🔗 Share this article These Five Titles That Could Rival <em>GTA 6</em> for the 2026 Top Honor Award. Last year, we questioned if anything could possibly beat Grand Theft Auto 6 for the 2025 Game of the Year honor — "barring Rockstar's capacity to ship it on time." In the end, it was exactly that that took Rockstar's much-hyped game from the equation, with delays to May and, subsequently, November 2026 opening the door for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's remarkable clean sweep at The 2025 Game Awards. Therefore, looking ahead to GOTY 2026, we find ourselves with a distinct sense of familiarity. Once again, GTA 6 starts the year as the presumptive frontrunner to win the ultimate prize. Again, Rockstar's primary adversary may prove to be its own schedule. Even though another delay at this stage is more improbable, it's definitely still plausible, and with its present Nov. 19 release date barely making into The Game Awards' standard eligibility window, it would need merely a slip of 48 hours or more to relegate GTA 6 into the running for the 2027 awards. Yet again, GTA 6 seems extremely tough to defeat, but far from insurmountable. Rockstar's own Red Dead Redemption 2 was surpassed for GOTY by Sony Santa Monica's God of War in 2018, while GTA 5 was eclipsed in most awards ceremonies and GOTY votes — if not the Game Awards' predecessor, VGX — by The Last of Us. In fact, GTA 6's behemoth status is a seemingly contradictory kind of weakness, as reviewers and awards committees will be eagerly looking for an appealing alternative angle to champion in order to maintain suspense. So what different titles may be in contention? Attempting to predict nominees this far in advance in the year is, admittedly, a something of a speculative endeavor: the landscape of indie and smaller releases is very uncertain, while larger games commonly get postponed or fail to meet expectations, and some publishers (such as Nintendo) have still not announce their lineup for the latter part of the year. However, there are at present a select few of 2026 releases that seem like they will be formidable contenders. Listed are five that possess a good chance of being shortlisted together with GTA 6. 1. Resonant Control Remedy Entertainment's mind-bending sequel is without a doubt the top challenger to GTA 6's hegemony. Truly, Remedy might be the quintessential Game Awards studio: It produces technically accomplished, aesthetically stunning, narratively sophisticated action-adventure games while operating just adequately outside the industry mainstream to still retain the aura of an dark horse. The original Control earned eight nominations and one win in 2019, while Alan Wake 2 challenged Baldur's Gate 3 a close second in 2023, transforming three of its eight selections into wins in the prestigious Game Direction, Narrative, and Art Direction categories. After a stunning trailer unveiling at the 2025 Awards, Control Resonant is never to be underestimated. 2. Resident Evil: Requiem A latest (or, for that matter) remastered Resident Evil game is more likely to be nominated for Game of the Year than to miss out. This long-running series has an excellent recent history at The Game Awards — Resident Evil 2 was nominated for the top honor in 2019, Village in 2021, and 4 in 2023 — plus a standing for dependable quality. It must be said, a win would be a much more unlikely proposition, but you can rely on Capcom being in the mix. 3. Wolverine (Marvel) The Wolverine game from Insomniac is one of the biggest sales prospects of the year, and in terms of scale and polish, probably one of the select group that will be able to give GTA 6 a run for its money. In the vein of Resident Evil, Insomniac's polished Marvel games franchise is excellent at picking up lots of nominations at The Game Awards, and less good at transforming them into wins. Will the transition from Spider-Man to an edgier character and (far) more brutal action change things in Wolverine's favor? Perhaps, and it will be Sony's primary contender for the year, which more or less guarantees it a place at the GOTY discussion. 4. Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave Nintendo is seldom absent from the list of Game of the Year nominees. In the absence of a definitive idea of what its holiday 2026 game will be (a new core Pokémon and a 3D Mario game are both possibilities), Fortune’s Weave makes a viable placeholder. Fire Emblem is a specialist series, it's true, but it has been building consistently in both appeal and acclaim over the past few years, while its complex anime storytelling style and strategic combat get more popular and closer to the gaming establishment by the day. It would not be a shock. 5. Dawnwalker's Blood The ever-growing European voting contingent on the jury is more and more making its weight felt, notably when it comes to nominating big, ambitious Euro role-playing games like Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. Rebel Wolves' first game is an perfect game to attract those votes and occupy this slot, notably given the Witcher 3 pedigree of its developers — and its striking similarity to that 2015 GOTY winner. And What Of the Indies? The glaring omission in our list is that it omits an indie contender. While The Game Awards jury usually only nominates one indie game for Game of the Year — 2025's trio of indie picks appears to be a anomaly — it also rarely fails to nominate one. It's virtually impossible to foresee what that game might be at this point, as the biggest indie games of each year often appear from nowhere, but a few potential candidates would be: Mixtape: a music-driven, sentimental road trip of a game published by the curators at Annapurna Interactive. Replaced: a long-awaited cyberpunk adventure with a exquisitely detailed pixel-art visual style. Ontos: Frictional Games' enigmatic follow-up to the Amnesia series (if it's not too scary). Slay the Spire 2: follow-up to the hugely popular roguelike deckbuilder (but it may not make it out of early access in 2026). Mina the Hollower: Yacht Club Games' Shovel Knight successor, an whimsical retro Zelda tribute (assuming the studio can manage to finish it). Further Challengers Gears of War: E-Day: One of two massive franchise returns from Xbox Game Studios in 2026, E-Day will have to prove that this very 2000s series is still relevant. Fable: After
Last year, we questioned if anything could possibly beat Grand Theft Auto 6 for the 2025 Game of the Year honor — "barring Rockstar's capacity to ship it on time." In the end, it was exactly that that took Rockstar's much-hyped game from the equation, with delays to May and, subsequently, November 2026 opening the door for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's remarkable clean sweep at The 2025 Game Awards. Therefore, looking ahead to GOTY 2026, we find ourselves with a distinct sense of familiarity. Once again, GTA 6 starts the year as the presumptive frontrunner to win the ultimate prize. Again, Rockstar's primary adversary may prove to be its own schedule. Even though another delay at this stage is more improbable, it's definitely still plausible, and with its present Nov. 19 release date barely making into The Game Awards' standard eligibility window, it would need merely a slip of 48 hours or more to relegate GTA 6 into the running for the 2027 awards. Yet again, GTA 6 seems extremely tough to defeat, but far from insurmountable. Rockstar's own Red Dead Redemption 2 was surpassed for GOTY by Sony Santa Monica's God of War in 2018, while GTA 5 was eclipsed in most awards ceremonies and GOTY votes — if not the Game Awards' predecessor, VGX — by The Last of Us. In fact, GTA 6's behemoth status is a seemingly contradictory kind of weakness, as reviewers and awards committees will be eagerly looking for an appealing alternative angle to champion in order to maintain suspense. So what different titles may be in contention? Attempting to predict nominees this far in advance in the year is, admittedly, a something of a speculative endeavor: the landscape of indie and smaller releases is very uncertain, while larger games commonly get postponed or fail to meet expectations, and some publishers (such as Nintendo) have still not announce their lineup for the latter part of the year. However, there are at present a select few of 2026 releases that seem like they will be formidable contenders. Listed are five that possess a good chance of being shortlisted together with GTA 6. 1. Resonant Control Remedy Entertainment's mind-bending sequel is without a doubt the top challenger to GTA 6's hegemony. Truly, Remedy might be the quintessential Game Awards studio: It produces technically accomplished, aesthetically stunning, narratively sophisticated action-adventure games while operating just adequately outside the industry mainstream to still retain the aura of an dark horse. The original Control earned eight nominations and one win in 2019, while Alan Wake 2 challenged Baldur's Gate 3 a close second in 2023, transforming three of its eight selections into wins in the prestigious Game Direction, Narrative, and Art Direction categories. After a stunning trailer unveiling at the 2025 Awards, Control Resonant is never to be underestimated. 2. Resident Evil: Requiem A latest (or, for that matter) remastered Resident Evil game is more likely to be nominated for Game of the Year than to miss out. This long-running series has an excellent recent history at The Game Awards — Resident Evil 2 was nominated for the top honor in 2019, Village in 2021, and 4 in 2023 — plus a standing for dependable quality. It must be said, a win would be a much more unlikely proposition, but you can rely on Capcom being in the mix. 3. Wolverine (Marvel) The Wolverine game from Insomniac is one of the biggest sales prospects of the year, and in terms of scale and polish, probably one of the select group that will be able to give GTA 6 a run for its money. In the vein of Resident Evil, Insomniac's polished Marvel games franchise is excellent at picking up lots of nominations at The Game Awards, and less good at transforming them into wins. Will the transition from Spider-Man to an edgier character and (far) more brutal action change things in Wolverine's favor? Perhaps, and it will be Sony's primary contender for the year, which more or less guarantees it a place at the GOTY discussion. 4. Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave Nintendo is seldom absent from the list of Game of the Year nominees. In the absence of a definitive idea of what its holiday 2026 game will be (a new core Pokémon and a 3D Mario game are both possibilities), Fortune’s Weave makes a viable placeholder. Fire Emblem is a specialist series, it's true, but it has been building consistently in both appeal and acclaim over the past few years, while its complex anime storytelling style and strategic combat get more popular and closer to the gaming establishment by the day. It would not be a shock. 5. Dawnwalker's Blood The ever-growing European voting contingent on the jury is more and more making its weight felt, notably when it comes to nominating big, ambitious Euro role-playing games like Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. Rebel Wolves' first game is an perfect game to attract those votes and occupy this slot, notably given the Witcher 3 pedigree of its developers — and its striking similarity to that 2015 GOTY winner. And What Of the Indies? The glaring omission in our list is that it omits an indie contender. While The Game Awards jury usually only nominates one indie game for Game of the Year — 2025's trio of indie picks appears to be a anomaly — it also rarely fails to nominate one. It's virtually impossible to foresee what that game might be at this point, as the biggest indie games of each year often appear from nowhere, but a few potential candidates would be: Mixtape: a music-driven, sentimental road trip of a game published by the curators at Annapurna Interactive. Replaced: a long-awaited cyberpunk adventure with a exquisitely detailed pixel-art visual style. Ontos: Frictional Games' enigmatic follow-up to the Amnesia series (if it's not too scary). Slay the Spire 2: follow-up to the hugely popular roguelike deckbuilder (but it may not make it out of early access in 2026). Mina the Hollower: Yacht Club Games' Shovel Knight successor, an whimsical retro Zelda tribute (assuming the studio can manage to finish it). Further Challengers Gears of War: E-Day: One of two massive franchise returns from Xbox Game Studios in 2026, E-Day will have to prove that this very 2000s series is still relevant. Fable: After