If you’re looking forward to what 2026 will bring when it comes to new video games, then you’d better prepare yourself for a very slow start to the calendar year. On paper, 2026 is shaping up to be one of the biggest years in gaming ever. This is primarily thanks to the looming release of Grand Theft Auto VI, but it will also be joined by the likes of 007 First Light, Marvel’s Wolverine, and Resident Evil Requiem, alongside many others. Despite this excitement for what 2026 will have to offer, those looking to play anything major this coming month will likely be left waiting.
For those who haven’t yet looked forward to what the first month of 2026 will feature when it comes to new games, the short answer is that there’s not a lot. January is a month full of plenty of ports and other niche releases that will only resonate with certain audiences. Pathologic 3 and Code Vein 2 are likely the most noteworthy games set to arrive next month, followed by the new Switch 2 update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Perhaps the biggest game of January is one that we barely know about at the moment. Revealed earlier this month at The Game Awards, Highguard is set to be a new free-to-play shooter from many of the developers behind Apex Legends and Titanfall. Despite having this prestige to its name, the initial response to Highguard online has been pretty mixed. In a time when many gamers are tired of live-service, free-to-play shooters, Highguard is going to have to do a lot to prove that it deserves to stand alongside ever-present behemoths like Call of Duty: Warzone, Marvel Rivals, and Fortnite. For an unknown quantity like Highguard to potentially be the most notable game to drop in January says a lot about how the year is set to begin.
February 2026 Looks Incredible
Luckily, this slow start to 2026 won’t hold true for long as there are countless major releases currently slated for February. Resident Evil Requiem is likely the biggest game set to launch this month as the latest entry in the long-running survival-horror series will drop on February 27th. Prior to this, though, February will also see releases like Dragon Quest VII Reimagined (February 5th), Nioh 3 (February 6th), Romeo is a Dead Man (February 11th), Mario Tennis Fever (February 12th), Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Tides (February 12th), High on Life 2 (February 13th), and Reanimal (February 13th) all arriving as well.
What could make February even busier is if we end up getting a new Nintendo Direct or PlayStation State of Play in this window that happens to include some shadow-dropped games. Nintendo and PlayStation both historically hold live streams in February each year, which usually happen to have some surprises in tow. While it’s not guaranteed that any shadow-dropped games would come about in these events, if there were any, it would make February that much more hectic.
In fact, as it stands, February currently looks so busy that I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these aforementioned games start shifting around their release dates. March 2026 is also going to have some heavy-hitters releasing, like Marathon and Crimson Desert, but there is still plenty of room in the month for some of these February titles to shift back by one month. Whether or not publishers look to make these delays remains to be seen, but it might be smart given how packed the month is shaping up.
In short, once we finally get to February, it looks like 2026 is going to be jam-packed with major game releases. It’s not much of a surprise to see January 2026 being a bit lighter on new games, as January is historically a pretty slow month for substantial new titles to hit the market. Still, if you’re wondering what to play for yourself as we move into the new year, you might be better off digging into your backlog for the next few weeks until February rolls around.
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