their genre thanks to regular updates. We've split everything by genre, so jump to whatever you're in the mood for.

One thing to set straight up front: this is a "what to play now" list, not a "came out this year" one. A few entries are older, but they keep pulling players back with new seasons, expansions and patches.

Want to go deeper into one genre? We keep full, regularly updated guides for each. Our roundups of the best RPGs, survival games, adventure games and co-op games go far beyond what we can fit here, and we link more throughout.

Whether you want a turn-based epic, a loot-driven grind or an open world to vanish into for a hundred hours, the genre is spoiled for choice right now.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Sandfall Interactive's debut, came out of nowhere in 2025 and went on to collect almost as many awards as Baldur's Gate 3. Set in a Belle Époque-inspired world, it follows Expedition 33, a band sent to kill the Paintress, a god who paints a number on a distant monolith each year and erases everyone of that age. At heart it's a turn-based RPG with a clean, direct story told with unusual care, carried by striking art direction, a sweeping score and a voice cast that includes Charlie Cox, Andy Serkis and Ben Starr. Combat layers real-time parries, dodges and counters on top of the turns, so even routine fights stay sharp, and the Pictos system lets you tune each character's build in real depth. It sold over three million copies in a month and became the game-of-the-year frontrunner. A full playthrough takes around 30 to 60 hours. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

Baldur's Gate 3 hardly needs an introduction at this point, but after years of patches it's worth another run, and if you somehow skipped it, start now. Built on Dungeons & Dragons 5e rules, Larian's CRPG spreads a remarkable story across three sprawling acts, with quests that bend around your choices, companions you actually care about and turn-based combat that lets you try almost anything. It swept Game of the Year in 2023 and only grew since: Patch 8 added cross-platform play and twelve new subclasses, while split-screen co-op lets up to four friends share a campaign. Choices ripple all the way to several different endings, so no two runs look alike, and a full playthrough easily runs past 100 hours. Honour mode raises the stakes for veterans who want one mistake to end everything. Few role-playing games feel this complete. PC, PS5, Xbox Series, Mac.

Set in 15th-century Bohemia, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is a living open world where almost every corner hides a story worth chasing. You return as Henry, a commoner swept up in a war over the throne, in a game that swaps fantasy for grounded historical detail: no magic, just period-accurate towns, trades and politics. Your reputation, clothes, and even how clean you are affect the way people treat you, while skills ranging from alchemy to blacksmithing improve naturally through practice. Two huge regions, the Trosky area and the city of Kuttenberg, are packed with side stories that often outshine the main quest. The grounded, deliberate combat clicks better on mouse and keyboard than on a gamepad, the world is gorgeous and it runs remarkably well, with story DLCs that hold up against the base game. It sold two million copies in the first two weeks. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

Eight years on, after a sweeping 2.0 overhaul, Cyberpunk 2077 is barely the game that launched in 2020. The update reworked progression, combat, the economy and police AI, and the Phantom Liberty expansion added a tight spy thriller starring Idris Elba in a new corner of Night City. Beyond the tech showcase, it's a dense first-person RPG: you build V however you like, from full netrunner to street samurai to pure gunslinger, and your choices steer the story toward several very different endings. Keanu Reeves' Johnny Silverhand exists as a digital construct inside your head, accompanying you throughout the story and constantly commenting on your choices. The Edgerunners anime sent a fresh wave of players back to Night City, and between the main story and Phantom Liberty there's easily 80 hours of content here. It's still one of the first games people reach for to push high-end hardware, and a sequel, codenamed Project Orion, is in the works. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

Elden Ring Nightreign is a standalone spin-off that bends FromSoftware's Elden Ring into a co-op roguelike, and you don't need the base game to play it. You pick one of eight Nightfarers, each with their own kit, then drop into a shrinking world and race a three-day cycle to pull a build together before a powerful Nightlord boss arrives. Days are spent hunting runes, loot, and mini-bosses; at night, the map closes in and forces you into a major boss fight. The progression, loot and punishing combat Elden Ring fans know are all here, compressed into runs of around 40 minutes. It's built for trios, with matchmaking and a shared hub, though you can brave it solo if you want the real challenge. Post-launch patches added new bosses and tuning. It's a fast, replayable take on the formula rather than another hundred-hour epic. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, the remake project's middle chapter, finally made it to PC, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series and it's one of the biggest action-RPGs you can play right now. A sprawling open world, a real-time battle system with genuine bite, and a continent-spanning take on a story people have loved for decades. The obvious choice if you want a big-budget JRPG to live in. PC, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series.

From the Persona team, Metaphor: ReFantazio is a turn-based JRPG set in a dark fantasy kingdom. It mixes a calendar-driven life sim with a layered class system and a story about prejudice and power. The writing is sharp, the art direction unlike anything else, and the battles reward you for thinking a turn ahead. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred is the second big expansion, closing the Hatred arc and bringing two new classes, reworked gear and fresh ground to explore. The real win is the endgame: build-crafting and progression finally carry weight, and the dungeons bite back. There are hundreds of hours of content here for anyone willing to chase better loot and perfect their build. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

Path of Exile 2, Diablo's biggest rival, is free to play and, even in early access, already packed with content. Combat is more tactical, with a greater emphasis on positioning, timing, and dodging, while the build system gives theorycrafters almost endless room to experiment and the endgame can keep dedicated players busy for hundreds of hours. A full release is due later in 2026. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered is Bethesda's twenty-year-old RPG, rebuilt in Unreal Engine 5 with new lighting, models and high-res textures, but the same game underneath. The story holds up and the faction quests are still some of the series' best, and plenty of players missed them the first time. The best way to finally see what the fuss was about. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

Avowed, Obsidian's first-person fantasy RPG set in the Pillars of Eternity world, lets you mix spells, guns and melee however you like. It's focused and hand-built rather than open and bloated, with sharp writing and choices that matter. On Game Pass day one. PC, Xbox Series, PS5.

The shooter genre is vast in 2026: story campaigns, competitive PvP, co-op PvE and the biggest battle royales going. For the full rundown, see our best FPS games selection.

Third in the rebooted series and a prequel to the 2016 game, DOOM: The Dark Ages trades the air-juggling of Eternal for a heavier, grounded rhythm of blocking, parrying and shield throws in a techno-medieval setting. id Software hands the Slayer a saw-bladed shield you can hurl, block with and dash behind, alongside brutal new guns like the Ravager and a skull-crushing autocannon. The campaign breaks up its core combat with large, semi-open levels stuffed with secrets, plus set-piece detours where you pilot a giant Atlan mech or ride a cybernetic dragon. The levels are big, the difficulty sliders are unusually generous, and it runs well even on modest rigs. It launched straight into Game Pass in 2025. If Eternal's platforming wore you out, this slower, tankier Slayer is a much easier fit. PC, PS5, Xbox Series, on Game Pass.

After the misfire that was Battlefield 2042, Battlefield 6 takes the series back to basics: four classes, big vehicle battles, detailed weapon tuning. Skip the forgettable campaign. The multiplayer is the best Battlefield has shipped in years, and the 2026 roadmap promises new maps, a server browser and proximity chat. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is a strong entry, with a spy-thriller campaign full of double-crosses and unusually varied missions. The multiplayer keeps getting fresh seasons, and plenty of players have stuck with it over the newer Black Ops 7. If you just want fast, slick gunplay, it delivers. PC, PS5, Xbox Series, also available via Game Pass.

Counter-Strike 2 remains the most-played game on Steam, without exaggeration. Valve’s Source 2 remake of Global Offensive introduced updated visuals, volumetric smoke that can be shaped and shot through, a sub-tick update system, and modern matchmaking, fully replacing CS in 2023. The core gameplay, however, stays the same and remains unforgiving: two teams of five, an economy that punishes careless spending, and gunplay where positioning and recoil control are everything. Premier mode added a visible skill rating, giving ranked matches real weight, while classics like Dust 2, Mirage, and Inferno continue to be part of the rotation. It’s free to play and still serves as the benchmark for competitive shooters, with Major tournaments drawing some of the largest audiences in esports. Even the skin economy, where knives and gloves can sell for thousands, has become a hobby of its own. PC.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl has put its rocky 2024 launch well behind it. Steady patches and new content (story, weapons, gear) have turned STALKER 2 into the game it was meant to be. You get a non-linear shooter with a sprawling open world, hardcore gunplay and an atmosphere nothing else quite matches, all set in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone. The first big DLC, Cost of Hope, lands in summer 2026 with a new story and an engine upgrade. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

Marathon, Bungie's PvPvE extraction shooter, folds the genre's best ideas (tense PvP, AI firefights, extensive customization) into the studio's signature gunfeel. It found its footing after launch and keeps evolving with new modes, balance passes and reworked maps. A solid way into extraction shooters, set on the abandoned colony of Tau Ceti IV. PC, PS5.

Deep Rock Galactic — the dwarves’ iconic battle cry “Rock and Stone!” echoes through every mission. Four space dwarves dig through fully destructible, procedurally generated caves, blast bug swarms, haul minerals and sink a few beers between drops. The class and weapon progression goes a long way down, the co-op is some of the best around, and regular updates keep the player base healthy. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

Borderlands 4 is back with a new crew of vault hunters, the series' trademark gunplay and a fresh open world to loot. Billions of guns, drop-in co-op and a niche the series has made entirely its own. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

Marvel Rivals is a loud, colorful hero shooter that turns Marvel's roster loose in fast, destructive 6v6 fights. NetEase fields more than 40 characters, from Iron Man, Spider-Man and Hulk to Magneto and Storm, each with their own abilities and a clear role on the team. The hook is team-up moves that pair specific heroes for bonus powers, plus environments you can partly destroy to open new sightlines. New characters and a fresh map or two land roughly each season, which arrive about every couple of months and keep the meta shifting. Comparisons to Overwatch are fair, but the Marvel license and the chaos of six-player team-ups give it a flavor of its own. It pulled in tens of millions of players fast after its late-2024 launch and has stayed near the top of the live-service pile since. Free to play. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

Valorant, Riot's tactical 5v5 shooter, pairs precise gunplay with hero abilities and 128-tick servers built for serious play. A major esport with a meta that never sits still and a constant stream of new agents and maps. Free to play. PC.

Years on, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege is still one of the tensest tactical shooters around, hung on destructible walls and floors and a broad roster of operator gadgets. The 5v5 attack-versus-defend setup and one-shot lethality demand real communication and reward patience over reflexes. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

Apex Legends is a hero-based battle royale with fast traversal, sharp gunplay and a squad-first design. A free-to-play fixture near the top of Steam's charts that keeps rotating in new legends, maps and seasons. PC, PS5, Xbox Series, Switch.

Calling Fortnite a game almost undersells it. You've got the 100-player battle royale, building, creator modes and an endless parade of crossovers with movies, music and brands. With tens of millions of players and live in-game events, it's impossible to leave off any honest look at what people actually play. PC, PS5, Xbox Series, Switch.

Despite all the battle royales that followed, PUBG: Battlegrounds — the game that kicked off the genre's boom — remains a Steam mainstay. Its grounded, tactical take on the genre, with realistic ballistics and high-stakes survival across big maps, has aged into a comfortable identity. Free to play. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

ARC Raiders is a third-person PvPvE extraction shooter that caught even its developers off guard with its popularity, largely thanks to how easy it is to pick up. Raiders head to the robot-held surface to fight AI and scavenge loot for their hideout, with PvP often optional. Big updates are planned twice a year. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

Big-budget spectacle, open worlds and co-op adventures, where a lot of most-talked-about releases live.

Black Myth: Wukong, Game Science's action game, pulls from the classic novel Journey to the West, casting you as the Monkey King against gods, demons and mythical beasts. China's first big-budget AAA hit, it sold more than 25 million copies and became a genuine phenomenon. Combat centers on a shape-shifting staff with three distinct stances, a roster of spells and transformations that let you briefly become the enemies you beat. It nods to Soulslikes but goes easier on newcomers, with no stamina bar gating your attacks. Across six chapters you tour gorgeous, varied regions built in Unreal Engine 5, and the boss fights, dozens of them pulled straight from Chinese mythology, are the real draw. After a run of patches it looks and runs great, and the sheer atmosphere carries it. Plan for around 40 hours of content. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

Monster Hunter Wilds, Capcom's fifth mainline entry, works for first-timers and veterans alike, and it sold over ten million copies within days of launch. You hunt across a sprawling, seamless world with its own ecosystem and shifting seasons, riding a Seikret mount that smooths out the old downtime between fights. The looser combat keeps all fourteen weapon types, adds a focus mode for landing precise wounds, and feeds a crafting loop where every hunt builds toward better gear. It leans more on story than past games, with a proper narrative pulling you through the early hours. Up to four players can team up for hunts, while free Title Updates continue to add new monsters and events. It's the most approachable the series has been without losing the depth veterans chase. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

Assassin's Creed Shadows takes you to feudal Japan with two playable leads: Naoe, a stealthy shinobi built for the shadows, and Yasuke, a powerhouse samurai who fights head-on. You swap between them to suit the job, and the open world is scenic and dense, with seasons and weather that change how you move and hide. The story leans into political intrigue and the old Assassins-versus-Templars push and pull, while a buildable hideout gives you a home base to upgrade between missions. Post-launch support added the Claws of Awaji story expansion, smoothed out the parkour and patched in extra activities. It's a big, classic-feeling Assassin's Creed with the stealth-versus-brute-force split as its hook. Expect dozens of hours to see it through. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

In Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, Hideo Kojima picks up Sam Bridges' story in a world where life and death blur together. This time the trek moves to a ravaged Australia, with a returning cast led by Norman Reedus and Léa Seydoux, and Elle Fanning and filmmaker George Miller among the new faces. The core loop is still about hauling cargo across brutal terrain and rebuilding connections, but combat, traversal tools and base-building are all broadened, and the world reacts to you in stranger ways. It's stacked with memorable characters, wild cutscenes and some of the best visuals on any screen, running on the Decima engine. A PS5 exclusive at launch, it's the kind of story-first experience for people who want a long, cinematic journey rather than a quick hit. Full playthrough around 40 hours. PC, PS5.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is one of the nicest surprises in recent memory from MachineGames: first-person exploration, fist-fights and puzzles that capture the feel of a classic Indy film. A 1937 globe-trot with a real sense of place, plus the Order of Giants story DLC. PC, PS5, Xbox Series (also via Game Pass), Nintendo Switch 2.

From Hazelight, the studio behind It Takes Two and A Way Out, Split Fiction is a two-player co-op adventure that landed among 2025's best-reviewed games. You and a friend play as writers Mio and Zoe, trapped in their own sci-fi and fantasy stories, racing through a whirlwind of genres in split screen. Inventive from start to finish, and built entirely around playing together. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

Spread democracy across bug- and robot-infested planets in Helldivers 2, a co-op shooter that became a genuine phenomenon. Arrowhead drops four players onto hostile worlds as expendable troopers of Super Earth, armed with call-down stratagems, from orbital strikes to turrets to resupplies, that arrive via typed button combos mid-fight. Dynamic missions, brutal friendly fire and constant chaos make every match feel like a Starship Troopers set piece. The real hook is the Galactic War, a community-wide meta where everyone's missions push the front line in real time, with new enemy factions like the squid-like Illuminate, fresh biomes and gear arriving constantly. It launched in early 2024, sold around twelve million copies and survived a few loud balancing dramas to stay a co-op staple. Best played with a squad of friends. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

Crimson Desert is a massive open-world action-RPG packed with mechanics and dense, detailed locations. This is one for players who'd rather wander a sandbox than sprint the main story. The quests can feel MMO-ish, but the scale and detail are striking, and patches keep sharpening it. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

Twelve years on, Grand Theft Auto Online — GTA 5's online half — is still among the most-played and most profitable games anywhere. Endless RP servers, a huge spread of modes, PvP, PvE and constant support. With GTA 6 on the way, now's the moment to get your fill. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

Pragmata is a genuine surprise from Capcom, built on an odd but addictive mix of shooting and puzzle-based hacking, plus a tender story about an astronaut and an android girl. The visuals, score and optimization are all excellent, and it wraps up in a tight 12 hours or so. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

From turn-based epics to the biggest competitive games on the planet, with plenty more in our best strategy games roundup.

Sid Meier's Civilization 7, the latest 4X from Firaxis, introduces distinct eras and lets you swap civilizations and leaders between them, so you can reshape your strategy on the fly and stay engaged deep into the endgame. Diplomacy is smarter, the battles more dynamic, and the Test of Time update has won over a lot of the early skeptics. PC, PS5, Xbox Series, Switch.

Total War: Warhammer 3 is a high-water mark for grand strategy, with a sandbox that stitches together the maps of all three games. Pick a race, grow your settlements, manage your lords and fight enormous real-time battles. Regular DLC releases keep it alive, and Lords of the End Times adds a new race and fresh legendary lords. PC.

Frostpunk 2 is a city-builder with survival roots that shifts the focus from surviving the cold to wrangling politics, law and feuding factions. The systems run deeper than the original and the story is twistier, with the Breach of Trust DLC adding a volcanic region and geothermal mechanics. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era is a long-awaited revival that goes back to the formula of the beloved third game. Even in early access it's a surprisingly complete, playable thing: build armies, develop your town and fight it out on the tactical map, with multiplayer that really comes alive. PC.

Dota 2 is the second most-played game on Steam and about as intricate as MOBAs get. Two teams of five fight to bring down the enemy Ancient on a single, finely tuned map, with a famously brutal skill ceiling and the largest prize pools in esports. Free to play. PC.

League of Legends is the biggest MOBA in the world by player count, built on 5v5 matches to destroy the enemy Nexus, with an enormous roster, layered itemization and a World Championship scene. The strategic depth and team play are what keep millions coming back. Free to play. PC.

The genre is in great shape, with clean netcode and healthy competitive scenes across the board. Our best fighting games list goes wider.

Street Fighter 6 is the modern fighting game to beat, with excellent netcode, accessible Modern controls for newcomers, deep mechanics for veterans and a steady stream of new characters. Its competitive scene remains one of the strongest in the genre. PC, PS5, Xbox Series, Nintendo Switch 2.

Tekken 8 builds on its 3D foundation with aggressive new systems that keep matches fast and dangerous. A broad roster, solid online play and a learning curve that pays off the time you put in. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

Mortal Kombat 1 modernizes the series' brutal flow without losing the identity, keeping the accessible mechanics and the spectacle the franchise is known for, and a presentation that's as fun to watch as it is to play. PC, PS5, Xbox Series, Switch.

Arcade thrills or serious simulation, pick your lane, and check our best racing games selection for more.

Forza Horizon 6, Playground's open-world racer, blends arcade-friendly handling with a big map full of events, cars and seasonal content. It's about as refined as the genre gets, and it's been a regular on best-of-2026 lists. PC, Xbox Series, also included in Game Pass.

F1 25, the official Formula 1 game, brings a meaty career mode, faithful circuits and a lively online scene, with enough depth for sim veterans and enough help for newcomers. Essential for motorsport fans. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

Assetto Corsa Evo is a serious sim-racing platform with detailed car physics and a strong modding community. It's the pick for players who want realism and proper wheel support over arcade handling. PC.

The annual sports franchises are still some of the most-played games in the world, especially with friends on the couch.

EA Sports FC 26, EA's football (soccer) juggernaut, returns with refined gameplay, the usual Ultimate Team and Career modes and a packed roster of licensed clubs and players. PC, PS5, Xbox Series, Switch and Switch 2.

Madden NFL 26 is the go-to American football sim, with realistic gameplay, Franchise mode and the sprawling Ultimate Team ecosystem. A staple for NFL fans every autumn. PC, PS5, Xbox Series, Nintendo Switch 2.

NBA 2K26 is the benchmark basketball sim, pairing slick on-court play with the long-running MyCareer and MyTeam modes. Slick presentation and yearly roster updates keep it on top. PC, PS5, Xbox Series, Switch, Nintendo Switch 2.

Crafting, base-building and the constant grind against hunger, cold and other players.

For many players, Rust feels less like a game and more like a second job. Its freedom, brutal PvP, layered progression and social systems let you build bases, form clans, raid rivals and defend loot that can be stolen even while you're offline. It remains one of the most popular survival games around. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

Valheim is a co-op survival game steeped in Norse mythology, where fallen vikings prove themselves to Odin by toppling bosses and raising settlements. A remarkable atmosphere, satisfying progression and real creative freedom made it a runaway hit, and it's now closing in on its 1.0 release. PC, Xbox Series, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2.

Palworld is the survival game that blew up on a single hook, "Pokémon with guns." Catch creatures, build bases, fight bosses and farm. After a quiet spell it came back with a big update adding PvP and better building, with a full release and a new biome on the way. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

Voxel terrain you can dig and reshape sets Enshrouded apart, blending base-building and crafting with Zelda-like exploration, a dynamic combat system and co-op for up to 16. It's been patched heavily since early access, with a full release expected late in 2026. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

7 Days to Die is an open-world survival game built around a simple but effective cycle: scavenge, craft, fortify your base and prepare for the massive zombie horde that arrives every seventh day. Years in early access have left it packed with systems and content, and it works especially well in co-op. The 3.0 update adds hostile NPCs, new quests and companions. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

Project Zomboid is an isometric zombie-apocalypse survival game and an outright genre legend, punishingly hardcore and stuffed with systems: crafting, skills, vehicles, fishing, base-building, solo or with friends. Build 42 overhauls crafting and multiplayer, with NPCs coming in a later update. PC.

The Long Dark is a quietly atmospheric survival game set in the frozen Canadian wilderness, all about cold, hunger, fatigue and wildlife under a realistic simulation. There's a sandbox and a story campaign, whose final chapter arrived in 2026, and a sequel is already underway. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

For when you want atmosphere, dread and the occasional jump scare. More in our best horror games roundup.

Resident Evil Requiem, the ninth mainline entry, drops you into a ruined Raccoon City as FBI agent Grace Ashcroft, with Leon Kennedy along for the ride. Grace's sections are classic resource-light horror; Leon's lean blockbuster, with zombie-blasting and boss fights. A sharp, well-reviewed return, with a free roguelike mode added after launch. PC, PS5, Xbox Series, Nintendo Switch 2.

Silent Hill f swaps the foggy town for a small Japanese village, but keeps the series' spirit, with a heavy, well-told story. The combat is responsive and varied, the puzzles less obtuse than before, and some boss fights edge toward Soulslike. A genuinely strong entry for old fans and newcomers both. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

Alan Wake 2, Remedy's art-house horror, looks stunning and follows writer Alan Wake and FBI agent Saga Anderson through two tangled stories. It's more of a dark, atmospheric narrative adventure than a pure scare machine, carried by standout audio and visuals. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

Phasmophobia is a co-op horror hit all about tense ghost-hunting: pin down the spirit on each map by gathering evidence with specialist gear. Clever voice recognition (ghosts hear player voice through mic), believable physics, creepy maps and high replayability. A full release is due in 2026 after a move to a new engine. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

Smaller-budget gems and the deckbuilders and roguelikes everyone's quietly hooked on. If you enjoy roguelikes, don't miss our roundup of the best roguelike games or best roguelike games best metroidvania games[/url].

Hades 2 is a sequel that lives up to a roguelike many call the best of its decade. The core loop is familiar, but the content and polish jump a tier, with new locations, weapons, a branching story and mechanics that reshape your runs. It landed among the highest-rated games of 2025. PC, PS5, Xbox Series, Switch.

Slay the Spire 2, the sequel to the deckbuilder that defined the genre, became the biggest Steam launch of 2026, breaking into the platform's all-time top 20 most-played games within days of its early access debut. Same addictive card-and-combat loop, more depth and content. PC.

Balatro is a poker-themed roguelike deckbuilder that turned into a breakout hit and awards favorite, where you chain absurd scoring combos out of joker cards. Trivial to learn, near-impossible to put down. PC, PS5, Xbox Series, Switch.

Hollow Knight: Silksong is the long-awaited follow-up to one of the best metroidvanias, and after a six-year wait it landed as one of 2025's biggest releases. This time you play as Hornet, climbing the strange kingdom of Pharloom with a faster, more aggressive moveset built around her needle and silk. Team Cherry keeps the same haunting mood and hand-drawn beauty but ramps the difficulty up hard: there's a mountain of content, punishing platforming and merciless bosses across a huge interconnected map. New tools, crafting and traversal abilities open the world up as you go, and the sheer number of enemies and secrets dwarfs the original. The difficulty was eased slightly after launch, and a free Sea of Sorrow expansion is on the way. It was the most-anticipated indie game for years, and it delivered. PC, PS5, Xbox Series, Switch and Switch 2.

Stardew Valley is an indie legend: a cozy farming sim that hides an enormous range of systems under the warmth, from crops and animals to mining, fishing and town romance, all in lovely pixel art. It's still getting major free updates, with the 1.7 anniversary patch adding a new farm type and more. PC, PS5, Xbox Series, Switch.

Satisfactory is a first-person co-op factory builder where engineers automate resource extraction on an alien world. It's Factorio in 3D, basically, with fiddly, satisfying crafting, exploration and total creative freedom. Recent updates added weather, better logistics and a randomized-resource difficulty option. PC.

Dispatch is a narrative game from former Telltale staff that picked up two Game Awards nominations and sold two million copies in its first month. Smart, funny writing and decisions with real teeth make it one of 2025's standout indie stories. PC, PS5.

The Alters is a clever blend of adventure, management and survival where a stranded astronaut creates "alters": clones of himself from alternative life paths, each with a personality, skills and baggage of their own. An atmospheric story that digs into human choices through sci-fi, with post-launch updates adding more content. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

Nintendo being Nintendo, these live only on Switch, so you won't find them on PC, PlayStation or Xbox. A couple are Switch 2 exclusives; the rest run on both the original Switch and Switch 2.

Mario Kart World is the Switch 2's flagship launch title and arguably one of the system's best games so far, selling toward 15 million copies. It reworks the kart racer with an open world, 24 racers on track at once and a battle-royale-style Knockout Tour, while keeping the chaotic, friendship-ending fun the series runs on. Switch 2.

Donkey Kong Bananza is a 3D platformer cut from the same cloth as Super Mario Odyssey and a Game of the Year contender, taking Best Family Game at the 2025 Game Awards. DK's environmental destruction is a joy, the levels stay fresh, and the pairing of DK and a young Pauline gives the whole thing real charm. Switch 2.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond marks the first-person series' long-awaited return, blending exploration, atmosphere and combat in the way that made it a favorite originally. One of the biggest releases on the system for longtime fans. Switch, Switch 2.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A is a new open-zone adventure and one of the most sought-after games on the system, building on the Legends formula with a fresh setting and battles that lean real-time. Switch, Switch 2.

The year still has some heavy hitters to come. Here are the upcoming releases we're watching most closely.

GTA 6 — the big one. More than a decade after GTA 5, Rockstar's return to Vice City is set for late 2026, and it's shaping up to be less a game launch than a cultural event. For the first time the series leads with a woman, Lucia, one half of a Bonnie-and-Clyde duo alongside her partner Jason, set loose in a modern, sun-soaked take on the state of Leonida. Expect a vast, living open world, the razor-sharp satire the series runs on, and the obsessive level of detail Rockstar is known for. The first trailer broke records for views within a day, and the eventual successor to GTA Online looms behind it all. It's confirmed for PS5 and Xbox Series, with a PC version expected later but not yet dated. No game in years carries this much hype. PS5, Xbox Series.

With The Witcher 4 still years off, The Blood of Dawnwalker is the dark fantasy RPG to watch in the meantime. It's the debut from Rebel Wolves, a studio founded by former CD Projekt Red developers who worked on The Witcher 3, and that pedigree shows: moral dilemmas, hard choices and a story-first world, this time set in Vale Sangora, a fictional Carpathian kingdom. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

From Insomniac, the studio behind the modern Spider-Man games, Marvel's Wolverine is a take on Logan that swaps web-slinging for something far nastier and more personal. It isn't open world: expect cinematic, level-based set pieces that run from the Canadian wilderness to Japan, with claws and blood front and center. Due in 2026, exclusively for PS5.

Playground Games, the Forza Horizon studio, is reviving Fable, the beloved British fantasy RPG, with its trademark humor and a brand-new open world. One of Xbox's biggest swings of the year, and it'll be on Game Pass day one. PC, Xbox Series.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 4 returns the RTS series after a long absence with an epic campaign you can tackle solo or in co-op, fielding Space Marines, Orks, Necrons and the Adeptus Mechanicus. One for strategy fans who've waited years for a proper sequel. PC.

It comes down to your platform and taste, but a few names keep coming up: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Baldur's Gate 3 and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth for RPGs, Split Fiction and Helldivers 2 for co-op, and Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza on Switch 2. Among live-service giants, Counter-Strike 2, Fortnite and Dota 2 stay on top of the player charts.

Standout 2026 arrivals include Resident Evil Requiem, Slay the Spire 2, Pragmata and Crimson Desert, with heavy hitters like GTA 6 and Marvel's Wolverine still expected later in the year.

Most multiplatform picks run on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series, and many also reach Switch 2. The Nintendo entries are the exception: Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza are Switch 2 exclusives, while Metroid Prime 4 and Pokémon Legends: Z-A also run on the original Switch. A few others are platform-limited too: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and Death Stranding 2 are PC and PlayStation only, and Avowed and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 are PC, PS5 and Xbox.

Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, League of Legends, Valorant, Apex Legends, Fortnite, PUBG: Battlegrounds, Marvel Rivals and Path of Exile 2 are all free to play.

Strong Game Pass picks include Avowed, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Forza Horizon 6, all there day one or shortly after.

Split Fiction and It Takes Two are perfect for two players, while Helldivers 2, Deep Rock Galactic, Elden Ring Nightreign and Valheim shine with a bigger group.

Which genre did we nail, and which did we miss? Tell us in the comments what you're playing in 2026 and what you'd add to the list.

Worked through the whole list? Here are a few more recent standouts that didn't make the cut above but are well worth your time.

Ghost of Yotei, Sucker Punch's follow-up to Ghost of Tsushima, trades 13th-century Tsushima for the mountains of 1600s Hokkaido and a new wandering swordfighter. It landed among 2025's best-reviewed games, and it's a clear highlight if you own a PS5. PS5.

Stellar Blade is a stylish character-action game with fast, combo-heavy fights that reached PC in 2025 after its PS5 debut. Slick, sharp-looking and an easy recommendation for anyone who loves the genre. PC, PS5.

Dying Light: The Beast, the latest entry in the parkour-zombie series, drops you into a new open world, mixing free-running, brutal melee combat and tense night-time encounters. Released in 2025, it is especially enjoyable in co-op. PC, PS5, Xbox Series.

The back half of 2026 is shaping up to be packed, and there are surely more standouts ahead. We'll keep updating and expanding this list as worthy new games land, so it always reflects what's best to play right now. And if you want to go deeper into a single genre, we have more articles with great games.