At the start of each year, our Editor sits down to work out the games that should be on everybody’s radar, but this time around, he is doing something different. This year, he is reducing his choices to three games for each genre. These might not be the most anticipated titles or the best releases, but they are games that have huge potential and a chance of doing something exciting or new within their genre. Welcome to “Games to Watch – 2026 Edition.” Now it is time to look at the ever hard to define, RPG genre.
Games to Watch in 2026 - RPG
Fable
Surely 2026 is the year we finally get our hands on Playground’s Fable reboot. The original games were all fantastic RPGs that really leaned into the choice, and for their time had a focus on consequence that hadn’t been really explored as well in any other title. Nowadays, this sort of element is much more common, but I expect Playground have some tricks up their sleeves and will really bring the classic franchise into the modern times.
We haven’t seen an awful lot of the game yet, but what we have seen really shows that the classic Fable sense of humour is there in spades, and the three styles of combat also feature. I do expect this one to be a huge part of January’s Xbox Developer Direct, so I think we are in for a huge info dump. I am pretty excited for this one. I still occasionally play Fable 2 to this day, so I will be there day one on this reboot.
Phantom Blade Zero
Phantom Blade Zero is undoubtedly shaping up to be a great-looking game. Every trailer has showcased a stunning, brutal Asian setting, accompanied by some truly inventive and unique enemies to battle. However, there is one key aspect of this game that has me particularly interested, and that is its gameplay.
You see, the developers have stated that it isn’t a Hack’n’Slash ala Devil May Cry, and it isn’t a Soulslike, but sits somewhere in between those two extremes. I love that idea, as someone who has struggled to get into the Souls titles and who also thinks that games like DMC and Bayonetta could benefit from a little more depth, this could absolutely be the game I have been looking for. Phantom Blade Zero is hitting in September, so we have a while to wait, but I am very keen to see how it all plays out.
The Blood of the Dawnwalker
A medieval Blade game? Hell yeah. That is essentially the premise for The Blood of Dawnwalker, a new title from a group of ex-CD Projekt Red devs and boy, can you see that Witcher DNA in the trailers. Telling the story of a world run by Vampires, players take control of a Dawnwalker, a half-human, half-vampire stalking the world to save his family and probably a bunch of innocent folk in the process.
What is exciting me the most is the ambitious day-night cycle and how it will play into the game. During the day, the protagonist is a normal human, with all the frailties that come with it, but as night rolls around, the vampire side comes out. It is during the evening hours that players will have access to a range of supernatural abilities, but of course, will have to feed to use them. I hope this also brings in some interesting moral choices along the way because it could really add some interesting wrinkles to the story. There is no release date as yet, so I expect this one to land in September at the earliest.
