The 25 Most Exciting Games Of Summer Game Fest 2026

With today’s Nintendo Direct behind us, we can finally rest – the Summer Gaming Showcase madness is over. Between last week’s PlayStation State of Play, Summer Game Fest showcase, the 2026 Summer Xbox Games Showcase, today’s Nintendo Direct, and a dozen other related presentations that aired in between, we have so much to look forward to in this favorite medium of ours. We here at Game Informer literally wrote more than 100 stories covering the past week of reveals, announcements, updates, and more. 

With so much to pore through, we decided to band together and create a list of the 25 most exciting games of SGF 2026, presented in alphabetical order. Let us know which ones you’re most stoked for in the comments below!

Burn-9

There are a lot of Metal Gear Solid-inspired games – even director Hideo Kojima borrows heavily from it in his post-MGS projects like Death Stranding and Physint. But usually, these games put you in control of the Snake parallel. Burn-9, however, has caught my interest by being a MGS-inspired game that doesn’t do that; instead, you play as the person in the chair, as it were. Described by developer 14 Hours Productions as a “Tactical Radio Action” game, another nod to MGS’s “Tactical Espionage Action” tag, in Burn-9, your job is to guide the last survivor of an elite black-ops team after a mission has gone terribly wrong. 

“When a top secret military research facility in the Antarctic goes dark, an elite strike force of cybernetically-enhanced black-ops super soldiers is dispatched to investigate and secure Burn-9 at all costs,” the game’s description reads. “Minutes into the mission, the helicopter is shot down. There is one survivor… and you’re her only lifeline.” As the team’s Operator, you will need to guide her to safety while navigating the tension and demands of the top brass and the harsh reality on the ground. What you share, what you hold back, and who you trust is up to you. On top of that unique premise, Burn-9 launches this year on PC. 

Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse

Evil Empire made a name for itself working on Dead Cells, a game heavily inspired by Castlevania. Then, it made an even stronger impression with Dead Cells’ Castlevania DLC. With such fundamental love for the vampire-hunting series, the studio seems like the perfect choice to helm the first proper Castlevania game in years, so when we saw it was the team behind the upcoming Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse, it almost seemed too good to be true.

And yet, the game is real, and looks as good as you’d expect. We see our new protagonist, Rose Belmont, wield a whip or sword and shield to destroy supernatural minions, harness magic to parry attacks and break through barriers, and use a map to explore her surroundings, just like the dozens of indie games the series has inspired. The bosses in this trailer also look terrifying and thoroughly designed. The art direction, in general, is a good look for the franchise – colorful enough to be interesting, yet dark, striking, and unmistakably gothic. It looks awesome, and it’ll be out on October 15.

Clockwork Revolution

The developers at inXile have years of experience crafting narrative-forward games with lots of choice layered in, but Clockwork Revolution appears to be an especially ambitious undertaking. Players navigate through the fictional steampunk city of Avalon, confronting challenges in any number of unique ways to reach their objectives. 

While immersive role-playing experiences like this are often compelling without additional twists, Clockwork Revolution layers in a slick time-travel mechanic that lets players move back and forth through time. Make changes to the city decades earlier, and the results become apparent when you travel back to the present. 

Clockwork Revolution is one of a small handful of games that see Xbox pulling back on its cross-compatibility approach from recent years; inXile’s new RPG will be an Xbox console exclusive. It’s one we’re watching with great interest in the lead-up to a 2027 launch. 

Clutch

We’re in a bit of a renaissance for story-driven racing games. Don’t mistake this for strictly racing games – we’ve been excellent racers for years now, including Sony’s Gran Turismo and Xbox’s Forza Horizon, which took us to Japan in Forza Horizon 6 earlier this year. But you can’t deny that Forza Horizon 6, Gran Turismo 7, and similar racing titles are a bit lacking in the narrative department (not for lack of trying). Recent releases, like Milestone’s Screamer, and the newly announced Clutch, which comes by way of the new Maverick Games studio founded by Forza Horizon 5 director Mike Brown, aim to inject a story worth seeing through into the genre, and we’re here for it. 

Clutch was revealed last week with a flashy trailer that details the story of sibling racers competing in a historic racing series called the R1K. In it, players take part in sanctioned events – legal, rule-following, boring! But the other side of the campaign is the Midnight Collective, an underground racing circuit that’s all about style. The hero of this story finds himself in trouble, and this new universe’s seedier elements tempt him into illegal (and dangerous) races. 

Maverick Games promises shifting alliances, rival crews, a living PvPvE world, handcrafted missions, and a lush, detailed open-world sandbox that delivers cinematic action and emergent chaos on the asphalt. Given the pedigree of the studio and how great this first showing was, we can’t wait to get behind the wheel(s) of Clutch when it launches in Spring 2027. 

Crossfire

We’ve all been wondering what That’s No Moon, a studio founded by shooter veterans in 2021, was up to for a while now. With a title like “That’s No Moon,” you’d be forgiven for predicting something related to Star Wars. Well, the team’s debut title, Crossfire, couldn’t be further from that universe. Crossfire might sound familiar, because it’s the massive online multiplayer shooter developed by South Korean studio Smilegate that received a not-so-great campaign in recent years from Control team Remedy Entertainment. Smilegate is determined to make Crossfire bigger than it already is and has enlisted That’s No Moon to do so. And if the game’s reveal during the Summer Game Fest Showcase, and senior associate editor Marcus Stewart’s impressions from a recent preview, are any indication, it might redefine the cover shooter. 

At least, that’s what the studio is aiming to do with its Adaptive Cover system, which allows the player character to realistically interact with natural terrain elements to hide or maneuver around in a hyper-realistic way. The gunplay itself looks really neat, too, with a unique third-person ADS view that shows what a first-person ADS image would look like, and the mysterious sci-fi elements infused into it make clear this is more than just another military shooter. 

Its leads are Layla Qassam, played by Claudio Doumit of The Boys fame, and Delroy Cross, played by Ricky Whittle of American Gods fame, and their antagonistic-turned-symbiotic relationship, as we see in the reveal trailer, has us ready to spend more time with the duo. There’s no release date in sight for Crossfire, but it’s due out sometime in the future on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. 

Exodus

Many have taken to calling Exodus the most obvious spiritual successor to the Mass Effect series, and for good reason. Beyond a number of BioWare developers in key roles, Exodus features third-person exploration, a decision-focused narrative, third-person cover combat with powers, and a fantastical distant future setting with lots of unusual alien-like party members. With each new batch of info on the game, we’re growing more excited about its potential, including its most recent showing. If you’re intrigued, Exodus already has two fun sci-fi novels by Peter F. Hamilton to read, and a full tabletop game strongly rooted in the traditions of Dungeons & Dragons. For more on the video game itself, check out our recent preview.

Fable

This iteration of Fable, which has no number or subtitle to signal that this is a chance to start the franchise fresh, has been in development for a long time. We first heard about its existence back in 2020. But over the last year or two, Microsoft has been offering more and more about the game and every new look makes us a little more excited.

During Summer Game Fest, we learned more about the game’s cast of characters and that Hayley Atwell will be playing the antagonist, a hero who thinks they should be the only hero. We also learned that What We Do In The Shadows’ Natasia Demetriou will be in the game as a character named Jenny, and Jack of Blades, the original game’s villain, will be returning in some shape or form.

Fable has always been a series that is intentionally open-ended, letting players do basically whatever they want (within reason) and ensuring the game elicits some kind of reaction. This new Fable seems to be in line with that idea and we’re hopeful this new team (Forza Horizon’s Playground Games) knows what they’re doing. They certainly have the whole open-world thing down.

Final Fantasy VII Revelation

Roughly a decade ago, the idea of a Final Fantasy VII Remake, while technically real, seemed impossible. Now, years and years later, we’re less than a year away from the finale, Final Fantasy VII Revelation, and we still kind of can’t believe Square Enix has pulled this off. As the surprise closer of the annual Summer Game Fest showcase, Square Enix not only revealed Revelation, but gave us a on-stage deep-dive into what we can expect in the finale sequel. 

Cid’s Highwind is in the game, giving players the ability to freely fly around the planet and Fortnite-style drop onto the ground below; Cid is playable, a dragoon at heart, and so is Vincent Valentine (and you can switch between beast and human mode whenever you want); what is basically a Job system has been added in the form of outfits that transform the brawler Tifa into a Black Mage, for example; and Sephiroth has a new voice actor in the form of Travis Willingham. Perhaps more exciting than all of that, Queen’s Blood, the incredible card game from Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, is back, this time with party member Red XIII as the protagonist. 

There is so much to be excited about in Final Fantasy VII Revelation, and the fact that it’s launching worldwide simultaneously on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC – meaning nobody will have to wait a year for a port on their platform of choice while dodging spoilers – next Spring is the cherry-red materia on top. 

Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave

Fire Emblem: Three Houses was a huge pivot point for the series, bringing the tactical RPG onto Nintendo’s home console for the first time in years. While some bemoan the loss of the old days of the series, Three Houses remains one of the most popular and influential entries the series has ever seen, and Fortune’s Weave is following in its footsteps in meaningful ways. At the most basic level, it brings back Sothis, an important, mysterious character from Three Houses, but after seeing a trailer in the recent Nintendo Direct, we also learned it will allow players to pick one of four protagonists they wish to experience the game as, harkening back to Three Houses’ choice between the titular houses.

But the elements that set Fortune’s Weave apart are also exciting, from its gladiator-style tournament to its intriguing cast of characters. One protagonist, Cai, even rides a new mount called an Ornius, which resembles an emu or ostrich, except it can fly. The Fire Emblem series has been consistently entertaining over the years, and the Switch era was no different, so we’re more than down to check out Fortune’s Weave when it drops this September.

Gears of War: E-Day

Gears of War: E-Day is coming home (after a very brief multiplatform excursion that saw the recent remake of the first game, Gears of War Reloaded, come to PlayStation 5). Despite speculation that E-Day would hit Sony’s console, Xbox revealed during its recent showcase that it is, in fact, an Xbox Series X/S console exclusive, which is to say it’s launching on Xbox and PC on October 6. It still retains the classic third-person cover shooter DNA in every mainline Gears entry before it, but E-Day is definitely more bloody and violent, and developer The Coalition is adding new movement mechanics that translate to a more dynamic experience overall. 

Set 14 years before the events of the first Gears game, E-Day chronicles the events of Emergence Day, or, in Gears history, the day the enemy Locust hordes erupted from the ground below to lay siege on humanity. E-Day takes place in the shellshocked city of Kalona and stars original protagonist Marcus Fenix alongside Dom, a couple of other familiar faces, and a few new ones, too. The Coalition says E-Days’ story explores themes of burden, loss, and loyalty, and the campaign is played from the perspective of the new Bravo Squad: Marcus, Dom, Carter, a new Gear, and Lucas, a fresh cadet who never expected to be on the front lines. They must navigate wartime tensions and interpersonal relationships while trying to stop the Locust horde from destroying the city they love, and they’ll do so in a campaign that promises 4K resolution, 60 FPS gameplay, and hardware-based ray-tracing. 

And in multiplayer, which returns with online classics and a new 12-player Horde Raid, you can expect 120 FPS action. This is a piece of Gears history that fans have long speculated on, and it’s exciting knowing we’re just a few months away from learning where humanity’s war against the Locusts began. 

Gen Atlas

The wait for the next game from the creator of Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, and The Last Guardian has been long. Fumito Ueda’s last game was released in 2016, and even that was after substantial delays. Ueda likes to take his time, but to date, the wait has always been worthwhile. No one makes games so full of intrigue, loneliness, scale, and emotion quite like Ueda and his team.

Cryptically teased in 2024 with the temporary name Project Robot, during the primary Summer Game Fest showcase this year, Gen Atlas was officially unveiled. We now have at least some idea of how the game works: a humanoid protagonist drives around a giant, flying robot head, which they can attach to seemingly abandoned giant robots to take control of them. In our interview with Ueda after seeing the game, he said, “The robot head is going to be many things to the player character. At times, it will be a means of transportation, like a vehicle. At times, it will be your navigator. At times, it is more functional to use it as a tool. But it’s also going to be your partner, as well. So it doesn’t just serve one thing. It’s going to serve multiple sorts of roles.” You also have a gun, which we have definitely never seen in a Ueda game.

We still have a lot of questions about Gen Atlas. Is it a sequel to Ueda’s previous three games (he implies that he doesn’t really know, but we’re skeptical)? Who is the protagonist? What happened to this world? Frankly, we don’t actually want to know before we have a chance to play the final game, but it’s exciting to theorize. We look forward to thinking about Gen Atlas for years to come after playing, just as we have for all his previous adventures.

God of War Laufey

The AAA video game announcement cycle typically follows a predictable pattern. Games are typically announced about 2 years out from their release dates with a short, CGI teaser. A year or so later, we’ll get another, more concrete look with in-game cutscenes and maybe a snippet of gameplay, and then three to six months out from release, we’ll get an actual look at the game. God of War Laufey wasn’t just surprising because it’s a game none of us knew existed – it turned that whole predictable cycle on its head by debuting with 20 promising minutes of gameplay.

God of War Laufey is a game all about Kratos’ late wife as she fights her way through the afterlife. Set in a dimension called The Everywhen, Laufey’s journey will see her cross paths with gods from all sorts of mythologies – we’ve already seen Mongolian and Egyptian deities – alongside whimsical characters like Phranque (a gelatinous cube played by Jack Quaid) and Rue (a sentient ribbon) that would feel out of place in a Kratos adventure. It also allows characters players have killed in past God of War games (there are many) to return, which is an especially exciting prospect. 

The new combat looks fast-paced and exciting, the worldbuilding is intriguing, and Woll’s performance already has us hooked. We would have been plenty excited with a simple CGI game announcement teaser, but showing so much of the game from the introduction has us hyped through the roof.

Halo: Campaign Evolved

It’s been 25 years since Combat Evolved helped to usher in a new era for console shooters, and the newly redubbed Halo Studios is hard at work on a remake of that original game, which aims to celebrate and enhance everything players loved about the original. While we had previously seen some of the reworked original missions (which look beautiful), SGF offered a first look at some of the brand-new missions on the way to Master Chief, set roughly one year before the events that unfolded on Halo. In addition to offering some meaningful prologue to the core game, it also gives the team a chance to include some of the weapons and enemies that wouldn’t appear until later installments. Campaign Evolved looks very strong, and this new info has only further enhanced our enthusiasm. 

Kingdom Hearts IV

It’s not easy being a Kingdom Hearts fan. We last saw Kingdom Hearts IV in video form back in 2022, and the fanbase was so convinced that this game might not be real anymore that Square Enix doled out a few screenshots last year to keep us satiated. The entire community surrounding this Disney x Final Fantasy mashup series, us included, was shocked to see Kingdom Hearts IV show up during the latest Nintendo Direct, of all places. Yes, Kingdom Hearts has a spin-off lineage on Nintendo devices, but nobody expected this, especially after it missed all of the other events of the week. 

The big surprise is that Kingdom Hearts IV will launch on Nintendo Switch 2, though we still don’t know when that launch will be. Plus, it will launch simultaneously not just with PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, but also on PC. That’s huge for the series and ensures that as many people as possible will be playing Kingdom Hearts IV when it finally comes out.

Though we didn’t get a release date today, we did get a new gameplay trailer showing the return of the fan-favorite reaction-commands mechanic, along with a deeper look at this strangely realistic Sora in modern-day Tokyo. He uses these reaction commands and other action Keyblade staples to destroy heartless in the famous Shibuya crossing, and it looks beautiful. There is a lot of mystery in the trailer, too, with various characters from across the canon appearing alongside new faces, but we’ll leave the theorycrafting to you. 

Marvel’s Wolverine

Insomniac has a sterling track record in handling comic book superheroes, thanks to its treatment of Spider-Man. That already has our expectations high as we watch for the impending launch of Wolverine. But the new gameplay showcase for the game further cemented that excitement, showing off Logan’s impressive environmental navigation skills, stealth capabilities, and most of all, his ability to absolutely decimate enemy forces with his claws. Insomniac also appears to be leaning heavily into the potential for cameos and other appearances from Marvel heroes and villains, including a first look at Jean Grey in this universe of characters. Wolverine looks bloody, violent, and intense, but also like it may be a ton of fun.  

Persona 6

Nobody is patting themselves on the back for predicting that we’d see Persona 6 this year during the SGF madness, but that doesn’t make finally seeing it any less exciting. Admittedly, the reveal trailer doesn’t give us a lot to go on, but it ain’t nothing. We see a green-hued graveyard, some fingers pointing at something, and a headless statue atop a monument of sorts. The trailer and the logo that appears at the end of it make clear that the color theme of Persona 6 is, as many predicted, green (following Persona 3’s blue, Persona 4’s yellow, and Persona 5’s red). And the brief blurb about it that developer Atlus released following the reveal hints at something sinister, possibly harkening back to earlier entries in Persona and its Shin Megami Tensei origins. 

“Live a double life in modern-day Japan, but beneath the surface of familiar streets and quiet neighborhoods lies something darker: strange rumors, unsettling urban legends, and occult incidents.” 

Okay, yes, you could technically say this blurb matches pretty much every Persona game ever. And yes, you could argue that this teaser trailer might not represent the final game at all – look no further than the Persona 5 reveal and the actual game itself for evidence of that. But, assuming Atlus does stay true to this premise, Persona 6 could be the darkest entry yet. Unfortunately, there’s no word on when to expect it, but at least Persona 4 Revival launches in February to (hopefully) tide us over. 

Rayman Legends Retold

If you’re a platformer fan, there’s a good chance you already know and love Rayman Legends. It’s a delightful 2D platformer from Ubisoft, and, after more than a decade out of the spotlight, the greatest/only limbless hero is back – this time, in 3D. Well, kind of. Rayman Legends Retold is a 3D remake of the original 2D game and, as senior associate editor Wesley LeBlanc experienced in his hands-on time with it, it plays as a 2.5 sidescrolling platformer. Does Rayman Legends need a remake? No, absolutely not; the original still plays great. But Ubisoft says Retold is setting the stage for Rayman’s future, serving as a foundation of sorts to the narrative and mechanical canon moving forward, and if this remake is any indication, it’s looking bright. 

Alongside the remade levels and worlds, now in 4K/60 FPS, a brand-new world has been introduced, along with additional music stages. Plus, each world is endcapped with an exciting Star Fox-esque rail-shooter stage where Rayman must fend off foes while flying through a 3D space on the back of a dragon. With a brand new villain to make up for the anticlimactic finale of the original Legends, and an October 1 release date on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC, we can’t wait to jump back into this world. 

Resident Evil Veronica

Capcom has found a good release cadence for arguably its most successful franchise. New game, remake, new game, remake, and so on. We knew a remake was up next after having a great time with Resident Evil Requiem earlier this year, but we didn’t know what was coming. Rumors and theories pointed to another remake of the original Resident Evil or following the path of 2 remake, 3, remake, and 4 remake, it seemed like 5 was up next. We were delighted, however, when it was revealed that Code Veronica would be the next game to get the treatment.

Arguably the most important but least-played mainline Resident Evil, Code Veronica was intended to be a numbered Resident Evil game during development, specifically 3. But business decisions and pessimism about the original release being a Dreamcast-exclusive led Capcom to give Nemesis (originally meant to be a smaller spinoff) a proper number, while Code Veronica received a non-numbered subtitle. As a result, it was inadvertently treated as a spinoff, despite starring Claire Redfield and exploring the important history of the founders of the evil Umbrella Corporation.

All of that is to say that it is arguably the Resident Evil most deserving of a revisit. It will fill in important story gaps many may have missed, and it’s a chance to spend more time with Claire, who hasn’t reappeared since the Resident Evil 2 remake.

Spyro: A Realm Beyond

For a character who came up as one of the great gaming mascots of the mid-90s, you’d think Spyro would have had a more reliable track record over the years. But after the original trilogy of PlayStation games, no one quite knew what to do with him. Between middling sequels, an unsuccessful gritty reboot, and a toys-to-life franchise that would eventually leave him behind, Spyro fans were left in the dust until the Reignited Trilogy reimagined his best games for modern platforms in 2018. Now, that same studio is picking the character back up for an original adventure, and after decades of patience and disappointment, this finally seems like a follow-up that will truly honor the character’s legacy.

The trailer shows mostly cinematics of Spyro running through vibrant, hyper-saturated rolling hills, but it ends with a slice of intriguing gameplay. This entry will finally allow Spyro to fly, not just glide, with no restrictions. Additionally, Tom Kenny returns to voice the purple dragon, just as he did in Spyro 2, 3, and the Reignited Trilogy, so it’ll feel like the adventure is picking up where it left off if you tackle it after the remakes. Even though, after all these years, this optimism might come across as delusional, we’re hoping this will finally be the sequel Spyro deserves.

Star Trek: Shadow Frontier

The wonderful thing about the Star Trek franchise is that it is malleable in terms of genre. It can basically be whatever it needs to be in order to tell a story about the close relationships that develop across alien species while living on spaceships. When the trailer for Shadow Frontier began making it clear it was a horror game, we weren’t sure if that’s what we wanted from a Star Trek game (even though plenty of episodes have dabbled in the genre), but when Ro Laren appeared as the game’s apparent protagonist, we were firmly on board.

For those unaware, Ro Laren was a popular character who appeared in later seasons of The Next Generation. She was brash and critical of Starfleet and a great opinionated foil to Captain Picard. She was so popular, in fact, that early versions of Deep Space Nine were built around Ro (and her performer, Michelle Forbes) before they pivoted to creating an original character, Kira. She was a character that always deserved more (and her brief appearance in Picard only left us unfulfilled), so to see her (and Forbes) leading this new game is exciting.

Add to that Bloober’s upward trend of quality with games like Cronos: The New Dawn and the Silent Hill 2 remake, and we’re excited to see what it does in the Star Trek universe with a beloved character.

Stellar Blade: Blood Rain

Stellar Blade surprised many players upon its release in 2024, featuring taut, challenging combat and breathtaking sci-fi visuals. After the success of the series debut, we were delighted in recent days to learn that South Korean developer Shift Up is already hard at work on a sequel. Blood Rain stars a brand new protagonist named Evie, who seems to eschew the sword combat of her predecessor for a classic martial arts approach of hands and feet. It’s a good bet we’ll be waiting a while before this game is ready for full release, but the early trailer looks amazing. 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin

The premise of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game that adapts the excellent Last Ronin storyline is already worthy of a place on this list. That it’s being made by Bayonetta, Nier Automata, and Astral Chain developer Platinum Games, doubly so. Look, yes, we all know about TMNT: Mutants in Manhattan, a 2016 game that Platinum also developed that was…not great. But 2016 was a different time, man. Or rather, Platinum really stepped into the premier action-development shoes it walks in today the following year, in 2017, when it released Nier: Automata and catapulted to new heights. Maybe we’re just coping and hoping Platinum’s best are on this project. 

Nonetheless, the teaser trailer for this Last Ronin game, published by the newly announced Paramount Games label, doesn’t show much. If anything, it’s likely just a concept video, meant to get across the vibes of this eventual game, because it’s mostly just random Turtles-related places and things in NYC – a sewer, some buildings, a red moon. But hey, any new Platinum game is exciting. Pair them with something as great as The Last Ronin storyline and we’re stoked!

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake

The long-rumored The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake is officially real. Nintendo revealed the game with a very, very short teaser, but confirmed a handful of details. First and foremost, the game is coming to Switch 2 in 2026. We don’t know exactly when, though.

Secondly, the game will have a realistic art style, perhaps the most realistic the Zelda series has ever adopted. The teaser could potentially be the opening of the eventual game as a voiceover looking at a tapestry offers some limited history of the land, an introduction of The Great Deku Tree (who is probably the narrator), and explains that the Kokiri children, who live in a forest on the outskirts of the land, all have fairies… except for one. We then see young Link sleeping in his home, just as the original game began.

We love Ocarina of Time and will take any excuse to revisit its world, characters, dungeons, and story. We certainly want to see more of the art direction, as hyper-realistic Zelda might not be what we want from the visuals, but the mere implication of exploring Hyrule again is enthralling. We can’t wait to learn more.

Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis

Lara Croft, perhaps gaming’s most iconic heroine, is scheduled for a comeback next year. Between Sophie Turner’s live-action series and two new video games, we are excited to see the return of her archaeological adventures. The first one, called Legacy of Atlantis, is a full reimagining of the first game in Unreal Engine 5. Younger members of our staff have only played the Survivor trilogy (which began in 2013), so it’s giving them a chance to dive into an era of the character they’re wholly unfamiliar with. It also generally serves as a soft reboot to the series, reintroducing Lara as a seasoned adventurer with years of experience under her belt and twin pistols strapped to her legs.

Gameplay stays true to the original, and while we’re sure the new mechanics will make the game feel more modern, it still retains the series’ puzzle-solving and acrobatic combat against Lara’s foes (some of which are dinosaurs). This past week’s trailer technically serves as an unfortunate delay, pushing the game from 2026 into early 2027, but we look forward to its upcoming release nonetheless.

Xenoblade Genesis

Following the news that all three Xenoblade Chronicles games would be getting Switch 2 versions this year, the Nintendo Direct did a quick pivot to announce an all-new entry in the series. Xenoblade Genesis drops the “Chronicles” from its title and tells a new story in a potentially new world – Yoshiaki Koizumi dubs it “a new beginning” after it’s introduced, so we’re curious to see how, if at all, it relates to the other entries.

Genesis puts players in the shoes of a student of a magical military school, called Leukos, where they learn to be a Vasselai, one who performs magic using an Anima crystone (it wouldn’t be Xenoblade without a bunch of fantasy-themed proper nouns). They’ll explore a world on the backs of horse-like mounts, and the landscapes we see in the trailer curve upwards at the horizon, as if they’re inside of a spherical planet instead of walking on the surface of one. The snippets of conversation we’ve seen raise many questions, but they also appropriately pique our interest in the game’s launch, which is scheduled for sometime in 2027.