The 2026 game release calendar so far has GTA 6 standing alone in May—who will be brave enough to challenge it?

There are still a lot of games left to come in 2025—October alone is full of Steam wishlist heavy-hitters—but we're close enough to the end of the year to start mapping out our 2026 gaming plans.

It's still rather early, so our 2026 new games calendar doesn't have a ton of dates set in stone yet, but what immediately jumps out at me is the year's return trip to not one but two cities from an era of gaming that still has a chokehold on me. Get in loser, we're going to Raccoon City… and then Vice City. Hold your applause, I'll be here all of 2026.

If you need help with planning elsewhere, we've still got you covered with our 2025 game release calendar and handy Steam Sale dates for reference. Otherwise, it's onto the new games of 2026 list we go.

The biggest games of 2026

A close-up of the main character of Nioh 3. He has long, black hair put up in a high ponytail and dark brown eyes. He's looking just off-screen with some sort of spirit creature behind him. — (Image credit: Koei Tecmo)

How's the new games calendar shaping up for 2026?

We haven't even finished this year's holiday season, but we've already got a decent idea of what early 2026 looks like for big game releases. While January is light for now, February starts piling it on with Deus Ex Remastered, Nioh 3, and Resident Evil Requiem. Then Crimson Desert finally finds a month to call home in March with 007 First Light right on its heels.

It's probably safe to assume most new games will try and steer clear of the days and weeks around Grand Theft Auto 6's release date on May 26. That's just for consoles, but even without a PC launch window it'll be hard for much else to break through all the noise around Vice City's big return.

Biggest games launching in 2026

Resident Evil Requiem | February 27
Capcom takes us back to Raccoon City soon with Resident Evil Requiem, and director Koshi Nakanishi says the next Resi stars a new lead, Grace Ashcroft. I'm all about another leading lady, but I just have one burning question for him that keeps me up at night: When will I see Leon again?

Crimson Desert | March 19
Crimson Desert's first launch delay was back in 2021, but it sounds like the March 2026 date is its for-real-this-time plan. It's the first singleplayer game from the studio behind Black Desert Online, and one my colleague Harvey Randall called "an absolute riot" in his Crimson Desert preview.

007 First Light | March 27
007 First Light is a Bond story set early in his career, before he earned his reputation for being a smooth, smug bastard. It's fittingly from the Hitman studio IO Interactive—a team with plenty of experience making espionage action adventure games.

Grand Theft Auto 6 (Consoles) | May 26
Who knows when GTA 6 will launch for PC, but I can't ignore Rockstar's return to Vice City during the wait. Rockstar is already counting its chickens before they've hatched, too, calling GTA 6 "the largest game launch in history," in a job posting.

New PC games in January 2026

A young woman with red eyes and white hair staring up and off camera at something ominous in Code Vein 2 — Code Vein 2 (Image credit: Bandai Namco)

New games in January
January 6	StarRupture (Steam)	Extraterrestrial base-building and survival in early access
January 15	Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon (Steam)	The Trails Through Daybreak 2 sequel
January 28	The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin (Steam)	Open world RPG gacha based on the manga series
January 30	Code Vein 2 (Steam)	Anime soulslike sequel

New PC games in February 2026

A woman from Resident Evil Requiem with short platinum-colored hair standing in the dark. The shot is close up on her face and she looks frightened. — Resident Evil Requiem (Image credit: Capcom)

New games in February
February 5	Deus Ex Remastered (Steam)	An RPG classic with QoL upgrades
February 5	Dragon Quest 7: Reimagined (Steam)	A second DQ7 remake
February 5	Nioh 3 (Steam)	Samurai action-RPG sequel
February 5	Menace (Steam)	XCOM-like RPG from the Battle Brothers studio
February 10	Mewgenics (Steam)	Cat-breeding RPG from the Super Meat Boy creator
February 13	High on Life 2 (Steam)	Psychedelic FPS sequel
February 24	Tides of Tomorrow (Steam)	Ocean survival with asynchronous multiplayer
February 27	Resident Evil Requiem (Steam)	Back to Raccoon City

New PC games in March 2026

A young James Bond in 007 First Light furrowing his eyebrows. His face is dirty and he's in a car with a busted out window — 007 First Light (Image credit: io interactive)

New games in March
March 12	Monster Hunter Stories 3 (Steam)	Turn-based tale with monsties
March 19	Crimson Desert (Steam)	Singleplayer ARPG from Black Desert devs
March 26	Copa City (Steam)	Manage and organize major football events
March 27	007 First Light (Steam)	Baby bond's first spy action missions
March ??	Slay the Spire 2 (Steam)	Roguelike card sequel