The 10 Best Video Games of 2026 So Far, Ranked

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Video games as an industry are in an interesting spot in the current year, as the entire industry is going through massive changes while being as massive as ever. While larger studios are faltering and failing to live up to the dominance of games as a service juggernauts, indie games are reaching massive new heights and becoming massive successes built on word of mouth. There's also the looming anticipation for Grand Theft Auto VI, which will undeniably dominate gaming culture and discussion once it releases this Winter.

As far as the games that have been released this year so far, while not all of them have been smash hits, the best of the year have been pretty great and well celebrated by gamers. It's certainly easy to harp on the negative aspects of gaming with layoffs, A.I., and the removal of physical discs, but the quality of these games prove that gaming will never truly die as a medium and only continues to grow for good reason.

10 'Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream'

The original Tomodachi Life proved to be one of the fan-favorite releases on the Nintendo 3DS, with its absurdist sense of humor mixed with mass creativity making it one of the must-play games on the system. Even since the release of the first Nintendo Switch, fans have been begging for the series to return, with Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream supercharging the strengths of the previous game and adding even more ways to have creative absurdist fun.

There's just a simple joy that comes from seeing a bunch of Miis interacting with one another, whether they be people you know in real-life or fictional characters. Combined with the game's overwhelming sense of customizable possibilities, with players able to create buildings, food, and clothing for the Miis to enjoy, it's a game that has near-infinite replay value. The only thing that holds this cozy game back is a lack of online sharing features, yet this makes your own individual creations feel all the more special.

9 'Meccha Chameleon'

A character hiding in laundry in Meccha Chameleon

The "friendslop genre" has massively exploded in popularity in recent years, with small indie games like Lethal Company and Peak becoming massive online hits thanks to their smaller price tags and being loads of fun to play with friends. 2026's standout friendslop experience has undeniably been Meccha Chameleon, a surprisingly addictive take on hide-and-seek that forces hiders to bring out their inner artist to camouflage themselves in the surrounding area.

The pure simplicity of the game proves to be its greatest strength, as its appeal is immediately understandable and makes for an absolute blast to play with friends. It massively spread thanks to its facet of being a game that is just as fun to watch as it is to play, with no two games feeling the same as it encourages creativity in every aspect of its gameplay. While it may not be the best indie game of the year, it may just be the most overwhelmingly successful.

8 'Mixtape'

A trio of teens walking up the stairs in 'Mixtape'

Taking inspiration from interactive adventure games of the past and classic coming-of-age movies, Mixtape sets out to be a playable version of a quirky 90s teen movie, emphasized by stylish visuals and an extremely memorable soundtrack of licensed hits. The digital exclusive game is defined by polish above all else, creating a satisfying experience focused on amplifying the emotional feel of the story and adding little playable bits to each chapter and sequence.

More than simply being a choose-your-own adventure game, Mixtape plays out like a layered, personal teen story that makes use of player interaction to make its impact that much more palpable. More hardened gamers looking for an overwhelming amount of content may not connect with the experience, but for those looking for something fresh that is unlike anything else modern gaming has to offer, Mixtape provides 3–4 of the best hours of modern indie gaming to date.

7 'Pokémon Pokopia'

Ditto and pokémon celebrating in pokopia

While Pokémon has been a cultural juggernaut ever since its debut in the late 90s, the various spinoff games have rarely, if ever, been able to recapture the same magic and lasting appeal of the main series titles. However, Pokémon Pokopia is the first spinoff game in a long time that not only lives up to the stature of the franchise, but in some ways even exceeds it as one of the best Pokémon games in years. The game sees the player as a Ditto transformed as a human helping various Pokémon in a post-apocalyptic world.

The game shares a lot of DNA with another iconic Nintendo franchise, Animal Crossing, with a lot of the appeal coming from the joyous charm of helping out the problems of various cutesy animal characters. However, Pokopia is much more than just an Animal Crossing clone, with a great emphasis on exploration, creative customization of the world, and a great sense of progression that gives the players real goals to strive for.

6 'Mewgenics'

The indie dev duo of Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel have ammased an exceptional reputation over the years, having worked on some of the most celebrated indie games of all time in Super Meat Boy, The Binding of Isaac, and The End is Nigh. Their latest game, Mewgenics, has been a long time coming, having been in development since 2012 and even being cancelled and uncancelled during development. The tactical RPG roguelike feels like a combination of this duo's greatest strengths, with an overwhelming sense of polish and brilliance to this dark manic nightmare.

The game sees the player in a cycle of breeding cats and sending them out on adventures and tactical battles. Its darker sense of humor and roguelike elements share a lot of DNA with previous games from the duo, with the core RPG gameplay being incredibly depth and full of skill expression. This amazing indie game has a level of polish, care, and personality put into it that many AAA games could only dream of achieving.

5 'Pragmata'

A girl on the shoulder of a man in a suit in Pragmata

Easily one of the best fully original AAA games in years, Pragmata is a sci-fi action game that soars thanks to its signature sense of charm and a seamlessly compelling gameplay loop. The game sees players controlling two characters at the same time, playing in both action sequences and puzzles that make use of this distinct sense of dual control. The joy and connection between the lead characters, Hugh and Diana, also play a great deal into the joyous feeling of the game, as their connection bonds as they fight to return to Earth.

Being one of the first truly original games from Capcom in years, Pragmata has a lot of the signature polish and gameplay strengths of some of their great modern efferings, as well as a layered story that keeps players invested from beginning to end. It plays into a lot of the strengths and trends of AAA gaming as a whole, but with enough overwhelming charm and originality to make it massively standout as a real must-play experience for the year.

4 'Mina the Hollower'

An 8-bit mouse using a spiked ball on the end of a whip while on a bridge in 'Mina the Hollower'

An exceptional modern fantasy game from Yacht Club Games, the team behind indie platforming icon Shovel Knight, Mina the Hollower is a combination of classic adventure fantasy games like The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening and soulsborne elements. While many indie games will simply take the easy way out and only recapture the vibe and energy of an already existing game, Mina the Hollower elevates and evolves this classic style of retro gaming into the modern age, with amazing visual flourishes to boot.

It's a deceptively simple concept that proves to be extremely infectious and addicting in practice, being a must-play for fans of both retro games and soulslike games like Hollow Knight. It's this beautiful love letter of classic gaming that understands what made these games so timeless while also feeling extremely original in its own execution. It arguably even surpasses the quality of Shovel Knight and stands as one of the very best retro-style indie games of the modern age.

3 '007 First Light'

From IO Interactive, the highly celebrated developers of Hitman, 007 First Light provides a similar sense of polish and espionage charm to a James Bond origin story, proving to be so exceptional in its execution that it may just be one of the greatest licensed video games ever made. With a vast history of James Bond movies and video games to draw inspiration from, First Light is the absolute best love letter to the franchise that a fan could ask for, while simultaneously feeling like its own brilliant standalone experience.

It shares a lot of DNA with the modern Hitman games, yet it also has the format of a more seamless central narrative surrounding Bond's growth and origins, fighting to earn his license to kill. There's a level of polish and real care for the James Bond character that makes the game feel leagues ahead of other cheaply made licensed games, being the type of game that is still a blast to play even if one knows nothing about James Bond.

Collider Exclusive · James Bond Personality Quiz Which James Bond Actor Are You Most Like? Connery · Moore · Dalton · Brosnan · Lazenby · Craig

Six actors. Six completely different visions of the same man — dangerous, charming, complicated, and almost certainly wearing a very good suit. Only one of them shares your particular way of moving through the world. Eight questions will figure out which Bond you really are.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Connery

😄Moore

🎭Dalton

✨Brosnan

🤵Lazenby

💠Craig

FIND YOUR BOND →

How do you carry yourself when you walk into a room? Bond is always the most interesting person in the room. The question is how he makes you feel it.

AWith absolute authority — I don't announce myself. I simply make everyone aware that I've arrived. BWith a raised eyebrow and a ready quip — I'd rather disarm a room than dominate it. CWith focused intensity — I'm taking everything in, and people can tell. DWith polish and ease — I look like I belong everywhere, because I've decided I do. EWith quiet confidence — I'm still figuring out my place, but I carry myself as if I already know it. FWith guarded stillness — I notice everything and give nothing away until I choose to.

NEXT QUESTION →

How do you handle a dangerous situation? Every Bond faces it differently. What does your version look like?

AWith dangerous calm — I've been here before, and the threat already knows it's made a mistake. BWith improvisation and a degree of theatrical flair — tension should never be wasted. CHead-on and without hesitation — I don't need gadgets. I have training, and I use it. DWith the right tool for the job — I came prepared, and preparation is its own form of confidence. EInstinctively — I react faster than I think, and it usually works out. FWith controlled brutality — I don't enjoy it, but I don't flinch from what the moment requires.

NEXT QUESTION →

How do you charm someone you need on your side? Bond always gets what he needs. The method varies considerably.

AI make them feel like the most interesting person in the room — for exactly as long as I need them to be. BI make them laugh — a shared laugh is the fastest way to make someone trust you. CI'm direct and honest — I tell them what I need and why. Manipulation wastes time. DWith surface perfection — the right words, the right smile, deployed with enough precision to look effortless. EBy being present and genuine — I'm still developing my technique, but sincerity covers a lot of ground. FReluctantly and sparingly — I'd rather earn trust through actions than manufacture it through charm.

NEXT QUESTION →

How do you handle your emotions on the job? Every Bond deals with this differently. Most of them not particularly well.

AI suppress them completely — detachment is a professional requirement, not a personal failing. BI deflect with humour — a well-timed joke is the best defence against genuine feeling. CI let them show — I'm not ashamed of feeling things, and I think pretending not to is its own kind of weakness. DI compartmentalise with precision — everything in its place, nothing bleeding into the mission. EWith difficulty — I haven't quite worked out the system yet, and sometimes it shows. FBy burying them — deeply, imperfectly, in ways that eventually cost me something important.

NEXT QUESTION →

How would your colleagues describe your working style? MI6 has opinions about all of its 00s. What are theirs about you?

AEffective and uncompromising — results-focused to the point where the methods occasionally become a concern. BReliably brilliant in the field, occasionally exasperating in the briefing room. CPrincipled to a fault — they'd rather do it right than do it fast, and they'll tell you so. DPolished, capable, and slightly too good at making it look easy. ERaw potential — still developing, but there's something there that's hard to teach. FA weapon. Pointed at problems, usually effective, occasionally unpredictable.

NEXT QUESTION →

How do you feel about operating within the rules? The licence to kill comes with terms and conditions. Not everyone reads them.

ARules are for people who haven't earned the judgement to know when to break them. BI follow them in spirit and bend them in practice — the important thing is the outcome. CI take them seriously — there are things I won't do regardless of what the mission requires. DI work within them effectively and creatively — the system has its uses if you know how to navigate it. EI'm still working out where my lines are — the job has a way of moving them on you. FI follow orders until I decide the order is wrong. Then I act on my own judgement and accept the consequences.

NEXT QUESTION →

What is your relationship with love? Every Bond has a different answer. None of them have found it easy.

AA liability I've learned to manage — I don't let it interfere with the work, and I try not to examine why. BA pleasure I take seriously in the moment, lightly in the long term, and honestly in between. CSomething I want genuinely — and struggle to reconcile with the life I've chosen. DPart of the performance — I'm charming, and I enjoy it, but I keep the door to anything deeper firmly closed. ESomething that surprised me — I found it when I wasn't looking and it changed everything, briefly. FA wound I carry — something happened, and I haven't fully processed what it means for everything since.

NEXT QUESTION →

When the mission is over, how do you want to be remembered? The name is Bond. The rest is entirely up to the man behind it.

AAs the original — the one who defined what this could be before anyone else knew what it was. BAs someone who made it enjoyable — who understood that entertainment is its own kind of excellence. CAs someone who took it seriously — who refused to coast and pushed harder than the role required. DAs the complete package — who had the looks, the timing, and the ability to make it all seem inevitable. EAs an underrated chapter — one that deserved more time and more credit than it received. FAs the one who made it human — who found the cost beneath the cool and didn't look away from it.

REVEAL MY BOND →

The Name Has Been Determined Your Bond Is…

Six actors. One role. Your answers point to the Bond who shares your presence, your method, and your particular way of carrying the weight of being the most dangerous person in the room.

Sean Connery

You are the original — and you carry that fact without needing to announce it. There is an authority in the way you occupy a room that others spend careers trying to replicate.

You don't explain yourself, justify yourself, or soften yourself for anyone's comfort. The confidence is structural, not performed.
Connery's Bond established everything — the tone, the danger, the cool — because Connery himself had the innate presence to make something that had never existed feel inevitable.
You share that quality: the sense that you were always going to end up exactly here, doing exactly this.
The name is Bond. In your case, it always was.

Roger Moore

You understand something that more serious people miss: that wit is its own form of intelligence, and that making people laugh is not a retreat from danger but a way of mastering it.

Moore's Bond is underrated precisely because the effortlessness looks easy — and effortlessness is the hardest thing to manufacture.
You have the same quality: a lightness that disarms people before they realise how sharp you actually are.
The raised eyebrow, the perfectly timed quip, the refusal to be rattled — these are not affectations. They are a philosophy about how to move through a world that would like to take itself too seriously.
You have never let it.

Timothy Dalton

You took the role seriously when everyone wanted you to coast — and that refusal to take the easy version of anything is the most defining thing about you.

Dalton's Bond has genuine moral weight: he feels the cost of what he does, he has lines he won't cross, and he is not interested in the version of himself that pretends otherwise.
You share that intensity. You push harder than the situation technically requires, because you have a standard and you hold yourself to it.
He was ahead of his time — the Bond the franchise wasn't quite ready for yet, arriving exactly when he was meant to.
You know what that feels like.

Pierce Brosnan

You are the complete package — and you know it, which is part of what makes you so effective and occasionally so infuriating to the people around you.

Brosnan arrived at the role looking exactly like Bond was supposed to look, and he delivered on that expectation with a professionalism that made it seem effortless.
You have the same quality: a smooth competence, a charm that operates like a precision instrument, and the ability to make even difficult things look like they weren't.
His era was the most commercially successful in the franchise's history. There is a reason for that.
The reason is that some people simply fit their moment perfectly. You are one of those people.

George Lazenby

You stepped into something enormous with less preparation than anyone around you thought was sufficient — and you delivered something genuine anyway, which is the more impressive achievement.

Lazenby's single outing is, by many measures, one of the finest Bond films ever made — and he is not a small part of why.
You share his quality of raw authenticity: less polished than the alternatives, more honest for it, capable of something real that technique alone can't produce.
He was underestimated, and then he wasn't, and then history caught up with him.
You are the kind of person history catches up with. Give it time.

Daniel Craig

You stripped everything back and found what was underneath — and what was underneath was harder, more honest, and more human than anyone expected.

Craig's Bond is the franchise's most psychologically complete: a man doing a brutal job, carrying its costs imperfectly, capable of love and loss in ways that can't be dismissed.
You share that depth. You don't hide behind the role or the charm or the suit — you let the work show what it actually costs.
He was controversial from the moment he was announced and definitive by the time he was finished. The sceptics became the believers.
That arc — of being underestimated and then undeniable — is one you know intimately.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

2 'Splatoon Raiders'

A group of inklings shooting purple ink at a common enemy in 'Splatoon Raiders'

While every other game in the Splatoon franchise has had a mixture of dynamic single-player campaigns and high-octane competitive multiplayer experiences, Splatoon Raiders is unlike any other game in the franchise, taking the core gameplay to make a looter shooter instead of competitive multiplayer. This extremely fun Nintendo game takes the already fun gameplay of Splatoon and gives it a new coat of paint that makes it as addicting and fun to play as ever.

Going all in on a massive campaign, one that can be played entirely in both single-player and multiplayer co-op, makes it easily the best campaign experience of the entire franchise and a level of polish unlike anything else the franchise has to offer. While a spinoff game, Splatoon Raiders at its core, is the franchise at its very best, finding the perfect mixture of worldbuilding, seamless paint shooter gameplay, and near-endless replayability.

1 'Resident Evil Requiem'

Grace looking at a fat zombie in Resident Evil 9 Requiem

Resident Evil has stood tall as one of the greatest horror franchises ever since its inception in the 90s, and while the franchise has certainly had its low points, it has also massively risen from its failures back to the top of the horror game pecking order. Resident Evil Requiem is the apex of this return to form for the franchise, continuing to deliver on the brilliance previously shown in Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and Resident Evil Village.

It finds the greatest strengths of both sheer horror and top-notch action that have defined the franchise, creating a beautiful evolution of the classic formula and one of the greatest games in this legendary franchise. With a dark tone and an exceptional balance between its different elements, Resident Evil Requiem, more than any other game in 2026 so far, is a must-play experience that shows that truly amazing AAA games will always exist within the medium. There's simply no other option for what can be considered the best game of 2026 (at least until GTA VI comes out).